David's Gnocchi with Salsa Alla Norma

Homemade gnocchi takes a long time to prepare, but just a little bit can feed anybody very hungry. We were four people at David's place for dinner last night, and it's amazing at how full we felt after a few spoonfuls of gnocchi with this delicious sauce.

Ingredients:
~4 well-boiled potatoes
1/2 kg of wheat flour (but try to have more around, just in case)
Salt
1 egg (optional)


1. Peel potatoes with your fingers (it'll be easy if they're well cooked and cooled under running water).

2. Cut them in thick slices, and then mash well with a fork. Lay the mash on a bowl with some flour.

3. Add more flour on top, and then mix with hands until homogenic. Cover your hands on flour, so that the mix doesn't stick to your fingers so much.

4. If you wish, you may add a stirred egg. David says it makes the gnocchi taste better, but it also makes it more difficult to make homogenic and to succeed on the boiling part.

If you add the egg, mix again (always with hands), until homogenic.



5. Spread flour over a clean table, cover your hands in flour again, and roll the potato dough into "fingers".


6. With a fork, chop the fingers in pieces of more of less 1,5cm.


7. we've reached the artistic part.: to give the shape of a real gnocco, press each piece with the back of a fork...


8. ... and roll it up with your thumb to separate from fork, making a cilinder-like figure.


9. Boil the gnocchi on some water with oil.


10. When a gnocco floats up, remove it from boiling water and let it sit on a dish. Continue, one by one.


11. Serve warm with sauce, spices, freshly-grated Parmiggiano cheese and candlelight. ;)





Salsa Alla Norma: Traditional Sicilian vegan sauce. David explained to me the two meanings of the sauce's name. First, normal Sicilian food is comprised mostly of cultivated vegetables and fish; second, it's "to the norm" because when you prepare this sauce, you can never fail.




Ingredients:
1 eggplant, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic (but I'd have added two, myself), chopped
4 carrots
1 small can of peas
0,5 kg of thick tomato juice
Olive Oil
Salt, black pepper, assorted spices to taste.

Stir-fry vegetables (except for the peas, which came already cooked in the can) on olive oil, until all is tender. If you want a strong onion flavour, you can let the onion turn golden-brown, if not, stir-fry it only until tender and translucid. Add spices and tomato juice when veggies are soft and well-cooked. Cover, and let cook on low fire for some twenty or thirty minutes.




Side dish: Bruschette



Ingredients:
1 chopped tomato
Chopped Mozzarella
Oregano
Basil
Flavoured toasts (we had garlic with parsley flavour)
Olive Oil

Mix tomato, mozzarella and the spices. Spread the mix over the toasts, then pour some olive oil just before serving. You may add salt, too (to taste).

David's Tiramisù

David told us that this popular Italian dessert was invented in Veneto by a whorehouse owner. The name derives from the Italian words for "throw yourself on top", and was marketed as an aphrodisiac, and considered an energetic meal due to the addition of coffee, cocoa, sugar and dairy among the main ingredients.



Ingredients:
4 eggs
500g (2x 250g) cream cheese without salt. David used a traditional Italian brand.
Some sobaos (traditional Spanish cake)
Some bizcocho soletilla (traditional Spanish cookies)
~4 tablespoons Sugar
~3 cups of coffee
~1 cup of milk
Rum
Cocoa or chocolate powder


1. Stir eggs and mix cream cheese in until homogenic.


2. Lay the sobaos on the bottom of the pan to cover it.


3. Pour rum over the sobaos.


4. Pour warm coffee, too.


5. Mash and spread the wet sobaos to cover bottom of pan entirely.


6. Pour half of the cheese/egg mix over the sobaos to form the 1st layer.


7. Spread to cover.


8. Soak the bizcocho soletilla one by one in cofee and milk.


9. Lay them on the pan as another layer.


10. Pour the remaining coffee/milk mix on top of the bizcocho.


11. Pour and spread the second half of the egg/cheese mix.


12. Fridge for 24 hours, then sprinkle cocoa powder or chocolate powder on top of it just before serving.

Tajine of lamb with preserved lemons and olives

5-6 persons

Ingredients :

4 cloves garlic
1 onion
3 branches of parsley
3 branches of cilantro
4 tablespoons olive oil
40g butter
2 pinches of ginger
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 / 2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
2 preserved lemons
200g olive purple
salt and pepper

Cut the lamb in pieces (not too small, just to make them fit in the Tajine or in the Pot).

