Breakfast Gnocchi

After our amazing Quail with Gnocchi dinner the night before, we had enough Gnocchi left to make another meal. So, I decided to use the leftover Gnocchi for breakfast.
This one is simple, simple simple. Just think of Gnocchi for breakfast like a little fluffy Italian Hash Brown.

I simply roasted some vine ripened tomatoes until they were soft.
Fried up some free range bacon and then the Gnocchi in the same pan.
Poach an egg to pop on top of it all and plate it up! Too easy!

Pan-fried Quail with Gnocchi, Roast Pumpkin, Brown Butter and Sage - Masterchef Australia Recipe

Yep, it's that time of the year again, where I yell at the TV on a nightly basis. You guessed it, Masterchef is back on our screens. It's the show that I love to hate. I did apply for Masterchef last year, but failed to impress the executive producers. Apparently I wasn't enthusiastic enough about wanting to win. I think the real problem was that I didn't cry in my audition or mention the word 'cancer.' Unfortunately, I couldn't apply this year, because I had other commitments during the filming period. So, instead, I like to play Masterchef at home.
After watching the episode the other night where Matt Moran challenged a whole bunch of contestants to cooking the Gnocchi and Quail dish, I thought I'd have to give it a go. It looked seriously fantastic on the show, so I thought I'd treat Em to a special dinner and whip it up for her on the weekend, whilst she was at work.

The recipe is relatively easy as far as skill level goes, but it is a bit time consuming to get everything ready for 'service.'
I'd never boned a Quail before, which is half the reason why I wanted to make the dish, to see if I could do it. It's actually not that hard. With a nice, sharp boning knife, you can cut out the spinal cord and rib cage quite easily. It's a little fiddly, but after two or three, you start to get the hang of it.

The finished dish, really is as tasty as it looks and definitely worth a go!

The recipe makes enough for two or maybe three people for a main. I allowed for 1.5 quails per person.

The recipe below is from the Masterchef website

½ butternut pumpkin

750g royal blue potatoes, roasted
75g plain flour
1 egg yolk
salt and pepper
extra virgin olive oil for tossing

1 large quail, each.

quail, boned
30ml vegetable oil
salt and pepper
30g salted butter, diced
20ml olive oil
10g pecorino, grated
20g unsalted butter
chervil, to garnish
100g blanched pumpkin
½ bunch sage, leaves (reserved for garnish)
gnocchi

Method

Step 1: Prepare pumpkin
Peel and deseed the butternut pumpkin and then dice into 1cm cubes. Blanch in salted, boiling water for approximately 3 minutes, refresh in ice water and then drain.

Step 2: Prepare gnocchi
To prepare the gnocchi, scrape out the inside of the potatoes. Mash the potato and then pass through a sieve. Combine the flour, egg and salt with the potato and work into dough. Roll the dough in a sausage shape (approximately 2cm in diameter). Cut the dough into 2cm wide discs. Add the gnocchi to salted, boiling water. Cook until the gnocchi rises to the surface and then scoop out and refresh in iced water. Drain the gnocchi and then toss with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil.

Step 3: De-bone quail
To prepare the quail, trim winglets at the second joint. Using a boning knife, slice along the top of the neck; carefully fold back the neck skin, without tearing it, to reveal the top of the breast meat. Slice around the 'wishbone' and remove it. Insert a cook’s knife in the tail-end of the quail up to the neck and carefully cut along both sides of the back bone. Trim off the excess neck skin. Using the boning knife, carefully cut between the rib cage and breast meat, leaving the breast fillets, winglets and legs intact. Trim any excess fat and skin.

Step 4: Cook and serve
Season the quail with salt and pepper. Heat the 20ml olive oil in a fry pan and when hot add the quail skin side down. Cook on a medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes until golden brown then turn over. Add in the butter then when it begins to turn to a nutty brown baste the quail for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the quail from the pan and leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving. (Please note: quail should be served pink).

Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan and then add in the pumpkin and seasoning. Cook until the pumpkin is caramelised and then remove. In the same pan, add in the gnocchi and caramelise until golden. Season to taste. Stir in diced butter until it starts to turn into a nutty brown colour. Add in the sage and remove from the heat.

To serve, cut the quail in half and arrange on a plate with the gnocchi and pumpkin. Drizzle over the nutty butter and then garnish with the sage leaves, freshly grated pecorino and chervil.

