Tag Archives: spinach

Recipe: Spinach and Ricotta Gnudi in a Parmesan Cream Sauce with Crispy Prosciutto

16 Mar

If you like gnocchi, or spinach-ricotta ravioli, you may very well also like gnudi. Gnocchi and gnudi are similar, except gnocchi are made with potatoes and have some chewiness, whereas gnudi are made with ricotta and are quite light and soft, which I prefer. In Italian, “gnudi” means “naked ones;” these spinach-ricotta delights are essentially the filling for ravioli, without the pasta to cover it up.

You can eat them with a marinara sauce, which would keep them very light — but I first learned how to make gnudi in a cream sauce with crunchy prosciutto on top, which is what I’ll share here because it is delicious! You can easily omit the prosciutto for a vegetarian main, however.

Ingredients
4 servings

11 oz (300 gr) spinach leaves
2 garlic cloves, minced
extra-virgin olive oil
150 gr whole-milk ricotta (drained if very wet)
1 egg, lightly beaten
150 gr. ( about 2 c.) Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese, grated — and divided in half
2-3 tbsp. flour
500 gr. (2 c.) heavy cream
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
pinch ground nutmeg

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 400F (200C).
2. Rinse the spinach well and cook in a pot with only the water that is clinging to it, until soft and wilted. Remove, drain/squeeze dry, then chop. Put the spinach in a bowl with the garlic and a drizzle of olive oil; toss to combine.

3. Add the ricotta, egg, 1 cup of the grated cheese, flour, a small pinch of salt (but not too much, due to the cheese), and pepper. Mix well, form the dough into a ball, and let rest for 30 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, place the prosciutto on a baking sheet and bake until crispy, keeping a close eye on it as it can go from crispy to burnt very quickly. Let the prosciutto cool, then break into pieces. Set aside.

5. Once the gnudi dough has rested, take pieces of it and roll into logs on flour-dusted parchment paper. Cut the logs into small pieces. Start a big pot of lightly salted water boiling.

6. Make the cream sauce: Bring the cream to a simmer for a couple minutes, stirring continuously. Take it off the heat and add the remaining cup of grated cheese, whisking to incorporate. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and nutmeg (if desired).
7. Gently slide the gnudi in the boiling water (you can take the parchment paper and slowly funnel them into the pot that way, or use a skimmer, spider, or slotted spoon). You may need to add the gnudi to the boiling water in batches; only put enough in to form a single layer across the top of the pot. The gnudi will be ready in just a few minutes — as soon as they float back up to the surface.

8. Remove the gnudi with the skimmer, spider, or slotted spoon and place them in a serving bowl (or another pot); pour the cream sauce over, adding more grated cheese if desired. Serve in individual bowls with crispy prosciutto on top. Enjoy!

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Recipe: Easy Puff Pizza ‘al Taglio’

25 Feb

Puff pastry is a culinary lifesaver, since pretty much anything tastes better when puff pastry is involved. Also, it’s a great way to use up all sorts of things in your fridge or cupboards. This week, I defrosted a package of puff pastry for a meal I did not end up making, and I needed to use it soon. So the scavenger hunt began. Amongst other things in the fridge, I spotted two pork sausage links, some mushrooms that were not going to make it much longer, and a bit of fresh spinach that was beginning to look not so fresh. On the counter, I could see some cherry tomatoes on the cusp of wrinkling. And in the cheese drawer were wedges of Gruyere and Pecorino Romano.

These ingredients reminded me of a sausage and mushroom pizza al taglio (pizza by the slice) I loved in Rome. So the solution was clear–I would make an ‘Avoid Food Waste/Clear Out the Fridge’ puff pizza al taglio. (Ok, honestly, this can also be called a puff pastry tart….) You can cut it into larger pieces for lunch or dinner, or cut it smaller ones to serve as an appetizer.

Note: This recipe is just a suggestion; you can put all sorts of things on top of puff pastry (like this beet and feta vegetarian option) and you will end up with something delicious. I often let fate and the contents of my fridge decide. With a little bit of extra effort, you can also make puffs, but I was feeling lazy and went freeform.

