Mario Batali's Gnocchi all'Amatriciana

I love gnocchi. I really like homemade gnocchi. But hey, when you can get a package of gnocchi  for less than $2 and save like 30 minutes, why not use that on a recipe you've never tried before... you know, just in case it's not that good?

HA! Like this recipe from Mario Batali wouldn't be that good. I saw him make this Gnocchi all'Amatriciana on The Chew last week and he did it so fast that I figured it couldn't be too tough. It involves bacon and jalapenos and red pepper flakes, so how could it not be amazing? Strangely, when I tasted this dish, I realized that this is not a combination of flavors that I encounter often- salty, bacon-y, and spicy. It was great! I used 3 jalapenos from my own plants [because I'm fancy like that] and just regular bacon, though I'm sure it'd be even better with the Italian Guanciale that Mario recommends. I also used yellow onion because of course I didn't have red onions... There were [supposedly] 4 servings of gnocchi in the package, but Charlie and I ate all of it between the two of us. Sorry I'm not sorry.

Combine oil, bacon, and chopped onion until the bacon is browned a bit. Stir in a quarter of a cup tomato paste, 3 jalapenos and red pepper flakes and keep stirring. Don't forget to save some pasta water! If it seems too dry, add some of that and it will get all wet and awesome again and all the bacon bits can be scraped off the bottom. Makes much more sauce-y goodness

 

 

Add Parmesan of course. Of course!

 

 

Yet again, I didn't have something that Mario recommended- Parsley. But I did have a ton of fresh basil. So, in that goes.

Isn't she a beaut?!

Whatever, I went to the gym that day. I think.

Beach, Wedding, Shrimp & Grits Bar

The title pretty much sums up the highlights of my weekend in Wilmington and perhaps the most perfect reception I've ever attended. The weather could not have been more wonderful, the married couple more beautiful, and the food, the band, the beach, all just... you get the point.

At the reception. Charles has kind of a goofy smile in this. That's why he didn't make the Facebook profile pic cut.

We stayed at the Red Roof Inn which was kind of a dump, but the price was right. I bought a bunch of snacks at Trader Joe's beforehand to have in the hotel room before the bar [tab that the couple provided] that night in Wrightsville at Red Dogs. We had crackers with cream cheese, smoked salmon, and capers. I also brought two cheese, Coulommiers [soft and brie-related] that was on special and some Havarti with dill. Some cherry peppers caught by eye too, but they were not as spicy and delicious as my beloved peperoncinis. And some olive tapenade. And my cucumbers in vinegar. And a rose that I found during a wine tasting afternoon at TJ's one time. Then of course something sweet, dark chocolate and almond cookies [a whole tub of them which I have since let get stale but kept on eating anyway].

Ok, it doesn't look that fancy, but it was compared to this hotel. At least it wasn't a smoking room.

We were going to go downtown to the riverfront to see the free concert series they have all summer on Fridays [Zac Brown cover band that night], but it was getting late and the beach bars would be a long drive [cab ride] from there. I would mention our dinner at Hieronymous Seafood as I took pictures, but it really just wasn't very good. The She Crab bisque, pretty good. The crab dip and baked oysters, not so much. We just went because it was literally across the parking lot from our hotel and it's ranked by a local magazine a good place for seafood. It was fine though, because we kind of filled ourselves up before we went. The draft beers were good?

The bar that night was a really good time and we saw lots of UNC people. The next day we went on the boat with a law school friend, Taylor, and his parents. They played bocce ball and I sat in a beach chair. I also floated some too. The weather was great and it was very hot, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. A great break from indoor studying.

I just supervise.

The wedding was in a church downtown at 6:00 that evening and the reception was at Landfall Country Club and was just fabulous. No expense was spared. Cocktail hour was outside with white tents and lights; it lasted until dark. Inside was a buffet of food from a pasta bar, pulled pork sliders, some station where you chose your ingredients and had the chef choose them [I didn't want to wait, so I skipped it], and a separate shrimp and grits station- possibly some of the best shrimp and grits I've ever had. The wedding cake was glorious, but for some mysterious reason, we never had any of it. After a lot of dancing and hearing the band, the waiters passed out ice cream with something chocolate and pretzel-y. Oh, oh, oh, and there was a Scotch and cigar bar. I may have participated in some cigar smoking before hitting the dance floor. There were feather-y masks to wear and flashing rings which I thought might give me a seizure. And confetti to throw of course. It was a great time.

