All wedding pictures in this post are by our very talented photographers, The Spragues. These photos cannot be used without their permission.

Almost a year later, I have finally managed to sit down and write about our wedding. It was largely a DIY affair, brought to life by many, many helping hands. We celebrated with a small group of 40 people – just immediate family and close friends – at my parents’ house in Maine, where Trevor and I have been going together since high school. Insanely, wonderfully, my parents built a barn on the hill above our house to host our reception. By hand. I know, we are incredibly spoiled. It took many weekends of labor to bring the boat barn to fruition, but in some ways building the barn was the part of the wedding I loved most of all. Working alongside both sets of parents to build a structure to house our friends and family felt purposeful and unifying. And walking up the hill that day to see the barn filled with our handmade oak farm tables, tables covered in copper vases and pink flowers, candles and string lights filling the whole space with warmth… it was so incredibly beautiful. I don’t really have a photo that adequately captures the magic of that space, but these come close.

I don’t remember the day in that much detail, but what sticks with me the strongest is our ceremony. Standing under the pine trees clinging to Trevor’s arm, my brother welcoming our friends, my mother standing at my side, and the teary-eyed faces of so many of the people that I love staring back at me, I felt a truly powerful surge of love and wonder. We spent the weeks leading up to the wedding writing our ceremony, which was difficult, but important: when we stood up there, we knew exactly what we were saying and why. My brother officiated, and standing in the basement in a bit of a panic moments before the ceremony, hearing my friends laugh as he stood up there joking with the crowd was truly what calmed me enough to get myself out the door.

And then, we were off. People stood in clusters on the lawn drinking white wine and playing lawn games, or sat on the dock watching the light change over the lake. As the sun started to set we were seated at the long farm tables and the toasts began, making me cry, for the first time that day. Then we ate, and laughed, and talked, and it felt exactly like the wonderful dinner party we were envisioning.

After dinner, the evening devolved, as we had hoped it would, into tequila shots and dancing barefoot on the lawn, friends sneaking off into the woods and out on the canoe, sitting around the campfire and eating s’mores. This is less a memory and more a blur of mental snapshots. Immediately after the wedding I felt devastated by the fact that I couldn’t remember each moment, but a year later, I’ll take the happy blur. Happy blur is what we were going for, after all.

As for the details, for those of you who get into this kind of thing: the ceremony benches were planks of white oak milled from trees on the property. The tables, too, were made by hand and painstakingly finished to showcase the beautiful wood. I did the flowers myself, with the help of my bridesmaids, using homegrown dahlias, garden roses, astilbe, eucalyptus and hypericum. Plus cosmos, Queen Anne’s lace, and leucothoe borrowed from a neighbor’s garden two days before the wedding when it turned out one of the flower companies I had ordered from was a scam. Those missing flowers were the only near disaster of the whole DIY affair, and the day was promptly saved by my incredible friend Veronika, who bought all the roses at Wholefoods before she left Boston, and several generous neighbors. Cosmos and Queen Anne’s lace have a special place in my garden now.

And, since this is a food blog, the menu: for the happy hour, ceviche, buttermilk fried chicken bites in a waffle cone, and sliders (at the bride’s insistence!) with blue cheese and candied bacon. Dinner was family style, and heaping platters of espresso-rubbed flank steak, lemon rosemary roasted chicken, sweet corn succotash, and smoked gouda mashed potatoes made their way up and down the length of each table. We skipped the cake and instead went for mini pumpkin cheesecakes, blueberry pies, and banoffee parfaits. Everything was incredible and our caterers, Bar Harbor Catering Company, did a truly fantastic job. Not only was the food delicious but the event planning and coordination that they provided was just really game changing. Last but far from least, The Spragues captured everything perfectly, while somehow managing to seamlessly  join our guests in the party.

