Garlic Butter Gnocchi

Soft fluffy pillows of warm potato gnocchi tossed in a garlic butter sauce and topped with Parmesan cheese.

This was one of my first couple of times making homemade gnocchi.  I used a simple sauce so I could really taste the flavor of the gnocchi.   It's incredibly quick and delicious, but it's also filling enough for an entree (maybe with a side salad).

I used a simple sauce so I could really taste the flavor of the gnocchi. [Tweet this]

I love garlic.  It's probably my favorite ingredient and I add it to just about everything (except sweets...but I'll figure out a recipe someday ;)).  Have no fear of garlic it not only keeps vampires away it's healthy in many other ways too; just google it.  I minced up a bunch of garlic for this recipe, but you can use more or less depending on your taste preferences.  The trick is to just soften the garlic when cooking it.  You don't want to brown or burn it just heat it enough to flavor the butter and cook off that raw garlic bite.

Garlic not only keeps vampires away it's healthy in many other ways too. [Tweet this]

Garlic Butter Gnocchi

Ingredients:

Potato Gnocchi
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup minced garlic
Fresh cracked pepper
Parmesan cheese

Bring about 4-5 quarts of lightly salted water to a boil in a large stockpot.

Meanwhile, melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan.  add the olive oil and garlic.  Gently cook and stir the garlic until it's fragrant and tender.  Remove from the heat.

Place frozen or fresh gnocchi in the boiling water and let boil until it floats.  Fish the floating gnocchi out of the water with a slotted spoon or spider (skimmer) and drop into the garlic butter.  Stir and toss until the gnocchi is coated with the oil.

You can optionally turn the heat back on and cook the gnocchi in the sauce for a little just don't burn the garlic.

Place the gnocchi in bowls and top with fresh cracked pepper and Parmesan.

Makes about 2 servings depending on how much gnocchi you use.  Serve alongside a salad if you like.

Enjoy.

Don't forget to check out How to Make Potato Gnocchi:

Check out some of my pasta recipes (I know gnocchi isn't technically pasta but some of these sauces might be great with gnocchi too):

Clam Linguine    -------------------------

Mushroom Spinach Tomato Pasta

Cheesy Chicken     Garlic Penne      --------------

Very Veggie             Pasta         ----------

Spinach Pasta Bake

Pasta Primavera    --

Shrimp Scampi           --

Blue Cheese Alfredo

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How to Make Potato Gnocchi

A simple tutorial and recipe for how to make potato gnocchi (potato dumplings).

Update:  3/20/16 pin-able image and minor editing

Gnocchi are delicious soft dumplings made of flour, eggs, and potatoes.  I'm focusing on potato gnocchi in this post but apparently they can also be made with ricotta, butternut squash, or other similar ingredients.

Gnocchi are delicious soft dumplings made of flour, eggs, and potatoes. [Tweet this]

Everything I know about potato gnocchi I learned from Italian Food Forever's How to make Potato Gnocchi.  It's a great step by step tutorial all about how to make gnocchi.  The main points I took away from this post were:  it's easier than most people think, bake instead of boil your potatoes, and don't use too much flour.  With these tips, I made potato gnocchi.  I loved it and so did my husband it was simple, inexpensive, and delicious.  There are many variations of gnocchi but for my first time, I kept it simple.  It turned out great so I'll definitely experiment with adding herbs and spices in the future and maybe even other main ingredients.  I want to try ricotta gnocchi some time too, but I think it's a good idea to start basic and get this recipe down before I start to experiment.

It's easier than you think, bake don't boil potatoes, & easy on the flour. [Tweet this]

Potato Gnocchi

Ingredients:

4 russet potatoes (about 2 cups of potato insides)
1 egg
1-1 1/2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

Start with baked potatoes and scrape out the insides.  Keep the potato skins for Loaded Baked Potato Skins.  You want about 2 cups of potato insides.

Squeeze the potato through your fingers, use a potato ricer, a fork, or a masher to break up the potato as finely as you can get it.

Place the potato mash in a medium bowl, add the salt, egg, and 1 cup of flour.  Stir briefly to combine then turn out onto a lightly floured surface.

Knead gently by hand adding the rest of the flour as needed until ingredients just come together and you have a smooth dough.  Don't overwork the dough and don't add too much flour.

Cut the dough in half (or more) and roll each half into a thick rope about the thickness of a thumb.  Thicker is fine you'll just have bigger gnocchi and if you get too thin the rope will break (so you will easily know if you are getting too thin).  Short ropes are easier to roll than long ropes but roll however you're comfortable.

Cut the rope into segments about the same size as the thickness of the rope.  The gnocchi are fine like this, but you can also indent them with your thumb against the tines of a fork to dimple and give them texture (great for holding sauce).

At this point, you can refrigerate the gnocchi until ready to cook, or I find it easier to freeze them (so they are more solid).  I use the gnocchi the same day I make them so I don't know how well they keep.