Ingredients

1 pkg. puff pastry (the kind I buy has two sheets of pastry; I used both)
mushrooms, sliced (16 oz./450 gr.)
garlic salt (optional)
baby spinach, chopped (as much as desired; I only had a small handful)
2 pork sausages, casings removed
cherry tomatoes, cut in quarters (as much as desired; I had about 10 cherry tomatoes to use)
Gruyere cheese, grated (as much as desired)
Pecorino Romano cheese, grated (as much as desired)

Preparation

1. Thaw your puff pastry (ideally, overnight in the fridge).
2. Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C).
3. Cook any ingredients that are likely to wet the puff pizza too much (or not cook fully while in the oven). For me, those ingredients were the mushrooms, spinach, and sausage. In a frying pan, I quickly sauteed the mushrooms in some olive oil and tossed them with garlic salt. I placed them on a dish, then cooked the sausage in the same pan until it was no longer pink, crumbling it as it cooked. The sausage went on another plate and the little spinach I had went into the pan; it almost disappeared before my eyes, but ended up being just enough to add a spot of additional color to the puff pizza.

    4. Spray a rimmed baking sheet with olive oil cooking spray, or wipe a thin layer of oil over it.
    5. Lay the puff pastry sheets down the center of the baking sheet, pressing the seam between the two together. Score the sides of the pastry with a sharp knife. This will allow the sides to rise into a crust. (I did not score the short sides as I was able to press them up against the baking sheet rim where they formed their own crust.)

    6. Layer your prepped ingredients onto the puff pastry, taking care to not place anything past the score lines: I started with a little Gruyere, then the mushrooms, sausage, tomatoes, and spinach, ending with a bit more Gruyere and some Pecorino Romano. I tend to go lightly on the cheeses as I want the flavors of the other ingredients to shine, but feel free to add as much as you like.

    7. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until puff pastry and cheeses are golden. Using a firm spatula, lift one edge of the pizza up and check the bottom; you want to be sure it, too, is golden.
    8. Remove, let sit for a minute or two, then cut into individual pieces. Enjoy!

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    Recipe: Power Smoothie

    14 Oct

    Sometimes, probably not as often as I should, I feel the need to eat (or drink) something super, extra virtuous. Even better if it’s delicious and quick, too. One signifier of virtuous for me = green, which is why I love this smoothie. It has such a beautiful color. It also has bananas, dates, oatmeal, flax seed, and cinnamon. Mmmmm! Perfect for breakfast, and even as part of lunch. Another bonus; it can be adapted countless ways:

    • I like less-thick smoothies, so I don’t use frozen bananas, but you easily could. I do add crushed ice, though, to offset any lingering warmness from the softened oats and dates.
    • Also, if my banana is very ripe (and thus, very sweet), I put in blueberries instead of the dates, to temper the sweetness. But… blueberries muddy the lovely green color somewhat, so be prepared for less vibrancy.
    • If I need an extra boost, I add almond butter or kefir.
    • Sometimes, I put everything in!

    Power Smoothie (one serving)

    2 tbsp rolled oats
    2 pitted Medjool dates (opened up and flattened out)
    boiling water (about 1/3 cup)
    1 banana, in chunks
    1 tbsp ground flaxseed
    sprinkle cinnamon
    1-2 handfuls baby spinach
    handful ice
    milk/plant milk of choice (about 3/4 cup)

    Optional add-ins:
    blueberries
    1 tbsp almond butter
    kefir

    Preparation

    1. Boil a small amount of water.

    2. Put the oats in a small glass ramekin, and the dates in another. Pour boiling water over each, just to cover. Let the oatmeal and dates soften (and cool) while prepping the rest of the smoothie ingredients.

    3. In a smoothie blender container (or in a blender), add the banana, flaxseed, cinnamon, oats, and dates. Stuff as much spinach as will fit, with a little space leftover for the ice. Pour in milk of choice.