Beyond these pictures and memories, I have one more thing to share with you: our signature cocktail recipe. We wanted something that was autumnal without being overly cozy, to suit that in-between season of mid-September in Maine. We ended up with the Liquid Ditty: bourbon, dry hard cider from Bantam, Calvados, and honey-sage syrup. (An aside, Trevor and I just engaged in a rigorous debate about what to name this cocktail. A search on “Golden Apple” led us down a Wikipedia rabbit hole through Greek mythology to recently discovered dwarf planets. “Apple of Discord” was deemed unfit for a wedding cocktail, and I couldn’t convince him that “Apple of Bliss-chord” was hilarious. We considered “The Spitz,” named after the Esopus Spitzenburg apple tree in our front yard., but ultimately, we’ve settled on the “Liquid Ditty.” It’s a reference to Poe’s poem “The Bells,” which Trevor strongly associates with our wedding day. Plus, it’s catchy. Alternate name suggestions still welcome.) Nearly a year later, I’ve mixed up another batch to drink on the porch with Trevor. It’s just as delicious as I remember it – crisp and appley with just a hint of sage. We’ll be drinking these all September.

The Liquid Ditty: Bourbon, Calvados, and Cider Cocktail

A crisp and refreshing cocktail for the season in between summer and fall. Hard cider, Bourbon, Calvados, and honey-sage syrup come together for a chilled autumnal sipper. We came up with this drink to celebrate our wedding and now it’s a September favorite.

A Katie at the Kitchen Door original recipe.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door

Ingredients

For the honey-sage syrup:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup honey
• 15 leaves fresh sage, roughly chopped

For each cocktail:

• 1 part Calvados
• 2 part Bourbon
• 1 part honey-sage syrup
• 1 part chilled hard dry cider, such as Bantam Wunderkind
• 1 sage leaf, for garnish
• ice

Instructions

For the honey-sage syrup:

Bring all ingredients to a simmer. Let simmer for 3-5 minutes, until sage is bright green and syrup is foamy. Remove from heat and let steep for 10 minutes.

For each cocktail:

Stir together Calvados, honey-sage syrup, and Bourbon to combine. Pour over ice in an old-fashioned glass. Top off with cider, garnish with a sage leaf, and serve.

The post Our Wedding // Liquid Ditty Cocktail appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I’ve spent a lot of time in the past year grappling with the future of this blog. As do all bloggers, writers, or people who show up to do anything consistently day after day. I’ve gone from certain I want to make this blog my full time business to certain I want to quit entirely (the range of the uncertainty effectively negating either option as the best one). Hearing about other people’s “should I or shouldn’t I” blog crises always bores me, so I’ll keep this short and sweet. Here’s how I feel today: I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished here. I still feel the urge to write and create. I tried the blogging-as-a-business thing (the podcasts, the SEO otpimization, etc., etc.) and it mostly left me frustrated. My job challenges and fulfills me and right now that, not blogging, is my career. So I will keep coming here, keep cooking, keep writing, but I’m not going to worry so much about stats and schedules. I want this to be a place that inspires and fulfills me, not a chore to stress over.

Now that that’s out of the way – hi! I’ve been gone because Trevor and I got married! Then we went on an incredible honeymoon and spent three weeks in Croatia, Slovenia, and Prague. It was awesome. I took a lot of pictures, I drank a lot of wine and beer and mead, I walked a bajillion steps every day, and I spent so much time with Trevor everyday that I think I’m going to go through withdrawal. I’m happy to be home though, not least because it’s fall. An exceptionally warm, lovely fall at that.

With wedding planning off my plate I’m just starting to find room in my mind for cooking and creativity. The day we got back from our honeymoon we did a deep clean of the fridge, freezer, and pantry which was also strangely inspiring. I feel like I have a clean slate in the kitchen now. That, combined with the beautiful fall produce, inspired these Pan-Fried Pork Chops with Roasted Apples and Pears. It was the first real home-cooked dinner we’ve had in months.

