Ricotta Gnudi with Wild Mushroom and Truffle Sauce

I started subscribing to Bon Appetit magazine about 3 years. Up until then I would buy the magazine only occasionally when I was attracted to something yummy looking on the cover. By the time I started buying it nearly every month, I thought it would be best - and cheaper - if I caved in and subscribed.

The subscription card I used advertised a free-gift-with-subscription, a "Tastes of Italy" cookbook. The cookbook turned out to be a small, pocket-sized 42-page booklet of recipes from Appetizers to Desserts, but as demure as it is in stature, it consists of many recipes that are big on flavor. Tom and I have prepared what have become many favorites from its pages. This recipe is one.

So what is Gnudi (correctly pronounced nyoo-dee, but in our house it's simply noo-dee)? It's a little like Gnocchi, but more tender because it uses cheese instead of potatoes and contains less flour. The texture is more like a light and tender old fashioned dumpling.

Granted this dish takes a little time, even if you don't make your own Ricotta cheese like I do. But I swear to you, if you love Italian food, if you love pasta, this dish is worth every bit of effort. The contrast of the rich, tender dumplings with the earthy meatiness of the mushrooms in the herby broth and the hint of black truffle oil is truly Yuuummmmm inspiring. The tender dumplings almost melt in your mouth. I especially love that extra little crunch of the crisped prosciutto and fried fresh sage leaves.

We did have to make a slight adjustment to the recipe for the sauce. The original recipe calls for "wild" mushrooms. I have difficulty finding any specialty produce locally. Shitaki is about the wildest mushroom we get in these parts. To avoid driving all the way to Little Rock for oyster, trumpet or enoki mushrooms, I used a mixture of shitaki, crimini (also called baby bellas) and white button mushrooms. When you slice the shitaki mushrooms, discard the stems or toss them in your compost pile. The stems are woody and will become stringy and inedible during cooking.

Although I purchase my black truffle oil online, I've seen it for sale locally in the kitchen department at T.J. Maxx.

So now that we have all the necessary ingredients, let's get started. You will just have to take this dish a step at a time and you'll start by making the Gnudi. Gather just a few simple ingredients: fresh ricotta, an egg, grated Pecorino Romano cheese, salt, white pepper and flour.



If you've purchased your ricotta, you'll need to drain it in a colander using paper towels or cheese cloth. While the ricotta is draining, mix the egg, Romano cheese, salt and pepper together until well blended, mix in the ricotta, then sprinkle with 1/4 of a cup of the flour and stir in gently to blend.

Voila! You've prepared the Gnudi dough. Easy peasy. Now just cover it  and chill the dough for an hour. You can even make the dough a day ahead and chill it overnight.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and put some flour in a bowl.



For each Gnudi, gently roll one heaping teaspoonful of dough into a ball, place it in the bowl of flour, toss to lightly coat, then shape the ball into a short log and place the log onto the baking sheet.



I know you're wondering about those ridges on the dough. Tom loves this gadget...



It's a Gnocchi board. It's about 8-inches long, including the handle. Tom likes the way it makes the Gnudi and Gnocchi look professionally made. Though very traditional in Italian cooking, it is not really necessary, but it's cheap (under $10) and easy to use. You just roll each piece of dough gently over the surface of the paddle.

Anyway, when you've used all the dough to shape your Gnudi, cover it and keep it refrigerated while you prepare the sauce.

First crisp up the prosciutto in a frying pan and drain on a paper towel. Then fry up some fresh sage leaves until their crispy and drain. Set those aside.



Now add the aromatics to the pan: shallots, thyme and chopped fresh sage leaves.



Sauté gently and once the shallots are translucent, add the mushrooms and sauté until the mushrooms are brown and the mushroom liquid has evaporated.



Remove the mushroom mixture from the pan to a bowl. Add chicken broth to the pan, bring it to a boil and simmer until slightly reduced. Turn off the heat under the pan and add a teaspoon of truffle oil (or more, if you want a stronger truffle flavor) to the liquid and stir, then add the mushroom mixture back into the pan. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm while you prepare the Gnudi.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add a couple of teaspoons of salt. Cook the Gnudi in the boiling water until very tender, about 8 minutes.

