Not Your Mother's Liver and Onions

I doubt that this will be the most viewed post!  Liver and Onions, are you kidding!?  But, before you tune out give this dish some credit.  Liver packs a wallop when it comes to helping with iron deficiencies.  I know, I've been on the anemic side and was told to eat spinach and liver.  That's right..doctor's orders.  I admit, though, I'm not a fan of beef liver.  It has to be chicken liver.

Growing up, my mom would make liver as often as she could, and she got away with it quite often!   She loves liver to this day!   In my teens I had an abundant  supply of chicken livers since I worked at Kentucky Fried Chicken.  My cat loved me because I always smelled like chicken when I arrived home from work.  He didn't eat liver but he got his fill and more of chicken breasts, his favorite!

My recent quest to disguise/transform liver into something gourmet led to this liver, onion and apple recipe.  Enjoy!  Or at least try to!

Ingredients:

3-4 slices of pancetta , diced (bacon can be substituted)

1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 apple, peeled and sliced

5 button mushroom, sliced

2 small garlic cloves, chopped

1 container (3/4 lb) of chicken livers, drained,  rinsed and cut into bite size pieces

1/4 cup white wine

1/4 cup chicken broth or water

1 fresh sage leaf, minced

2 Tbsp. parsley, chopped

In a large skillet cook the pancetta as you would bacon.  Remove to a paper towel to drain but save the drippings.  Add the onion to the drippings and cook on medium to soften.  Then add the apples,   mushrooms, and garlic, cooking until soft.   Remove from the pan and set aside.

Cook the liver in the same skillet with the remaining drippings.  Stir often as you cook until browned, yet still a bit pink.  Add the pancetta, onions, apple, mushrooms and garlic back in.  Add the the wine and chicken broth, sage and 1 Tbsp of the parsley.  Now, simmer this on medium for about 5 minutes, until the liquid evaporates leaving a nice light sauce.

Garnish with remaining parsley.  Serve over rice or pasta or by itself.  Delicious, I promise!

Creamy Cheesy Cauliflower Soup

Our first snow of the Season is predicted for early next week!  Temperatures ranging from mid 80's  during the day to almost freezing at night.  That's Northern Nevada for you.  When the weather gives us this Wintery mix, there's nothing better than brewing some hot steamy soup to warm the old bones and sooth the soul.

I've tried different recipes for cauliflower soup.  Some spicy, some bland,  and some with roasted cauliflower.  My mother used to make cauliflower with cheese sauce years ago so I guess I'm trying to achieve those exact flavors.  Not there yet, but until then, this cheesy cauliflower soup was pretty tasty.

Ingredients:

3 cups raw cauliflower florets

3 cups chicken broth

2  pieces of sliced leeks (3-4 inch pieces of the white end), washed or 1 3/4 cup of the same

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 tsp herb de Provence

1/8 tsp cayenne

dash of salt

Cook all ingredients in a large pot on medium high heat until cauliflower is done.  This may take about 15 minutes.  Puree the soup in batches in the blender and add back into the pot.

Add approximately 4 oz. of any good melting cheese such as cheddar, fontina or smoked Gouda (this is what I used).  Stir often on low/med heat.  When the cheese has melted, time to serve!

Sweet Potato Gnocchi - Pasta of the month

I'm just a pasta making machine and loving every moment!  This ambitious endeavor has always been on my "bucket list" of things to do. If you're a cook like I profess to be, a trip to Italy will launch your cooking skills.  Inspiration is everywhere.  The fresh pasta and ingredients are in every trattoria, bistro or restaurant.  They even have amazing food at the auto strata eateries which look like a large 7-eleven from the outside but far, far from it as you enter.  So how do you savor the flavors of those places?  You make pasta!

My "pasta of the month" is sweet potato gnocchi from scratch.  To me, it's the starting point for pasta making.  If you can play with play dough, you can make gnocchi.  And there is nothing better than fresh pasta. This recipe makes over 100 little pillows of goodness.   I needed to use my new toy, a gnocchi board.  I'm still working on technique but with the right amount of pressure I'll have these babies looking machine made, perfetto (perfect).

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sweet potato 

2 cups flour + more for rolling and shaping

1 egg

1/2 tbsp salt for cooking water

Microwave the potato, skin and scoop out to measure.   Place chunks in a large bowl, mash with a fork or masher and cool a bit before mixing with flour.

Stir in the flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough forms.  You may not need all the flour.  The dough should be soft. 

