Feeding Umi » Italian Food

Homemade Sweet Potato and Ricotta Gnocchi

umi — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 14:00:24 +0000

I found this recipe via epicurious.com. It had rave reviews and with a bit of a modification to how I made it, it should be light, fluffy, and delicious. It really doesn’t look like much, but at least the first time, the time commitment is a lot. It took me over all 3 hours. Also, please note that this recipe makes enough for 5 people’s entrees (or more people’s side dishes). I froze around half the dough.

2 1-pound red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams), rinsed, patted dry, pierced all over with fork. (The forking is actually harder than a regular potato)
1 12-ounce container fresh ricotta cheese, drained in sieve for 2 hours – although I just used several paper towels lining a sieve to drain the ricotta faster.
1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (I used Romano cheese and Parnesan)
2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
2 teaspoons plus 2 tablespoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg (I used all ready grounded nutmeg)
2 3/4 cups (about) all purpose flour (As I will specify below, I used around less than 2 cups of flour over all. Around 1 and … 2/3 cups. The less flour you put in, the less dense the whole thing will be. However, how much flour you need to put will depend on your water content – of the yams and ricotta – so I would be careful to fully drain the ricotta)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
6 tablespoons chopped fresh sage plus whole leaves for garnish

Microwave the yams on high heat for around 5 minutes. If parts of it are not soft enough, microwave for more time. Be careful handling a hot potato. Scrape the insides and mash. Add Parmesan cheese, brown sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, nutmeg and ricotta and blend in.

Mix in flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, until soft dough forms. It will be sticky, but as long as it doesn’t fall apart. Stop when the dough is light, sticky, but sticks together. try not to handle the dough too much as that will make the Gnocchi tougher. (And you really want them light as air) I mixed in less than 2 cups of flour. Don’t forget that you will be flouring them to handle, also.

Place the dough on a floured surface and cut the dough into (recommended by epicurious) 6 equal pieces. I rolled them out into a rope with 1 inch in diameter, and cut the pieces into half an inch pieces. Press the fork gently into each piece to indent and slightly flatten, and put them on a baking sheet. (I lined a large plate with parchment paper, sprinkled them with flour, and layered these babies to freeze until the next day.

To cook them, add water to a big pot, add salt (around 2 tablespoons) and bring to a boil. My main advice to you is work in small batches. I worked in two large batches and i couldn’t take them out in time so they softened quite a bit in the frying pan. The night before, I experimented with a small batch to taste, and it came out PERFECT. (See below.) Although it takes more time, work in small batches and drain the water from the dumplings before pan frying.

When you do boil the gnocchi, don’t leave them in there for the recommended 5-6 minutes. I would pull them out as soon as they start to float. (Especially if you didn’t put in the full amount of flour – my gnocchis were LIGHT AS AIR, but it was easier to cook them into mush)

Brown butter in a heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until butter solids are brown and have toasty aroma, swirling pan occasionally, about 3-5 minutes. Add chopped sage (mixture will bubble up). Toss around the pan for couple of seconds before turning off heat. At this stage you can season this sauce with salt and pepper, generously, but I really didn’t need to do anything at all.

Work in small batches again, diving the sauce up and pouring little by little into the frying pan for each of the batches, sauteing the gnocchi in the sauce. They should get slightly crispy. It’s also recommended that if you do want them more crispier on the outside, coat them in flour very quickly before sauteing.

Divide the gnocchi and the sauce up and serve with a garnish of Parmesan and sage.

Roe Spaghetti

umi — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 17:55:22 +0000

This is along the same line as the tarako spaghetti or salted pollock roe spaghetti. In Sardinia they use bottarga, or smelt roe, to make spaghetti. It’s a block of roe that you grate. Sort of like a parmesan of the sea. It’s fishy, salty, and delicious. Really, it’s easy and perfect for a special dinner.

All we like to do is roast a whole bulb of garlic in the oven for 40+ minutes at 400 or so degrees. I pluck out the cloves, mash it with some spaghetti, drizzle some olive oil, and maybe some dried pepper and other herbs. Then you just grate some bottarga right on top. It’s delicious and garlicky and one of our favorite things to do now. It’s great accompanied by something white and sparkly to drink.