While the Gnudi is cooking, rewarm the sauce over medium heat and add a 1/2 a stick of butter cut into small cubes and mix with the sauce until butter is melted and well blended.

When the Gnudi is done, remove it from the boiling water to a strainer, then transfer it to the pot with the sauce. Toss with the sauce until the Gnudi is well coated. Dump it all into a large shallow pasta bowl and top with crumbled prosciutto and crispy sage leaves and serve with additional grated Pecorino Romano cheese and hot crusty bread.



Ricotta Gnudi with Wild Mushroom and Truffle Sauce
Adapted from Bon Appetit

For the Gnudi:

• 1 pound fresh ricotta cheese
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese, plus additional for serving
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• large pinch of ground white pepper
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus additional for coating

For the Sauce and Garnishes:

• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 6 thin slices prosciutto
• 12 whole fresh sage leaves, stems removed
• 2 pounds fresh wild mushrooms, sliced (stemmed shitaki, oyster, enoki, trumpet) I used a combination of shitaki, crimini and white button mushrooms
• 2 large shallots, chopped
• 6 springs fresh thyme
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon black truffle oil (or more according to your taste preference)
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, diced

For the Gnudi:

If you did not make your own ricotta, line a colander with cheesecloth or several layers of paper towels. Spoon the container of ricotta cheese into the colander and allow to drain at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour.

When the ricotta is almost drained, beat the egg, 1/3 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, salt, and white pepper in large bowl to blend. Mix in the ricotta. Sprinkle 3/4 cup flour over and stir gently to blend. Cover and chill dough 1 hour. This can be made 1 day ahead, but keep chilled.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or plastic wrap. Place some flour in bowl. For each gnudi, gently roll 1 heaping teaspoonful of dough into ball. Add to flour; toss to coat lightly, shaping into short log. Place on baking sheet. Cover and chill (up to 4 hours) while making the sauce.

For the Sauce and Garnishes:

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large pot or extra-large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 3 prosciutto slices. Cook until beginning to brown, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to paper towels. Repeat with remaining prosciutto. Add whole sage leaves to the pan; sauté until crisp, about 1 minute per side. Transfer to paper towels.

Heat remaining 4 tablespoons oil in same pan over medium-high heat. Add the shallots, thyme, and chopped sage sauté until the shallots are translucent. Add all of the mushrooms and sauté until brown and their liquids evaporate, about 12 minutes. Transfer the mushroom mixture to bowl. Add the chicken broth to same pan and boil until the broth is slightly reduced, scraping up browned bits, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat. Add 1 teaspoon truffle oil and mushroom mixture back to the pan. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and set aside.

Bring a large pot of water and 2 teaspoons of salt to a boil. Add the Gnudi and cook in the boiling salted water until very tender, about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, turn the heat back on under the sauce to rewarm. Add butter; toss until blended.

When the Gnudi is done, remove it from the boiling water to a strainer, then transfer it to the pan with the sauce. Toss with the sauce until the Gnudi is well coated. Dump it all into a large shallow pasta bowl and top with crumbled prosciutto and crispy sage leaves and serve with additional grated Pecorino Romano cheese and hot crusty bread.

Chicken Scaloppini ala Macaroni Grill

On of my favorite things to do during the spring and summer is to spend about one Sunday afternoon a month eating a late lunch/early dinner on the patio at Macaroni Grill.

There aren't many people who dine on the patio because of the dense southern heat, but the patio is shaded, ceiling fans provide a breeze and it's much quieter than dining inside, where crowds of diners have to almost shout to be heard over each other and the 'background' music sung by singers long passed away, i.e. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, et al.

Generally, our meal starts with the Mozzarella Alla Caprese: tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil, aged balsamic vinegar and fresh basil. Tom will almost always order some sort of fish for his main course. I always have the Chicken Scaloppini: Sauteed chicken with artichokes, mushrooms, prosciutto and lemon butter over pasta.