Clean the parsley and the cilantro. Make them finely cut.

Warm up the oil, add the butter and when it starts to foam, add the oignon (not necessary finely cut), the ginger, the turmeric and the cinnamon.

Add salt (around 1 to 2 teaspoon, depending on the cook) and pepper.

Place the lamb in the tajine (or the pot) and return them to coat, then brown on all sides.

After all sides are brown (around 5 minutes), add the garlic, the parsley, the coriander and 30cl of water.

Bring to a boil, cover and cook over low heat 50 minutes.

Cut the lemons in around 8-10 pieces. Add them with the olives. Cook over low heat 10 to 15 more minutes.

And enjoy the meal served with bread or semolina.

Bon appetit.

Madeline's Algerian Couscous

Algerian-style Vegetarian Couscous
(Serves 6-8)

Essential: Couscousier (big pot with well-fitting steam tray). Without this, your couscous grains will not be scrumptious as they should be.

Couscous:
500g good quality Couscous (Arabic on package)
5 Tbs. good quality olive oil (fragrant)
Salt to taste

Sauce:
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 large onion
1+ Tbs Raz-al-Hanout (Moroccan curry powder, buy at Arab/Pakistani store)
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 large zucchini
2 large carrot
100g pumpkin or squash
300g+ fresh or frozen green beans
1-2 large tomatoes, peeled and grated
500g+ cooked garbanzo beans, well-rinced
-Salt, and other above spices to taste

Couscous:
-Put couscous in a bowl, cover with water and stir for a few seconds
-Pull out a handful of couscous and squeeze the water out, put aside in steam tray of Couscousiers
-Do this with all the couscous and set aside to dry for 20 minutes
-Start preparing your sauce - come back to this part when you add the water to the sauce
-Oil your hands lightly, take a handful of washed couscous and separate the grains by rolling your thumb against the inside of your first finger. Separate the grains into the steam tray of the couscousier with a plate under it so grains don't get all over the place. Do this until all couscous is well separated
-Place steam tray on top of pot with the simmering couscous sauce and cover. Make sure the steam is not escaping from the sides, if so tie a piece of cloth around the gap. Steam 20 minutes, more or less, until the steam flows heavily through the couscous grains. You can taste-test if they are done.
-Remove steam tray and transfer couscous grains into a large bowl. While still hot and steamy, sprinkle about 50cl of water over grains and roll with your hands or use a wire wisk. Sprinkle 4 Tbs. olive oil over couscous and 2 tsp. salt, and roll with your hands or use a wire wisk. The goal is that the couscous will absorb a bit more water, becoming more tender without getting soggy, and that all grains be separated, oiled and lightly salted. Taste test and set aside if delicious. If still a bit underdone, put back on sauce pot to steam more, cover.

Sauce:
-Wash and chop veggies onto spoon-sized pieces, except the onion (fine chop), the pumpkin (small cubes), and the tomato (peeled and grated)
-Fry onion on low heat until tender
-Add dry spices and stir until things get sticky, then add other vegetables (except the tomato and the garbanzos) a bit more oil and stir well for a few minutes
-Add 1 liter of good water (Barcelona city water is not good), the grated tomato and the garbanzos and bring to a boil. If your veggies are not well-covered by the level of water, add more
-Reduce heat to medium-low and put your couscous grains to steam!
-When you remove the couscous grains to oil and salt, taste your sauce, add salt as needed but not too much since the couscous grains are also salted, and adjust the spices as needed (Raz-al-Hanout, pepper, cinnamon) but a little at a time so as not to ruin your sauce!

Serve couscous in shallow bowls, spreading it nicely on the bottom of the bowl, put veggies on the couscous first, then ladle the sauce over, asking guests how much they like :) If you put too much sauce it becomes a sad soup instead of a fabulous bowl of tasty Algerian-style veggie couscous.

Bon appetit! Bismillah! Psatig