Gnocchi in brown butter with spinach and walnuts.

 

We're big fans of gnocchi in my household.  Problem is that we don't have a good source of fresh gnocchi like we did at Eataly when we lived in L.A.  You'd think as the 4th largest city in the country we'd have one, but no such luck.

These aren't scratch made gnocchi.  Its a vacuum sealed pasta from Target, the DeLallo brand.  They are decent gnocchi, not gummy or dense and worked well with this recipe.  

Gnocchi in Brown Butter with Spinach and Walnuts

Ingredients

• 1 lb favorite ready to use Gnocchi
• 1 lb spinach
• 1/2 c butter
• 1/2 c chopped walnuts
• 1/4 c minced sweet onion
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 t ground nutmeg

Prepare Gnocchi according to package instructions.

Place butter in a large skillet.  Over medium heat stir butter while it browns to a deep golden color.  When it stopped foaming add walnuts and onion.  Stir and cook until onion is transparent (2-3 minutes)/

Add Gnocchi to skillet and toss to coat evenly with butter mixture.  Add spinach.  Salt and Pepper to taste along with the nutmeg.  Cover for 4-5 minutes until spinach is starting to wilt.  Remove lid and toss with the gnocchi until spinach is evenly distributed.

Serve warm with a slice of garlic bread om the side and a nice Italian white like a pinot grigio that will cut through the rich brown butter sauce.  a few scrapes of fresh parmesan off the grater would be a nice touch too. 

Butterscotch Toffee Blondies

 My wife is barely a dessert person let alone a sweets person.  One bit and she exclaimed "THESE MUST BE IN THE ROTATION",  What's not to like, buttery rich blondie with butterscotch and toffee bits to liven up the flavor and texture?   So here they are immortalized in bytes in the interwebs.  

Butterscotch Toffee Blondies

Ingredients:

• 1c Room temperature butter
• 1 1/2 c brown sugar
• 1/4 t salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 t vanilla
• 2 1/4 c flour
• 1 t baking powder
• 1 c butterscotch chips
• 3/4 c toffee chips

·         Preheat oven to 350f.  Line 9X13 baking dish with parchment paper or heavily butter pan.

Cream butter with brown sugar and vanilla well until smooth and fluffy.   Add eggs one at a time, beating well to incorporate.

Mix flour and baking powder together and whisk until combined.  Gradually add dry to wet ingredients and mix until a soft dough forms.

Fold in butterscotch chips and toffee chips.

Spread dough into the prepared pan. 

Bake 25-30 minutes or until top is golden and a toothpick in center comes out nearly clean.

Cool completely before slicing into bars.

Cherry Almond Galette

 

About a month ago I mentioned on Insta that I had checked out a book "Baking for 2" at the local Library.  It gave me good ideas on how to cut things down for 2 people or 2-4 servings.  This gives better portion control and not a lot of leftovers.  Desserts are a weekend treat here so I don't need left overs.

This recipe is an amalgamation of a couple of recipes in my repertoire of desserts.  What I like about the galette is that its a free form dessert kind of a cross between a pie and a tart, just no pie plate or tart shell to fight it out with.  Super simple, stupid easy even, to roll out a circle of dough, fill it and flip the edges towards the center.  

Cherry Almond Galette

Pastry 

• 300 grams AP Flour (approx 1 c + 2T) 
• 1/2 t fine sea salt
• 1 T sugar
• 125 grams butter (approx 1 stick butter + 1 T)
• 4 T ice water

Filling

• 12 oz bag frozen sour cherries - thawed
• 1/3 C sugar
• 1 T corn starch
• pinch salt
• 1/4 almond extract
• 1/4 coarse ground almonds
• 2 T sugar (I use the turbinado dark coarse sugar)
• 1 egg beaten

Preheat oven to 400F when you are starting to assemble the galettes.

Combine thawed cherries and all their juices with the sugar, corn starch and salt into a non reactive pan.