Drop the prepared gnocchi into boiling, lightly salted water and boil until they float.  Remove from the water and sauce as desired.  A simple garlic butter sauce is what I made (I'll post this next time) but a simple (tomato based) pasta sauce would be great, or a pesto, or a white wine sauce.

Makes about 2 servings (maybe more if you scrape out more potato insides or have really big potatoes)

Experiment and enjoy.

Other recipes mentioned in this post:

How to Make a Great Baked Potato	Loaded Baked Potato Skins	Simple Pasta Sauce  -----------------
White Wine Sauce and Shrimp Scampi	Spinach Pistachio Pesto

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Minestrone Soup

A simple, vegetarian, Italian style soup made with vegetables, beans, pasta, tomatoes, and spices.

(Updated 2/18/16 pin-able image, tweet-ables, minor editing, linked posts)

I rarely use strict recipes when I make soup and often I forget to write down exactly what I used.  This is one of those soups.  It was delicious and I just added a little of this and a little of that until it smelled and tasted how I liked it.  I think it is rather difficult to ruin soup (maybe if you add too much salt) so there is a lot of leeway in what and how much you add.  In this recipe, I will give you an approximate guideline so you can make a soup similar to this.  Feel free to use whatever ingredients you have on hand and be creative.

Creativity never hurts #soup like #Minestrone Soup  [Tweet this]

The pasta.  You can use any pasta in a soup like this or even rice.  I used macaroni.  This is actually the macaroni I saved from the box of macaroni and cheese that I sacrificed for my Easy Cheesy Popcorn (I just used the cheese packet).  I'm not sure exactly how much it was just the amount of macaroni from a box of mac and cheese (somewhere between 1/2 and 1 cup).

Use any #pasta or #rice in Minestrone Soup  [Tweet this]

The broth.  I'm not exactly sure how much broth I used I imagine it's somewhere around 4 cups but possibly more.  I made this veggie broth from vegetable scraps so I never had exact measurements.  When I'm chopping vegetables and herbs I try to throw my scraps into a gallon sized freezer bag.  This usually contains things like onion ends, broccoli stems, celery pieces, carrot pieces, and sometimes peels (if I've washed them first).  Any vegetable scrap that I acquire throughout my cooking.  I store it in the freezer and when I want to make broth I empty the bag into my stock pot (or slow cooker), cover the scraps with water, and simmer for a few hours.  I then strain out the scraps and use the broth in recipes like soup.

#Homemadevegetablestock is great in #MinestroneSoup  [Tweet this]

The veggies.  I didn't have many vegetables in the house so I only used carrots, onion, and canned tomatoes.  If you have more veggies chop and add them or even add frozen mixed vegetables.  I don't think it could hurt to add to many vegetables.  If using more vegetables, you will probably want to use more broth to keep it soupy.  If you want to add meat that's okay too.

#Minestrone Soup is great #vegetarian or w/ meat  [Tweet this]

The beans.  I try to keep cooked beans in my freezer in 2 cup portions.  I don't add salt while cooking them so when I use them in recipes I add a little more salt.  For this recipe, the beans I had were red beans.  You could use just about any bean you have and using canned beans is fine just remember that salt is already added to canned beans and use less accordingly.

Minestrone Soup

Cook time:  about 45 minutes
Servings:  4

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 Tbsp garlic, minced
2 carrots, chopped
1 14.5 oz can of stewed tomatoes, crushed
4-6 cups vegetable broth
2 cups red beans
1/2-1 cup (dry) macaroni
dried basil
dried oregano
salt
pepper
Parmesan

Heat olive oil, over medium heat, in a stock pot.  Add the onion and cook until soft.  Then add the garlic and carrots.  Cook, stirring occasionally until slightly softened.  Add a bit of salt to the vegetable mixture.

Pour in the crushed tomatoes and vegetable broth. Cover and bring to a boil.

Add the beans, macaroni, basil, and oregano (or use an Italian blend).  Lower heat and simmer until macaroni is tender.

Taste for seasoning and add more salt or herbs as needed.

Makes about 4 servings.  Serve with fresh cracked pepper and Parmesan.

Enjoy.

Recipe mentioned in this post:

Easy Cheesy Popcorn

For more soup recipes check out:

Black Bean Soup     -

Cauliflower & Chickpea Soup

Lentil Soup         -

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Chicken Parmesan

Breaded chicken in a tomato sauce smothered in Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses.

When I used to eat out at chain Italian restaurants chicken Parmesan is the meal I always chose.  I don't eat out at chain restaurants much anymore.  I find that I make pretty good food at home, and when I eat out I like to go to local restaurants.  I particularly do not like to go to most Italian places (unless they are more high end) because I think I make just as good if not better pastas at home.  This was my first try at chicken Parmesan and it was delicious, much cheaper than at a restaurant and just as, if not more, yummy.

