Spiced Carrot and Feta Gnocchi

From the top: minted cream sauce, spiced carrot and feta gnocchi, asparagus orange salad, and mashed roasted eggplant

So... when I was making this recipe, I was pretty sure it was going to fail. The recipe notes that the dough is softer than most gnocchi recipes, but I was not prepared for just how soft it would be. It's very wet and sticky, and I couldn't shape it without dipping it in flour first. Then, I couldn't remove the excess flour from the gnocchi before cooking them, so many of the cooked pieces had an ugly translucent coating over them. (Thankfully, the sauce covered that up.)

But I am very glad to say that this seemed to be everyone's favorite part of the meal. The gnocchi turned out light, fluffly, and gently spiced, and the delicate cream sauce provided a nice complement of flavors.

For those of you trying this at home, I highly recommend chilling the gnocchi in the fridge for at least a couple of hours prior to cooking them to help them hold their shape. Maybe you could even freeze them. Otherwise, you will end up flinging sticky doughballs from your fingers into boiling water, making a mess and probably scalding your hands in the process.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds carrots
• 1-1/3 cups crumbled feta cheese
• 10 oz. / 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon garam masala, plus more to taste
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Minted cream sauce:

• 1 oz. butter
• 2 scallions, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons shredded mint
• Salt and pepper to taste
  

Directions:

1. Cut the carrots into large pieces and steam, boil, or microwave until tender. Drain amd allow to cool slightly
2. Put the carrots in a food processor, add the feta and blend until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl and sift the flour and spices over the top. Add the egg and mix to form a soft dough. Taste after this and adjust seasoning as needed. Lightly coat your fingertips with flour and shape teaspoons of the mixture into flat circles. Place on top of a floured surface and set aside in refrigerator (or freezer) to set. (Note: here is where I had problems forming the gnocchi. You may need to roll the teaspoons of dough in flour in order to shape them.)
3. To make the minted cream sauce, melt the butter in a frying pan and saute the onion and garlic with a pinch of salt and pepper over medium heat for about 3 minutes, or until the garlic is soft and golden. Stir in the cream, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes, or until thickened slightly. Remove from the heat and keep warm.
4. Meanwhile, cook the gnocchi, in batches, in a large saucepan of boiling salted water for 2 minutes, or until they float to the surface. Transfer to warmed serving plates using a slotted spoon. Stir the mint through the sauce, drizzle over the gnocchi, and serve.

Serves 6-8.

Greek night!

When the weather starts to turn warm, I like to have the occasional Greek night. This mostly consists of salads, dips, or other dishes that are fine to have sit at room temp for a while and hold up pretty well over a couple of days of lunchtime meals. To be perfectly honest, most of these dishes are not truly Greek, but Mediterranean-inspired doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, now does it? The great thing about most of these dishes is that you can really adjust these to your own taste buds... Love feta cheese--just add more. Not big on red onion, dial it back a little, or leave it out entirely.

This particular night's menu consisted of fattoush, htipiti, tabouleh, hummus, and roasted carrots. (No, I do not know how to cook for 2, but I am working on it.)

This post has both the htipiti and roasted carrots recipes. Both require very little effort. Posts to follow on the fattoush and tabouleh.

Htpiti

Ingredients:

2-4 roasted red peppers* (or one really large jar)

sprigs of thyme

1-2 T finely chopped red onion or shallot

olive oil

feta cheese

salt & pepper

Method:

• Chop up the red peppers pretty finely.
• Pull the thyme leaves off of about 2-3 sprigs.
• Mix pepper, thyme, onion, in a small bowl.
• Add 1-2 T olive oil, feta cheese and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with warmed pita bread.

*Note: Yes, you can take the time to roast your own red peppers, but for whatever reason I wasn't in the mood this particular night. I find the ones in the deli section just fine and way less hassle. If you're roasting your own I'd probably do 2-4 peppers, depending on their size.

Roasted carrots with cumin seeds

This dish couldn't be easier. I love the smoky flavor that the cumin seeds give off when they roast up. I know I saw this in a magazine somewhere, but at the moment my recall is failing me.

Ingredients:

1 pound of carrots, washed, peeled and cut in to large chunks

1-2 tsp. cumin seeds

Salt

Olive oil

Feta cheese

Method:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
• On a cookie sheet toss together carrots, cumin seeds, with enough olive oil to coat, and sprinkle with salt.
• Roast the carrots for about 30 minutes, or until you start to get some nice caramelization. I usually do a toss after 15 minutes or so.
• Remove from oven and top with crumbled feta cheese.

Carrot cookies

This is an adaptation from a recipe I saw on 101cookbooks.com. I didn't have most of the ingredients, except for the carrots and the oats, but I gave it a whirl anyhow, substituting what I did have on hand. Here's the recipe I made. I kind of like these because they aren't over-the-top sweet, plus it has carrots, so it HAS to be healthy, right?


Carrot cookies

Ingredients:
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (kosher)
1 c. rolled oats
2/3 c. sunflower seeds
1 c. shredded carrots
1/2 c. brown rice syrup (the original called for maple syrup, but alas I was out!)
1/2 c. coconut oil heated through
1 T fresh grated ginger

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Line cookie sheet w/ parchment paper
2. Combine the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl.
3. In a smaller bowl combine the brown rice syrup, coconut oil and ginger. Stir until they are completely combined.
4. Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined.
5. Drop spoonfuls of the batter onto the prepped cookie sheet.
6. Bake for about 10 minutes until the cookies are golden on top and bottom.
7. Cool on a rack and enjoy (if you can wait that long).