    4. Blend, and enjoy!

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    Recipe: Minestrone

    8 Oct

    I remember a teacher in elementary school bringing our class a batch of “Everything But the Kitchen Sink” cookies, which I’d never had before. I didn’t quite understand the name, so the teacher explained that it meant she had put all sorts of things into the cookies, almost everything in her kitchen but the kitchen sink. That day, I tasted a new cookie and learned a new phrase.

    For me, Minestrone is an “Everything but the Kitchen Sink” soup. When the leaves start turning colors in the fall — ie, when soup weather is upon us — and I have vegetables to use up, I immediately think “Minestrone.” In Italian, minestra means “soup;” minestrone means “big soup.” And it really is a big soup, full of so many good things.

    Of those good things, there is one without which this cannot be Minestrone, in my view: the cheese rinds. We usually have a wedge of Pecorino Romano cheese in the fridge, and as we get to the last of each wedge, I save the rinds. Without some rind, the soup will not taste like Minestrone; the slow-simmered cheese is a huge part of what makes the broth so delicious.

    Pecorino Romano rind (black), Parmesan rind (golden yellow). And a Pecorino rind with the black part already trimmed off.

    Aside from the rinds and the soffritto ingredients (onion, carrot, celery; see below), I like to add canned tomatoes, zucchini, white beans, and cabbage or spinach or both (or any other leafy green). Plus pancetta when I have it, potatoes if I need to use some up, and small pasta if there is room.

    Today this is what I had at hand:

    Fridge:

    • two onion halves (one red, one white)
    • four stalks of celery
    • some leftover grated carrots (about 1.5 c.)
    • zucchini (I had 2, but ended up using only 1 big one)
    • some shredded cabbage, ie ‘cole slaw’ mix (about 4.5 oz/127 gr)
    • baby spinach (about 3-4 handfuls)
    • Some Pecorino Romano and Parmesan ‘heels’ (see photo)

    Freezer:

    • Cubed pancetta (4 o oz/113 gr)

    Pantry:

    • Yukon Gold potatoes (I had 3, but ended up using only 2)
    • Whole peeled tomatoes
    • Cannellini beans (2 cans, 15.5 oz/440 gr each, undrained)
    • Garlic (3 large cloves)
    • Bay leaves
    • Vegetable bouillon cubes
    • Salt and pepper

    Perfect–I had everything I needed for Minestrone! I also had mini pasta sea shells, which I’ve used in Minestrone before, but I did not use them this time; by the time I got to the point where I would have added them, there was no more room in the pot! Plus, dry pasta keeps and I had to use up the potatoes. (If you have pasta but no potatoes or just prefer the pasta, add a handful of that instead.)

    For me, Minestrone is a soup I make in ‘layers,’ meaning I start with the first ingredients and while they are cooking, I prep the others, adding them to the pot as I go. Today, I started by cooking the pancetta in olive oil in a large Dutch Oven until it got crispy. (If you are vegetarian, omit the pancetta).

    While the pancetta was cooking, I diced the onions and celery, then added them–and the already-grated carrots and a couple bay leaves–to the pot along with a splash more olive oil. This mixture of onions, celery, and carrots is what the Italians call soffritto and the French call mirepoix, and it is the foundation of many great soups. When the veggies got soft, I crushed the garlic cloves straight into the pot, added some freshly ground black pepper, and cooked everything for a couple more minutes. This is what I consider to be Layer 1, made up of a few subparts. [I forgot to take a photo of this, however.]

    To start building Layer 2, I added some hand-crushed tomatoes and their juices to the soup pot. If I’d had a can of diced tomatoes, I would have used that instead–but necessity is the mother of hand crushing. With a very clean hand, I gently took a whole peeled tomato from the can, and crushed it into the soup pot, repeating until I had crushed all the tomatoes. [Note: If you will also crush the tomatoes by hand, lower your hand as far as possible into the pot, and crush each tomato very slowly. Otherwise, the likelihood of having crushed tomato all over your back stove wall, and yourself, is extremely high–as I’ve learned from experience.]

