This month’s Sugar High Friday is hosted by Habeas Brulee and the theme is a great one — sugar art. Of course, with it being the holidays and everything, I kind of took the lazy way out and made cookies decorated with sparkly sugar. These are very much like chocolate shortbread and are very good. I actually found them to be even tastier the day after baking.

The recipe is from the book, Christmas Cookies, edited by Susan Hernandez Ray. I received it a couple of months ago when I accidentally forgot to decline the monthly selection at the Good Cook’s Book Club. Oops.

Chocolate Star Cookies
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups AP flour
1 cup Dutch process cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
8 ounces white chocolate chips
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add the powdered sugar, combining well. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until blended.

Combine the flour and next three ingredients and gradually add to the butter mixture at low speed. Divide dough in half and wrap each potion in plastic wrap. Chill at least one hour.

Roll one portion at a time to 1/4 inch thickness on a floured surface. Cut with a 4-inch star cookie cutter and place on parchment-lined baking sheets. I used both a star cookie cutter and a small gingerbread man cutter. Feel free to use your cookies cutters of choice.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Remove to wire racks and cool completely. Next, place chocolate chips in a small double boiler (or a heat-proof bowl over simmering water) and melt. Stir until smooth and use a spoon to drizzle over cooled cookies. I’ve found that a good way to do this is to place a cooling rack over a cookie sheet, so that all the extra drizzled chocolate falls through the rack and onto the cookie sheet. I believe I got that idea from Alton Brown and the chocolate eclair episode.

Sprinkle the granulated sugar on top of the warmed chocolate and let set.

Enjoy with milk. Although — watch out for falling gingerbread man heads.

Thanks again to Habeas Brulee for hosting this month’s event!

We have a Christmas tradition (when we’re at home) of having Roasted Cornish Game Hens for Christmas dinner. And they are so-so-so good! Especially so after I got the book, “The Cook’s Illustrated Complete Guide to Poultry (since re-named as the Complete Book of Chicken…). The book is the poultry and fowl bible, as far as I am concerned. This book has never let me down and this recipe is no exception.

I basically follow the book exactly, except that I add veggies to the pan and I rub some roasted garlic, butter and sage under the breast skin. That’s what I do with turkey too. It just seemed like a good idea for hens as well. Really, what piece of poultry could you not do this with? I don’t ever want to find out.

Roasted, Stuffed Cornish Game Hens
Based very closely on the Cook’s Illustrated recipe
2 cups kosher salt or 1 cup table salt
2 Cornish hens (each less than 1 1/2 pounds if possible), trimmed of extra fat, giblets removed, rinsed well
6 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup dry vermouth or white wine
1 small head garlic, wrapped in foil and roasted until soft (400 degrees for about 30-40 minutes)
2 tbsp butter, softened
4 leaves fresh sage, chopped
Assorted root vegetables (sweet potatoes, potatoes, parsnips, carrots, etc…)

Dissolve salt in 5 quarts cold water in small clean bucket or large bowl. Add hens breast side down; refrigerate 2 to 3 hours. Remove, rinse thoroughly, pat dry, and prick skin all over breast and legs with point of a paring knife. Now, this is what I do: mix the roasted garlic, softened butter and sage together and push it up under the skin of the breast. Mmmm!

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk balsamic vinegar and oil in small bowl; set aside. Spoon 1/2 cup hot stuffing into cavity of each hen; tie its legs together with 6-inch piece of kitchen twine.

Add the vegetables to the bottom of the roasting pan. Leaving as much space as possible between each bird, arrange them breast side down and wings facing out, on large (at least 19-by-13–inch) wire rack, set over equally large roasting or jelly-roll pan. Roast until backs start to get a bit golden, about 25 minutes.

Remove pan from oven, brush bird backs with vinegar and oil glaze (re-blending before each bird), turn hens breast side up and wings facing out, and brush breast and leg area with additional glaze. Returned pan to oven, add 1 cup water, roast until meat thermometer inserted into the stuffed cavity registers about 150 degrees, about 15 to 20 minutes longer.

No picture of the hens here — let’s check on the table!

Remove pan from oven again, brush birds with re-blended glaze, return pan to oven, add another 1/2 cup water to pan and increase oven temperature to 450 degrees. Roast until birds are spotty brown and cavity registers 160 degrees, 5 to 10 minutes longer, depending on bird size. Remove birds from oven and let rest for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour hen “jus” from roasting pan into small saucepan, spoon off excess fat, add vermouth or wine, and simmer over medium-high heat until flavors blend, 2 to 3 minutes. Drizzle about 1/4 cup sauce over each hen and serve, passing remaining sauce separately.