Best Ever Italian Meatballs with Simple Tomato Sauce

Ok, I'm sure all of you Italians would argue that these aren't the best Meatballs ever at all. I'm sure you're going to tell me that the ones that your Nonna makes are a million times better. Well, this time I'm putting my foot down. I can honestly say that I have never eaten meatballs as good as these and if you have a better recipe, I would love to hear from you and I promise I'll give it a go to compare.
Since the SBS food website is focusing on Italian food over the next few weeks and I am their 'featured foodie' for that time - I thought I'd share with you this amazing recipe. It's really very easy - it doesn't take hours of simmering away on the stove and can be ready in just over an hour or so. This is perfect food for the coming cooler months!

185 ml Olive Oil
1 Onion
100g Pine Nuts
3 Garlic Cloves
40g Parsley
5g Rosemary
2 Teaspoons of Fennel Seeds
55g fresh or dried breadcrumbs (I used Panko)
300g Ricotta
40g Parmesan Cheese
Zest of 1 Large Lemon
1 Free Range Egg
500 Mince Free Range Pork (you can use beef or a mixture of both if you prefer)

Sauce 2 x 400g tins of whole peeled tomatoes
125ml Red Wine (I've used white many times when that's all I've had in the cupboard)

Heat half of the olive oil in a saucepan and cook the onion and pine nuts until onion is soft and the pine nuts are light golden brown. Add the garlic and rosemary and cook for a few minutes more - making sure you don't overcook the pine nuts. They won't taste very nice if they're burnt.



Place the parsley, crushed fennel seeds, breadcrumbs, ricotta, Parmesan, lemon zest and egg in a bowl and add the mince. Add the cooled onion and pine nuts, season with salt and pepper and mix briefly until all of the ingredients are combined. Test for seasoning by frying one small meatball and tasting for flavour. Leave the mixture to rest in the fridge for at least 30 mins. This will help the meatballs hold their shape whilst cooking.

To make the meatballs, roll about 50g of mixture into a ball about the size of a golf ball and then flatten slightly to make it easier to cook both sides. 50g may seem like quite a big meatball, but I assure you that it's the perfect size. At this point you could put on your water for your pasta - to get it boiling.



Heat the remaining olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the meatballs until golden brown on both sides. You will probably need to cook these in a couple of batches to avoid overcrowding the frying pan - which will lower the heat of your frypan - make them take longer to cook and harder to turn over. A non-stick frypan is best to use for this recipe as the meatballs can easily stick on a regular pan. Once browned on both sides, remove the meatballs from the pan. Don't worry about cooking them through - we'll do this later. By just searing them each side for some colour and texture, you will keep the meatballs moist inside.

To make the sauce, you just need to pour your wine into a clean frying pan or wide saucepan and simmer it for a few minutes - just to remove that strong alcohol taste. Then you can add your tins of tomatoes. Simmer this sauce for about 10 minutes. The tomatoes which were whole, should start to break down. You can help this along by using your wooden spoon.

It's at this point that you can put on your pasta, as it should only take about 10 minutes to cook.

Gently place the meatballs into the pan, sitting in the tomato sauce. Place a lid over the top and simmer for 10 mins. Give the pan a little gentle shake every so often, just to make sure that the sauce or the meatballs haven't stuck to the bottom, as this will cause them to burn. You want the sauce to be on a gentle simmer.



Your pasta should be ready after 10 mins, as should your meatballs. Drain the pasta - I like to use Calabresi pasta, but you could really use whatever pasta you like.

The pine nuts give the meatballs a bit of texture, while the ricotta keeps the balls soft. The lemon is really nice in there - as is the fennel, which really goes well with the pork (if you're using it). I often like to add even more parmesan for a really cheesy meatball.

Orecchiette with Cherry Tomatoes and Ricotta

Last time I went to Sydney, I had this exact dish at North Bondi Italian Food. It was so good, so simple and so memorable, I decided to try to replicate it myself. This dish takes no time at all and you know what? Mine turned out better than the one I had at the restaurant. Pity my dining room doesn't look out over Bondi Beach though.


