Saturday, April 23, 2011

Arugula and Gnocchi



Ready in about 20 minutes! "This gets 10 out of 10 stars for piles* food."

As in, piles of things.

Potato gnocci, DeCecco brand
Pumpkin seeds (Walnuts/pine nuts are okay too, but pumpkin seeds seem extra rich and nutty)
1 bag washed arugula
2 cloves garlic
half a head of cauliflower
salt
pepper
lemon wedges
Parmesan cheese
paprika


Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Chop the cauliflower into small bite sized florets. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in hot oven for 15 minutes or so, until nicely browned and nutty smelling.

In a non-stick skillet, heat 1/4 cup pumpkin seed and jostle them until they start popping. Pour them in a medium sized bowl.

Mince the garlic. (Remove the green stem in the center). Into a very hot skillet, pour olive oil and the minced garlic. Give it about ten seconds; add all the arugula and toss until bright and wilted. (Actually, I did this in two batches). Add two little pinches of salt. Toss, pour on top of the pumpkin seeds.

Boil water, add the potato gnocchi and wait until they float, about 2-3 minutes. Drain, pour on the arugula and nuts. Toss these things together. Add cauliflower and toss. Add a little more olive oil. Sprinkle with paprika or chili oil or Tabasco if you like spicy stuff.

Serve in bowls with Parmesan shavings and a wedge of lemon. Squeeze the lemon on the stuff and toss before eating.

Almost vegan. Almost.

___

*N's favorite foods come in piles: bed of rice with pile of chicken, bed of lettuce with pile of stuff on it.

Alberto's Bean Salad

2 avocados, diced
6-7 plum tomatoes, diced
half bunch scallions chopped
2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
half bunch cilantro, chopped
one jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
black pepper
granulated salt
juice of two limes
2 T white vinegar
3 T olive oil

Prepare a large platter (lasagna sized) with a bed of bibb lettuce and arugula, uncooked.

Mix everything else together.

Pour bean salad on bed of lettuce.

Serve with corn chips.

Vegan, gluten free.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Mocha Rounds

These are the cookies that I made and put a couple of in my coat pocket every few days over Christmas break and people were amazed when they would say, "I kind of am hungry" and I would pull out two cookies...N. circled and devoured them.

Click here for the Martha Stewart recipe. I confess, I used this horrible French Vanilla Cafe flavor of espresso powder that essentially is not espresso powder, but N. loved them for some reason. I also didn't have enough cocoa and only put in about a third of a cup and threw in a handful of Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate premium baking chips. In case the "real" recipe does not meet with his approval...