For the stuffing, I made a simple cornbread concoction by cubing and toasting 3 corn muffins and mixing those with some sauteed celery, onion and garlic (in a bout 2 tablespoons of butter), some fresh sage and some chicken broth. I also threw in some fresh rosemary and some golden raisins.

When you remove the hens from the oven, you will also want to remove the vegetables and collect any drippings you have for the jus. After the birds rest, there will also be some drippings you can add to the pan.

I think these would be a great special weekend meal and this year I’m really going to remember to make some one night. The Cook’s Illustrated book has all kinds of ideas on stuffing too. There’s a version that is stuffed with barley and basil pesto. Those hens would probably be wonderful with some reconstituted sundried tomatoes and chopped olives spread under the skin. Huh. Okay, I think we’ll be having that soon.

A special thanks to jwa for giving me a ride to work this AM, so I could stay at home longer and finish this post.

Je Mange la Ville is going on a break until the 26th or 27th of December. I hope everyone has a great few days. My first post next week will probably be of our Christmas dinner: Roasted Cornish Game Hens, Creamed Spinach and Roasted Root Vegetables. Mmm!

When I was little, whenever we’d go out for lunch, I would get a Monte Christo sandwich. It was my absolute favorite. I think it was the, “I’m eating French Toast for lunch!!”, thrill of it all. Granted, this was a simpler time, long before Freedom Toast.

Recently, however, I was browsing thorugh the Food Network site and saw this recipe, originally featured on Sara’s Secrets — recipe from Mama’s on Washington Square, San Francisco, CA. So, grab a pan and some eggs, bread, meat and cheese and let’s make some freedom on a plate, San Francisco-style.

Monte Christo Sandiches (makes 2)
4 slices white bread
Mayonnaise, as needed
4 slices Gouda or Havarti
4 slices smoked turkey
2 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
Optional: Powdered sugar

Serving suggestion: Really good blackberry jam on the side.

Using a knife, cut the crusts off the sandwich (this helps to pinch and seal the ends). The, lay out 2 slices of bread and spread with mayonnaise. Top each slice with the 1 slice of Gouda and 1 slice of turkey each. Put the third slice of bread on top of one stack, and flip the remaining stack on top, cheese-side down, to make a triple-decker sandwich.

Wrap the sandwich tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 6 hours. (Wrapping the sandwich in plastic wrap, compacts it, and prevents the egg batter from seeping in.)

Combine the eggs and milk in a bowl. Heat the oil and butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Unwrap the sandwich and dip it in the egg batter, to coat evenly. Gently place it in the skillet, and fry, turning once, until golden brown and hot, about 5 minutes total.

Use tongs to hold the sandwich upright and crisp up all the ends (so there are no spots with raw, soggy egg).

Remove from the pan and let sit about a minute.

Cut the Monte Cristo in 1/2, transfer it to a place, and garnish with a side of blackberry (or your favorite) jam. We used Julieann’s blackberrry jam, which we picked up on our last trip to Uncle Paul’s Produce Market on Hawthorne (which we, of course, refer to as “Produce Pete’s“). If desired, use a mesh strainer to sprinkle a little powdered sugar over the sandwiches.

Iorio
912 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 445-4716

I pass this restaurant pretty much every day (unless I catch the Division bus instead of the Hawthorne one) on my way home from work. It always looks so cozy and inviting. Bright red walls, soft lights and lately — a big Christmas tree in the middle of the restaurant, as well as two white-light decorated tress guarding the doorway.

I talked jwa into trying this place Saturday night and I’m very glad I did. We had a great two hour dinner and a very nice time. The meal started with a couple of complimentary snacks — bread with a squash dip and a small plate of marinated garbanzo beans with a balsamic drizzle and shaved Parmesan. Both were fabulous!

The meal itself was a hard choice. However, I have a rule that whenever calamari is on a menu we have to have it. At Iorio this meant calamari with a cornmeal crust and accompanied with a herbed aioli and Serrano chile oil. I really liked it. The calamari was tender and the breading not too heavy and the dipping sauces were especially good.

After much debate and a small debacle where I accidentally burned a hole in my menu with the table’s candle. Oops. jwa was very amused, though. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes. Our meal decisions. Well, we went back and forth a bit on whether we could order the same thing and came to the conclusion that in this one instance it was okay. So, we both got the Chef’s tasting Menu — 4 courses for $30.