Now stir in the egg and mix well.  If it's on the wet sticky side, add more flour (1/2 cup or so).  Divide the dough into 4-6 pieces. On a surface sprinkled with flour,  roll each piece like you're making a long snake about 1 inch in diameter and as long as the dough will take you.  Then cut into 1/2 inch "pillows" (pieces).   If you happen to have a gnocchi board lying around use it to make the ridges.  A fork can do the same thing or you can leave them without the ridges (more rustic)  As you make each piece place them on a pieces of parchment paper on a baking sheet or surface.  Repeat the gnocchi making until the dough is gone.  I estimate that you'll have well over 100, possibly around 120!!

roll and cut

form with board

ready to freeze or cook

You now have the option of freezing them for a later time.  Just place the gnocchi filled baking sheet directly into the freezer for about an hour or two.  When frozen you can put them in freezer bags.  It will take slightly longer to cook the gnocchi in a frozen state and no need to defrost.

To cook that day:  Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.  Put the gnocchi in but don't crowd them.  When they rise to the top (usually in 1 minute or less), they're done.  You can do this in batches.  Have the melted butter or browned sage sauce waiting in another pan or pop into a warm oven as you make more.

When it comes to how many per serving....how hungry are you?  Between 15 and 20 is a sizable portion!  I guarantee that these will melt in your mouth!

Lasagna - A Work in Progress

I don't know what I'm trying to prove sometimes.  I heard the words come out of my mouth, "I'm making lasagna from scratch, from the sauces to the pasta sheets".  I was mortified!!  Now, I just had to follow through.

When all was said and done, and eaten, the jury was in from all my "birthday" taste testers.  The room got extremely quiet (always a good sign as everyone filled their mouths and bellies with the lasagna).  I'm always my worst critic.  The pasta noodles were wonderfully soft, the bechamel great, but next time I'll reduce the amount.  

The Bolognese sauce will, again, be revised.  Maybe just my simple marinara, huh?  I'll add my hubby's favorite spicy Italian sausage back in.  And last but not least, I may hire a kitchen clean up crew!  It took me longer to clean up the kitchen than it did to make noodles from scratch!

kitchen help needed!

more dishes

bechamel ready

ready for pasta making

pasta before kneading

ready to roll!

ah...finito!  time to assemble!

Was it worth the trouble?  Of course!  I found the act of pasta making to be relaxing (I know that's warped thinking!), but true.

It was not Zeno's lasagna from Costa Rica, but it's getting very close!  Sorry, no recipe until the process is complete!

My Marinara

You've all probably heard of sauce referred to as Marinara, tomato, pomodoro. puttanesca, Bolognese, Sunday gravy, etc, etc.  I'm sure the list goes on.  Marinara is a simple tomato sauce I use for a quick sauce, one that doesn't require  hours to cook.  Depending on the region of Italy you come from, or how you want to use the sauce, will depend on what recipe you'll use.  Or, maybe, you have a "secret" family recipe that has been passed down for years.

Then there are those of us who had to travel to Italy to finally "get it", come home and start to experiment in the kitchen to get it right.  Or travel to Costa Rica, of all places, to have the BEST lasagna on the planet.   After years of trial and error with sauces I made this one recently to go on some fried eggplant.  So, as far as Marinara goes, I'm done.  Sunday sauce or a good Bolognese is still being "developed".

Now, I do have a great sauce recipe from family, but if I posted it, I'd have the mafia coming to break both my arms!  (just kidding, I hope) Until another time....enjoy this simple marinara.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 medium onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, sliced

28 oz. can of diced or whole tomatoes, cut up

1 Tbsp dried oregano  (next time I will omit this, don't much care for oregano)

1 handful torn up fresh basil

1 package of truvia sweetener (or use sugar)

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup tomato paste

1/4 - 1/2 cup red wine

In a large pot, heat the oil, add onions and cook until soft.  Add the garlic, stir for a minute, then add the tomatoes, oregano, basil, truvia , salt, tomato paste and wine.  Stir well, bring it to a slow boil, cover loosely, and reduce the heat to low.  Simmer on low for about 30 minutes or longer.

Pour sauce into a blender and puree to the consistency you want.  You can also leave some chunks in your sauce if you like that.  You're in control!  Now adorn your eggplant or pasta with this marinara.  Mangia! (Eat!)

Note:  The top picture is before it went into the blender.

Marinara on zucchini and eggplant