Showing posts with label Cheese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cheese. Show all posts

Friday, August 5, 2016

Ricotta Gnocchi

Ricotta Gnocchi!

Enjoy a lite and delicious Gnocchi this summer with sweet corn, arugula, and truffle oil!
Take the pride in serving something you completely made from scratch and rolled out by hand. You can make the Gnocchi up to 3 days in advance or even freeze it until ready to use. And then the cooking process is very quick and easy, and well simply beautiful.

Ingredients for Ricotta Gnocchi

Yields: 4-6 entree
  • 2 cups Ricotta (1 pound)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups grated Parmigiano
  • Pinch Cayenne pepper
  • Pinch salt
  • 1 tsp grated nutmeg
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup all - purpose flour to roll out and coat dough
    • NOTE: If using fresh Ricotta - this might be dryer than store bought. Add ¼ cup milk to mixture. See image below to see if necessary.
*Make it extra special and follow my easy recipe for your own homemade Ricotta!

Ingredients for Dinner

  • ½ stick unsalted butter
  • 2 cups Sweet Corn kernels - Cooked. (canned or frozen is just fine.)
  • 4 cups Arugula
  • 1 cup shaved Parmesan (plus more for garnish)
  • Salt & Pepper to taste
  • Black (or white) Truffle Oil for finishing. (flavored olive oil is fine.)
  • Parsley for garnish

For the Gnocchi

This is a two part process. First you boil the rolled out dough, then you finish cooking in a pan. You can make in advance and freeze, or hold in refrigerator for 3 days after the boil process.

  1. Start with mixing all ingredients together until completely incorporated forming a Wet Dough. (Get your hands dirty!)
  1. Coat cutting board with flour. Coat hands.
  1. Work dough in small batches. Start with a ball, coat in flour so it’s dry enough to roll out into ropes. -Using hands for whole process. Keep covered in flour.
  1. Cut to desired size - no more than 1 inch because these will swell and get larger rather than smaller when cooked. Use knife or bench scraper to keep clean edges.
  1. Boil large pot of water with Tons of salt - salty like the sea.
  2. Drop in batches, swirl at first so they won’t stick, then leave them be for a couple of minutes. The timing is different on sizes, basically the dumplings are going to float when finished, let float for no longer than 30 seconds.
You can bite into it, and will be soft and delicious.
  1. Use a slotted spoon to pull out as ready, set aside in refrigerator until ready to use.

For the Dish

For this dish you can cook in batches. But don’t worry - it goes very quick, so you can still serve all at the same time. The trick is to build as you go, and have all your plates, and mise en place.
  1. Take a large frying pan and melt butter over High heat. Turn down to Medium once the butter starts to foam and brown - Noisette: when the milk produce separates and browns.
  1. Put in Gnocchi - don’t over crowd pan but enough to brown all sides of Gnocchi. -Great time to practice your pan flipping skills. Make sure the brown butter bits coat Gnocchi & Do Not Over Cook- gently pan sear.
  1. Add cheese. Toss
  1. Add Corn Toss - Do not let this pop and turn into popcorn! Just enough to reheat the corn.
  2. Salt, Pepper, and handful of Arugula - Toss and turn off heat instantly. You do not want to wilt the lettuce.
  1. Plate: pouring excess butter as dressing. Drizzle truffle oil, cheese, and parsley - serve immediately.
#Ricotta #RicottaGnocchi #Gnocchi #SummerCooking #SummerCorn #SummerGnocchi #FoodPorn #Foodie #FoodStylist #FoodPhotography #DIYGourmet #ItalianCuisine #FromScratchCooking #HomemadeGnocchi #ChefCaylena

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

THE CHEESE SOUFFLÉ

THE CHEESE SOUFFLÉ

The elegant and decadent souffle - the most pretentious and intimidating of haute cuisine.  I make this look easy - and now, so will you!
Most dramatically puffed up right out of the oven, and will deflate rather fast - so be prepared to serve immediately. This is why they are rather complicated to make for the masses, or why restaurants insists you let them know exactly when they are to be served, that, and the glorious fact that they are made to order.

This is a rather magnificent way to inspire awe out of your brunch guests! What they wont know is how incredibly easy and stress free this dish actually is to make!
Shown here with Peaches & Bacon Salad


Difficulty - moderate / somewhat hard (Just pay attention & you got this!)
Time -  40-45 minutes TOTAL
Clean up - Easy, you’re eating straight out of the cooking dish!


*Mandatory:  Electric Mixer & 10 oz-Souffle cups / ramekins.
(you can buy for $2 each or the aluminum one time use ones at grocery stores.)
*Preheat Oven to 400*F

Ingredients

  • 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, plus more for ramekins
  • ¼ cup Parmesan cheese - grated
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup Evaporated Milk (Lactaid, or whole Milk)
  • 1 cup grated Gruyere or Swiss cheese
  • 2 Tbsp chives - chopped
  • Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
  • Salt & pepper
  • 4 large eggs, room temperature, whites and yolks separated

Procedure

1) Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Add flour; stir 1 minute.
Add milk, whisking until thickened.
  
Transfer to a large bowl. Whisk in Gruyere / Swiss cheese, salt & pepper.

