Gnocchi!! (Product Review)

Growing up, we never used prepackaged food products, so everthing was always cooked from scratch. At the time, we always figured that we were getting cheated somehow and would on occasion insist on being fed wonderful gourmet meals like Kraft Dinner or Hamburger Helper. Ahem. It is somewhat telling that now my siblings and I all cook and all cook pretty much from, you guessed it, scratch. In truth, not relying on preprocessed foods in the first place made switching over to a gluten and dairy free diet a hell of a lot simpler. All I have to do is switch a few basic things over instead of having to try to find replacements for most of the recipe. However, when one gets home at almost 9pm and is very hungry because lunch was at 2, pulling up a from scratch meal can seriously suck. I don't really want to start peeling veggies, and in the summer all I would do is throw together a salad with a quick protein (beans or an egg or something) but it is February in Montreal, and it is currently snowing and I don't want a salad, thank you. This is where keeping a few staple ingredients on hand that can be whipped up to a hearty meal (in less than 20 minutes) comes in handy. Say hello to my go to: gnocchi.

Gnocchi, when done right, are little balls of pillowy goodness, best served pipping hot and smothered in some sort of (in my opinion) runny sauce. When done incorrectly, feed them to someone you don't like as they are more akin to little rocks. They use potatoes as the base, so technically aren't pasta, though they will more often than not contain a flour of some kind as a binder, and sometimes also egg. They are generally to be found in with the pastas at your grocer, however, though not always. There are a number of different companies who do produce them commercially, though the only one that I have found consistently with gluten free options is the Aurora brand. They actually produce five different varieties of gnocchi: whole wheat, potato, spelt, corn and rice. The first three all contain wheat flour or gluten (in the form of the spelt), so that leaves the corn and the rice kinds. I will be very honest, I do not like the corn variety. The flavour is fine, it's the texture that gets me. Gritty, much in the same way that corn meal is, which really isn't all that surprising. I just can't get over the mouth feel of it to really enjoy it. The rice gnocchi, however, does not suffer from that problem and the flavour is such that it's as much a vehicle for whatever sauce you put on it as anything.

 

 

 

So, tonights dinner: rice gnocchi with a bacon carbonara sauce. Easy enough. Cut up the bacon strips into 1 inch pieces and fry up in a large skillet while bringing a pot of salted and lightly oiled water to a boil. Once the water comes to a boil, add the gnocchi to the boiling water very carefully! They are hard little nubbins and will splash into the pot if you aren't careful. I usually cheat and spoon them in with the slotted spoon I take them out with. Leave them to boil until they float, at which time they are cooked. Try not to let them boil over long as the longer they cook the denser they get and they are best light and fluffy. While the gnocchi are cooking, add about 2/3 of a cup of cream (we used the MimicCream that we had left) and a jar of pasta sauce to the bacon. For us that meant using the last jar of the tomato sauce I put up last summer, about 2 cups worth. As soon as the gnocchi are cooked and floating, spoon them directly into the sauce and stir to coat. Serve immediately with vegan parmesan and enjoy!

I guess you could say that I sort of cheated tonight, since this is not a new product to me, but something that I keep on hand for quick and easy dinners. Knowing that I can incorporate something this versatile that is also gluten/dairy free though makes this something that I would certainly recommend as a pantry staple, especially if you on occasion need something quick. Enjoy!

Good Stuffs! (Product reviews)

I absolutely love finding new things that I can cook with; my husband knows that my idea of a great date night is for him to take me to a new market or grocer I've never been to. I'm like a kid in a candy store! Every year I tear up a little when the Jean Talon and Atwater markets both open up the outside for the summer and fold in for the winter. Basically, the only thing that makes me happier than cooking and playing in the kitchen is hunting for the stuff I'm going to be using once I get there. Hence, good stuffs.

I had originally planned to start writing about some of the places that I like to shop at tonight, but the dinner my huney cooked for us was not only amazing and simple, but also incorporated two new products that I had purchased to try out at some point. This seemed like a perfect opportunity. So, here goes.

We picked up some scallops at the fish monger down the street this afternoon, and while snooping, I realized that in and amongst all their pastas (we have a very cool fish monger! All kinds of products to go with the sea food, and frankly when I'm feeling lazy because it is so close, I'll often pop in to pick up any produce I might be short on) they carry Le Veneziane, a corn pasta. Never having tried it, I grabbed some thinking that it would be nice to have on hand for a dinner on the fly. Plus, the ones I grabbed were a larger size than I can usually find, closer to a linguini sized noodle. Once home, it was decided that something cajun would be nice, and while checking out some of the suggestions on our spices, there is a recipe for a cream based spicy seafood sauce that would be good over pasta! Great, says my guy, except that we don't have what we usually use as a cream substitute. Tah dah! Again, because I had never tried it, the last time I ran over to my favourite little shop, I had picked up some MimicCream, which I was able to hand over as though I had planned the whole thing. The best part? I then pretty much got out of the kitchen and let him do his thing as it was his night to cook!

Okay, so... The MimicCream is an almond and cashew nut cream, so this is not going to be your thing if you have any nut allergies!  Having said that, it was great to work with. Visually, it resembles a heavy cream in texture and appearance, that acts in much the same way a dairy based cream would when cooking with it. It didn't separate or go grainy with the heat (which I often find with some of the rice based substitutes), took on the flavours of the spices that were used but also didn't get lost in the dish; basically, you knew you were eating a "cream" sauce. The container holds 16oz, or 2 cups, and once opened, should be refridgerated and used within 14 days.

 

So next, the pasta. The package instructions said to cook in boiling water for 5 minutes, and that was exactly right. They held their structure really well, and had a really nice, lightly chewy texture to them that had us decide to use these in place of egg noodles. They held the sauce well, absorbing it without becoming mushy (which has me planning a tomato and seafood based pasta dish for the not so distant future) and unlike some noodles we've tried, they twirl on your fork perfectly!

 

 

Essentially, dinner was a great success, and we will Definitely be picking up both of these products again. I'm looking forward to trying different shapes of pasta for different recipes, and the cream will likely find a permanent place in our pantry.

 

 

Photo: Cajun spiced scallops with leeks and red peppers in "cream" sauce, zucchini and pasta.

 

Bon Appetit!