Last night, as promised, was my first attempt at gnocchi with a Sorrento style tomato and mozzarella sauce from Verdura.
The gnocchi was a lot of fun to make, but the texture of the finished product was a little off and I am not sure why. Maybe I over- or under-under kneaded the dough? Perhaps the water wasn't at the right temperature? Should I have left them to dry a little longer before cooking them?
More research is required, I think, and a trip to a decent Italian restaurant so I can properly savour the real deal and see what to aspire to!!
My sauce, on the other hand, was delicious!! Just the right amount of creamy yet still healthy - yay! I was a little disappointed that the sauce seemed to separate on the plate - Hubby reckons it was because of the mozzarella - something else to research, I suppose! It didn't spoil the taste, though, and all in all I give this dish 5/10 with definite potential.
On Sunday night Hubby and I delved into our Madhur Jaffrey books (her Ultimate Curry Bible has been Hubby's go-to book for years) and created an awesome curry feast! I made Punjabi style Cauliflower and Potatoes (or Aloo Gobi, to give it it's proper name) with a yoghurt herb dip and home made chapatis. Hubby decided at the last minute that we should have something beany and saucy to go with, so he threw together a quick, yet utterly delicious, red bean curry.
The red bean curry probably needed a little longer for the flavours to settle and mix properly, but dear God, it was one of the yummiest curries I have ever had, and definitely something I will be having a go at in the future!!
My offerings were equally delicious! Now, if I had read the recipe for the Aloo Gobi properly I would not have filed it under healthy as the potatoes are basically shallow fried into chips (or fries, depending on which side of the pond you are reading this ...) I don't think I did this bit properly as even after extended cooking time some of the potatoes were a little undercooked, but still edible. I will definitely be boiling them next time as I don't see how frying them improves the final dish.
Anyway, once they were combined with the stir fried cauliflower and mix of ginger, turmeric, cayenne, cumin & coriander they were delicious!!
The chapatis were simple and fun to make, but they were a little crispy and brittle. I know my pan wasn't hot enough to start so this could be the reason, but I think also I could have kneaded the dough a bit better - I kind of cheated and used my Kitchenaid and i think there wasn't enough dough for it to work with properly. I am looking forward to having another go though, as they would be a great addition to our dinner table.
I'm going to give this meal 7/10 and I know I can get this up to a 9 or a 10 with some practise.
You can expect to hear about lots more meals from these books as I work my way through them, but I won't be able to share the recipes like I can when I when I find them on the internet - aside from being too lazy to type them out for you I'm fairly sure the authors wouldn't be too happy about me posting their recipes online!!
Well, I had best get started on my tasks for the day. I'm focusing on my organisation goal today and re-organising upstairs - in preparation for new year's eve I cleared up all the crap lying around downstairs and it is now all lying around upstairs - whoops!! If you don't hear from me by tomorrow I may be trapped under a pile of shoes in my closet ..... x
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