Gnocchi Poutine with Braised Short Rib Ragu

Today's post is for my good friend Matt. I made this for him a few months back and he visited the blog with the intention of making it when he realized I hadn't posted the recipe (it wasn't a Sunday). But I was really excited to learn he's been visiting the blog and making the recipes (I have an actual follower!). He made the Baked Cinnamon French Toast for his family and is keen to make the Short Rib Ragu, so I decided to make it this week and post it for him. Matt, I got lots of love for you - enjoy!

My boyfriend Jamie Oliver says he no longer browns meat for stews as he tested two pots, one with and one without, and the un-browned meat stew was sweeter. So I skipped the browning step for this recipe.

Adapted from Closet Cooking and the original recipe at Food52.

Gnocchi Poutine with Braised Short Rib Ragu

Servings: make 4+ servings

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours 20 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours 40 minutes

Ingredients

1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 pounds short ribs, 2-3 inches long
1 medium onion, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
2 peeled carrots, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon anchovy paste
1/2 bottle red wine
14 oz can of whole tomatoes and juice
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons thyme, picked
2 tablespoons rosemary, chopped
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, ground
1 piece parmigano reggiano (parmesan) rind
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
3 cups beef stock
1 handful parsley, chopped

Zest of one lemon
4 cup gnocchi
1 1/2 cup cheese curds, room temperature

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Soak dried mushrooms in 2 cups boiling water. Season ribs with salt and pepper and set aside.

Heat oil in large, heavy pot (I used a 5-qt. enameled cast iron dutch oven) over medium heat until shimmering and sauté onion, carrots and celery until soft. Add garlic and stir until fragrant.

Create a hot spot in the pot by moving vegetables aside and leaving about a 3-inch radius bare. Add tomato paste and anchovy paste to the hot spot and stir vigorously until caramelized, then stir into the vegetables. Add red wine to deglaze and cook until liquid is reduced by half. Add tomatoes, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, mushrooms and soaking liquid (minus the last 1/4 inch to keep sediment out of your dish), plus herbs, fennel seeds and parm rind.

Add ribs to pot and fill with beef stock until ribs are nearly covered. Bring liquid to a boil, then cover tightly and braise in oven for at least 3 hours or until ribs are fall-apart tender.

Boil salted water and cook gnocchi according to package instructions, with goal to have ready once meat is shredded and sauce is pureed. 

Remove ribs from liquid and set aside until cool enough to handle. Remove bay leaves and discard. While ribs cool, purée the braising liquid with an immersion blender or in food processor until thick, return to pot. When ribs have cooled down, discard bones and large pieces of fat, then shred the beef and return it to the pot. Reduce if necessary.

Pour the ragu over the cooked gnocchi and cheese curds and garnish with chopped parsley and lemon zest.

Jamie Oliver Fish, Chips & Mushy Peas

Another recipe from my boyfriend this week. I asked hubby what he wanted to eat this Sunday and surprisingly he said fish and chips (he never eats fish so this was a win). 

A hard recipe to cook in an apartment kitchen. First off, I had to use a wok on an electric stove to deep fry because I don't have the space to store a deep fryer. Very precarious. Hubby actually took out the fire extinguisher out and placed it onthe counter as a hedge. 

He had two jobs that night. One was to stand by the extinguisher, the other was to wave a tea towel over the fire alarm every time it went off. And it did, multiple times. This is the other thing I want one day in my kitchen, a hood over my stove so I don't inflict smoke inhalation on my guests. Is this too much to ask? A stove hood and storage space? Truthfully I also want a centre island with a sink, a wine fridge and restaurant grade appliances. I also once saw a kitchen island on Million Dollar Rooms that had a motorized movable centre with small appliance storage all at the touch of a button. It's the little things, you know?

Because I don't have a deep fryer, it was difficult to gage the temperature of the oil. I kept the oil at approximately the same temperature for the chips and the fish, but the fish batter seemed to crisp far faster than the chips. If I had a deep fryer I'd probably cook the chips at a slightly higher temp than the fish. Wish I could tell you what temperature this would be. Perhaps one day when I have a my dream kitchen with space for a fancy deep fryer I will update this post. One day. Sigh.

Last note, I didn't use a food processor for the mushy peas because I'm lazy and not a huge fan of peas to begin with, so didn't feel like doing the extra dishes. 

Fish, chips & mushy peas

Good fish and chips are becoming harder to find these days, but there are still some good boys out there making the real deal. However, if you want to make your own at home, here's the recipe I use. Unless you've got a really big fryer I'd say it's not really worth trying to make fish and chips at home for more than 4 people – otherwise it becomes a struggle. Other things to have on the table are some crunchy sweet pickled gherkins, some pickled onions (if your other half isn't around!) – and pickled chillies are good too. Then you want to douse it all with some cheap malt vinegar and nothing other than Heinz tomato ketchup.