Then egg yolks & chives.
2) Making the Meringue…
*It is very important not to have ANY yolks mixed with the whites, or it simply WILL NOT work. This is a crucial detail. If you think it’s working… wait until you try to get those souffles to rise… nada!
Whisk Egg Whites until soft peaks form.
merg.gif
Notice how thick you want it to be, before it’s finished.
*if you’re using a stand mixer - start at medium until start to foam & thicken, then turn to full speed until finished. This will take a couple of minutes, but don’t go too far.
In the meantime...
3)  Smear the butter inside the ramekin entirely. Then coat with the Parmesan.  
4) Fold Meringue into cheese mixture in thirds.
*Folding literally and gently. You do not want to break the meringue or make runny… you want to incorporate the two with working mixture as little as possible.
folding.gif
Divide between ramekins.
Bake on a baking sheet 15 minutes.
Reduce heat to 375 degrees.
*BE GENTLE around the oven space not to jumble stove, or ground… this is where souffles sink, along with your heart to the pit of your stomach… so be careful!

Bake until puffed, about 15 minutes.
Now remember to have your dishes, silverware, and whatever else ready because they will fall fast!
*You can not stick a toothpick in to check doneness, give it time to cook thru, but keep your eye on them because it all happens (or vanishes) fast! You can do happy dance (with out jumping or shaking the ground!) When they look like this...

Beautiful!!! Congratulations!!! You did it!!! Pull them out and gently put on surface, again they are fragile so don't drop them or you're souffle will too.



These are quite rich and filling so I recommend serving with my Peaches & Bacon Salad with Arugula, shown with. Now go and savor the moment! You’ve earned it!  





#CheeseSouffle #GourmetAtHome #DIY #Souffle #Baking #Brunch #SavorySouffle #FrenchCuisine #KitchenAid #EggSlut #ChefCaylena

Try serving it with my Bloody Mary!



Monday, May 30, 2016

Conquering and Refining the Mac & Cheese


Conquering and Refining

the Mac & Cheese!

Without all the bells & whistles … that’s up to you.
Serve as a rich and decadent side dish, as the ultimate brunch with a poached egg...
Or as a succulent entree with Soft Shell Crabs.

A thousand ways to make Mac & Cheese… This luscious version is rich & creamy, light & fluffy, slightly smoky, and served with anything you dream off.  This is not your grandparent’s Mac & Cheese, and it’s clearly not Velveeta. This is not made with Truffles, though it’s certainly just as gorgeous, elegant, and beautiful enough to stand alone.


Total Time: 45-1 hour Difficulty: Intermediate Flavor: Gorgeous Serving Size: 6 entree / 12 side dish
*This is a great dish to serve as assemble - or can up to 2 days later.
** Preheat oven *400
Ingredients:
  • 4 cups Elbow / Macaroni Noodle - cook until Al Dente in Salty water!
  • 6 pieces Smoked Bacon - cooked


  • 2 cups Milk (sub ½ cup for ½ cup cream for super rich, but no more)
  • 2 Egg Yolks - toss whites
  • ½  lb grated Sharp Cheddar (reserve ¼ cup for topping)
  • ¼ lb grated Smoked Gouda
  • ¼ lb grated Parmesan  (reserve handful for topping)
  • 1 oz Brandy or Spiced Rum
  • ¼ cup Chives or Scallions (green parts only) chopped
  • 2 tsp Butter -Room Temperature.   & more to grease casserole dish
  • 2 tsp Flour
  • 1 tsp Mustard
  • 2 cloves Garlic - minced
  • 1 tsp White Pepper (or smoked Paprika)
  • ½ tsp Nutmeg
  • 1 Tbsp Salt - or to taste, plus more for boiling noodles.
  • ½ Cup bread crumbs from crackers
Start with Mise…
Shred your cheese, measure everything out, because it should go fairly fast once you start your Bechamel.
Cook bacon, drain excess grease, chop to bite size pieces.
Boil noodles in Salty water until fairly Al Dente - run under cold water after straining to stop cooking process.
1 - Make the Roux - Blonde.
  1. In Sauce Pan mash the Butter & Flour until light paste. Turn heat on over Med- Low to warm.
2 - Add milk and turn up the heat to high, whisking until smooth, never stopping to let the bottom burn. Once starts to foam - lower heat to Medium High while whisking vigorously until thick as a sauce. Drop heat to Low immediately. 20160527_182529-ANIMATION.gif
Keep going until thick. 2.gif
3 - Add salt, Nutmeg, White Pepper, Mustard, Garlic.
4- Add the cheese in increments - Whisk until melted. (don’t forget save some for topping.) ** If you’re sauce is getting too hot, pull off heat as not to burn!
5 - Turn off heat once Cheese is melted in.  Stir in Brandy, Bacon, & Chives.
6 - Fold in Yolks, stir gently to mix.  This will turn it very luscious and will coat noodles gorgeously!
7 - Pour and stir Sauce into cold noodles. Taste for salt now.
7 - Butter up Casserole Pan.  
8 - Pour in Mac & Cheese and level top. It’s better for the mac to be spread out in a shallow casserole pan rather than a deep dish because it may turn mushy, plus the toppings are a great spread out.


9 - Top with crushed cracker crumbs, then sprinkle evenly around the remainder of cheese.
10 - Cover in Foil.
** If you’re cooking now in full - Cook 10 minutes - remove foil, cook another 10 minutes… or until it looks like this...
*It is best to let sit for 10-15 minutes before breaking into or serving to let the cheese sauce thicken back up!


Again this is a stunning dish for summer or any weather really… the Soft Shell Crabs of summer with the spice of Old Bay really complement each other. Of course as a side dish, or after a hangover - it’s the most perfect of brunches to bring you back to that happy place!
You can get as adventurous as you’d like, add whatever you want, serve with ever you would like… but this way, is simply perfection.
Enjoy!!!     


#MemorialDayWeekend #MacNCheese #EggSlut #SummerEats #SoftShellCrab #Brunch #Cheese #ElivatedComfortFood #ComfortFood #KidEats #EasyCooking #CuisinArt