This recipe is pretty easy, doable on a weeknight, and hearty without being heavy.  The pork chops are simply dredged in seasoned flour and pan-fried. The fruit – chopped and tossed with rosemary, olive oil, a hint of brown sugar, and cider vinegar. While the fruit is roasting and the chops are resting, you make a quick pan sauce using calvados to tie everything together. The roasted fruit was my favorite part of this, with it’s balance of sweet and savory flavors. It would also go well with other mains, particularly sausages or grilled chicken, so it seems likely I’ll make it again while fall fruits are still at their peak.

P.S. Don’t worry! When we get our wedding pictures back I’ll share some here. I’ll most likely do a few honeymoon posts as well, because, you know, Slovenian venison goulash seems like a thing you might like.

Pan-Fried Pork Chops with Roasted Apples, Pears, and Brandy Cream Sauce

An easy fall dinner of pan-fried pork chops, roasted apples, pears, and red onions, and a quick  brandy pan sauce. 

Inspired by Diana Henry’s Roast Figs Sugar Snow and Hilary Davis’ French Comfort Food.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 4

Ingredients

• 2 red onions, peeled and cut into wedges
• 2 Bartlett pears, cut into quarters and cored
• 2 McIntosh apples, cored and cut into thick slices
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 2 sprigs rosemary leaves, finely chopped
• sea salt and pepper to taste
• 2 TBS brown sugar
• 1 TBS apple cider vinegar
• Four 8-oz pork chops
• 1/4 cup plus 2 TBS flour
• 2 TBS butter
• 4 leaves sage
• 1/2 cup dry hard cider
• 1/4 cup calvados / apple brandy
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Instructions

1. For the fruit: Preheat the oven to 375F. Arrange the onion wedges, pear slices, and apples slices on a rimmed baking sheet. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, chopped rosemary leaves, sea salt (to taste), black pepper, brown sugar, and apple cider vinegar until combined. Drizzle the olive oil mixture on top of the fruit and onions. Use a spatula to flip everything over once to coat with the oil. Place in the oven and roast until the fruit is soft, about 20 minutes.
2. For the pork chops: Place 1/4 cup of the flour on a large plate and spread into a thin layer. Season with sea salt and black pepper to taste. Pat the pork chops dry with a paper towel and then dredge in the seasoned flour so that they are lightly coated with flour on both sides. Melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan over medium-high heat. When the butter starts to foam and sizzle, add the sage leaves and fry for 60 seconds. Add the floured pork chops to the pan, spacing them out evenly so they aren’t touching one another (you may need to do this in batches if your pan is small). Fry the pork chops until golden brown on one side, then flip and fry on the other side. This should take about 5 minutes per side. Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of your pork chops – they should be 145F at the thickest portion. If they have not yet reached this temperature, cook 1 minute longer then check again. As soon as they reach 145F remove them to a paper-towel lined plate and let rest for 5 minutes.
3. For the pan sauce: Return the pan you used to cook the pork chops to the heat. Add 2 TBS of flour to the juices left in the pan and quickly stir until thickened, about 60 seconds. Add the hard cider to the pan and let simmer, then use a wooden spatula or spoon to scrape the bottom of the pan until it is clean, stirring the sauce as you scrape. Add the apple brandy to the pan, stir to incorporate into the sauce, and cook for 2-3 minutes, then remove from the heat. Stir in the heavy cream and season the sauce to taste.
4. To serve: Place a pork chop on each plate along with several pieces of roasted fruit. Spoon some of the pan sauce over the pork and serve immediately.

The post Back // Pan-Fried Pork Chops with Roasted Apples, Pears, and Brandy Cream Sauce appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I’m so happy that I’ve had this week at home. I expected fall to be over by the time I got back from Portugal last Friday night, but instead, I woke up early Saturday to find a brilliant, glowing fall morning. I went for a walk at sunrise (jet lag problems) and reveled in the pink sky, the orange leaves tinged with sunlight, the blue-green frost on the grass, the smell of woodsmoke, even the cold, which is still exhilarating and festive feeling, and not yet the menacing cold of January and February. All week I’ve been marveling in the outdoors, as well as in the simple pleasure of being home. It’s weeks like this that make me think I will always end up back in New England, no matter how far afield my adventures take me.