The best thing is that it’s easiest thing to do. You just need to go out to a nice Italian store and get some bottarga. They also sell it dried in a bottle, which we haven’t tried yet, but it’s basically all the same. It’s also perfect to have when a vegetarian comes over. Despite the fact that Ryan tried to push it on Tracy, because, “Hey! It’s just eggs. You eat eggs.” Ahem. I don’t think that’s the point. We just boiled some spaghetti, mixed it the bulb of roasted garlic, and grated ours with bottarga and topped hers off with some home made tapenade of sun-dried tomatoes and chopped olives.

Bar Stuzzichini

umi — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:25:36 +0000

Bar Stuzzichini
928 Broadway
New York, NY 10010-6008

This place is a LONG TIME favorite of Ryan and I’s. LOVE IT. It’s a huge Italian Bistro that is totally laid back and friendly servers. This is the place we bombard at 10pm when we have a party of 15 that we need to feed. Seriously. The place is so spacious and they are always very accomodating, as long as we squeak by their late last call.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get any pictures of the small plates, since everyone was passing them around. They have the Stuzzichinis, small plates, that are the thing to get. We had around 13 people at this birthday party, and we ordered 6 little plates that set everyone back $14 a piece. Not bad. We ordered fried cheese and risotto balls, meat balls, balsamic reduction zuchinnis, pork shoulder, white anchovies on a crostini (amazing), and a ricotta and saffron honey crostini. It was all amazing.

We usually like to get tons of little plates and quartinos of wine to taste. If we feel a bit hungrier, we like to split a pasta dish. This night, we split a chicory salad with anchovy dressing and Sardinean Caviar Spaghetti. The noodle were delicious and reminded me of Japanese Tarako caviar dish that I always loved. Our other favorites are the pistaccio and lemon cream sauce pastas, as well as the onion, garlic, and pork cheek gnocci dish. DELICIOUS. The former is creamy, subtle, and really nutty and refreshing, while the latter is spicy in a tomato based sauce and the go to plate for something hearty.

Staying in Bushwick

umi — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 05:00:48 +0000

Ryan’s lease is expiring on July 1st. In the end, we decided to stay in this apartment. Originally, Ryan was looking forward to moving to midtown due to the falling rent prices. However, even then, you aren’t going to get the amount of space you do in Brooklyn. You just won’t. We looked around Washington Heights in the 175-160s, and found very nice spacious apartments. However, the space is around the same, the price was a little loftier, and the moving costs were daunting. The commute would be the same for me, and we didn’t feel anything compelling drawing us. It would the same deal as we have now, just on the other side of town.

Sure there are some positives, such as yellow cabs will actually drop us off. (They are scared of crossing any sort of bridge, usually) We would be close to a lot of Ryan’s cohorts. There are other train options, other than the “L.”

Those things weren’t enough to drive us away. In the end, we negotiated the rent with the landlord to something more appropriate for the current market. He was reasonable, fixed our sink, and changed the other name of the lease. Some of the positives of Brooklyn is the unique favor, the up and coming gentrification, and general demographic is young kids. In the end, last week, we celebrated the decision by going to our local favorite pizza place, Roberta’s, where they cook the oven in a real huge iron oven. (You know, like Taboon, any place with a huge old oven is a fav of mine. Also in the outside seating, there is an old car that’s been gutted as a mini garden.)

They had a mouth watering special of ricotta, mozarella, prosciutto, topped with truffle oil. The whole thing was cheesy, without being over powering (surprisingly) and definitely didn’t disappoint.

Last time I blogged about this place, I complained about it no longer being BYOB. That is still a bummer, but they have a cute bar now, with a wide and reasonable bar list. They have several beer options for around $4 and a sparkling wine option for $6. Of course it goes up.

We shared the pizza with some prosecco, toasted to staying in the area, and promised ourselves that we will take advantage of our residency and discover more Brooklyn restaurants in the future.

If you haven’t been, it is definitely worth making the trip out.

‘inoteca, Very Sceney with Solid Bready Food

umi — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:15:19 +0000

This past weekend I was invited to dine at ‘inoteca at Rivington St, in the Lower Eastside. From the outside it was very swank and “sceney.” However, our table was downstairs in a little room that resembled a wine cellar. The lights were low and if it weren’t for the parties in the other table, it would have been a cute intimiate atmosphere.

