Gnocchi makes for great kid-friendly cooking

Two years ago or so my goddaughter and I made gnocchi together. She enjoyed it so much that she has repeatedly asked since then if we could make it again. On Sunday, we did just that.

Preparing gnocchi (an Italian potato dumpling) is a great experience for anyone who enjoys tactile cooking. The potato, egg, flour dough becomes silky as you knead then roll it into a rope. After that, you cut it into small pillows that you can “roll” with a fork or a honey dipper. Either of them shapes the pillows with subtle lines that help absorb whatever sort of sauce you decide to put on it.

Anna and I made what we called Italian Patriot’s Sauce with sautéed spinach, onion, red pepper and garlic. The colors of the Italian flag suggested its name. With that combination of fresh from the garden vegetables, you also get some nutrition to add to all of that butter and potato.

We used Michael Chiarello’s gnocchi recipe. Instead of using only egg yolks as the recipe calls for, I use 2-3 whole eggs.




After we mixed up the dough, we rolled it into ropes.











Next, Anna cut it into small pillows, then rolled it with the honey dipper.


While the gnocchi rested, we prepared the sauce by slowly sautéing our vegetables in butter.



After dropping the gnocchi into boiling water, we were only a few minutes from topping it with the sauce and eating.

We decided that the next time we need to make a double batch. One batch barely feeds four people who love gnocchi!

The gift of gardening

Yesterday I lost an earring and found a pair of glasses. It reminded me of the balance of life—things come to us and go away. Sometimes what comes to us is totally unanticipated. It might be something we never would have put on an “I need” list yet when it arrives we discover joy in the richness it has added to our lives. We realize it’s a true gift from God.

Gardening is like that for me. It wasn’t something I had written on my “To do before I die” list. I hadn’t thought that much about how I had become a gardener until recently when I was asked to give a talk to a group of high school students about how I, as a writer, brought green spaces into my life. I called it “Writing as a gardener . . . gardening as a writer.”

As I prepared the talk, I remembered the disillusionment I felt after a few years in the work world—going into a building to work before 8:30 every morning and not leaving until 5:00 or later. It seemed so unnatural to be that disconnected with nature when God had given us so much beauty and goodness. Writing requires substantial time sitting at a desk and putting down the words, but it seemed there should be a better way than doing this in an office cubbyhole every day.

Yet there were also times when, as a journalist working on an assignment, I learned about the benefit of planting beans with corn in Central America. I later interviewed Fr. Al Fritsch at Appalachia Science the Public Interest about living simply and making organic gardening and edible landscaping part of that lifestyle. I toured farms in Appalachia, met with farmers in Honduras and began to ask questions about the food I ate. Over the course of several years, my work as a journalist unearthed my desire to integrate gardening and more outdoor time into my life.

So I am blessed with the lifestyle I now have that allows me to write, most days from my home, and get up from my desk for a walk around the yard, a weeding break or time for harvesting the vegetables. Tonight I’ll eat chili made with our own tomatoes and roasted vegetable—all from the back yard garden. I’ll also be thankful, once again, that God dropped this wonderful gift into my life.

Fall Roasted Vegetables

Peel and cut into uniform pieces butternut squash, onions, peppers and potatoes. Cut beets into slightly smaller pieces because they take longer to roast. If you have okra to add, cut off the ends and leave this in slightly larger pieces. Experiment with the vegetable mixture you like.

Toss everything with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Put on a baking sheet in a single layer. Roast in 400 degree oven for 30 – 45 minutes, stirring every 10 – 15 minutes. The length of time the vegetables take to cook will depend on the size you cut them. Enjoy vegetables alone or mixed with rice.

Timing the garden

Our spring came later than usual this year in central Kentucky. The beginning of the month was as dry as August and filled with encouraging sunshine. But it only takes a day for clouds, rain and cool winds to reappear and remind us it’s not summer yet. That’s what we have this week.

Gardeners pay attention to the weather because it’s important. The vegetables I have in the ground now are thriving because this is when they like to grow. Lettuce, spinach, arugula, onions, potatoes, beets, peas, cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage are all happily opening their arms to the drizzle and the cool nights. The weather will make them sweet, crisp and filled with flavor. This is their season.

Just last week the warm weather dangled temptation in front of many gardeners, including my husband. “When are you going to plant your tomatoes?” he asked as he eyed the healthy plants I grew from seed. He encouraged me to go ahead and put a few of them in the ground. I declined. In Kentucky it’s never a good idea to put summer crops in the ground until some time in May.

If you’re new to gardening and unsure about the timing of setting our your plants, check with your local agricultural extension office. When I first started gardening, a friend gave me a gardening guide from the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service that included earliest and latest safe planting dates. Just last year I picked up an updated version. It’s invaluable, especially on those tempting days of spring.

Getting started in the garden

After a weekend of hours outside in the yard, my muscles screamed in relief at being exercised once again in the garden. Yes, the digging and bending and squatting reintroduced those muscles to their typical spring soreness, but it’s a welcome ache.