Many of the chicken Parmesan recipes I looked up started with just breaded chicken and then you put some Parmesan on top.  This was not good enough for me (cheese lover that I am).  I did not have any actual Parmesan, just the grated shaker kind, so I added grated Parmesan to my bread crumb mixture.  Making my chicken not only breaded but also 'cheesed'.

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken thighs (or breasts)
flour, for dredging
1-2 eggs, beaten
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
2 Tbsp Olive oil
*1/2 onion chopped
*1 Tbsp garlic minced
*1 14.5oz can stewed tomatoes, crushed
*1 cup red wine
*1 Tbsp dried basil
* few dashes dried oregano
**alternatively substitute all * items with 1 jar of favorite pasta sauce**
Mozzarella
Parmesan
Spaghetti or pasta of choice
salt and pepper to taste

Take 4 chicken thighs, if they are thick pound them with a flat mallet until about 1/2 inch thin, and season lightly with salt and pepper (on both sides). Also set up a breading station:  place flour (you can season the flour if you want) in a shallow bowl, put the beaten eggs in another shallow bowl, and finally, add bread crumbs and grated Parmesan to a large Ziploc bag and mix thoroughly.

Heat a large, oven proof, skillet with 2 Tbsps of oil over medium heat and preheat the oven to 400F.

Coat each thigh, one at a time, in flour and shake off excess.  Then, dunk it in the egg, and drop into bread crumb mixture.  Shake the bag to coat the chicken thoroughly with bread crumbs and then place in the hot skillet.  Continue with each thigh.

Fry for 5-8 minutes, until browned and crispy, on both sides.  Remove chicken from the pan and set aside on a plate.

*In the hot pan, add onions and saute until translucent.  Add the garlic and cook until fragrant and then pour in the tomatoes and wine.  Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to pick up any leftover bits of the chicken.  Add the basil, oregano, and salt and pepper.  Allow mixture to simmer for a few minutes.

**Alternatively, just pour a jar of your favorite pasta sauce into the skillet, scrapping the bottom of the pan to pick up all the browned bits of the chicken.

Place chicken back in the skillet, on top of the tomato sauce, and cover each piece of chicken with some Parmesan and mozzarella.

Turn off the burner and place the entire skillet into the oven.  Bake for 10-12 minutes until the cheese is melted and browned.

Serve a piece of chicken, with some sauce, on top of pasta of your choice (I used spaghetti).  Makes 4 servings.

Enjoy.

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Simple Lasagna

A pasta dish of tomato sauce, ricotta cheese, Italian sausage and mozzarella layered between strips of noodles.  Just in time for national lasagna day.

Lasagna is a great meal.  It requires a bit of time it the preparation but once you pop it in the oven you can sit back and relax for about and hour and, if you're like me, have dinner for a whole week.  I call this simple lasagna because I didn't do anything fancy with it.  I just used meat, cheese and tomato sauce and then baked it.  Lasagna is a very simple dish but is so full of flavor my husband and I were happy to eat on it all week.

Ingredients:

1 box lasagna noodles, under cooked
1 package (8-12 oz) ricotta cheese
1 egg
1-2 jars tomato sauce
1 pack Italian sausage (at least 1 pound)
2-3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Crumble and cook the sausage until browned, then drain the grease and set aside.

Cook the noodles in a large pot of boiling water until barely tender.  My package said 11 minutes I cooked for about 5.  Drain the noodles and rinse with cold water until cool enough to handle.

Mix one egg into the ricotta cheese until smooth, and open the tomato sauce (no need to heat the sauce).  I used an easy homemade tomato sauce with spinach, but any kind would be fine.  I also mixed the ricotta into my sauce just to cut out a step but you don't have to (instead of making a ricotta layer then a sauce layer I have one layer that includes both, you can also add the meat and have all in one).

Preheat oven to 350F.

Now you are ready to build your lasagna.  In a large baking dish (at least 9x13 inches) spread a thin layer of sauce along the bottom.

Then add a layer of noodles.  Spread 1/2 the meat on top of the noodles, then about 1/3 of the sauce mixture so that the noodles are fully covered (if using the ricotta separate, spread the ricotta on top of the noodles before the meat) .  Top with about 1 cup or more of mozzarella and another layer of noodles.

Spread the last half of the meat on top of the noodles and repeat as above.  Finish the lasagna with the last of the sauce and mozzarella. (Some lasagna pans are deeper; then, just make more layers).

Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350F for about 45 minutes, then remove the foil and continue baking for about 15 minutes until the cheese browns.  You can also put the finished lasagna, covered with foil, in the refrigerator for up to 1 day until ready to bake.

Let lasagna cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.  Makes about 8 servings.

Do not worry if you have left over noodles.  I brush any leftover, cooked, noodles with olive oil, then drop in a freezer bag, and freeze for up to 3 months.  Defrost over night in the refrigerator and they are as good as before.

Enjoy.

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