The waitstaff was very friendly, attentive, with a good grasp of the menu. The menu, on the other hand, was different Italian fare than just pasta. It was dedicated to tapas sandwiches and other bread stuff. Seriously. The way the menu was broken down to me was as follows: Small Toasts, Big Toasts, and Pannini. When I thought I ordered something not resembling toast, I was wrong. I ordered the polenta with a poached egg, bitter greens, roasted tomato, pine nuts, gorgonzola, and pancetta. What came out was a beautifully done polenta crisped into the shape of a toast (and really, carbs is carbs, right?) topped with delicious ingredients. The whole thing was superb. The Pannini with any cold cut is delicious. They did have a cheesy deepfried risotto, but I actually got quite tired of having bready fried food. The octopus salad was tart with bitter greens like arugala, which paired well with everything else and added the much needed variety. The wine menu is superb and they will help you pair with any food you get.

The price is to be expected. It’s trendy and a little pricey, but the food is pretty substancial. I still like a place like Bar Stuzzichini better. They have a vareity of delicious food simply done. I would much rather get one bread dish, like bruschette, and get other things like grilled sardines, cheese balls, and meatballs.

Pizza in Bushwick, Brooklyn

umi — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 01:54:05 +0000

(Yikes!! It has almost been a month since anyone has last updated. We should come up with a regular update schedule. I mean, if only for the sole purpose of getting a treat once a week.)

We recently went to Roberta’s, a pizza place in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Ryan heard about it and was interested in trying it. It was also featured in the Underground Gourmet Review in New York Magazine. It is near the Morgan stop on the L, cute, laid back, with a bright red brick oven, and slightly indie vibe. It is spacious with seating for four or more on the long picnic tables. The outside seating includes two long tables shared by groups. It is BYOB with an extensive menu of personal pizzas, seasonal salads, and some antipasti.

I’m not a big pizza person, but when it is done well I can appreciate its comfort. I didn’t really like pizza as a child, because it was never done well. It was too cheesy and dry, the crust bland, or the sauce was tasteless. Over the years I’ve had some very good pizza and some very bad pizza. I only rarely “crave” pizza, but when I do mediocre pizza just makes me want to never eat it again.

This being said, I am not a big toppings fan. I like ham and pineapple or sausage and mushrooms. I like saucy Sicilians. (Oh wait, were we still on the topic of pizza?) I usually go for a plain slice with oregano and garlic sprinkled on top.

Here, they have non-cheese pizza (for the vegetarian-minded), a regular margherita, and then an extensive menu of beautifully crafted toppings on the pizza specials. We shared the Da Kine, which features pineapples, ham, jalapeno peppers, and ricotta. The jalapeno peppers went very well with the pineapple and prosciutto. The dough was chewy, and medium thin. Ryan dislikes bland dough and thought that this crust had a good flavor that complimented the overall creation. The pizza we had was delicious without being overbearing (too much of one flavor). The pie itself probably had a diameter of 12”. This place has me planning my next visit, which is always a sign of a good meal. Next time, I will probably try the Lupo with spring garlic, pesto, ricotta, mozzarella and prosciutto cotto.

Our bill for the pizza ($15) and soft drinks came out to $19 for two people. The pizza ranges from $8-15. A dish of olives is $5, other appetizers range below $10, and the drinks hover between $2-4. One pie is perfect to share and should be enough coupled with a beer or an appetizer. This is a perfect place to come with a group of people. You can order couple of pies and bring a few bottles of wine.

Ryan’s Additional Observations:

This place exceeded expectations food-wise, and atmosphere-wise as well. It’s too bad that we only discovered the place in mid-September because the outdoor seating seemed to be a great option. As Umi mentioned, I found the crust and dough to be above average, with an excellent amount of chew, without being doughy, and salty without being a salt-lick. Pretty perfect. My one main grip with the pizza is that while the crust is of a nice density, the rest of the pie is a bit too thin, which leads to the whole fork-and-knife approach, no matter how cold your slice gets. This is a minor grip because it tasted great, but the tactile experience of eating pizza is at least as important as the taste, in my opinion, and Roberta’s kind of falls down on that accord. It’s like all of the ingredients of a really good pizza, but not quite assembled properly. In the end though, you probably won’t mind, and if you live in Bushwick or Williamsburg, you’ll probably come back here a lot once you discover it.

I would also say that while it is very friendly with a nice staff, the service is a little wobbly, though you probably won’t mind. I didn’t, except that my table was pretty dirty when we sat down, and it wasn’t very well cleaned when they came by. But hey, this is a communal table pizza joint in Bushwick, not Le Bernadin, so it’s not a big deal.

Also, who doesn’t love BYOB?

—-

Edited: 10/3/2008 by Umi

Apparently Roberta’s is no longer BYOB, which is a huge disappointment to me.