Yeah. Perfect. Also, on the water.

Bartenders would just make up drinks for you.
We actually met a guy that worked at Landfall out the night before in Wrightsville.
"Yeah, somethin with vodka and grenadine... and throw a cherry in there too. Thanks."

Um, heaven. Red or regular grits [I've never even had red ones!]. Creamy saucy shrimp.
Toppings included biscuits, chorizo, white cheddar, TOMATO JAM, fried jalapenos, onion straws, and probably more I can't rememeber because I was overly excited.

My masterpiece.

Orecchiette with white cheddar sauce. Gnocchi with brown butter and pesto. These people must live in my dreams.

Pulled pork sliders. Sadly, I was too full to eat these. Charlie says they were good.

My gluttonous extravaganza.

Options. Even lovely boxes of matches with the bride and groom's names. Many people were just taking cigars "for later."

 

Is this even edible? Shiny...

And then this happened... After, getting the trolley [for guests] back to the beach hotel, we called our newly found favorite cab driver Mike to take us back to the Red Roof... which happened to be located next door to a Waffle House. Which we went to. In our fancy wedding clothes. And I asked for gravy on top of my Texas toast sandwich... I'm not proud.

Happy Wedding Day, Alex and Brent! Thanks for the good times. I love the beach. Now, back to reality: Constitutional Law. Great...

My Plants Actually Grew!

I have several plants in pots in my backyard. I bought them from Roses (a 6 pack of each plant for $1.75) and have been watering and feeding them and trying to take care of them. However, since studying began, I have neglected my vegetables for days at a time. I have cucumber, tomato, jalapeno pepper, and cayenne pepper plants. I thoroughly expected them to fail. The jalapenos are the only plants I've had success with in the past. Imagine my shock when I came to tend to my plants yesterday and found this! [Pics from the dinner at Provence are still coming, but this was just too exciting.]

I swear these popped up in 4 days. They were not there on Sunday. No lie.

 

The jalapenos have sprung up! and this cucumber is ready for picking.
According to its label, these bush cucumbers are supposed to be 4 inches. This one is more than that.

One of my several tomato plants is bearing fruit as well! There are a few little tiny tomatoes trying to grow too.
I have a feeling this bigger one is going to rot before it turns red though. I don't know how to fix that.

Yes Yes YES! I am so proud.
The cucumber plants started off looking the weakest and now they are climbing all over my other plants.

So then I prepared my cucumber for immediate eating in the best way I know how. Besides cucumber sandwiches. Got out my old olive jar and filled it with sliced cucumber with some white vinegar, rice vinegar, some sugar, black pepper, and flakes of red pepper. I also added thinly sliced onion and garlic. They are so good the morning after sitting in the fridge all night.

Obligatory picture of the process.

Finished product. I'm having them with my lunch as I type this.

 

Oh, and this is what we had for dinner tonight. Although it's not homemade pasta, I thought we needed some whole grain. It's got onions, a ton of mushrooms, diced tomatoes, garlic, spinach, tomato paste, and regular tomato sauce... and of course some wine. Nothing special, but it was tasty.

Sometimes I think the "sharpness" function might be a little too much for food pictures.
Seeing the ridges of the pasta might be too detailed.

+ cheese, duh.

. . .

 



Going to Wilmington for the weekend, so food, drink, wedding, and beach pictures to follow!

Pasta Photo Essay

So maybe I didn't make this homemade pasta today, on a Tuesday, after finishing up the Contracts portion of the first few weeks, and finding out I am terrible at remedies and damages and third party beneficiaries... BUT last week, I made these noodles from a frozen ball of dough and took tons of pics. Today I made a sauce and thawed out some really-overdue-for-eating meatballs from a bag. Hey, it can't all be done by hand after a long day of studying.

The finished product, plus a few Instagram effects.

The dough is just all purpose flour and eggs. About 3/4 of a cup of flour per egg. You can add a little water or olive oil if it is too crumbly and dry. The Kitchenaid mixer makes this process a hell of a lot easier. It also makes it simpler if you have a huuge batch of dough and freeze the leftover in balls for later.