This week was also a bit of a roller coaster, for many. In my circles at least, there was a lot of negative emotion being dumped into the world – shock and anger and frustration. No matter what your political opinions are, it’s difficult to be surrounded by people who are upset. We all absorb each other’s emotions – empathy is a critical component of being able to function in our society – but when that emotion is overwhelmingly negative sometimes I feel the need to withdraw. So this weekend I am taking things slow, taking care of myself, fighting off the beginnings of a cold before I get on a plane again tomorrow night. And part of that care is this soup, into which I crammed as many autumnal flavors as I could. The base of this soup is roasted pumpkin and carrots tossed with curry powder, then pureed into a light and creamy bisque and topped with fried prosciutto and sage. I’m glad to have gotten at least one pumpkin recipe up this fall before we transition into holiday flavors (is it possible that there are only 7 weeks left this year? How absurd). I hope you enjoy the soup and these last few days of autumn!

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Curried Pumpkin Bisque with Prosciutto and Sage

A Katie at the Kitchen Door original recipe. Serves 4-6.

• 1 medium (3 lb.) sugar pumpkin or acorn squash
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into one inch pieces
• 4 TBS olive oil, divided
• 1 1/2 tsp curry powder, divided
• sea salt
• 2 TBS butter
• 1 large onion, peeled, halved, and sliced into thin half moons
• 8 sage leaves, divided
• 1 TBS minced fresh ginger, from a 1 inch piece of ginger
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1/3 cup heavy cream, plus more for garnish
• 3 thin slices prosciutto, torn into pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cut the top off the pumpkin and set aside. Carefully slice the pumpkin in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and pulp and discard or save for roasting. Cut the pumpkin halves into thick wedges and place on a large rimmed baking sheet, along with the carrot pieces.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together 3 TBS of the olive oil, 1 tsp curry powder, and about 1/2 tsp sea salt. Drizzle over the pumpkin and carrot, using your hands to rub the oil onto both sides of the vegetables. Roast until the pumpkin and carrot are tender, about 30-40 minutes, flipping once halfway through. Use a spoon to scoop the soft roasted pumpkin flesh away from the skin, saving the flesh and discarding the skin.
3. In a large soup pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and saute until translucent and tender, about 5-7 minutes. Roll 4 of the sage leaves into a cylinder and thinly slice, then add the slices to the onions and butter. Add the minced ginger. the remaining 1/2 tsp curry powder and the cumin seeds to the pot as well and saute until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add the roasted carrots, roasted pumpkin flesh, and chicken stock to the pot and bring to a simmer. Simmer for for about 10 minutes, then remove from the heat and add the heavy cream. Transfer the soup to a blender (or use an immersion blender) and blend until very smooth and creamy. (Always be careful when blending hot liquids! If your blender is not designed to blend hot liquids, wait for the soup to cool to room temperature before blending). If necessary, thin out the soup with more cream or chicken stock until it reaches the desired consistency.
4. Before serving, heat the remaining 1 TBS of olive oil in a small frying pan. Roll the remaining 4 sage leaves into a cylinder and thinly slice, then add to the olive oil. Fry sage until crispy, about 3-4 minutes, then add the prosciutto pieces and fry until prosciutto is crispy, another 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.
5. To serve, divide the soup between bowls. Drizzle with a little cream and top with the fried sage and prosciutto. Serve immediately.

The post Curried Pumpkin Bisque with Prosciutto and Sage appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I’m back in Latin America this week, and headed out now to enjoy a day of wine tasting in Chile (work travel isn’t so bad…). But before I go, I wanted to share some other wine-related news: this summer, I’ll be developing four recipes for La Crema Wines featuring pairings of pork and Pinot Noir. Since I’ve been traveling so much and am always discovering new flavors and cooking styles, the series is going to have a global theme. The first stop on our Pork and Pinot tour – Italy.