In order to eat from the garden all year long, it’s necessary to either garden yourself or find a reliable local food source in your community. This is the time in Kentucky when the weather typically allows us to begin stepping outside to get started on this year’s planting adventures.

So what is it gardeners should be doing in March? I learn a little something new every year, from articles I read as well as fellow gardeners who are always happy to share what they know. Here are a few tasks to consider:

1) Decide what you want to plant. If you’re new to gardening, start small and purchase plants that are easier to begin from started plants (cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, etc.) and buy seeds for what can easily begin in your own soil (corn, squash, lettuce, greens, etc.).

2) Think about the best places to plant in your yard. Where do you get the most sunlight during the growing months? Remember that the sun shifts throughout the seasons so the sunny spots you see in your yard now might not be so at the same times and for the same length in two months. Also, trees will be recovering their leaves, which will provide a shade you likely don’t see in your yard now.

3) Make a garden plan on paper. It will help you decide how much you can put into your space. Keep in mind that tall crops, like corn, can shade some vegetables around them. Crops that vine, like cucumbers and pumpkins, will travel around your garden. And, because that cauliflower plant is small when you buy it doesn’t mean it will stay that way. Allow space for plant growth.

4) If you do decide to start seedlings yourself, put them in a very sunny, warm window in the house, keep the soil moist and cover with a plastic top or plastic wrap to promote the heat and humidity that encourages sprouting.

5) Prepare your soil. If the soil is heavy and clay-like, you’ll want to add compost to improve it. Your local Extension office should be able to test the soil for you if you have questions about its acidity.

6) Get a hoe, shovel and pruning sheers to use throughout the season.

7) If you already have fruit bushes or trees in your space, as well as flower bushes, March is the time to prune.

I’m hoping we can get our onions and potatoes to plant within the week. That would be an even stronger sign to me that spring really is on its way!

Using the tomatoes, potatoes and greens

This week’s Lexington Herald-Leader food page included a good article about making soup along with a few recipes. It emphasized the importance of sautéing some ingredients to begin the soup. It also pointed out the broth you use is crucial to the taste.

I decided to try the Potato Tomato Soup since we still have plenty of those ingredients, plus the frozen greens the recipe calls for. Those ingredients also make for a nicely rounded nutritional dish. When I was searching through the chickens and bags of veggies that still fill the freezer, I found the greens I needed and some turkey stock. So, being the improviser that I have learned to be in the kitchen, I decided to keep the soup truly homemade by using my own stock.

I think it was a mistake. Although the stock smelled good, it wasn’t very flavorful. Thus, I seasoned and seasoned, but I still wasn’t thrilled with the soup. The next time around, I’ll remember the advice to be sure your broth is extra-good.

Potato Tomato Soup ratings

Jim: 10 (He added red pepper to his soup which might have helped.)
Beth: 7

I will say that as is usually the case, the soup was more flavorful the next day.

Cooking made easy with Ellie Krieger

I so enjoy cooking nearly everything we eat from scratch that I sometimes forget how quickly a meal can be put together. One of my Christmas gifts was a new cookbook—So Easy by Ellie Krieger. Krieger is one of my favorite Food Network cooks because she’s also a nutritionist who pays attention to healthy food. This cookbook includes, healthy, easy recipes that don’t take an enormous amount of time or effort to prepare.

Last night I tried two recipes—prosciutto-wrapped cod and pesto potatoes and green beans. Although the potatoes took longer to steam than the recipe called for, the results, paired with our home canned green beans, were spectacular. I’m not a huge fish fan but Jim is and he was thrilled that I prepared a fish other than salmon. I was thrilled to find a way to prepare fish without frying that he actually liked.

Here are our ratings for the recipes.

Cod
Jim: 8.5
Beth: 8

Potatoes and beans
Jim: 9.5
Beth: 10

Eat Fish

It was back to the grocery store for me yesterday after more than a week away. We traveled to see my family in Indiana then took a trip to Helena, Montana for a friend’s wedding. It was cold out there but the snow and mountains made a beautiful scene. We also ate some good food.

I was surprised at some of what I tasted because a portion of the wedding party is vegan. I’ve never given much thought to being vegan since I’m a cheese-lover and have no problem with animal products, as long as the animals are treated humanely. But the muffins were so fluffy and light that I am now curious to learn more about vegan cooking. Maybe that will be a lesson for later this year.

Yesterday, however, the task was to restock the refrigerator with supplies for some healthy meals. I spent more time than usual in the seafood section of the grocery because Jim has been asking for something other than the wild-caught Alaskan salmon that I enjoy. I have a list of fish that is good for specific health concerns but I’ve heard much concern recently about toxins in fish and over-fishing. So I went to a respected source to discover what fish is best to eat—The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch. It lists the best and next best fish to consume.

So tonight I’ll be trying a recipe for cod with potatoes and green beans. Yes, we still have plenty of potatoes and beans, although I think I’ve used all of my pesto, which is the recommended seasoning for the veggies. Excuse me while I go search through the freezer to see if I can find one last container.