This is part ONE of my new "Cooking School Creations" series. I am currently teaching Adult Education Cooking Classes at a local Trade College, and I will be sharing some of the recipes I create for the students. I will do these recipes in a slightly different format than my other recipes because I will generally be sharing more than one recipe at a time. Also, because I am copying over from a word document, the font size is larger than the rest of my blog. (When I can figure out how to remedy that, I will change it!)
I hope you enjoy, and please feel free to comment or email me with any questions that you have! I love to teach, and I love to help others learn to love cooking!
Butternut Squash
Gnocchi with Browned Butter Sauce
This is a dish that
you need to plan ahead for. Because Butternut is so high in moisture content
compared to Baking Potatoes (which are used in traditional Gnocchi), you need
to make certain the flesh is as dry as possible to insure that you don’t have
an overly sticky and wet dough that requires excess flour to be able to form
the gnocchi. Too much flour makes for a very heavy pasta. The squash can be
prepared a day ahead if needed.
Gnocchi
2
cups cooked and prepared Butternut
2
cups Flour **
1
egg yolk, beaten
2
tsp Kosher Salt
¼
tsp Nutmeg, optional
Additional
flour for shaping
To
prepare the squash, cut in half, scrape out the seed cavity, and place cut side
up in a baking dish that has been very lightly oiled. Bake in a 300° oven for 1
hour, and then turn over. Bake for another 45 minutes, or until the flesh is
completely cooked. Let sit for an hour to cool, and then scrape the flesh from
the skin. Spread the squash in a thin layer over a parchment covered baking
sheet and return to a 200 ° oven for another 90 minutes to dry out, stirring
halfway through the cooking time. Allow to cool, uncovered, for at least
another hour after removing it from the oven. It needs to be at room
temperature before you proceed. If the
pulp still seems to have a lot of moisture, place the pulp into a clean dish
cloth and squeeze out as much excess liquid as possible.
For
the dough, combine the egg yolk with the squash pulp. Combine the flour with
the salt and nutmeg. **You may not use
all the flour mixture but the flavor will not suffer. Using a bench scraper, blend 1 cup of the
flour mixture into the squash. If it
remains very wet after most of the flour has been incorporated, add another ¼
cup. Repeat process if it’s still too wet to work with. It’s at the right
consistency when you can touch the dough and it feels moist, but it doesn’t
stick to your hand. Sprinkle your work surface with some more flour, and
proceed to knead the dough by poking holes in the surface with your fingers,
and then bringing up the sides. Do not roll it like bread dough, or it will
turn rubbery.
Once
you have a ball of mixed dough, cut off a piece about the size of a lemon. Roll
that piece gently on a lightly floured surface, forming a thin log, but taking
care not to smash a side flat as you roll. After you have made all of the dough
into logs, you are prepared to cut and shape the gnocchi.
Shaping and cooking
the Gnocchi:
Cut
each log into pieces about 1” wide. To form with a fork, hold your fork at 45°
angle, with the tines pointed upward. You may find it easier to rest the tines
of the fork on a work surface. Lightly press down on a piece of dough using
your thumb, with the cut ends out, and roll down the length of the fork until
you make a “c-shaped” piece of dough that has rolled over itself. Alternately,
use a Gnocchi Board to create the same shape. If you choose to leave the
gnocchi unrolled, that is acceptable as well. It may be a little heavier when it cooks, so you may want to make sure
to sauté this type after it has been cooked in the water to crisp it up and
make it seem less doughy.
As
with many homemade pastas, Gnocchi that is allowed to dry out slightly will cook
up better. So if you have time, place the shaped gnocchi onto a parchment lined
baking sheet and let sit out for an hour or two.
To
cook the gnocchi, bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil, and then turn it
down slightly to maintain a low boil. Drop about 20-30 pieces of gnocchi into
the water, taking care not to overcrowd them. Gently stir the bottom of the pot
to make sure that the gnocchi don’t stick, but after that let them just do
their thing. When they are cooked, they will float to the top of the pot,
usually about 2-3 minutes. Scoop them out with a small colander or large
slotted spoon, taking care to let the excess water drain off. Place them on
your serving platter, or another parchment lined sheet if you are planning to
pan-coat them.
Browned Butter
Sauce
½
cup Butter
½
tsp minced Garlic (bottled is fine)
1
TBL fresh herbs of choice
Over
high heat, melt the butter in a heavy saucepan.
Do not walk away from this or you
will end up with bitter, burned butter! Swirl
the pan as the butter starts to melt, and continue until it starts to brown and
an aroma starts to smell like cooking nuts. Remove from the heat once it is
nicely browned. Stir in the garlic and herbs and return to low heat for 1
minute. Add pasta of choice and toss until well coated. Serve with shredded
cheese, if desired.
Italian Stuffed
Chicken wrapped with Prosciutto
Because this recipe
is very easy to make ahead in bulk for large groups, or to freeze for later,
I’m not including precise measurements in the instructions . However, for every
full breast of chicken, plan on using 1 oz of Proscuitto, and 1 ½ oz of cheese.
Chicken
Breasts, trimmed
Prosciutto
slices
Italian
Semi-Firm Cheese of choice, shredded or sliced
(Fontinella, Provolone, Asiago, Parmesan,
Gorgonzola, Mozzarella, etc.)
Salt
and Pepper
Seasoning
of choice
(Garlic
and Red Pepper is my preference, but Lemon-Pepper, etc are good as well)
Dried
or fresh herbs, if desired
Oil
Butterfly
each breast, and then place between layers of waxed paper to pound with a meat
mallet. Always pound on the outside,
shiny surface, not the cut side. Take care not to make holes or get the chicken
too thin. You’re just going for even thickness in this process. Alternately,
you can just stuff the cheese inside a cut pocket of the breast rather than
fully butterflying it.
Spinkle
salt, pepper and seasoning on each side of the meat before proceeding.
Place
cheese inside, taking care not to get too close to the edges and then roll up
tightly. If you are adding herbs, place them on top of the cheese before
rolling. Wrap each breast with 2 slices of prosciutto, tucking ends underneath
if possible. If desired, pull the two
ends up and secure with toothpicks. This will help to keep the cheese from
escaping during the cooking process. Remember to remove the toothpicks before
serving. Lightly coat each breast of chicken with a little bit of oil.
Start
the cooking process in a pre-heated 450° oven. Bake for 10 minutes only at this
temperature, and then immediately reduce it to 300. Bake for 40 minutes, and
then temp the largest piece in the middle. It needs to read 165° before being
removed from the oven, so continue to cook until that temperature is reached.
Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving to allow the cheese to set up
slightly.
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