Cook over medium heat folding gently until sugar and corn starch are dissolved. Cook over medium low heat just until the filling is translucent and thickened to a syrupy consistency.  Softly fold the mixture with a spatula taking care to NOT mash up the cherries.   Once consistency reached, remove from heat and stir in almond extract.  Cool to room temperature.

While filling cools make the pastry.  In food processor add flour, sugar, and salt.  Pulse a couple of times to combine those dry ingredients.  Add cold butter to mixture, pulse until the butter is covered with flour and about the size of peas.  Add cold water.  Pulse a few times until a dough ball begins to form.  Remove dough and gently combine any crumbs left in the bowl.  Dived into 4 equal balls and flatten each slightly.  Wrap dough in cling film and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

To assemble line a baking sheet with parchment or silpat liner.  Take one ball of dough.  On a floured board roll dough out to an 8" circle.  Place dough onto  lined baking sheet.  Put 1 Tablespoon ground almonds in center and spread gently on dough leaving 1 to 1 1/2 inches border.  Add one quarter of the cooled cherry filling and spread lightly over almonds maintaining the clean border.  Pick up one edge of pastry and fold it up towards center resting on the filling.  Working around the whole galette.  Repeat process with remaining three dough balls.

Once all of the galettes have been assembled.  Brush the pastry with the beaten egg and sprinkle a quarter of the sugar on the pastry.  Chill in refrigerator until oven is preheated.  Bake 35-40 minutes until golden brown and filling is bubbly.  Place the baked pastry on a cooling rack until ready to eat.

Take warm galette and top with some good ice cream or whipped cream.

Lemony Orzo and Shrimp

This dish was an instant hit.  A combination of a few different recipes I've read in recent days.   My addition was to add shrimp to make a complete main course instead of a delectable side.  Its a spin on scampi flavors with a little something extra from the spinach and peas in it.

Lemony Orzo and Shrimp

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb peeled and deveined 16-20 count shrimp
• 3/4 raw orzo pasta
• 2 strips bacon cut into lardons
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 T minced garlic
• 1 C frozen peas 
• 1 C frozen spinach, thawed and drained
• zest of one lemon
• juice of two lemons (about 3-4 tablespoons)
• 2 T grated parmesan
• salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot bring 6 cups water to the boil, salting water well.  Cook orzo to package directions for al dente.  Reserve 1/4 cup hot pasta water,  drain remaining in a colander.  Set aside.

Over medium heat fry up the bacon in the olive oil to get it rendering faster.  When the bacon is browned and starting to get crispy, add the shrimp and garlic.  Cook stirring often 2-4 minutes until shrimp just cooked through.

Add cooked pasta, lemon zest and juice with the peas and spinach.  Cook 2-3 minutes until peas thawed and spinach warmed through.  Add pasta and toss to coat, heat gently until warm about a minute or so.  Add parmesan and toss to combine, if sauce is a bit tight add reserved pasta water to loosen it up and create a thin silky  sauce.   Serve immediately with a nice glass of Tuscan dry white wine such as Villa Antinori.

 

Cherry Cobbler

Ah...have I mentioned how much I love the old H*E*B Markets here in Texas?  I do, I do, I do.  They are terrific for stocking rare things much better than the local Kroger or not so local Randalls (An Albertson/Safeway outlet).

Allow me to digress a bit.  Growing up in Michigan Mom would swoop in on the "sour cherries" for fresh baked cherry pie.  When we moved to Missouri they were called "pie cherries" and a neighbor allowed us to harvest as much as we wanted in exchange for one of Moms famous cherry pies.  Here at H*E*B they were labeled "Tart Cherries" and were exactly what I've been looking for for years tucked away on a shelf in the frozen fruit section of the frozen foods aisles.  Yahoo....baking time here and Cherry anything is a favorite or my wife and me.

This recipe was created with the help of Moms old handwritten recipe and a cobbler topping I use from time to time.  Here joined together for a dessert my wife insists we work into the regular repertoire. 

