A Random Collection-2/20/10

The three recipes I'm going to review in this post from this month's Bon Appetit were not made in the same night. That's a good thing. That would be a very strange meal. It's a bit tough to find time each night to write about the recipes I've made from this month's Bon Appetit. Since each of these recipes was made alone, that would have made 3 rather short, rather dull blog posts. Now you get one longer, duller one. Ok, I admit, I'm not very inspired tonight but I want to get this done so I don't get behind. Several months ago, when I was still blogging about Gourmet's recipes, I got over a week behind and it took like 4 hours one night to catch up. Don't want to do that again but I do want to make as many recipes from February as I can. Looks like I'll be able to do all but 5.
The first recipe I made for tonight's blog post struck me as a bit strange. The recipe wasn't strange but the fact that I made it 8 months previously without making it was. I see potato gnocchi on every upscale restaurant menu and just made it the other night for the very first time. It's much easier than it looks. I imagined slaving for hours over these perfect little noodles and they really took very little time to make right. I might make the dumplings a bit smaller next time but all that will take is a few more rolls of the dough rope.
The Potato Gnocchi with Pork and Wild Mushroom Ragu was a yummy dish but I found it a bit heavy and very fatty. I will admit that I was not paying attention and just wrote pork ribs while making my list. I ended up simply cooking the ribs on the bone and then peeling the meat off the bone at the end. It fell off easily and I'm sure the bones added to the rich flavor of the ragu. I can't tell you if this made the dish more fatty than if I had used boneless pork ribs like the recipe called for.
Last night, I used the last of the buckwheat soba noodles from another recipe to make the Udon with Mushroom Broth, Cabbage, and Yams. Like many Japanese inspired dishes, this soup was as much about the aesthetics as the flavor. The picture in Bon Appetit showed a bowl just bursting with vegetables and tofu and low and behold, my picture did that justice. This was a wonderful healthy soup and the variety of textures and flavors from the additional vegetables made it very flavorful for a vegetarian soup. It didn't take long to make the broth and the use of one pot of water for the vegetables was very kitchen friendly.
The final recipe you see I made this morning and was a bit frustrating to say the least. The Red Bean and Sausage Cakes with Poached Eggs and Cilantro Salsa were a bit of a mess. Maybe it's me but I can't get "cakes" made of fish or veggies to hold together. Maybe the skillet isn't hot enough or too hot, but these things always fall apart before they cook and look really dark on the outside before the center is even hot. Thankfully, the sausage was pre-cooked so I didn't have to worry about sickening my family. The cakes weren't bad, poached eggs are always good and I'm getting better at making them but I won't be trying this one again. I actually made the Chai-Spiced Hot Chocolate to go along with the sausage cakes but the picture just looked like a regular old mug of hot cocoa so I didn't bother to add it. I liked the chai-chocolate mix and despite the rather mundane appearance of the drink, I would like to make it again. It was easy and the flavor was unique and delicious. I'm a bit of a Starbucks Chai freak so I count myself an expert:)!
Potato Gnocchi with Pork and Wild Mushroom Ragu-B-
Potato Gnocchi-A
Udon with Mushroom Broth, Cabbage, and Yams-A
Red Bean and Sausage Cakes with Poached Eggs and Cilantro Salsa-C-
Chai-Spiced Hot Chocolate-A

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