This stuffed and rolled pork tenderloin may not be strictly traditional, but it takes all of its inspiration from Italian cuisine. The tenderloin is butterflied and filled with layers of sage and rosemary pesto, fresh mozzarella cheese and prosciutto, then rolled up and roasted to juicy perfection. Slicing into the finished tenderloin reveals a beautiful pink, white, and green spiral, and the herbal, salty flavors of the filling permeate each bite of pork. It’s an entrée that looks and tastes “fancy,” but really requires very little effort – the perfect dish for impressing dinner guests. Serve it alongside a bottle of La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, and perhaps a platter of simply roasted vegetables, and your next dinner party menu is taken care of.

Stay tuned for more Pork and Pinot! Next up, Vietnam …

Find the recipe for the Prosciutto, Mozzarella, and Sage Pesto Stuffed Pork Tenderloin over on the La Crema blog!

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by La Crema. All opinions are honest and my own.

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The post La Crema Pork and Pinot #1 // Prosciutto, Mozzarella, and Sage Pesto Stuffed Pork Tenderloin appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

November’s fitness goal turned out to be such a fun one! Dance almost never fails to lift my mood and energize my body. I tried a new class, BollyX, a bit like Zumba or Cardio Dance in that it’s a hybrid between actual dance and an aerobics class. It’s got great upbeat Bollywood music and was packed with other young women. The nature of Bollywood dance – big movements, lots of jumping – made it easy to follow along and dance big without feeling self-conscious. I also stuck with ballet, although I’m going to a new class early Sunday mornings and it is so hard to do ballet first thing in the morning. My range of motion is about half what it is at the end of the day. In the interest of total honesty, I have to admit that I didn’t quite make it to 6 classes during November. But I did go this week and trying something totally new was a big win for me, so I’m giving myself a slight pass.

I’m going to make December’s goal about something that I’ve been explicitly avoiding all year: weight. In part, I’ve avoided making a weight-focused goal because I truly believe that these goals are about health and fitness, not a number on a scale. And I stand by that. But there’s also a part of me that’s a little bit afraid of that number, because I know that whatever I may tell myself, it’s a pretty good representation of the progress I’ve made. Of course, I could lose a ton of weight and be extremely unhealthy, both physically and mentally, or I could gain a ton of weight and attribute it all to muscle mass. But, at least for my body and personality, neither of those scenarios is very realistic. Although it kind of scares me to write numbers down here, I’m going to. I started the year at a weight of 145 pounds, which is easily an all time high for me. It’s hard to admit, but it’s a weight that’s decidedly too high for my 5’3″ frame, and looking back at pictures from last January does not make me feel good. Over the year I’ve slowly worked my way down to a weight that’s closer to a healthy weight for my build, hitting 132 at my lowest. Now I’m hovering around 136, a weight that’s healthy but a bit too close to backsliding for my taste. I’d like to start 2015 feeling really good about my health and fitness, so I’m aiming for the 130-133 range. If I can accomplish that during the biggest eating month of the year, I’ll be very proud.

In a way, this goal represents all the things I’ve learned about what does and doesn’t work for me over the course of this year. Some rules I’m living by to make this happen:

• No alcohol on Mondays, Tuesdays, or Wednesdays. This should be easy, but I’ve definitely slipped into a habit where a glass of wine after work is the norm, not the exception, and I don’t want that habit to go too far. In a season when holiday parties, happy hours, and hot toddies seem to be around every corner, it’s easier to have a simple rule – so I don’t end the week wondering why I’m completely dragging and then realize that I had a drink every night.
• No sweets for breakfast. Starting the day out with something savory and protein-rich may take a little extra effort, but so much of the “easy” breakfast food is packed with sugar. I’m curious to see how much of an impact this has on my energy levels (and how long I can stick with it!)
• Target 5 workouts a week. 4 workouts a week seems to be my magic number for maintaining my weight, 3 is a little too light, and 5 is the max that’s doable if I want to maintain the sanity of my schedule. I want to make the most of the dry streets and relative warmth before we slip into three months of ice and cold (e.g. no running).
• Remember vegetables! When they’re not staring me in the face from the excess of our garden, it’s easy to forget about them. I’m trying to sneak as much spinach and broccoli into my diet as I can this month.