Serves 4
Ingredients

For the fish and chips
sunflower oil, for deep-frying
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
225 g white fish fillets, fromsustainable sources, pinboned, ask your fishmonger
225 g flour, plus extra for dusting
285 ml beer, cold
3 heaped teaspoons baking powder
900 g potatoes, peeled and sliced into chips

For the mushy peas
1 knob butter
4 handfuls podded peas
1 small handful fresh mint, leaves picked and chopped
1 squeeze lemon juice
sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

Method

To make your mushy peas, put the butter in a pan with the peas and the chopped mint. Put a lid on top and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. 

You can either mush the peas up in a food processor, or you can mash them by hand until they are stodgy, thick and perfect for dipping your fish into. Keep them warm while you cook your fish and chips.

Pour the sunflower oil into your deep fat fryer or a large frying pan and heat it to 190ºC/375ºF. Mix the salt and pepper together and season the fish fillets on both sides. This will help to remove any excess water, making the fish really meaty. Whisk the flour, beer and baking powder together until nice and shiny. The texture should be like semi-whipped double cream (i.e. it should stick to whatever you're coating). Dust each fish fillet in a little of the extra flour, then dip into the batter and allow any excess to drip off. Holding one end, lower the fish into the oil one by one, carefully so you don't get splashed – it will depend on the size of your fryer how many fish you can do at once. Cook for 4 minutes or so, until the batter is golden and crisp.

Meanwhile, parboil your chips in salted boiling water for about 4 or 5 minutes until softened but still retaining their shape, then drain them in a colander and leave to steam completely dry. When all the moisture has disappeared, fry them in the oil that the fish were cooked in at 180ºC/350ºF until golden and crisp. While the chips are frying, you can place the fish on a baking tray and put them in the oven for a few minutes at 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4 to finish cooking. This way they will stay crisp while you finish off the chips. When they are done, drain them on kitchen paper, season with salt, and serve with the fish and mushy peas.

The BEST Penne alla Vodka

Everyone who's ever tried this dish absolutely loves it and so I thought I should get it on the blog in case I ever lost the recipe, or to be able to share with those wanting to give it a whirl.

I adapted it from Epicurious. It didn't have any bacon (sacreligous IMO) so that was a must add. I also added a pinch of cinnamon, a trick I learnt from my boyfriend Jamie Oliver. And finally changed the heavy cream to crème fraiche because that's how I roll. 

Penne alla Vodka

Ingredients

Two 28-ounce can Italian plum tomatoes (preferably San Marzano) with their liquid

Cup of chopped bacon / pancetta

Cup of chopped onion

Pinch of cinnamon
1 pound penne
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
10 cloves garlic

Handful of fresh basil
Crushed hot red pepper
1/3 cup vodka
1/2 cup crème fraiche
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil for finishing the sauce, if you like
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for passing if you like

Directions

Bring 6 quarts of salted water to a boil in an 8-quart pot over high heat.

Pour the tomatoes and their liquid into the work bowl of a food processor and add the basil. Using quick on/off pulses, process the tomatoes just until they are finely chopped. (Longer processing will aerate the tomatoes, turning them pink.)

Stir the penne into the boiling water. Bring the water back to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook the pasta, semi-covered, stirring occasionally, until done, 8 to 10 minutes.

In a large skillet, cook the bacon and onions with the pinch of cinnamon until cooked, but not crispy. Once done, remove from skillet and put aside.

Remove most of the bacon fat from the skillet and add and heat the olive oil over medium heat. Whack the garlic cloves with the side of a knife, peel and add them to the hot oil. Cook, shaking the skillet, until the garlic is lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Lower the work bowl with the tomatoes close to the skillet and carefully — they will splatter — slide the tomatoes into the pan and add the bacon and onions. Bring to a boil, season lightly with salt and generously with crushed red pepper, and boil 2 minutes. Pour in the vodka, lower the heat so the sauce is at a lively simmer, and simmer until the pasta is ready.

Just before the pasta is done, fish the garlic cloves out of the sauce and spoon in the cream. Add the 2 tablespoons butter or oil, if using, and swirl the skillet to incorporate into the sauce. If the skillet is large enough to accommodate the sauce and pasta, fish the pasta out of the boiling water with a large wire skimmer and drop it directly into the sauce in the skillet. If not, drain the pasta, return it to the pot, and pour in the sauce. Bring the sauce and pasta to a boil, stirring to coat the pasta with sauce. Check the seasoning, adding salt and red pepper if necessary. Boil until the sauce is reduced enough to cling to the pasta.

Remove the pot from the heat, sprinkle 3/4 cup of the cheese over the pasta, and toss to mix. Serve immediately, passing additional cheese if you like.

Dairy Free Chocolate Banana Ice 'Cream'

Everyone once in awhile you make a recipe that makes you go 'meh'. This is that recipe. I found it on Pinterest and despite a gazillion repins popping up in my feed daily, it's one of these items that is better left as an idea. 

First off, let me preface that if you're vegan, you might love this recipe. But for me it doesn't come close to the real thing. Also, if I was vegan I'd probably just have sorbet. It didn't scoop into a nice round ball like the pictures on Pinterest. I even gave it a minute or two to soften. Truthfully I gave it an hour and it was still hard as a rock. And for me, it was too 'melty' to eat before it went in the freezer. It also tasted like frozen bananas with cocoa powder. Which is basically all it is, but I think I somehow expected the addition of cocoa powder and peanut butter to transform it? 

