Gnocchi!

I have already made these twice in three days! Containing so few ingredients (2 pounds russet potatoes, 1/3 to 1/2 cup flour, 1 egg and Parmesan cheese as desired - even the last two are optional), these little potato balls are very satisfying as comfort food. They are, however, tricky to make right and definitely require lots of practice to be able to make them like a true Italian. 

Heads up: Do not freeze!!! They can be kept in the fridge up to a week or so but freezing them was the worst idea ever. The texture changed and the gnocchi fell apart when boiled in water and tasted like gooey gunk afterwards. Trust me on this one. Eating nasty mushy gnocchi that you'd spent hours making will make you feel minuscule. Moreover, it will destroy a part of any confidence that you may normally have in the kitchen.

It seems that the most important thing is achieving the right potatoes-flour ratio which depends entirely on the absorbency of the potatoes you buy. 

Serving them with a cream sauce (shown below) or a simple tomato sauce does the trick. 

Phyllo Log with Caramelized Apples

Probably the best advice that I can give is to not choose the wrong phyllo dough recipe. That sounds unbelievably simple (and yes, I'll admit it, slightly anti-climatic) but it's the dead honest truth.

Phyllo dough is not difficult to make. There must be some conspiracy out there trying to embed the concept into women's minds that making homemade phyllo dough may be the most strenuously terrifying experience (aside from childbirth I'm speculating) that they could possibly put themselves through. Yet women will have no hesitation spending hours and numerous you-had-better-spent-them-on-a-treadmill calories making three-tier chocolate cakes and 15-pound turkeys. Even lasagne takes more time and effort to make.

The second and almost-just-as-important advice is: When you think it's thin enough, it could probably be thinner. Yeah you will never be able to roll out the dough to factory-machinery thinness but you can sure try. And it will be worth it.

The third advice, work fast and with smaller chunks of dough. You don't want to phyllo to start drying up. Smaller chunks will allow you to push out the dough thinner without running out of room on your board.

Conclusion? Do not pick a recipe that calls for butter or lard-related substances in the dough. It's ok if you brush it on after, that's what you're supposed to do. No eggs either. Neither made a huge difference in the end result tastewise or texture wise and if it's not needed, why add the extra fat? Also, don't forget, keep rolling and be quick!

Oh a word of caution, not advice, just words from a klutzy me. Don't be an idiot and think that your (little) flour well/mountain/hole that you'd made can hold in ALL the liquid that you're about to pour into the centre. Chances are, the liquid will bulldoze its way through the flour and spill all over your kitchen countertop. Use a bowl or add the liquid a little bit at a time.

I will be trying a new recipe which only calls for flour, vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice and hot, hot water. Much healthier.

Stick it to...

Why do I do these things to myself? If you read my new upcoming challenge, you'd probably think the same thing. Yes, I'm planning on making my own phyllo dough and sheets. Just typing about the challenge makes me palpitate. Why can't I be like any other normal person and pick up a pack of premade frozen ones from the closest supermarket? Why do I find kneading and rolling and re-kneading and re-rolling out pastry until they are tissue paper thin actually exciting?

I just don't trust it. "It" being "The Man".
What does he put in my phyllo dough? I don't know. 
Can I ever trust "The Man" to look out for me? Most likely not. 
Why does "The Man" deceive me to believing that a cute, squeaky white dough boy with a fake bellybutton is in charge of overseeing the production of my premade baking products or that frozen dinners are actually made with my lifestyle in their mind? To rob me of my money and health.
This is the same reason why I make my own pie crust and almost everything from scratch if I possibly can (within the limits of my present kitchen - ie: my mother). "The Man" is out there. Fellow health-lovers, agree with me, we must not give in...

So begins my new challenge.

Le Fromage Bleu

Zak left some blue cheese in my fridge last night and then fled to Cambridge. Now what? I am not a big fan of the smelly cheese but I cannot possibly throw it out - I will never hear the end of it - "How could you? Blue Cheese is my favourite!!!" Ok, everyone, settle down. The most obvious solution: look up a recipe that I can discreetly sneak the blue cheese into yet somehow still practice working on the pastry dough challenge.


So as I greedily stuffed myself with leftovers scavenged from the refrigerator (a slice of spinach & cheese quiche with a side of beef stew in red tomato sauce),

I began blogging and searching for the ultimate blue cheese recipe. Then I found this: Almond Blue Cheese Fritters. Blue cheese, check. Pastry dough, check. Almonds, check. It's going to be deep-fried and crispy, check and check. The cheese, although, isn't exactly discreet. Oh well, you can't have everything in life.


This is a no-roll pie crust recipe that I found from Joy the Baker's blog. It does not use shortening, just good ol' unsalted butter, vegetable oil and one tablespoon of light cream cheese. I also used olive oil instead of vegetable oil. It turned out super flaky and tasted quite buttery. The only down side is that this crust can't be rolled out so I could not use it for a top crust, only bottom. 

I added some extra ingredients to the chopped almonds and blue cheese: chopped cashews, haw flakes, ground cinnamon and a splash of heavy cream. Basically everything I could find in the house that might distract from the blue cheese.

Voila! The pastry dough turned out excellent but I just was not able to eat these fritters! The pungent taste of the blue cheese made me really nauseous. I only fried three and froze the rest. I'll definitely use the pastry again though!