First Course
House smoked local salmon Caesar salad

Second Course
Handmade gnocchi with arugula oil and baby Gorgonzola

Third Course
Grilled baby quail with root vegetable pave and braised greens with cider glaze

or
Pan seared ling cod with chestnut butter and root vegetable pave (we both got the quail — it was all little and cute)

Dessert
Pots au chocolate

It was dee-licious. We decided to get the wine pairings for $7 more each, which included a glass of pinot grigio with the salad and gnocchi and a chianti with the quail. They were good wine pairings, but I ended up getting an extra glass of white wine as I ran out of my first glass during the calamari. Oops. Next time, I think we will just get a full bottle of something.

With our pots au chocolate, jwa had coffee (illy) and I had a coffee nudge (illy + Kahlua and Bailey’s). The meal ended with another complimentary item — cookies* (I know the kind has a specific name but it escapes me at the moment), as well as the check.

All in all, it was a very good meal and I think we’ll definitely be going back again.

Iorio gets three holiday lights out of four holiday lights.

* Interesting fact: if you have a bite of one of the leftover Iorio check cookies and a drink of Bridgeport Ebenezer Ale — the combination in your mouth tastes like roast turkey. Fascinating.

This is a recipe I found on Epicurious about a year ago, emailed it to myself and then forgot about it. While cleaning my recipe folder out last week I came across it. Good things happen when you tidy up your email folders, people!

While the lentil soup was good, the meatballs make it awesome. In fact, a great appetizer would be to whip up a batch of the meatballs and serve them with some cherry tomatoes, chunks of cucumber and kalamata olives. Oh, okay, throw in some feta cubes, the yogurt and flat bread too. You could also impale the meatballs, cucumber and olives on wooden skewers and pretend you are Sandra Lee (but, you know, with actually appetizing and edible food).

Epicurious says that this recipe is adapted from Wolfgang Puck, “Adventures in the Kitchen”.

Lentil Soup with Lamb Meatballs
This makes 8-10 servings, so halve it if needed. That’s what I did and it worked fine. Just beat an egg first, then divide that in half.
Soup:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped red onion
1/2 cup diced carrot
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp turmeric
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 celery stalk
1 branch fresh parsley
1 branch fresh thyme
1 pound golden lentils (or regular lentils, if not available)
10 cups chicken stock or store-bought chicken broth (or turkey stock!!)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Pinch chili pepper flakes

Meatballs:
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
1 pound ground lamb
1 cup blanched almonds, toasted and ground
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup raisins, coarsely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 teaspoon chili pepper flakes
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for drizzling

Garnish:
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint leaves
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp honey
Pinch salt

Start with the soup. In a large saucepan, heat up the olive oil. Add the onion, carrot, garlic, turmeric, and cumin. Saute over high heat until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, make a bouquet garni by tying together the celery, parsley, and thyme, and add to pan.

Stir in the lentils and the chicken stock, season lightly with salt, pepper, and chili flakes, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the lentils are tender. Skim as necessary.

Meanwhile, prepare the meatballs and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, soak bread crumbs in milk. In a mixing bowl, combine the lamb, almonds, soaked bread crumbs, onion, raisins, egg, garlic, parsley, cilantro, and chili pepper flakes. Season lightly with salt and
pepper. Drizzle olive oil on the platter you will place the meatballs on and rub oil into the palm of both hands. Form meat mixture into 40 golf ball-size meatballs, each approximately 1-inch in diameter.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large ovenproof skillet or saute pan. Arrange the meatballs in 1 layer in the pan, quickly sear meatballs over high heat, and then place in the oven. Cook until the meatballs are well
browned and firm to the touch, 8 to 10 minutes.

Prepare the yogurt garnish. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. Refrigerate until serving time.

Now, return to the soup. Remove the celery bouquet. With an immersion blender, lightly blend soup (you want it to still be a little chunky).

Alternatively, transfer 2/3 of the soup to a blender. Blend until smooth and return to the saucepan. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Ladle soup into 8 or 10 soup bowls. Divide the meatballs evenly among the soup bowls and drizzle the yogurt mixture over. Serve immediately. Mmmm!

Okay. Now, it’s time to make more cookies!

It’s a good thing they are damn tasty. I’m participating in a “cookie exchange” at work for Friday and there are nine bakers involved. That means 10 dozen cookies — one for each person making cookies and one for the “table”. When I signed up, I was told six to seven people typically participate. Riiiight. Oh well, it’ll be fun.

To get a jump start, I’ve measured out all of my dry ingredients and have that stored in freezer bags, as well as my chopped white chocolate, diced apricots and almonds. I’m all ready to go except for the eggs, vanilla, butter and almond extract.

