Leftover Gnocchi

You might ask, "Who ever has leftover gnocchi?????"

Well if you have company coming but you're not sure quite when they'll arrive, or how hungry they will be, and your hubby gets overly excited when you send him to the store for gnocchi... sometimes you can cook off too much.

In which case, this is a great way to use the leftovers as a quick side dish.

What you see above is about a teaspoon of duck fat.

The heat in the pan is NOT on.

It's just gloriously melting at room temperature.

However, you should put your heat at about medium high to melt the duck fat and heat the pan.

If you do not have any saved duck fat, say, from a recipe like this one, you could use a combination of butter and oil (so the butter doesn't burn).

You're going to finish this dish with butter as well, so don't use too much oil.

Mmm... bland.

Get your leftover cooked gnocchi well coated in the duck fat, season with salt, and toss every few minutes until browning.

Once your gnocchi is beginning to color, add 1 TBSP of butter to the pan and whatever fresh herb you prefer. 

In this case I used sage because this was the side dish for my porchetta-inspired tenderloin.

When the butter is just starting to brown, turn off the heat and serve immediately.

Garnish with a few fried sage leaves if you feel like showing off, and enjoy your revamped gnocchi.

Note: I hope everyone has a Happy Holiday Season and New Year.

I expect to be too busy between now and New Year's to post anything new, so enjoy yourselves, eat well, hold your loved ones close, party hearty, and please check back come 2011!

Leftover Lamb Lusciousness

So I apologize in advance because I forgot to take final pictures of this dish! My in-laws arrived safe at last from the airport and we all just sat down so fast that I never even thought of my camera once I'd dropped the pasta.
You'll just have to imagine the luscious end result.

So with all that leftover sauce/stew from the braised lamb shanks, I decided I could turn it into another lovely meal if I just gave it a bit of a face-lift. It's kind of  a cross between stretching leftover stew and a pasta sauce.

I started by peeling and slicing 4 carrots, and setting them in a medium sauce pan with 2 TBS olive oil, 1 tsp of agave nectar, a pinch of salt, and 1/4 cup of water.

Place the lid on and cook for about 5-7 minutes, until the liquids are bubbling & the carrots are softened. Normally at this point I would say, "Cook an additional few minutes until all the water in the pot has boiled off and the carrots are left with a sweet glaze on them."

But this time around I added 2 whole tomatoes, seeded and chopped into chunks, as well as 1 chopped clove of garlic, and once that had become aromatic, a few splashes of beef stock.

I wasn't kidding when I said there wasn't much meat left...

But what there was I finely minced and threw into the pot with the bubbling carrots, tomato and stock.

To that I added enough of the leftover lamb sauce/liquids to serve 4 people, and had salted water at the boil and ready to drop some gnocchi as soon as the fam arrived.

Once the gnocchi float to the top, they're done, so I portioned them out, topped with with the revamped stew mixture, and finished it with a tablespoon of mascarpone cheese to melt into everything and make it brilliant and decadent.

And it was.