Gnocchi Verdi in Tomato Cream Sauce

On this crisp October autumn day, I have a wonderful Italian comfort food to share that is sure to fill you with warmth and goodness!

Italians love a pasta shape called "gnocchi" (pronounced NYOW-kee, emphasis on the NYOW)...the 'g' is silent and the 'o' is pronounced as in the word 'no'. These little dumplings are eaten as a "primi" or "first course" of a meal. I also love them as a pass-around side dish which several Italian restaurants also serve them (either way).

Gnocchi Verdi in Creamy Tomato Sauce

3 10-oz. packages chopped frozen spinach, thawed & squeezed dry

2 cups ricotta cheese

2 jumbo eggs and 1 egg yolk

1-1/2 cups freshly grated Parmigiana Regiano cheese

1/2 cup fresh mozzarella cheese

1-1/3 cup unbleached flour (begin with 2/3 cup and add until desired result)

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

2 tsp. fresh lemon zest

Tomato Cream Sauce

1/4 cup virgin olive oil

1 15 oz. can tomatoes (preferably imported Italian)

1 14 oz. can tomato sauce

4 cloves fresh garlic, pressed

8 fresh basil leaves, chopped

1 cup half and half

Chicken or vegetable broth for boiling

Gnocchi:

Mix the first five ingredients together well.

Add lemon zest and spices.

Mix in flour slowly, adding a little more if it is too sticky-wet.

Spread some flour in a shallow pan.

Scoop gnocchi out by Tablespoon-size blobs and shape into ovals.

Lay them down in the flour-laden pan and roll the to coat them evenly with flour.

Discard excess flour after rolling gnocchi.

Cook uncovered in boiling broth (preferably, but you can also use water) for approximately 5 minutes or until fairly firm to the touch.

Transfer to a shallow baking dish and drizzle with either: melted butter with some shredded Parmigiana cheese and broil ... or Tomato Cream Sauce and serve.

Tomato Cream Sauce:

Slightly heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the tomatoes and tomato sauce. Cook ten minutes.

Add the rest of the ingredients, heat thoroughly and serve with extra Parmigiana cheese on the side.

I hope that you enjoy this special recipe; there are many versions of spinach gnocchi in Italian cookbooks and on-line. But this is the recipe that I learned, first served, and am still serving today. I only cook and share recipes that work and that people love and enjoy.....the rest are discarded, since time and money is precious!

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Roast Pork with Garlic and Thyme

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Well the Carolina's have felt the cold wave that has been blowing through the last few days. My summer flowers are now shriveled up and ready to sleep for the winter. I'll rake them up this weekend and place them in the compost pile for mother nature to 're-use'.

I have not posted in about one week due to my parents' visit to the acreage and sadly, my mother's inability to prepare ravioli as promised (she even brought the filling all prepared and ready to go). She is a bit under the weather, and at age 85, we decided that it would be best to put this off until another visit when she is feeling better.

However, that won't stop me from sharing an AWESOME, delicious, EASY, impressive recipe with you. It is from the New York Times Cookbook (way back in the '70s) by the late Craig Claiborne, but it has a few of my adaptations (more garlic for instance!). This was my first American cookbook and this recipe never disappoints anyone. I hope that you enjoy it.

Roast Pork with Garlic and Thyme

1 4-lb. pork loin

Combine the following in a small bowl:

3 Tbsp. olive oil

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

3 - 4 cloves of garlic

1 tsp. thyme

salt and fresh pepper to taste

.

Sprinkle on the pork roast: Mrs. Dash, Nature's Seasons, and/or Accent

Rub the olive oil/garlic/thyme mixture onto (and into if it opens) the 4 lb. pork loin.

Place the fat side up on a flat rack placed in an uncovered roasting pan.

Roast for 2 1/2 hours at 350 degrees

OR

for 45 minutes per pound.

With a meat thermometer, it should be 185 degrees inside when done.

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Making RAVIOLI this week!

Ciao Amici,

My mother is coming to stay for one week and she is planning on making some home-made, entirely from scratch RAVIOLI!! I've already got the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese purchased and grated in the food processor. And I've already got the semolina flour for the pasta. I need to get out my pasta maker and dust it off, since I only make pasta 3 times a year (Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas) due to the lack of time.

I am going to introduce my mother to all of you through blogging and posting photos of the step-by-step process of making the ravioli.

Now, I'm not sure what else my mother is planning on making, because she usually makes enough food to feed an army of people and I just don't eat that fast to empty enough space in my two freezers. This is the way that I cook......large amounts and freeze. Because of my work and my extremely long commute to the city, this method of preparation really works for me.....otherwise, I'd give in to eating out all the time, which is WAY too expensive and fattening!

I bought my first upright freezer, that is STILL in use today, back in 1979!!!! Then my mother gave me one of those little halvsey, short freezer. That's where I keep frozen pizzas and other quick frozen stuff that we can pop into the oven/microwave.

So I'll be posting this special cooking blog this week. My parents arrive on Wednesday, so you know what I'll be doing until then? CLEANING!!! A woman that wears many hats!

Amore' and blessings to you,

~ Bella

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Apple Pudding Cake with Cinnamon Butter Sauce

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It sure feels like fall around here after some record breaking 80's temperatures last week; it reached 65 degrees for the high today here on the acreage. We turned on the heat for the first time, and as usual the fire alarms protest in chorus for about 60 seconds while my husband and I frantically run around the house opening windows and turning on ceiling and exhaust fans to air the house out! The dogs and the cats freak out and run for any place outside to escape the shrieking alarm sounds.

This happens every fall when we first turn on our heat, so we've officially entered the fall season on the acreage despite fall starting in September. The gardens will be shriveling up very soon. I've seen roses bloom in the Carolina's late into November, so who knows!