    Successfully hand-crushed tomatoes; all in the pot, none on me

    Then I added the cheese rinds (trimmed of the outer, colored parts) and 4 cups of water and let everything simmer while I diced the potatoes. When the potatoes were ready, I added them, the canned cannellini beans with all their liquid, and a vegetable bouillon cube to the pot, along with more freshly ground pepper. This is Layer 2. I let this simmer, partially covered, for about 10 minutes while I prepped the zucchini for Layer 3.

    Nestling cheese rinds into the soup

    In Layer 3, I added the diced zucchini and the already-shredded cabbage, and continued to simmer the soup until the zucchini and potatoes were both soft. I also checked the seasonings and decided to add another bouillon cube and a little salt. At that point, my Minestrone was essentially done and ready to serve, so I did the very last thing: I put the handfuls of spinach on top and stirred until the spinach was wilted in.

    Then I set the soup pot out for everyone to serve themselves (with everyone getting at least one piece of the now-soft cheese rinds–an absolute treat), along with some freshly grated Pecorino Romano to sprinkle on top. Mmmm. So good on a fall day.

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    Recipe: Wheat Berry Casserole with Italian Sausage, Spinach, and Mozzarella

    22 Aug

    It was a busy Saturday recently, filled with lots of garden work (me), garage reorganizing (my husband), and room cleaning/packing (youngest son, prior to departing for college). Dinner time rolled around and so did the realization that there wasn’t much food in the house. I had planned to cook that evening, except that I didn’t actually plan anything (a not uncommon occurrence). And seeing as I was still in my gardening outfit (ie, my old painting pants and shirt–the very ones my husband keeps threatening to burn), with streaks of dirt across my forehead, my enthusiasm for a quick trip to the grocery store was nonexistent.

    Surely there was something in the cupboards/refrigerator/freezer/garden that could be pulled together for dinner. The freezer yielded some Italian turkey sausages. The refrigerator revealed lots of baby spinach that needed to be used immediately, mozzarella from a recent pizza night, and the Pecorino Romano cheese that always occupies a special spot. The cupboards contained onions, olive oil, and pasta, and the trusty garlic bowl on the counter was full. And there were (and still are) more tomatoes than I know what to do with in the garden.

    I immediately envisioned a zesty penne-sausage dish–only to remember we had had pasta the night before. Shucks. I was willing to forget this fact, but the Greek chorus in our house probably would not. And then I saw the wheat berries I had recently bought, and an idea formed…. [Note: this can easily be made vegetarian by eliminating the turkey sausage and adding more veggies.]

    Wheat Berry Casserole with Italian Sausage, Spinach, and Mozzarella

    1 lb. fresh baby spinach (about 12 c.)
    1 large white onion, diced
    3 cloves garlic, crushed
    1.25 lb. Italian turkey sausages, removed from their casings
    3 c. cooked wheat berries (see Note below)
    3/4 c. seeded and diced tomato (about 5-6 small Roma tomatoes)
    salt and freshly ground pepper
    2 c. grated mozzarella
    1/2 c. grated Pecorino Romano cheese

    Preparation

    1. Cook wheat berries as indicated in the Note below; set aside.
    2. Heat a skillet over high heat and add the spinach; cook until it has reduced in size and has released most of its liquid; remove from the skillet and drain, pressing as much liquid out as possible. Set aside.
    3. In the same skillet, also over high heat, add the olive oil, then the onions. Cook until the onions have softened and are turning golden at the edges. Add the garlic and cook a few more minutes.
    4. Add the sausage and cook until no longer pink, breaking up clumps with a spatula. Turn off the heat. Add the reserved spinach and the wheat berries, and mix in well. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
    5. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
    6. Layer half the wheat berry/sausage mixture into a 9 x 13 baking pan. Sprinkle with half the mozzarella. Repeat, and sprinkle the Pecorino Romano over the top of the casserole. (See photo below, taken halfway through doing the top layer.)

