Friday Night Menu, Gnocchi

Tonight I decided on a salad idea from that restaurant menu, I told you about in my last posting, "Rivoli".

Mixed Baby lettuces with sherry shallot vinaigrette and goat cheese and fig crostini
There were no baby lettuces at the market so I used Watercress and Pea Shoots with a hint of fresh basil Julienne. I also shaved some cucumber into the greens (outside only, no seeds) and a few grape tomatoes cut into quarters. Tossed with a sherry shallot dressing that I made with shallots, sherry vinegar, mustard, honey, salt and pepper. I cut 1/4 inch slices of french baguette and lightly toasted them under the broiler. Topped with some fresh goat's cheese and fig Preserves (Bonne Maman, it's in with all the jams and jellies in the little jar with the red and white checkered top), place under the broiler and melt the cheese a little. Loved the combination in the salad and the crostini was delicious and easy.

Veal Ragu with Homemade Potato Gnocchi
This was in the February Martha Stewart magazine. I have been wanting to make homemade potato gnocchi and so finally I did it. It was so easy, the trick is to not overwork the dough, just get it together and roll it into a log and cut 1/2 pieces off of it. Make ridges with the fork and freeze. It boils up it 4 minutes and it's tender and not as heavy as you may have had before. The Ragu was easy, I planned on getting the veal shanks, like the recipe calls for, but they were so expensive at the market, then I saw veal stew meat, so I got 2 Lbs of that and it was plenty of meat for the full recipe. It was just how you want it to be, tender tender tender.

Candied-Fennel topped Lemon Cake
The April Gourmet Magazine had this dessert featured. Actually, I don't know if I would have made it if Tony didn't comment on how he thought it looks good. It was different but actually very good. The candied fennel is hard to cut through with the side of a fork but it tasted really good. I might cut it up and not worry about the fennel design so much, just to make it easier to eat, but really good with whipped cream.