We haven't been to Macaroni Grill for quite some time, maybe a year or so, but one day I was craving the Chicken Scaloppini and tried to find a recipe for it on the internet. The recipe I found serves 10 people and contains a whole pound of butter! Um, no thanks.

I decided to try to duplicate it on my own. I use pancetta or regular smoked bacon instead of proscuitto. Either works very well. And although I do use heavy cream, I use Smart Balance spread instead of butter! My version comes really close. Though not identical, it is really tasty.





Chicken Scaloppini ala Macaroni Grill

For the sauce:

• Juice of one lemon
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 4 tablespoons Smart Balance or butter

For the Chicken & Pasta

• 2 chicken breasts, cut in half horizontally then pounded thin
• Blended oil for sauteing chicken (equal parts olive oil and vegetable oil)
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup flour, seasoned with salt and pepper, for dredging
• 4 ounces pancetta or smoked bacon, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 8 to 10 ounces mushrooms, sliced, or 1 small can sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1 - 14 ounce can artichoke hearts, drained well and roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons capers
• 1/2 pound angel hair pasta, cooked
• Parmesan cheese, grated, for garnish

To Make the Sauce:
In a small saucepan, heat the lemon juice and white wine over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the liquid by one third. Add the cream and simmer the mixture until it thickens slightly, about 4 to 5 minutes. Whisk in the Smart Balance or butter until it's melted and completely incorporated. Season with a little salt and pepper, then remove from heat and keep warm.

To Make the Chicken and the Pasta:

In a large frying pan, cook pancetta or bacon until just crispy. Remove from pan to paper towel and set aside. Drain grease from frying pan.

Cook pasta and drain.

Heat about 3 tablespoons blended oil in the large frying pan. Dredge chicken pieces in flour mixture and saute in hot oil, turning only once, until browned and cooked through. Remove chicken from the pan to a plate. If you are using raw mushroom slices, add to pan and cook until mushrooms are softened and cooked through, then add chopped artichokes, and capers to pan and cook until heated through. (If you use canned mushrooms, you can add the mushrooms, artichokes and capers to the pan at the same time.)

Add the chicken and bacon back into the pan with the other ingredients. Add the prepared sauce to the pan, mix well and bring to a boil.

To serve, place a portion of cooked pasta on the plate. Top with chicken mixture, using a little extra sauce on the pasta if needed. Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese.

Served with a nice green salad and a glass of Chianti....yummy!

Day One of the July 4th Holiday Weekend and My Garden

I do hope that all of you are having a fun and SAFE July 4th holiday.

Since our boat isn't back from the shop yet, we've decided to just hang out at home, do some yard work and work on the house to get it ready to sell in the near future (we hope). This morning was yard work. Tomorrow is painting, painting and more painting. But we started our weekend with dinner last night.

Grilled steaks with mushroom sauce, grilled yukon gold potatoes drizzled with truffle oil and a simple salad with white balsamic salad dressing.

I loved the potatoes cooked this way...


Tom sliced them about 1/2 inch thick and parboiled the slices until he was just barely able to pierce the flesh with a fork and the potato still had resistance. He removed the potatoes from the boiling water to a paper towel to dry. When the grill was ready, he brushed them with olive oil and sprinkled the slices on both sides with salt and pepper and cooked them on the grill until they were done all the way through. He removed them from the grill to a plate and drizzled each slice with a few drops of black truffle oil.

I had a sizable portion of the Mushroom Sauce in the freezer, which I thawed earlier in the day, but you can get the recipe HERE.

Tonight we are making Vinny's Chicken, a recipe we duplicated from a small, family owned Italian restaurant in Oceanside, California where we could be found nearly every Friday night. Vinny marinated chicken halves (we will use chicken breasts) for several hours in white wine, lots of chopped garlic and fresh rosemary. Simply delicious. Vinny (Vincent DeGallo), the chef/owner of the restaurant, learned to cook from his mother when he was a boy. I've never tasted better Italian food anywhere.

As our side dish, I'm thrilled to be making one of my favorites, Pan-Crisped Deviled Eggs on French Lettuces, a recipe that I copied from Debbie's blog, The Friday Friends. Of course, we can't get French lettuces here, but a spring salad mix works fine.