    7. Bake casserole for about 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted and slightly golden.

    NOTE: Cooking Wheat Berries
    Wheat berries triple in volume when cooked. For this recipe, you will need 1 c. uncooked wheat berries. (I double that amount and save the rest of the cooked wheat berries for salads or other recipes later in the week.)


    1 c. wheat berries
    3 c. water, plus more as needed
    1 vegetable or chicken bouillon cube (ideally, without MSG)

    Preparation

    1. For best flavor, toast the wheat berries over high heat in a dry skillet (no oil), stirring constantly, until some of the berries are beginning to turn golden brown and the berries emit a nice, nutty aroma.

    2. While the berries are toasting, bring the 3c. water to a boil in a medium-sized pot. Add the bouillon cube.
    3. When the wheat berries are toasted, pour them into the boiling water and cook over high heat for about 50-60 minutes, adding more water as needed (no need to cover the pot, but keep an eye on it). When done, the berries will be al dente.
    4. Drain the berries; there should be about 3 c. cooked berries.

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    Recipe: Scrambled Eggs with Spinach and Feta

    22 Jan

    Eggs are a miracle food in many ways, but what I most appreciate about them is that they make for a quick, nutritious meal any time of the day. These scrambled eggs are great for breakfast, brunch,  lunch, and even as an after-school snack for ravenous teenagers. And if I am ever on my own for dinner, these scrambled eggs often make an appearance.

    Scrambled Eggs with Spinach and Feta
    Serves 2

    4 eggs
    pinch salt, freshly ground pepper
    1 tbsp. olive oil
    1/4 onion, diced
    1/2 c. chopped fresh spinach
    1/4 c. crumbled feta

    Preparation
    1. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs with a fork. Add a pinch of salt, and freshly ground pepper.
    2. In a small skillet, heat the olive oil, add the onions, and cook over high heat until soft and beginning to turn golden at the edges.
    3. Reduce heat to medium and layer the spinach on top of the onions. Pour in the eggs, top with the crumbled feta, and gently scramble until set.
    4. Serve immediately.

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    Recipe: Lasagna Roll-Ups with Spinach and Ricotta

    8 Dec

    Sometimes, you want something fairly simple for dinner, but still want it to have a little flair. This dish meets that need. It is a different take on an old favorite: lasagna. Instead of layering the lasagna, you roll it up. It is fun to make, and a pleasure to eat.

    Lasagna Roll-Ups © G. Stansbury

    Lasagna Roll-Ups with Spinach and Ricotta
    Makes 10-12
    [Updated  Dec. 9, 2012]

    15 pieces lasagna from a 1-lb. box
    16 oz. ricotta cheese
    2 cloves garlic, crushed
    1 (10-oz.) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
    1 egg, lightly beaten
    1.5 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
    1/2 c. grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese
    3/4 tsp. salt
    freshly grated pepper to taste

    pasta sauce of your preference (at least 24 oz./4 c. — may need more)

    Preparation
    1. Cook lasagna al dente in large pot of boiling water according to directions on package. Drain, and rinse with cold water to cool.
    2. While lasagna is cooking, combine ricotta, garlic, spinach, egg, 1/2 c. mozzarella, Pecorino Romano/Parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper. Mix well.
    3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking pan with cooking spray, then pour about 2 c. pasta sauce into pan, spreading evenly. Add more sauce as needed to ensure there is a healthy layer of sauce in bottom of pan.
    4.  Lay out a lasagna noodle and spoon about 1/3 c. filling in an even layer down the entire noodle (you can also spread the filling on the noodle with very clean fingers). Roll the lasagna noodle up as tightly as possible, and nestle into sauce in pan. Repeat with remaining noodles–you will end up with between 10-12 roll-ups  (the extra noodles are back-ups in case of any breaks or tears). Pour remaining sauce over and in between roll-ups.
    5. Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake for about 30 minutes, or until bubbly. Remove aluminum foil and sprinkle remaining 1 c. mozzarella over the roll-ups. Broil until golden, and serve immediately.

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