I found this recipe on the Food Network site, easily influenced by the promise of an easy recipe. Well, aside from being easy these are absolutely delicious. I’m even going to make a few extra so that we have some at home. I kept it pretty much the same, except for adding the almonds. I also decreased the apricots a bit, (now there are equal ratios of fruit to chocolate). The recipe says this makes around 24 cookies but they’d have to be pretty small cookies. I’d say it’s more around 15 - 18 cookies.

White Chocolate, Apricot & Almond Cookies
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 oz dried apricots, coarsely chopped
4 oz white chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 oz slivered almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixer, beat the butter and brown sugar until blended. Beat in the egg and vanilla and almond extracts until combined. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt, and mix until combined.

Next, mix in the apricots and white chocolate. Drop the batter by heaping tablespoons onto parchment lined cookie sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.

Bake until the edges are lightly brown, about 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

The plan is to make four dozen tomorrow night, three dozen Wednesday night and the last three dozen Thursday night. Then I just have to wrap them up all pretty-like and I’ll be ready to go on Friday morning!

This was a meal from a couple of weeks ago — a cold, windy and rainy Friday night. A huge Italian, hearty, cheesey meal. The recipe is originally from Tyler Florence and Food 911 (a show I used to really like watching). I don’t even think I changed very much from the original recipe. Oh wait, I did use a cheese blend instead of fresh mozzarella, but just because I had the blend (mozzarella, provolone, fontina & Parmesan) and didn’t have any fresh mozzarella.

The olives were a great addition to the sauce and the two cloves of garlic in the original recipe mysteriously morphed into four cloves. I wonder how that happened?

Chicken Parmesan
This recipe is easily halved, which is what I did for jwa and I
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 3 tbsp
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced (eh, you don’t have to halve this part!)
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted
1/2 bunch fresh basil leaves
2 (28-ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, drained and hand-crushed
Pinch sugar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts (about 11/2 pounds)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon water
1 cup dried bread crumbs
1 (8-ounce) ball fresh buffalo mozzarella, water drained (or about 2 cups shredded cheese — mozzarella, provolone and fontina all work well)
Freshly grated Parmesan
1 pound spaghetti pasta, cooked al dente (I used fresh wheat spaghetti from Pastaworks)

Coat a saute pan with olive oil and place over medium heat. When the oil gets hot, add the onions, garlic, and bay leaves; cook and stir for 5 minutes until fragrant and soft. Add the olives and some hand-torn basil.

Carefully add the tomatoes (nothing splashes like tomatoes), cook and stir until the liquid is cooked down and the sauce is thick, about 15 minutes; season with sugar, salt and pepper. Lower the heat, cover, and keep warm. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Get the ingredients together for the chicken so you have a little assembly line. Put the chicken breasts side by side on a cutting board and lay a piece of plastic wrap over them. Pound the chicken breasts with a flat meat mallet, until they are about 1/2-inch thick. Put the flour in a shallow platter and season with a fair amount of salt and pepper; mix with a fork to distribute evenly. In a wide bowl, combine the eggs and water, beat until frothy. Put the bread crumbs on a plate, season with salt and pepper.

Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high flame in a large oven-proof skillet. Lightly dredge both sides of the chicken cutlets in the seasoned flour, and then dip them in the egg wash to coat completely, letting the excess drip off, then dredge in the bread crumbs. When the oil is nice and hot, add the cutlets and fry for 4 minutes on each side until golden and crusty, turning once.

Ladle the tomato-olive sauce over the chicken and sprinkle with mozzarella, Parmesan, and basil.

Bake the Chicken Parmesan for 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. Serve hot with spaghetti.

We had this with a side of sauteed broccoli. So easy to make. Heat a pan and add some olive oil and a bunch of garlic. Add some trimmed broccoli florets and saute until tender and a bit crispy. Add a little salt, pepper and maybe even some red pepper flakes. So good!

So far, I have made Turkey & Cranberry Ravioli, Turkey-Tomatillo Soup and Turkey Green Curry. I have one more zip lock bag full of diced turkey in the freezer and I am looking for ideas. Help!

Below are the recipes for the soup and the curry that I came up with. They were both sort of spur of the moment dishes, so I’ve recounted them to the best of my recollection. Should be close enough.

Turkey & Tomatillo Soup
12 tomatillos, husks and cores removed
1 1/2 cups diced, cooked turkey
1 tbsp canola oil
1 1/2 - 2 cups turkey stock (or chicken stock)
1 white onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed into bite-sized pieces
1 jalapeno, diced
1 can of black beans, drained
1/2 tbsp of your favorite Mexican spice blend (ideas — a mix of cumin, Mexican oregano, red pepper flakes & dried cilantro flakes)
2-3 tomatoes, diced
cilantro leaves and lime wedges for garnish

Heat the oil in a large soup pot. Add the onion, tomatillo, garlic and jalapeno. Let cook about 10 minutes until onions are nice and soft and the tomatillos start to break down. Add the stock and bring to a simmer.