I’m not planning on continuing these monthly goal posts in 2015. While they’ve been a helpful tool for me to hold myself accountable, I’ve actually been thinking about how to make my life less list and goal oriented and more relaxed next year. For the most part, I’ve accomplished what I set out to do – get myself back in shape (from a point of absolute zero), and make regular exercise and conscious eating a natural part of my routine. But, that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop sharing healthy recipes and thoughts on health here! This month’s recipe is a Roasted Parsnip and White Bean soup, topped with Guanciale and Fried Sage (arguably counteracting the health benefits of a vegetable-based soup, but oh well). It’s a recipe I came up with while walking home from work one day, playing around with different ideas for our parsnip harvest. The sweetness of the roasted parsnips is complemented beautifully by the creaminess of the white beans and the salty, fattiness of the guanciale topping. It’s a thick soup, almost more of a puree, but a swirl of cream added at the end lightens it and gives it a luxurious mouthfeel. This recipe used up the last of our parsnips, otherwise I’d be making more of this ASAP and freezing it for later.

Past Fitness Challenges

January: 10 Visits to the YMCA; Recipe: Gluten-Free Olive-and-Feta Corn Muffins
February: One vegan meal every day; Recipe: Pakistani Chickpea Pulao with Sweet-Hot Date-Onion Chutney
March: Run 40  miles in 20 days; Recipe: Chocolate-Dipped Almond Butter Cookie Bites
April: Walk 8,000 steps a day; Recipe: Herb-Flecked Spring Couscous
May: 180 minutes of Nike Training Club; Recipe: Warm Arugula Salad with Maple Mustard Dressing
June: Fresh fruit/veggies at every meal; Recipe: Chickpea Crepes with Grilled Curried Chicken and Mango Salsa
July: 8 different types of exercise; Recipe: Homemade Spinach Wraps with Chopped Greek Salad Filling
August: Relax; Recipe: Green Tea and Zucchini Noodles with Honey Ginger Sauce
September: Average mile pace below 8’10″; Recipe: Potato, Poblano, and Chard Enchiladas with Salsa Verde

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Roasted Parsnip and White Bean Soup with Guanciale and Fried Sage

A Katie at the Kitchen Door original recipe. Serves 4.

• 6 medium parsnips, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
• 3 TBS olive oil, divided
• coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 oz. guanciale, cut into 1/4 inch cubes (about 1/3 cup)
• 1 onion, peeled and thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 12 leaves sage, divided
• 1 large yukon gold potato, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 4 c. chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 can (15 oz.) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 TBS salted butter
• 1/2 c. heavy cream (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Toss parsnips with 2 TBS of the olive oil, then spread out on a roasting pan. Sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper. Roast parsnips until tender, about 30 minutes, flipping halfway through. Remove from the oven and set aside.
2. In a large non-stick saucepan, heat the remaining 1 TBS olive oil over medium heat. Add the guanciale and cook, stirring frequently, until browned on all sides, about 5-7 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the cooked guanciale and set aside. Chop 4 of the 12 sage leaves finely. Add the onion, garlic, and chopped sage to the saucepan and saute, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the potatoes and cook 2 minutes longer, then add the roasted parsnips and the stock.
3. Bring soup to a simmer and cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Add the rinsed cannellini beans, and cook until heated through, another 5 minutes. Transfer the soup to a blender and blend on high until very smooth. Return to the pot and keep warm over low heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Before serving, melt 2 TBS butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Once fully melted and bubbling, add remaining 8 sage leaves to melted butter and cook until crisp, about 30 seconds. Remove to a paper-towel lined plate and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
5. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with the cooked guanciale cubes and the fried sage leaves. If desired, drizzle 2 TBS of heavy cream on top of each bowl. Serve with toasted sourdough bread.