Orecchiette 320g
Cherry tomatoes 350g
Garlic clove 1
Parmesan 50g
Basil leaves 3tbs
Ex. V. olive oil 1tbs
Ricotta 200g

Method
1. Cut the tomatoes in half and squeeze out the juice and seeds. Peel and chop the garlic finely. Grate the Parmesan. Wash the basil.
2. Combine the tomatoes and garlic, season, add the oil and toss to combine. Let marinate for 15 minutes. Put the ricotta in a bowl, season and stir.
3. Cook the orecchiette in boiling salted water until al dente, then drain.
4. Gently heat the tomato mixture and add the drained orechiette, stirring gently to combine. Finally stir in the ricotta.

Serve with Parmesan.

Zucchini Carbonara

While I'm on the Jamie Oliver vibe, here's another one from his latest book. I actually started making a very similar recipe to this one over 10 years ago, simply because, as much as I love Carbonara sauces, there's not much goodness in there for you and too be honest with all that Bacon, Egg Yolk and Cream, it can be quite fatty. So, instead of just using Zucchini, like Jamie has below, I also like to add some Squash in there (not the pumpkin kind) and maybe even some Yellow Capsicum. The secret to making this dish great, is using some really good free range eggs and bacon. You'll find that you can get free range bacon at your supermarkets now like Coles and Safeway, in the fridge section- a good one is made by KR. Remember, it's just as important to buy free range bacon and pork products as it is eggs and chicken!

Serves 4

Ingredients

• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 6 medium green and yellow courgettes
• 500g penne
• 4 large free-range or organic egg yolks
• 100ml double cream
• 2 good handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• olive oil
• 12 thick slices of pancetta or smoked streaky bacon, cut into chunky lardons
• a small bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked and chopped, flowers reserved (if you can get hold of flowering thyme)

1. Put a large pan of salted water on to boil. Halve and then quarter any larger courgettes lengthways. Cut out and discard any fluffy middle bits, and slice the courgettes at an angle into pieces roughly the same size and shape as the penne. Smaller courgettes can simply be sliced finely. Your water will now be boiling, so add the penne to the pan and cook according to the packet instructions.

2. To make your creamy carbonara sauce, put the egg yolks into a bowl, add the cream and half the Parmesan, and mix together with a fork. Season lightly and put to one side.

3. Heat a very large frying pan (a 35cm one is a good start – every house should have one!), add a good splash of olive oil and fry the pancetta or bacon until dark brown and crisp. Add the courgette slices and 2 big pinches of black pepper, not just to season but to give it a bit of a kick. Sprinkle in the thyme leaves, give everything a stir, so the courgettes become coated with all the lovely bacon-flavoured oil, and fry until they start to turn lightly golden and have softened slightly.

4. It’s very important to get this next bit right or your carbonara could end up ruined. You need to work quickly. When the pasta is cooked, drain it, reserving a little of the cooking water. Immediately, toss the pasta in the pan with the courgettes, bacon and lovely flavours, then remove from the heat and add a ladleful of the reserved cooking water and your creamy sauce. Stir together quickly. (No more cooking now, otherwise you’ll scramble the eggs.)

5. Get everyone around the table, ready to eat straight away. While you’re tossing the pasta and sauce, sprinkle in the rest of the Parmesan and a little more of the cooking water if needed, to give you a silky and shiny sauce. Taste quickly for seasoning. If you’ve managed to get any courgette flowers, tear them over the top, then serve and eat immediately, as the sauce can become thick and stodgy if left too long.

Spaghetti with Red Mullet

Here's a fantastic recipe, which is really simple to prepare, but whacks you around the head with it's Italian flavours. It takes no time at all and is great for a quick mid-week dinner.

Ingredients:
500g Dried Spaghetti or Linguini
5 or 6 fillets of Red Mullet, pinboned
1 Small Red Chilli (more if you like)
2 Cloves Garlic (more if you like)
Small Bunch of chopped Parsley
Olive Oil

Method:
Cook your pasta to packet instructions
In some olive oil, fry your fish fillets for about 3 - 4 minutes on the skin side and then turn over.
When you turn the fish over move them to one side of the frying pan and add a little more olive oil, add the garlic and chilli.
When the fish is cooked, start to break it up with a fork.
Drain your pasta and add to the fry pan with the fish.
Toss the fish and pasta together in the fry pan.
Season the pasta with salt and pepper and tos through chopped parsley.
Plate up and top with some good olive oil.

