Smith Family Weblog

Bryan shared some very sad news with me this weekend—Gourmet is ending its 70 year print run. I recently fell back in love with this magazine, and I will miss it terribly.

This month’s issue brought many intriguing recipes, including red wine caramel apples, which you will see in this space soon, and the following recipe for Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Fried Sage and Shaved Chestnuts.

Gnocchi with brown butter is the single best use of potatoes I can imagine. After making it myself for the first time, though, I have come to wonder if “gnocchi” is Italian for “ridiculously time consuming.”

I started by roasting and mashing russet and sweet potatoes.

I made well in the center of the mashed potatoes, adding flour, seasonings (including nutmeg) and an egg. I kneaded everything into dough, then divided it into six sections.

I cut each section into about 25 little, half-inch segments and dusted them with flour.

I became slightly less precise as I went along…

Each little segment had to be rolled, or “flicked” down the back of the fork. That gave the gnocchi its signature shape, which is really intended to help the dumpling hold sauce.

I fried sage leaves and chestnuts next, thinking about the amazing butternut squash ravioli my friend Erik made several years ago for Thanksgiving. (Remember, Liana? It had fried sage leaves, too, and it was fabulous.)

The photo of the finished dish turned out a bit fuzzy, but the gnocchi was delicious. I can’t say that I’ll make it again, but I enjoyed the experience. It made for a lovely Sunday dinner—one we were able to share with good friends.

Ava and I made these hamburger cupcakes for Bryan’s company picnic. I should really give most of the credit to Ava–she helped with the baking, and she decorated and assembled almost all of them herself! It was a fast, easy and very kid-friendly project.

On Saturday, I made applesauce with apples from Doug and Karyl’s orchard. I chopped the apples, and added a bit of lemon juice, sugar, water and a couple of cinnamon sticks. Then, I boiled the mixture for about 30 minutes.

I tossed the sticks, then coarsely mashed the apples with a potato masher. I spent the next 30 minutes trying to convince Bryan apple sauce was far better for him and his stomach than the Chinese food and Diet Coke he was craving.

I was unsuccessful.

A couple of weeks ago, I made this Mahi Mahi and cucumber gazpacho dish for dinner. I wish I had found it earlier in the summer, at the height of cucumber season. I loved it; the rest of the family—not surprisingly—was lukewarm. (Just like the gazpacho…)

Bananas are a staple in our house, but it seems we throw at least one in the freezer at the end of most weeks. At any given time, we probably have half a dozen in there, just waiting to be made into banana bread.

I use the recipe from Better Homes and Gardens—it’s quick and easy, plus the bread stays very moist for at least a day or two. I recently jotted the recipe down for Tom, and I thought I’d share it with you, too!

I made this strawberry lemon infused vodka for my sister-in-law a couple of weeks ago. As I was carefully stuffing the fruit into the bottle with the end of a wooden spoon, I realized she’d have to decant it and throw away the bottle–obviously, that fruit isn’t coming out.

I thought it looked pretty, but if I do this again, I’ll choose a wide mouth jar that would allow for discarding the fruit and storing the finished product.

Our little neighborhood bar and grill recently began offering pineapple infused vodka. A couple of weeks ago, our server helpfully shared that it’s “super easy” to make–“just use a whole pineapple and cheap vodka.” This clearly explains why they charge $6 a glass, don’t you think?

I decided to make my own at home. Given the recession and all, it just seemed like the responsible thing to do. I followed her directions, coring and dicing a whole pineapple. I have been soaking the fruit in Absolut, not exactly “cheap,” but certainly not top shelf. Hopefully it will be ready in another week or so.

While I was looking for other infusion recipes, I came across one for bacon infused vodka. You might balk at this idea (Bryan did), but really, it combines my two favorite things. You just soak a couple of strips of bacon in vodka for a few weeks. I started with just eight ounces–enough to make what will likely be the best bloody marys ever.

After a few weeks, you stash the jar in the freezer then strain the fat particles through a coffee filter.

I can’t wait…

I found quarts of blueberries on sale for $3.50 at the store last week. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them, but I bought two boxes and hauled them to Nebraska. Blueberry Crisp seemed like an easy project, so I just tossed them with a bit of lemon zest and made the Barefoot Contessa Peach Crisp topping. It tasted like summer.