April 18, 2010

Pizza Pie

Agnes baking - assorted savoury, food event, incident party, recipe

Vanilla cupcakes with lemon buttercream & fondant pizza slices

It’s time for another global food party – last time we made gnocchi and this time we’re doing pizza pie!

Waka, waka, waka

Now I know that pizza pie can refer to just a regular pizza, but I really wanted to do a PIZZA PIE. So I have two offerings to bring to the party.

The first, is a pizza in a pie form – pies with a pizza filling! I made a savoury shortcrust for the bottom pastry, which was then placed into pie tins and blind baked. Then I filled the pie shells with pureed tomatoes, salami, olives, mushrooms and mozzarella. Then it was topped with a lid of (store bought) puff pastry and baked to pizza pie perfection. Despite my lack of pie making experience (and trust me, it showed when I just tried to whack the puff pastry lid on top without wetting it, thinking it would stick by itself) these were still very good. My shortcrust pastry was buttery and soft, and the filling tasted just like pizza. A definite pizza pie success.

My second pizza pie is a pie in pizza form! I cooked up a pot of meat pie filling by browning some diced beef in seasoned flour, and then stewing it with a couple of diced carrots, onions and celery and chicken stock. I made pizza bases from no-knead pizza dough, spread on pureed tomatoes, and then added a thin layer of meat pie filling. Shredded mozzarella went on top of that, and then a piece of puff pastry. Again, it was baked to pizza pie perfection – I LOVED this version, most likely because the pie filling was savoury and moreish.

I did also do regular pizza, but unfortunately Bro ate the ones I was going to photograph (nice one, Bro!). And you may also be wondering about the cupcakes? Well, it’s Penny’s birthday and it can’t be a party without cake. So Penny received vanilla cupcakes with lemon buttercream and pizza slice fondant toppers. Happy birthday!

A big thanks to Dany for coming over and critiquing my pizza pie creations. Huge thanks also to Alastair for doing the mountain of dishes I generated! I hope you enjoyed my offerings to the party – visit the other attendees to see what they prepared:

Addictive and Consuming
Sense & Serendipity
Christine’s Recipes
Eat, Live, Travel, Write
Tasty Trix
Hold the Beef
Enriching your kid
Five Star Foodie
Kitchen Butterfly
Second Helping
Berry Travels
Cafe Campana
Momofuku for 2
Fried Wontons for You
A Food Lover’s Journey
Sweet Cherrie Pie
Tangled Noodle

February 28, 2010

Gnocchi party: potato gnocchi with blue cheese sauce

Agnes cuisine, incident party, italian, recipe

Welcome to the gnocchi party! I am just turning up on time to the party – but in my defense it has been a busy week. My mother-in-law Annette, and her husband Terry, have been visiting, and so we have been out all week (it has been a major eating week!).

A few weeks ago, Penny from Addictive and Consuming rounded up several interested bloggers for a gnocchi party. Everyone was to make gnocchi, following the theme “unami”, and post it oh, right about now!

I have never made gnocchi before, but being a carboholic, I love it. The recipe I followed was from The Cook’s Companion, and it was very straight forward and easy to make for a gnocchi beginner.

Potato gnocchi with blue cheese sauce

Adapted from the Cook’s Companion

Serves 6-8

For the gnocchi:

salt
1 kg potatoes – Stephanie recommends Toolangi delight, desiree or nicola
300g-325g plain flour

For the blue cheese sauce:

125g blue cheese
1/2 cup milk
20g butter
freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons cream

Give the potatoes a good wash, and then place them in a large pot of water until tender. Drain and peel.

Pass the potatoes through a food mill or ricer directly on to a clean work surface and sprinkle with salt. I don’t have a food mill/potato ricer so I used a steamer basket that has large holes. It took AGES. But my arms got a good workout!

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil in preparation for cooking the gnocchi.

With one hand, sprinkle the potato with flour and, using the heel of the other hand, work it in. Be as quick and deft as possible (I wasn’t either of these things!). Continue until all the flour is incorporated – I only used 2/3 of my flour. Having never made gnocchi before, I wasn’t sure how stiff/sticky it was supposed to be, so I just stopped when it didn’t seem to want to take any more flour.

When the cooking water is boiling, roll the potato mixture into a long rope and cut into 1cm pieces.

Roll each piece across the curved side of a fork using one finger to create the traditional shape. I had NO IDEA what I was doing here so my gnocchi were all weirdly shaped!

Lower the heat for the pot of water until it is simmering. Drop in some gnocchi, and wait a few minutes until they rise to the surface. Lift them out with a slotted spoon, drain for a moment over the pot, and tip into a bowl (into a warmed oven to keep warm if you’re making lots). Repeat with the remaining gnocchi.

I served the gnocchi with a blue cheese sauce. The sauce should be hot on the stove while you’re cooking the gnocchi. Here’s the recipe for the sauce:

Combine the cheese, milk, butter and pepper in a heavy-based frying pan over a gentle heat and cook until thick and creamy. Add the cream, increase the heat a little, and cook, stirring, until the sauce starts to thicken. Keep warm while you cook the gnocchi.

When all the gnocchi is cooked, pour the sauce over it, shake gently and serve.

For my first time making gnocchi, I was rather pleased with them. They were (relatively!) light, and delicious with the blue cheese sauce. I did find the sauce rather strong so a bit less blue cheese or less sauce over the gnocchi would be a good idea next time. And I’m sure there will be a next time – since I now know how easy gnocchi is to make. I might buy a potato ricer first though!

Check out the other gnocchi party attendees:

Gnocchi Gnudi made by our lovely host, Penny from Addictive & Consuming
Braised Beef Short Ribs Adobo on Potato Gnocchi made by Divina from Sense & Serendipity
Pan-fried Pumpkin Gnocchi with Truffle Paste and Basil made by Mardi from Eat, Live, Travel, Write
Chocolate-filled Plantain Gnocchi, with chillies for Dessert made by Ozoz from Kitchen Butterfly
Malfatti a la Al Di La made by Trix from Tasty Trix
Tuna & Anchovy sauce gnocchi with roasted vegetables made by Conor from Hold the Beef
Gnocchi di Patate con Funghi e Salvia made by Mellie from Tummy Rumbles
Gnocchi Chicken Tikka made by Shirley from Enriching your kid
Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Nori Butter made by Natasha from Five Star Foodie
Gnocchi in creamy mushroom sauce made by Christine from Christine’s Recipes