Serves 4

Mushroom Risoni

This is the first time I'd ever used Risoni for anything other than putting into soup. I found a recipe when I was away on holidays in a cookbook that was at the house that I was staying at for Risoni which is made, kind of like Risotto. The cookbook was Two's Cooking but unfortunately, I didnt write down the recipe! I would love to give it to you, but it's pretty easy to make anyway.
Basically you sautee some mushrooms for about 5 -10 mins, until they're quite dry. cook some garlic in some butter and then put in your risoni, put in some chicken stock as per packet instructions and leave to simmer until cooked. Once cooked, stir in some parsley, butter and parmesan.
The risoni has such a silky texture in your mouth. It's much easier to make than risotto, you don't have to watch it and stir it constantly. It is very similar though to risotto at the end and I can see how some people could easily prefer risoni to risotto.

Rag Pasta with Pumpkin and Sage

This is a really great, easy pasta dish, which looks impressive and rustic all at once. It's perfect for a midweek dinner or for a vegetarian dinner party. I think the key to this recipe is to use really good instant lasagne sheets. I used Barilla and I thought they were really great. When you cook them in boiling water, they actually go quite thick.

INGREDIENTS
500g lasagne sheets
50g butter
¼ cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil
1kg butternut pumpkin, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup (40g) grated parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons fresh sage leaves




METHOD
Break the lasagne sheets into large pieces. Cook the lasagne in a large pan of boiling well-salted water until just tender. Drain, reserving 2 tablespoons of the cooking liquid.Meanwhile, heat the butter and oil in a large non-stick pan, add pumpkin; cook, stirring gently, until pumpkin is just tender. Add garlic and thyme; cook, stirring, until fragrant. Season to taste with salt and pepper.Just before serving, add cheese and sage; gently toss through pasta with the reserved cooking liquid. Sprinkle with extra Parmesan cheese flakes, if desired.

Orecchiette with Broccoli and Anchovies

Here's a famous Italian recipe, that if you haven't tried before, you should definately have a go at making. There's hardly any ingredients in it, but it has maximum flavour. Who knew that Broccoli could be so tasty! This is such a quick and easy recipe, it's perfect for midweek dinners. One word of advice though, don't use cheap and nasty Orecchiette. Use good quality, authentic Egg Pasta that you get from Italian Deli's and Supermarkets like Piedemontes. This will make all the difference to your meal.

Ingredients:

400g orecchiette

1 head broccoli, broken into small florets

2 Cloves of Garlic

1 Knob of Butter

2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

6 - 8 large anchovy fillets, chopped

Teaspoon of Dried Chilli Flakes

freshly ground black pepper

100g freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese

Method:
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook the orecchiette until al dente.

About 3 minutes before the pasta is cooked, place the Broccoli in with the pasta, it wont take long to cook at all.

While the pasta and Broccoli is cooking, prepare the Broccoli and Anchovy sauce.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan with the anchovies, mashing them with the back of a spoon.

Add your chilli and garlic and lightly fry for a few minutes until fragrant.

Add the drained Broccoli, Pasta and pepper and stir to mix and heat through.

Add the Cheese and Butter to the pasta and mix thoroughly into the hot pasta and serve immediately.

Breakfast Pasta

This is the first recipe I ever put together myself. I invented it one night before going to bed when I was about 5, when I was trying to make my occasional breakfast of 2-minute noodles a bit more interesting. It's kind of like a Carbonara, but instead of adding the eggs after cooking, you want to add them so that they actually do scramble with the pasta. Admittedly, this is the grown up version of my childhood favourite, but I love it just as much! All these amounts for the ingredients are approximate, so use what amount you think is best.


Ingredients:
1 Red Onion Finely Chopped
1 - 2 Packs of good quality Angel Hair Pasta, Cooked to Packet Instructions
2 Handfuls of Button Mushies Finely Sliced
2 Handfuls of Oyster Mushrooms Roughly Chopped
1 Chorizo Sausage Roughly Chopped
2 Cloves Garlic Finely chopped
2 Knobs Butter
2 Free Range Eggs
1 Small bunch Thyme Chopped
1 Handful Flat leaf Parsley Chopped
Truffle oil to serve
Salt and Pepper to Season
Grated Parmesan

Fry off your chorizo until cooked and then drain on paper towel.
Sautee your onions until soft in some butter. Add your garlic and cook for about a minute. Add your mushrooms, season with salt and cook until they have lost some of their water content and shrunk a little. Return your Chorizo to the pan and heat through.

