Goat cheese gnocchi

Long live goat milk and all awesome things you can make with it!

Goat Cheese Gnocchi
from NY Times
serves 2
225 gr fresh goat cheese
1 large egg
1/4 C flour (or more)
sea salt

2 tbsp butter
1 big onion, thinly sliced

1/3 C vegetable stock
1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
50 gr butter
1 C spinach
50 gr grated parmesan
ground black pepper

Put cheese, egg and pinch of salt in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Add slowly the flour until you have a dough that is not sticky. Do not kneed too much. Put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Melt the butter and add sliced onions. Cook until onion is soft and begins to brown. set aside.

In a large pot bring water to boil, add salt and reduce the heat so that water simmers. On the side put a bowl with ice water. Roll out the gnocchi dough in a 1 cm thick snake. Cut into 2 cm long pieces and with a back of a fork make the typical gnocchi marks. Boil gnocchi for 2-3 minutes and put in the ice water. When they are cool, drain and set aside.

In a large pan put vegetable stock, thyme and gnocchi. When gnocchi are hot add butter and let it melt. Add spinach and parmesan, season and serve. Top with caramelized onions.

Slovenian buckwheat žganci

I have been to Slovenia couple of times and I love that country. People are amazing, the country is beautiful and it has everything you could ask for: Alps,valleys, lakes, rivers and sea.

When it comes to the cuisine, it is delicious, diverse and very Slovenian. The diversity comes with the influence from Austria, Italy and the Balkans and makes Slovenian cuisine quite unique.

The buckwheat is typical for the region, as well as it is for Italian and Austrian regions in the neighbourhood. I got interested in this dish because it is made with buckwheat flour only, without addition of any other flour, eggs, milk. In fact buckwheat flour is the only ingredient.

And the way this dish is prepared is the most insane way of cooking. Basically the dish is made by pouring buckwheat flour in salted boiling water. Sounds simple but it is not as it is a bit tricky to get the flour to form small lumps. But after couple of failures I finally got it right.

This dish is also made in Austria where is called Heidensterz, but it is prepared a bit differently. The flour is first roasted in a pan and then water is slowly added. I have not tried to make it this way but it sounds a bit more simple than the Slovenian version.

Traditionally žganci are served with sauerkraut, sausages or milk, here I added them to olive oil, garlic, parsley and red chili (aglio, olio and peperoncino). I believe žganci can be combined with any kind of sauce, so they will replace my usual wheat-pasta in many dishes.

Ajdovi žganci
serves 2
4 dl buckwheat flour
1,2 l water
1 tsp salt

aglio, olio e peperoncino
4 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves
2 red serrano chillies
4 tbsp parsley
some parmesan
black pepper

Boil the water in a saucepan, add salt and take off the heat. Add the flour, all at once. Shake the saucepan until all flour is covered with water. A big lump will form.

No matter how much tempted you feel to grab a spoon and blend everything, do not do it, as everything could turn into a smooth looking buckwheat-polenta. Part of the flour that does mixes completely with the water will sink to the bottom of the saucepan and get pretty much stuck to it. I have not find a way to avoid this.

Make a whole in the middle of the lump, it will brake in smaller lumps, shake again the saucepan until all flour is covered with water.

Put the saucepan back on the medium heat and cook for about 20 minutes. The liquid will become a bit thicker and lumps will soak some of the water.

Drain as much liquid as you can, and save it in a bowl. With help of a spoon cut through the lumps until you get smaller lumps.

If the mixture is to much dry add some of the drained liquid. Cover with a lid and let stand on a turned off cooker for about 15 minutes.

For the sauce chop finely garlic, chili and parsley. Heat the oil in a pan, add garlic and chili and cook until garlic is slightly golden. Add parsley and žganci, with a help of two spoons keep on ¨cutting¨ through žganci so that the lumps do not stick to each other. Cook for about 10 minutes on low heat. Serve with parmesan and black pepper.

Home made pasta

There is no pasta like fresh home-made pasta. It is really easy to make it as well, too easy when I think how excellent the result is. And I do not even have a pasta machine, but to me rolling out the pasta and cutting it is half of the fun.

I am now using kamut flour mixed with durum semolina for the dough and it works really perfectly. But I believe I will also try to make it with kamut flour only.

My favourite pasta sauce is with olive oil, garlic, parsley and red chili (aglio, olio and peperoncino in Italian).

Pastaserves 2
1,5 dl kamut flour
5 tbsp durum semolina
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp olive oil

aglio, olio e peperoncino
4 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves
2 red serrano chillies
4 tbsp parsley
some parmesan

black peeper

Blend the flours and salt, make a well in the centre and add the eggs and the oil. Kneed everything together for about 5 minutes. The dough should be smooth and not sticky at all. If a bit dry add some water, if too wet add some more flour. Wrap in a plastic foil and let rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Over night works fine as well.

Dust the dough with some semolina and roll out as thin as you can. Dust again with more semolina and fold the dough from the short side couple of times, it is easier to cut it that way. Cut the dough as you like, unravel and hang until ready to use. I put a tea towel over a chair and let it hang until I prepare the sauce.

For the sauce chop finely garlic, chili and parsley. Boil water with salt for the pasta and cook it for about 2 minutes. Heat the oil in a pan, add garlic and chili and cook until garlic starts getting bit of colour. Add parsley and pasta, mix everything well and take of the heat. Serve on a plate, sprinkle with some freshly grated parmesan and black pepper.