Cherry Cobbler

Filling

• 2, 12 oz frozen tart cherries, thawed
• 1/2 C sugar
• 2 T Cornstarch
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 1/2 t almond extract
• juice of one lemon 

Topping

• 1½ C all-purpose flour
• ½ C brown sugar
• 1 t cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 C cold butter (cubed)
• 1/4 C chopped walnuts or almonds

Preheat oven to 350F.

Butter an 8X8 baking dish

Combine filling ingredients and and fold gently so as to not break up cherries but sugar is dissolved.  Pour into prepared baking dish.

In a stand mixer with whisk attachment add the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt.  Pulse mixer to evenly combine ingredients.  Add cubed butter to dry and turn mixer on medium low.  Allow the butter to be cut into the dry ingredients and it resembles coarse sand, about 5 minutes. Fold in chopped nuts.  Sprinkle topping evenly over the fruit mixture.

Place the baking dish on a sheet tray to catch any boil over.  Bake 40-50 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.  Cool on a wire wrack at least 30 minutes or room temperature.  Add a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and enjoy.

 

Cherry Cosmo

 Every friday is happy hour here at my house.  We celebrate a successful work week and the coming days of relaxation.  This Friday was no different, except I didn't have any plain vodka, just cherry Vodka.  Would it work in a Cosmo, HELL YES IT DID!  My recipe follows and it makes two generous servings.

What would I do different?  I'd have a snazzy garnish like a Lime zest strip and maraschino cherry on a skewer.  

Cherry Cosmo 

• 2 Shots Cherry Vodka
• 1 Shot Triple Sec
• 1 Shot Cranberry Juice
• 1 shot Fresh squeezed Lime Juice
• 2 2" strip lime zest
• 2 maraschino cherry

Fill a cocktail shaker half full of ice.  Add shots of liquor and juices.  Cap the shaker and shake until your hands are cold (30-45 seconds).  Pour through a strainer and split between two chilled martini glasses.  For each cocktail wrap the cherry with the lime zest strip and skewer with a cocktail pick.

Cheers y'all its how we roll at Casa Frazgo on the weekends!

Smoked Turkey Breast

 

This literally makes ample for a crowd with some for left overs on salads the following days. One can reduce the number of breasts to suit the crowd you are feeding.

I used a Traeger Pro575 smoker grill and their oak/hickory/cherry blend pellets for the smoke flavor.  Of course, you can use whatever kind of pellet you prefer, just make sure its good for poultry and you will be good to go.

Invest in extra temperature probes like the ThermPro bluetooth model.  They are accurate which is needed especially with poultry.  The advantage of the bluetooth is you get readings off an app on your phone, minimizing trips out to check things out.

Smoked Turkey Breast

1. 3, 3 to 4 pound turkey breasts
2. Grillmates for Chicken salt and seasoning mix
3. 3 T dried poultry seasoning blend
4. 3/4 c butter melted
5. salt and pepper to taste
6. 2 T each minced fresh Thyme, Rosemary 

Pat dry each Turkey Breast. Dust each breast on all sides with 1 tablespoon of the dried poultry seasoning blend.  Generously sprinkle Grillmates over both sides of breast, set aside on non reactive baking dish.  Repeat with remaining breasts.  Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate minimum of two hours or over night.

2 hours prior to start of smoking remove turkey breasts from fridge and allow to come to room temp.

Start smoker on a preheat to 185F.  Once to temp remove plastic wrap from turkey, insert a probe into each breast.  Place on grill skin side up,  close lid and smoke uninterrupted  until the largest breast reaches a temp of 125F. (This took about 4 hours on a 90 day here in SE Texas).

Once largest breast has reached 125F bump smoker to 375F.  Mix together melted butter, minced fresh herbs and salt and pepper.  With pastry brush mop the top of each breast.  Repeat every 15-20 minutes until breasts reach 165F.  This step with take 1 1/2 to 2 hours depending on size of breast. 

NOTE: based on size of breast smaller ones will come to temp faster than the largest breast.  Pull breasts from smoker when they reach 165F, remove probe and wrap in foil.  

When last breast is off, put smoker in cool down mode and move wrapped breasts to a resting station.  Let breasts rest minimum 20 minutes before carving and serving.