Mozzarella Stuffed Gnocci
I made these to accompany stuffed hatch chilies (click for a photo).
Ingredients (enough for 2; can be doubled):
1 medium potato
unbleached all purpose flour
Fresh mozarella cheese, cut in to small pieces
1. Wash the potato, wrap it in paper towel and microwave until the potato is cooked thoroughly.
2. Peel the skin off the potato (caution! It’s still hot!) and mash the potato lightly.
3. Add flour (amount depends on the size of the potato) to form a dough that is soft but tough enough to keep the shape with stuffing. Roll out the dough and cut into the size of large olives. Stuff each piece with mozzarella.
4. Boil water in a large pot. Cook gnocci until they float to the surface (and are cooked through).
Ingredients (enough for 2; can be doubled):
1 medium potato
unbleached all purpose flour
Fresh mozarella cheese, cut in to small pieces
1. Wash the potato, wrap it in paper towel and microwave until the potato is cooked thoroughly.
2. Peel the skin off the potato (caution! It’s still hot!) and mash the potato lightly.
3. Add flour (amount depends on the size of the potato) to form a dough that is soft but tough enough to keep the shape with stuffing. Roll out the dough and cut into the size of large olives. Stuff each piece with mozzarella.
4. Boil water in a large pot. Cook gnocci until they float to the surface (and are cooked through).
Stuffed Hatch Chilies with Mozzarella Stuffed Gnocci
Ingredients(6 large stuffed chilies):
6 large hot or mild hatch chilies
1 lb extra lean ground beef
2 large portabella caps, chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1/2 medium sweet onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
handfull of parsley leaves, finely chopped (save the stems for the sauce)
Fleshly ground salt & pepper
For the sauce:
olive oil
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup red wine
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
Fleshly ground salt & pepper
Clushed red chili pepper to taste (I like spicy food so I add 2 tsp or so)
Parsley stems (tie with a string or place them in a herb infuser)
2 bay leaves
1. Mix beef, mushrooms, vegetables, salt and pepper in a large bowl by hand. Stuff chilies with the meat mixture.
2. In a heavy pot (I like Le Creuset) over medium to medium high heat, saute onions in olive oil. Add garlic and continue cooking. When the onions are soft, add wine and cook for a few minutes. Add tomatoes along with bayleaves and parsley stems. Cook for about 20-30 minutes until the sauce is thick. Stirr occasionally. Add peppers to taste.
3. Preheat the oven to 400. Coat large enough bakind dish to hold all the chilies with olive oil.
Arrange chilies in the baking dish and fill space with the sauce ( 2nd photo: I also added thick sliced portabella mushrooms). Cook until the meat is cooked, about 30minutes.
Mozzarella stuffed gnocci
Pita Panini with Ham, Havarti and Radiccio
Ingredients(2 sandwitches):
2 pitabread, cut in half
4 large thin slices ham (blackforest is my fave)
2 slices havarti cheese
4 thin slices tomatoes
2 pieces radiccio leaves
mustard, mayo (optional)
1. Preheat panini press according to manufacture's instruction.
2 Assemble sandwitches with ingredients and condiments of your choice.
3. Press the sandwitches until the surface of the bread is marked and cheese is melted.
Pita bread
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 tbsp dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1/2tsp salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp ground flaxseed meal
2 cups (or more) bread flour or unbleached all purpose flour
1. Place water in a large bowl and sprinkle yeast and sugar. Let it stand until yeast foams up to the surface(5-10min).
2. Add salt, flaxseed meal, and whole wheat flour and mix well. Add flour, 1 cup at a time, and mix well. Add enough flour to form a stiff dough.
3. Knead the dough on floured surface until the surface is smooth and stretchy(5-10 min)
4. Place the dough in a clean bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth or plastic wrap. Let it rise untill the dough is doubled in size, 1-1 1/2 hours.
5. Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 450. Divide the dough into 12-16 pieces(it depends on how big you want your pita). On the floured surface, roll out each dough in flat circles. Since I use a rectangular stone in my oven, I can fit 3 pitas at a time. Place each flat dough with a pizza peel. It takes only 3 minutes or so to bake, so start rolling more dough. Repeat until all the dough pieces are gone!
Panini recipe with pitabread