Add the drained pasta to the pan and fry it for a few minutes. If the pasta goes slightly crunchy, all the better. Add your eggs and mix through. Continue to fry until the eggs are scrambled in the pasta.

your herbs and salt and pepper to taste. Place on a warm plate and drizzle with some truffle oil if you've got some - or some olive oil if you dont. Grate some Parmesan over the top and some more black pepper. Give it a try, you'll love it. You dont have to have it for breakfast - it's just as good for dinner. You could also use the leftovers to make great pasta fritters. Add an extra add and fry little batches until golden and then turn over.
Good Mornin!

Braised Veal With Melt In Your Mouth Gnocchi

This is one of those dishes I like to cook when I'm not in a hurry to do anything in particular and I've got all afternoon to do nothing but cook and enjoy putting this slow cooked Veal dish together. When you slow cook the meat like this, it literally falls apart and off the bone.

The secret to light and fluffy Gnocchi, is to bake the potatoes and not boil them, because the more moisture in the potatoes, the more flour you'll need to add to bring it all together - making for a heavier, more stodgy Gnocchi.

This dish doesn't have to be made with Veal, you could do it equally as good with Rabbit, Lamb or even Venison.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Veal Sauce:

4 sticks of Celery, finely sliced
1 Leek, chopped in half lengthwise and then finely sliced - white part only
1 Onion, finely diced
1 Carrot, cut into quarters and then sliced
2 Cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
400g Tin Chopped Tomatoes
500ml Chicken Stock
1 Glass of Red or White Wine (your choice)
700g Veal Osso Bucco or Shanks
1 Handful of Plain Flour to coat Veal
Finely chopped Italian Parsley
Salt and Pepper to Season

Gnocchi:
1Kg Whole Baked Potatoes
2 Egg Yolks
Plain flour as needed
Salt

Veal Method:

Prepare all your vegetables and garlic as required and put to one side.
Coat the Veal in the flour and fry off in a heavy based pan in some Olive oil or Butter, until it's coloured on both sides.
Remove Veal from pan and place on a plate, while you cook your vegies in the same pan.
When cooking your vegetables, start with the bigger, thicker vegies like the carrots and celery and cook for a couple of minutes as these will take longer. Then add your leek and onion and again fry for a couple of minutes over a medium heat until they begin to soften. Once soft add your garlic and give it another minute.
Now you can add your liquid - your tomatoes, wine and stock.
Bring this all to the boil and add the meat back to the pot.
Turn the heat down to a simmer and uncovered. Leave to cook for 30 mins, giving it a stir a couple of times.
After the 30 mins has past, replace the lid and leave to simmer over a very low heat for another hour and a half, occassionally stirring the pot.
The meat will be cooked when it is soft and tender, it should come away from the bone very easily. Once cooked, remove the veal pieces from the sauce and place on your chopping board. Using two forks, pull the meat off the bones and tear the meat apart so that you have nice little broken up chunks of meat. Return the meat to the sauce, stir through the chopped parsley and keep warm.










Gnocchi Method:
Preheat oven to 200c
Pierce the potatoes with a fork, otherwise the potatoes may explode!
Place potatoes on a baking tray and bake for approximately 1 hour or until soft in the middle.
Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, remove their skins and place the skinless potato into a bowl.
Using a masher or ricer, mash the potatoes until smooth - it's easier to do this while the potatoes are still warm.
Add your egg yolks and mix through the mash.
Slowly add flour to the mix - just enough to make the mixture into a very light light dough.
Once you've brought the mixture together, seperate it into 4 pieces and roll each one on a lightly floured surface to look like a long sausage.
Line the 4 dough 'sausages' up and cut the Gnocchi into little pillow shapes. Lining them up help keeps them a similar shape.
Plunge the Gnocchi into some salted boiling water and cook until it floats and then for another minute or so.
Lift the Gnocchi out of the water with a slotted spoon and drain well.
Place the gnocchi on a warmed plate and top with a couple of spoonfuls of your meat sauce.
Grate some parmesan or similar cheese over the top and maybe sprinkle some more parsley and Bob's your Uncle!

This recipe is also wicked served with some Parpadelle or other thick pasta in place of the Gnocchi. You could even whip up some polenta and serve with that. Or, you could try something I had at Pelligrini's the other day - toast some bread and place on your plate - cover the bread with ham, this is to protect it from the sauce and keep it crunchy. Spoon your sauce over the top and there you go! Molto Italiano! Bellisimo!!