Oh well. No tips today as I'm not sure what could have been done to save this recipe. I hope that the yogurt covered blueberries I've been coveting on Pinterest are not as much of a disappointment.

The recipe is below, please comment if you sort how to make it better. Maybe more peanut butter?

Single Ingredient Ice Cream

4 bananas, just slightly overripe (brown spots good, completely black not so good)
2 tbsps creamy peanut butter (optional – thus 2 ingredient ice cream)
2 tsps cocoa powder (Dutch process), (optional – thus 2 or 3 ingredient ice cream depending on peanut butter)

DO NOT FREEZE THE WHOLE BANANA, you’ll have a heck of a time blending that beast.

Peel the bananas and slice them up into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick disks. Place the banana slices in the freezer for about an hour or until they are frozen solid. Put the frozen slices in a food processor and pulse. First they will start to resemble gravel, but keep going. The bananas will soon turn into a frozen mush – at this point, start scraping the sides down (you will do this a lot). Or you could add a dash of milk since the liquid will help the blending. I’m lactose-intolerant, so after a few minutes of stopping to scrape the sides down, the banana begins to blend into a creamy texture. When the bananas look like whipped ice cream, you can add your mix-ins like peanut butter and/or cocoa powder, chocolate chips, toffee, raspberries, anything goes! Straight out of the food processor, the ice cream is like soft serve. You can also freeze it for a firmer texture. I find it’s pretty hard (and therefore, brittle) when I scoop it immediately after removing it from the freezer. Just give it a minute or two to soften up. Makes a pint.

Spanish Roasted Lamb on Chorizo and Saffron Rice

Normally we travel for Easter and I eat what I'm told. This was the first year where, happily, we had no where to go. And so I decided to tackle roasted lamb. Recipe adapted by the LCBO Food & Drink guide, the Ontario government's gift to cooking.

I didn't cut the lamb into smaller pieces as suggested, but I did use a butterflied lamb leg. I pulled the lamb when the internal temp was 130. I also made some additions to the marinade, italicized below. And I used a tsp of anchovy paste instead of the chopped anchovies. 

Now for taste. I LOVED the lamb and I'm so happy I made the additions to the marinade as it was delish. As for the rice, meh, not my favourite. Mostly because I'm not a huge fan of smoked paprika and I think it was paprika overload. I think it worked great in the marinade where there was some balance, but I would take it out of the rice next time. The saffron and chorizo are flavourful enough to carry the rice. The chorizo came from my local sausage butcher, MEATing on Queen, Torontonians take note.

SPANISH ROASTED LAMB
By: Lucy Waverman

This is similar to roast lamb but cut in smaller pieces to roast very quickly. It is seasoned with Spanish seasonings and served atop a Spanish-style rice with chorizo, Swiss chard and saffron. You can sear the lamb ahead of time but bring it back to room temperature before roasting.

1 butterfly lamb leg
1 tbsp (15 mL) chopped anchovies
2 tbsp (25 mL) chopped garlic
2 tsp (10 mL) lemon rind
2 tbsp (25 mL) lemon juice
1 tsp (5 mL) hot smoked Spanish paprika

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp dried rosemary
1⁄2 cup (125 mL) olive oil

1. Cut lamb into 6 even-sized chunks. Grind up the mustard seeds and rosemary in a mortar and pestle. Combine with the anchovies, garlic, lemon rind and juice, paprika, balsamic and 1⁄3 cup (75 mL) olive oil. 

(photo pre-olive oil)

Brush over lamb and leave to marinate for 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 450°F (230°C).

3. Heat remaining 2 tbsp (25 mL) oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add lamb and sear on each side about 1 minute a side or until golden. Place lamb on a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until still pink inside. 

Let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

Serves 6

CHORIZO SAFFRON RICE By: Lucy Waverman A paella-like rice dish but much easier to make, to accompany the lamb. You do not need another vegetable.

2 tbsp (25 mL) olive oil 1 cup (250 mL) chopped onion 1⁄2 cup (125 mL) chopped chorizo 1 tbsp (15 mL) chopped garlic 2 cups (500 mL) Spanish or Arborio rice 1 tsp (5 mL) smoked Spanish paprika Salt and freshly ground pepper 1⁄2 tsp (2 mL) saffron 5 to 6 cups (1.25 to 1.5 L) hot chicken stock 4 cups (1 L) chopped Swiss chard leaves 1⁄2 cup (125 mL) chopped green onions Lemon wedges 1. Heat oil in a large skillet or sauté pan over medium heat. Add onion and chorizo and stir-fry for 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in garlic and cook another minute or until softened. Stir in rice and toss with oil. Add paprika and season with salt and pepper to taste. 2. Combine saffron and hot stock. Pour in 5 cups (1.25 L) hot stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for 15 minutes or until rice is mostly tender. Stir in Swiss chard, pushing it into the rice, adding extra 1 cup (250 mL) stock if needed. Cook another 5 minutes, stir in green onions and remove from heat. Cover and let sit 10 minutes before serving. Surround with lemon wedges and serve. Serves 6