Mash the ball of dough semi-flat (you don't even need a rolling pin) and pass it through the machine after you turn it on and make sure it's on the widest setting.

Continue passing the dough through the machine, slowly decreasing the width of the setting [make it thinner].
Eventually it will get hard to manage and you may have to cut the dough in half [if, like me you started with a rather large ball of dough]

Yeah, you MAY have to cut it in half. It can get pretty long.

After running it through the cutting tool on the machine, you have the noodles! Sorry for the blur, zoomed in on the pasta.
Grandma gave me this pasta maker and it is a real gem. And so fun. And easy.

Toss the pasta with flour so it doesn't stick to itself. Let it dry on the counter [or a pan or a plate if you're cleaner than me].
You can then cook it OR freeze it for a while in ziplock bags.
[I'm not sure for how long it lasts in the freezer. You can probably Google it, but after 3 weeks it's still tasted good to me].

Salt your water really well and boil until it tastes right.
Usually no more than 5 minutes when I make my pasta on the thinnest setting, but keep an eye on it.
 

For the sauce this time, I chopped onions and garlic, sauteed them for a while in a combination of butter and olive oil [not much of either! not trying to get fat], then put a finely chopped red bell pepper [food processor fine] in the pan too and cook for a little while longer. I added about a can of petite diced tomatoes or a little more. Normally I would've made the sauce from [more] scratch, but in the interest of weeknight cooking, I added a generic brand sauce in addition to these ingredients [but not too much!]. There might also be some white wine in there. Yeah, there definitely is. Along the way, to keep the sauce from getting too thick and to build the flavors [like Anne Burrell does in her bolognese recipe], I added water and let it reduce several times. I threw in the partially thawed [though already cooked] meatballs to cook in the sauce. At the very end I added some pasta water and let the sauce simmer until it was the right consistency for my liking. Instead of tossing the pasta in the sauce like I would normally do, I just put this concoction on top, mostly for aesthetic purposes of these pictures. Before I ate it, I tossed it around of course. The cheese on top is a three cheese Trader Joe's blend, but clearly there's parmesan in there.

The completed sauce! PS: 3 meatballs = 200 calories [of this brand]. They were pretty huge.

My incredibly staged photo of my bowl of pasta.

Just heaped up there in a mound to make it beautiful.

Like I was only gonna have one meatball...

Not gonna ruin it with your average Parmesan shake cheese.

All in all this was a pretty delicious meal. I wouldn't typically taint homemade pasta with a jarred sauce, but since this pasta is so easy to make now, I don't care as much. The addition of vegetables, lots of seasoning, and wine really helped it out. It was definitely pretty and tasted good to me [and Charlie, but he'd eat anything]. Next time though...

Moving slowly

Well I finished the diagnostic test and did not do as horrible as I imagined. Obviously I'm better at criminal law and evidence than the other subjects, but apparently I know some torts too. I then barely got through Torts foundation course, and there's no way I'll get through all of the supposed 18 hours of introductory courses before I leave for the beach or even before real bar prep classes start, but hey, whatever. We have til the end of July right? Right?!




I ate all these peperoncinis while hearing about "other torts" in one and a half speed. I love them.

I wasn't gonna post my dinner tonight because it is kind of a repeat of the homemade pasta I made- apparently it does freeze excellently by the way. But who am I kidding, I'm sick and love food too much, I obviously took pics of my dinner tonight:

 

 

Yeah, that light lemon-y sauce with parmesan just alll over it.

 

 

In my lap, ready to eat. The things I do for food pictures.

 

It's those noodles, olive oil, garlic, mushrooms, spinach, and kalamata olives with lemon juice and Parmesan. It's a little healthy and feels light, but I promise it's not if you eat a pound of it. This would totally not be the same without the homemade pasta. On the side is a little piece of wheat baguette with some garlic oil and dipping seasoning. You know, trying to be fancy. Food is the best part of the day, especially when you study all day.

 

. . .

 

So the best hypothetical I read today said exactly this: "A young woman felt crushed after to her boyfriend of two years broke up with her. Feeling despondent, she consumed several bottles of wine, and then decided it would be a good idea to fry up some bacon." How awesome. I laughed out loud and then highlighted it on the screen, despite the fact that I was being timed when answering these questions. Maybe because it is ridiculous? Or maybe because it is so relatable? Anything to break up the boredom!