Since it's feeling so nippy this evening, I'll share another comfort food recipe that is good for this time of year. I hope that you enjoy!

Apple Pudding Cake with Cinnamon Butter Sauce

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. butter, softened

1 large egg

1 cup unbleached flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. salt

2 cups chopped apples

Cinnamon Butter Sauce:

1/3 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup half and half

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

(You may want to double the sauce)

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Heat oven to 350 degrees. 

In large bowl, beat the brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy; beat in the egg. 

Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level it off. 

Add flour, baking soda, 1 tsp. cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt; mix well. 

Stir in the apples. 

Spread batter into a greased pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 - 25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Meanwhile, combine all sauce ingredients in small saucepan. 

Heat over medium heat until butter melts and sauce is hot, stirring frequently. Serve warm sauce over the warm cake.

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Autumn in the Carolinas

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Pasta with Grape/Cherry Tomatoes & Basil

If you have lots of those sweet grape/cherry tomatoes still on the vine, and/or you have lots of fresh basil (you can also buy both!), then here's a recipe that you're going to love!

Pasta with Grape/Cherry Tomatoes & Basil

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1/4 cup olive oil

4 large garlic cloves, diced

1 pint grape/cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

6 large basil leaves, chopped

1/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Regiano cheese

1 lb. thin spaghettini pasta

salt & pepper to taste

*

In a large frying/saute' pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and saute' the garlic until golden brown....do not burn.

Add the slice tomatoes and the red pepper flakes and cook for about 5 - 10 minutes.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta until "al dente". Strain and transfer to the pan with the tomato mixture. Toss until completely coated.

Add the basil and the cheese to pasta/tomato mixture. Just cook for a few more minutes until the basil is wilted and the cheese is somewhat melted/soft.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with extra grated cheese on the side.

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Our "Nonna" in My Kitchen Rolling Pasta Dough for Tortellini

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Lovely, Lemony, Limoncello!

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Golden Mums and Hay!

Signs of fall: golden hues in mums and hay for the horses.

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Another Autumn Recipe for my Friends!

Good morning amici (friends),

It is a soggy morning and the earth is just soaking up all of the rain we received ALL DAY yesterday. What a gift in these parched Carolinas! God has blessed us with a tremendous friend that grows hay for horses . . . who only has enough this year for his favorite customers. We are so GRATEFUL to be counted among them because so many horses in the Southeast suffered last winter from lack of grass during the winter months here when grass goes dormant. Things are looking about the same this year as well. Many horses are being neglected as a result of the economic conditions as well. I wish I could just take care of every neglected animal out there, but I just can't! I'm a firm believer in neutering all animals.

*****

I got a little side-tracked there didn't I? Here is the 3rd recipe for fall that I think you will enjoy!

Harvest Pumpkin Cobbler

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Crust:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

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Filling:

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup evaporated milk

3 cups pumpkin

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 Tbsp. flour

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. salt

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SERVE WITH: Cool whip OR sweetened whipped cream OR vanilla ice cream

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For the filling:

In a large bowl, combine eggs, 1 cup evaporated milk, and pumpkin. Add 3/4 cup sugar, dark brown sugar, 1 Tbsp. flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and salt.

Beat lightly with a rotary beater or wire whisk just until combined. Set aside.

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For the crust:

In a 3-quart rectangular baking pan, melt butter in a 350 degree oven. Remove from oven.

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In a bowl, combine 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1 cup milk, and vanilla. Pour mixture over the melted butter.

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Slowly pour the pumpkin mixture evenly over the crust. Return to the oven and bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. The crust will rise during baking.

***

Serve WARM!! :) :)

Bon Appetito!


Amore',

~ Bella

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Autumn Recipes to Share with You!

I am taking a break from a project that I am working on at the office, plus I'm also taking a brief break because I seem to have caught some of my students' sicknesses that are now just starting to go around campus with the weather changing. Half of my head seems like a big headache and the other half seems very normal. This isn't a complaint, just a justification to take a "balance my life" break! :) :) :) Does that mean that my head is in somewhat of a "la la land"? I dunno, but I do know that I need to take a break and chat with my fellow bloggers.

If you like cinnamon, apple, and/or pumpkin-y flavored recipes, then you will enjoy these. I have not developed any of them, they are not my own to claim; rather I have received them from others and will cite them whenever I can.

Here goes:

Pumpkin Brownies

In an ungreased 9 x 13" pan, combine:

1 yellow cake mix -- saving 1 cup set aside for topping

1/2 cup melted butter

1 egg, beaten

Blend these together and PRESS into pan to form the crust.

In a large bowl, combine:

1 small can pumpkin

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice

2 eggs, beaten

2/3 cup milk

Mix and pour this over the crust.

In a small bowl, combine:

The one cup of cake mix previously set aside

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup butter

This s very gum-my, so break it up and spread this on the top.

Bake at a pre-heated 350 degree oven.

Enjoy on a beautiful fall day with a lovely cup of tea, and some inspirational Scripture for added serenity!

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Autumn Colors on Bella Vita Farm

Here I share some photos of the golden colors of autumn currently appearing on the acreage. The "Carolina Blue" sky against the shades of oranges and golds is simply breathtaking to me. This is such a gorgeous time of year and helps remind us of how awesome God is in His creation! I forget about so many troubles when I walk in nature.
Enjoy!
Ciao!
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The Dogwood Trees are Starting to Change into Their Autumn Colors

Nature is in its glory right now in the Carolinas. The dogwoods turn a vivid red next to the trees that are still green. This is part of "La Bella Vita" life on our acreage.

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