Last night, I left work, looked up and saw this. I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, immediately feeling chilled and sick to my stomach.
A couple of years ago, on an evening not unlike this night, I left work, drove home, walked in our front door, called out a greeting to my husband and began putting my stuff away. Then, he said something that filled me with cold and nausea: "What are you doing home? It's not yet 5 o'clock."
Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness! At work, I had gotten it into my head that it was 5 o'clock, picked up my stuff and gone home. I'd left work in the middle of the afternoon! Then, with the chill past me and flaming cheeks firmly established in its place, I called my boss and confessed what had happened. She just laughed (along with all my co-workers for months afterwards), but I felt like such a fool.
So, last night, when I looked up and saw the blue sky, though I'd recently grown accustomed to commuting home in the dark, that damp-hands-but-dry-throat feeling overcame me again. I fumbled around in my bag for my cell phone, silently pleading, "Please don't tell me I just did it again!"
Thankfully, I had not.
It was after 5 o'clock. The days are just getting longer, and I was able to smile up at the blue sky as I walked to the train station.
What are some of your recipe-less meals? What are your tried and true favorites that don't require measurements or temperatures?
Last night, we had one of our recent favorites - sausages and potatoes. The key is to get tasty sausages that are extra spicy, full of herbs or include interesting ingredients. Then, brown the sausages with onions (and whatever extras you might have on hand, like mushrooms or spinach) and serve over potatoes (mashed with goat cheese, sauteed in olive oil, etc).
Pita pizzas are another quick meal that often graces our table. Pictured above, I spread hummus on pitas and topped them with spinach, chopped up leftovers, shredded mozzarella and basil. We also really like Mediterranean-themed pita pizzas, full of hummus, deli turkey, kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes and feta cheese.
As much as I enjoy cooking, sometimes, after a long day at work, I just don't have the attention-span to follow a recipe. However, particularly after a long day, I always require something satisfying.
For a while, people kept on telling me how much they loved gnocchi, but I just did not get it. I heard so much about the wonderful, "pillow-y" texture, but the texture was the thing I really didn't like. Every time I tried gnocchi (from the grocery store and in restaurants), I found the gummy texture to be a real turn-off. Then, I tried this recipe.
Within just a couple of months, I've made this dish four times. I fully intended to share it here before today, but we continually ate the whole batch before I could get any photos.
Now, I finally understand what people mean when they describe gnocchi as "pillow-y." The texture is so lovely and comforting. If food can feel good in your mouth, this dish does. Plus, this recipe was my first attempt at homemade pasta, and I'm so pleased by how simple it is to pull together. Forming the gnocchi felt a little awkward at first, but when I stopped worrying about it, everything came together easily. These little guys will taste good, even if they're not perfectly uniform.
Ricotta Gnocchi
(inspired by Budget Bytes)
1 15 ounces container part-skim ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, divided
4 tablespoons butter
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
your choice of jarred tomato sauce
your choice of wine
shredded parmesan
Empty jar of tomato sauce into a saucepan. Stir in a generous splash of wine. Simmer, stirring occasionally.
Add the first five ingredients to a medium bowl, and stir to combine. Then, add the white whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the unbleached, all-purpose flour. Mix the ingredients until a sticky dough forms.
Begin heating a large pot of water to a boil.
Flour a flat surface and your hands with the remaining flour. Pull off one handful of dough. On the floured surface, roll the dough into a long rope, approximately the width of your pinkie finger (or as thin as you can roll it). Cut the rope into 1/2 inch pieces. Press the tines of a flour-coated fork against each piece to create a ridged texture. Repeat with additional handfuls of dough until all of the dough has been shaped.
Drop the dough pieces into the pot of boiling water. When the all the gnocchi float to the top, drain the pasta.
While the pasta is draining, melt the butter in a large pan, over low-medium heat. Add the minced garlic, and saute until lightly browned. Then, add drained gnocchi. Coat the pasta with the garlic butter, and saute until the gnocchi is lightly browned.
Serve topped with tomato sauce and shredded parmesan.
Serves 4
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Notes - I didn't like the gummy texture of a batch that I froze. Therefore, even though it would be so nice to pull out a bag of frozen gnocchi for a quick dinner, I can't recommend it. It's a real bummer. I know. Also, obviously, you can skip or alter some of the "extras," like the garlic butter, browning or tomato sauce. I just wanted to share my favorite way to serve the dish.
As I type this, the aroma of banana bread is rising through our home. Is there anything more comforting and homey than that scent? After an intense couple of days at work, I'm happy to just sit here and enjoy.
I've also been enjoying a couple of other treats recently.
A Misto found its way into my stocking over the holidays. I first heard about it from Gina, and I'm already pretty taken with mine and the new, easy way it affords to use olive oil. I've been using my Misto to coat chicken nuggets, dress salads and prepare my baking pans (including the aforementioned banana bread).
I've also been busy playing with a shiny, new Kindle Touch.
Over the holidays, I've been flying through a couple of states as well as a couple of books. The Kindle's e-ink display, touch screen and long battery life make for comfortable reading. I remain unimpressed with the pricing structure and restrictions on how consumers can use their content, but I can't argue with the good reading experience.
Okay, now I'm going to turn my attention back to my baked treat.
I'm a lucky lady whose loved ones lavished her with family time over the holidays.
Over New Year's weekend, we joined family in Florida to fall asleep before midnight, play 100+ games of peekaboo, take road trips, chat, go for walks, troll the beach, look for alligators and eat. As always, we also mined shared stories from the past and created new ones.
We told stories about how:
my sister may have persuaded my toddler self to try and pull down her pants on camera,
my siblings and I used our rudimentary Malayalam to tease and bother each other, and
99.9% our family photos include bunny ears.
We created new stories about:
my brother-in-law's use of the word "chintzy,"
my nephew's grumpy post-nap attitude as inherited from his uncle,
my husband's initiation into the world of bunny ears,
my sister's new role as the baby whisperer, and
my parents' transformation into the quintessential grandparents.
I'm a sucker for oral histories, so I love spending time enjoying ours.
