Ricotta Gnocchi and Scallops

I was watching Iron Chef and Cat Cora made ricotta gnocchi with some sweet butternut squash sauce and scallops. Because butternut squash is out of season and Iron Chef doesn't post their recipes, I had to come up with something on my own.

Here it is..richotta gnocchi and scallops with sweet corn, basil, walnuts, and brown butter. Holy cow is it good!

Ingredients
1 pound ricotta cheese, drained
1 egg
1 C shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 t kosher salt
1/4 C flour
1 t nutmeg

1 C sweet corn, cut off the stalks
1 T butter

3 T butter
1/4 C walnuts
15 basil leaves (I tore mine right from the plant in the garden)

2 scallops
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil

Directions
Ricotta Gnocchi
If your ricotta cheese is wet (you can buy it dry at Whole Foods), you'll have to wrap it in cheese cloth and hang it over a bowl to drain overnight.

Once dry, place the ricotta cheese in a bowl. Add the egg, parmesan cheese, salt, flour, and nutmeg. Mix together really well. Using either a pastry bag or a ziploc bag, fill it with the mixture. If using a ziploc, cut off the end so you can squeeze the mixture through.

Coat a cookie sheet with a pile of flour. Squeeze the mixture into one inch logs onto the flour. Coat the logs in flour and roll into balls.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Reduce heat to medium. Drop balls into the water. They rise to the top when they're finished cooking. Remove with a slotted spoon. Place in a warm oven to keep warm.

Spring Corn
Warm up the corn and butter in a small saucepan. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Keep on low until ready to use.

Brown Butter Sauce
Place butter, basil, and walnuts in a pan. Melt the butter and cook until it begins to turn brown.

Scallops
Carefully coat the scallops with salt and pepper. In a heated cast-iron pan coated with olive oil, place the coated side down. While it's cooking, add salt and pepper to the other side. Cook on medium high heat until a nice brown crust is created. Flip over and cook the other side.

Assembly
Place six to eight gnocchi in the bottom of a bowl. Add the corn and sauce. Top with scallops.

I know this looks like a lot of work, but it took less than 30 minutes, from beginning to end. And it's better than anything you can get in a restaurant. YUMMY!

Zucchini Bread

This is my mom's recipe. I've never strayed from it because it needs no improvement.

Ingredients
3 zucchini, peeled and shredded
4 eggs
1 C vegetable oil
3 C flour
3 C sugar
3 t cinnamon
1 t soda
1 t baking powder
1 t salt
2 t vanilla
1 C nuts (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour loaf pans.

Beat eggs and oil. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Add zucchini and beat. Add nuts. Mix well.

Fill loaf pans 1/2 full and bake for one hour. I use mini loaf pans so you only need to bake for 45 minutes if you do the same.

Margherita Pizza

Last night we were under a tornado watch, the wind was blowing like crazy, and it smelled like rain. And I decided it was a good time to fire up the grill and make some pizza.

Boy am I glad I did! I dubbed it Deliciousness from the Grill on Facebook.

And guess what? It's so easy you're going to be mad you didn't think of it.

Ingredients 

1 package whole wheat pizza dough (I buy mine at Whole Foods)

3 T butter
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 package burrata, sliced
4 vine-ripened tomatoes, sliced
Basil, torn into bite-sized pieces
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt
Pepper

Fire up the grill (I like mine as hot as possible). While it's heating up, roll out the dough and place on a pizza stone. When the grill is ready, put the dough on and cook for four or five minutes. You don't want the dough to be fully cooked, but you do want it to begin firming up.

In the meantime, melt the butter and add the garlic.

Take the dough off the grill and spread the butter/garlic sauce over the dough. Add the tomatoes, burrata, and basil. Using your thumb, place it over the olive oil spout and sprinkle over the pizza. Do the same with the vinegar. Add salt and pepper (about 2 tsp of each).

Return the pizza to the grill and cook 8-10 minutes.

Now I'm hungry again.

Crab Cakes with Chipotle Pepper Sauce

This was the winning favorite of the boys' side of the table when I tested recipes (the girls liked the lemon aioli better).

Chipotle Pepper Sauce
3 yellow peppers, sliced
2 chipotle peppers
2 T honey
1/4 C seasoned rice vinegar
1/4 C olive oil
1/4 t ground black pepper
Pinch of salt

Add everything to a food processor. Blend well. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Crab Cakes
4 Certified Steak & Seafood crab cakes
Olive oil

Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove the crab cakes from their packaging. While the meat is delicious, the cakes lose their form. I found if I used a 1/3 measuring cup and reformed the cake in that, then flipped it into the saucepan, it maintained its shape.

Cook on both sides until browned.

Serve immediately.

Disclosure: I used Certified Steak & Seafood Company crab cakes because they were sent to me as part of their March Nutrition Month blogger campaign. Other than them not keeping their shape, they were very fresh and delicious.

Tuscan Bread Soup

This recipe began in Italy. We were in some teeny, tiny town in wine country and Tuscan bread soup was on the menu.

Then, my friend Nat Slavin sent me his recipe with a note that said, during the winter, he always has a pot of it in his fridge.

This is a combination of both recipes, with my own little additions.

Ingredients
2 T olive oil
2 T butter
4 cloves of garlic, peeled
1/2 yellow onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
2 14-oz cans fire roasted tomatoes
6 C vegetable broth
2 Parmesan heels (Whole Foods has them in their cheese department)
1/2 loaf cibatta bread, cut into squares
2 T herbs de Provence
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper

In a large stock pot, melt the butter and warm up the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and cook until softened, three to four minutes. Add the celery and carrots and cook another four minutes. Add the tomatoes, vegetable broth, Parmesan heels, herbs de Provence, salt (just a pinch), and pepper (about 1 teaspoon). Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and let simmer for an hour. Add the cibatta.

It's actually better if you let it sit, untouched and in the stock pan, in the fridge overnight. But it can be served immediately. It makes excellent leftovers.

Roasted Beets and Goat Cheese

One of my most favorite restaurants (behind Naha, of course) is The Purple Pig.

They have this beet appetizer on their menu that is AMAZING! And I don't normally like beets.

I wanted to try to make it at home and I think I got it. On the first try, even!

Ingredients
3 large beets
1 ounce creamy goat cheese
2 t heavy cream
Pistachios, chopped (I like the Planters salt and pepper pistachios; I shell them and then chop)
Olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground pepper

Beets
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. While it's warming up, trim the beets, cut in half and place face down on a cookie sheet with a rim. Drizzle with olive oil, 2 T of water, salt and pepper. Roast until you can pierce the beets with a butter knife - about 50 minutes.

Let cool. Using paper towels, rub the skins off. Cut into fourths.

Goat Cheese
Place goat cheese and cream in a glass bowl. Beat with a hand mixer until it looks like frosting. Top with chopped pistachios.

When the beats are cooled, add the goat cheese mixture to the top and serve.

Trust me on this. Delicious!

Crab Cakes with Lemon Aioli

Lemon Aioli
1/2 C mayo
1 clove garlic, minced
Juice of one lemon
Zest of one lemon
1 t salt
1/4 t ground black pepper

Mix all together. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Crab Cakes

4 Certified Steak & Seafood crab cakes

Olive oil

Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove the crab cakes from their packaging. While the meat is delicious, the cakes lose their form. I found if I used a 1/3 measuring cup and reformed the cake in that, then flipped it into the saucepan, it maintained its shape.

Cook on both sides until browned.

Serve immediately.

Disclosure: I used Certified Steak & Seafood Company crab cakes because they were sent to me as part of their March Nutrition Month blogger campaign. Other than them not keeping their shape, they were very fresh.