Thursday, May 14, 2009

First ever daring cook challenge...




So, I joined the daring bakers and also the daring cooks. The daring cooks are a brand new group, and this is the first ever challenge they've done, so it was fun to be part of it. Sullivan helped by holding the recipe and instructions...

So to do away with the suspense, we're happy to announce that the very first Daring Cooks' challenge is ... Ricotta Gnocchi!

We have chosen a recipe from the stunning cookbook by Judy Rodgers, named after her restaurant, The Zuni Café Cookbook.

So, there you have it. I made gnocchi with my husband. We hung the ricotta in the fridge the night before, then proceeded to make the gnocchi the next day.

For the gnocchi:

1 pound (454 grams/16 ounces) fresh ricotta (2 cups)
2 large cold eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) unsalted butter
2 or 3 fresh sage leaves, or a few pinches of freshly grated nutmeg, or a few pinches of chopped lemon zest (all optional)
½ ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (about ¼ cup very lightly packed)
about ¼ teaspoon salt (a little more if using kosher salt)
all-purpose flour for forming the gnocchi



We made the gnocchi and ended up needing to add extra egg white to keep it from falling apart. Probably, the ricotta was not dry enough when we used it, but we were on a bit of a timeline, so went with it anyways.




For our sauce, we made a tomato pesto cream sauce. It consisted of crushed tomatoes, cream, and the pesto was basil, olive oil, and pinenuts. It was super tasty and very rich. We added shrimp to the gnocchi as well. We served it with bacon wrapped asparagus and zucchinis.

It was a lot of fun, but a little time consuming. I quite enjoyed it, and would make it again, but next time I think I'd try making my own ricotta since it sounds like that is simple enough. All in all, it was a fun challenge and I look forward to the next daring cooks challenge!!

2 comments:

Cindy said...

looks delicious!!!

Lauren said...

Mmm, your gnocchi looks awesome!! Great job on this first challenge =D.