For dessert we'll have sweetened blackberries (from our garden) spooned over no-sugar, low-fat ice cream (hey, you gotta cut down somewhere. It might as well be the ice cream).

I will have photos of tonight's dinner tomorrow.

I haven't shared much about my garden so far this season. It started out quite stunted because of all the rain in May. Then our weather turned from cool to unbearably hot, nearly 100 degrees every single day in June. My plants have been very confused. But they are perking up and starting to produce.

My French Tarragon is doing nicely...


I've already used four large poblano's for a meal of Roasted Poblanos Stuffed with Black Beans and Rice with a Suiza Sauce

And the plants are still going strong...

My orange bell peppers are just now starting to turn orange...

But my red bell peppers are still green with no sign of changing color yet...

The fruit has set on my tomatillo plants...

And we will have Snow Globe cherry tomatoes soon...

After last year's dismal failure, it looks like I will have heirloom tomatoes...


From the looks of things, we will be overflowing with produce very soon.

“All mushrooms are edible - once” ~ Author Unknown

It started cooling off here in Arkansas about three or four weeks ago, although we had a few unseasonably warm days.

All summer long, we ate grilled meats and fish, every kind of salad imaginable and maybe only one or two cold soups, like Gazpacho. So when the weather turns, I'm ready for warm, comfort foods.



I started our soup season with Cream of Mushroom soup. It was delicious and we had enough to have as a meal with truffled croutons the first night...

,

and as a first course drizzled with a little truffle oil the second night.



This soup was so good, in fact, that the next day Tom came home with four packages of different kinds of wild mushrooms for me to use next time I made this, which he hoped would be very soon.

Keep in mind when purchasing your mushrooms, you can use any combination of mushrooms you like. I've made this soup with several different types of mushrooms with the same delicious result.

Cream of Mushroom Soup
by Terri Powers for Terri's Table

1 package (about 6 - 8 ounces) fresh shitake mushrooms
1 package (about 8 - 10 ounces) fresh crimini mushrooms (they are called Baby Bellas here)
1 package (about 14 - 16 ounces) white button mushrooms
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 stick (1/4 pound) butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
1 medium sized sprig of fresh thyme, leaves removed and finely minced
1 bunch of green onions, sliced thin (white and green parts)
1/4 cup all purpose flour
4 cups chicken broth
1-1/2 cups white wine
1 cup half and half
1 cup heavy cream

Clean the mushrooms, remove the woody stems from the shitake mushrooms and thinly slice the mushroom caps.

In a large pot, heat the olive oil. Add the onion, carrot, celery and fresh thyme and cook over medium high heat until the onion is almost transparent. Add the mushrooms and green onion and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, until the mushrooms have softened. Remove everything from the pot to a bowl and set aside.

To the empty pot, add the butter and allow to melt completely, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen any vegetable bits. Add the flour to the butter and cook over medium heat until your roux is lightly browned, about 2 to 4 minutes. Do not allow to burn. Using a whisk, stir the chicken broth into the roux in a steady stream until all the broth has been added and the mixture is smooth and does not have any lumps. Stir in the wine.

Add the mushroom mixture back into the pot, mix well to incorporate into the broth. Bring the broth back to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook uncovered for about 45 minutes, allowing the broth to thicken a little and reduce slightly.

A few minutes before serving, add the half-and-half and cream, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Heat the soup through, but do not allow to boil. Serve with croutons.

Truffled Croutons
by Terri Powers for Terri's Table

1 loaf of french bread
olive oil
2 to 3 teaspoons black truffle infused oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the loaf of french bread into crouton-sized pieces and put into large bowl. Start adding olive oil a tablespoon at a time, continually tossing the bread, until all the cubes of bread are pretty evenly coated. Continue to toss the croutons while you sprinkle the infused truffle oil over them a teaspoon at a time.

Spread the croutons in a single layer on a large cookie sheet or baking pan. Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, until crunchy but not hard. Sprinkle on soup to serve.