Next, add in the turkey, black beans and sweet potatoes. Give it about 10 more minutes to let the potatoes cook. Stir in the tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with cilantro and lime and wedges. Eat with plenty of tortilla chips.

Turkey Green Curry
1 can of lite coconut milk
1 1/2 cups cooked, diced turkey
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp cumin seeds
1-2 tbsp green curry paste
1 onion, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup red lentils
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup turkey stock (or chicken stock)
1 cup frozen spinach, defrosted and drained of excess water
salt
cilantro leaves & plain yogurt for garnish
cooked basmati rice

For this one, sauté the onion, bell pepper and garlic in oil. Then I added the cumin seeds and the green curry paste. Let that cook for about a minute then add the coconut milk, tumeric and stock. Add the spinach and bring to a simmer and let cook for about 5-6 minutes.

Next, add in the lentils. Cook until lentils are soft — about 15 - 20 minutes. Mix in the diced turkey, the raisins and then a little salt. Taste and adjust salt and green curry paste content. Serve in bowls over cooked basmati rice with some yogurt and cilantro leaves for garnish.

This recipe is based on a mix of recipes by Alton Brown and Michael Chiarello. You know, a little from column A and a little from column B. I’d never made gnocchi before when I tried these and it was pretty easy. A bit tedious but very much worth it.

As it was pre-Thanksgiving, my first impulse was to make pumpkin gnocchi but jwa has a low tolerance for pumpkin even during the holidays. Strangely, though, he has no problem with butternut squash. He’s weird.

Butternut Squash & Potato Gnocchi
1 pound russet potatoes (about 2 medium potatoes)
1 pound butternut squash
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 to 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting board and dough

Peel and quarter the potatoes. Boil until very fork tender, 15-20 minute. Here’s a good trick I saw Emeril do and I use it whenever I make mashed potatoes — return the cooked potatoes to the hot pan. Let them dry out over medium heat for about 30 seconds. Then continue. Yay! No water logged potatoes.

Let cool a bit and then pass the potatoes through a potato ricer or grate them on the large holes of a box grater.
While the potatoes are cooling, work on the squash. If you can find peeled, cubed squash, use that. I steamed mine in the microwave for five minutes in the bag I bought it in, then pressed it through a ricer. Thank you, Trader Joe’s.

The other options are to roast a halved squash in the oven, scoop out the flesh and use that. Or, for the daring, peel and cube a raw squash and then roast or microwave the squash cubes from there. Whatever your choice, end up with cooked squash in a bowl, ideally squash that has been pressed through a potato ricer.

Once you have your potatoes and squash riced, make a mound out of them in a big bowl, with a well in the middle, add the egg and yolk, the cheese, nutmeg, garlic, salt, and pepper. Mix well with hands or a rubber spatula. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the flour over the potatoes and using your knuckles, press it into the potatoes.

Fold the mass over on itself and press down again. Sprinkle on more flour, little by little, folding and pressing the dough until it just holds together and seems a bit sticky. The trick, I think, is to stop adding flour when you think you need just a little bit more. The ropes of dough will pick up flour when rolled and will work just fine, (at least it worked that way for me).

Keeping your work surface and the dough lightly floured, cut the dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece on a generously floured board, into a rope about 1/2-inch in diameter. Cut into 1/2-inch-long pieces.

You can cook these as is or form them into the classic gnocchi shape with a gnocchi board, ridged butter paddle, or the tines of a fork. I used a fork. Roll the gnocchi along the times of the fork making light indentations and curving the gnocchi just a bit. I hear that the indentation holds the sauce and helps gnocchi cook faster. As you can see, by the end I got a little lazy and scored them with the fork against the board, rather than just rolling the fork aganist the gnocchi. I figure it’s all good — plus my fingers started to hurt a little.

When ready to cook, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt. Drop in the gnocchi and cook for about 90 seconds from the time they rise to the surface. Remove the cooked gnocchi with a skimmer, shake off the excess water, and serve as desired.

These would be great with just some olive oil drizzled on top (and maybe some chopped tomatoes), but I made a quick sauce by whipping up a bechamel sauce first (2 tbsp butter + 2 tbsp flour), 1 1/2 cups milk (skim), then adding some chopped rosemary and sage, a dash of nutmeg, about a quarter cup of Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. With this, we also had steamed broccoli on the side and a nice bottle of red wine. It was delicious.