The post Monthly Fitness Goals: December // White Bean and Parsnip Soup with Guanciale and Fried Sage appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

On Monday morning, lying in bed and catching up on my blog-reading after a happy and busy weekend with friends, I saw this post from Cookie and Kate, and was immediately obsessed. I spent the rest of the day thinking about various versions of the creamy butternut squash linguine, and by the time I stopped at the store on the way home from work I had reversed all of Kate’s healthy twists to the dish and it had morphed into a full-blown, decadent carbonara in my mind. Which, it turns out, is how the folks over at Bon Appetit had originally published it anyway. There’s no denying that I’m a fat kid at heart – give me the opportunity to cover pasta in fried salty bits and cheese and heavy cream and I’ll go all out  (and then hide the rest of the leftovers to help keep my vegan challenge going strong).

Now that it’s (finally) March, we only have a few weeks left where root veggies, kale, and heavy winter flavors are what we need to keep us going, so I’d suggest that you indulge in this dish now before all you can think about are radishes and asparagus and rhubarb. I’m not sure how best to convince you that it’s worth the calories, so I’m just going to ask you to trust me. If it makes you feel better, serve it with gently sauteed bitter greens, like broccoli rabe or mustard greens – the bitterness is a perfect counterpoint for the sweetness of the roasted squash and the saltiness of the pancetta. And enjoy it! One of winter’s redeeming qualities is the comfort food it inspires, so if eating food like this is what gets you through the lingering cold, go for it.

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More creamy pastas…

Creamy Mushroom Pasta

Cacio e Pepe with English Peas

Roasted Garlic and Shallot Mac’n’Cheese

Butternut Squash Carbonara with Fried Sage and Caramelized Onions

Spaghetti carbonara gets a healthy-ish twist with a butternut squash sauce that’s as creamy and smooth as if it were made of eggs and cream! Well, there’s still a little bit of cream… 

Inspired by Bon Appetit and Cookie and Kate. 

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 small butternut squash, about 1 1/2 – 2 lbs.
• 2 TBS olive oil
• sea salt and pepper
• 1/2 lb. slice pancetta, cut into small cubes
• 1 small onion, peeled and sliced into thin half moons
• 1 lb. fettucine
• 1/4 c. heavy cream
• 1 TBS butter
• 1 small bunch sage

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Peel the butternut squash and cut into slices that are half an inch thick. Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Flip slices with a spatula to coat with the oil. Roast until fork tender and slightly caramelized, about 20-25 minutes, checking and flipping after 10 minutes. When tender, remove from oven and place in a blender. Set aside.
2. Heat a medium frying pan over medium heat and add the pancetta cubes. Cook until crispy and browned on all sides, stirring frequently. Once cooked, set aside on a paper-towel lined plate. Discard all but 2 TBS of the pancetta grease. Heat the 2 TBS of grease over medium-low heat, then add the sliced onions to the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, until thoroughly caramelized and slightly crispy, about 15 minutes.
3. While the onions are cooking, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Cook the fettucine according to package directions and drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water. Place the cup of pasta water in the blender with the squash and the 1/4 c. heavy cream, and puree until very smooth. Toss the squash puree with the fettucine.
4. Just before serving, melt the 1 TBS of butter in a small frying pan. Fry the sage leaves in the butter until crispy, about 2 minutes. To assemble, divide the pasta between the serving plates, and top generously with cooked pancetta, caramelized onions, and fried sage. Serve immediately.

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I’m excited to announce that for the next few months, I’ll be participating in the Captain’s Table Challenge that Captain Morgan is running this holiday season. Along with 14 other food bloggers, I’ll be creating six recipes – three cocktails and three sweet or savory dishes – using Captain Morgan. The first official recipes will be coming at you later this week, just in time for Thanksgiving, and then later on there will be some Christmas treats, and something snacky and craveable for the Superbowl. Hugh Acheson, of Georgian restaurant and F&W Best New Chef fame, will be judging the challenge, picking a winner for each holiday, and an overall winner at the end of the program. I’m looking forward to getting creative with rum, and also taste-testing everything –  because a little extra rum in the cold winter months never hurt anyone.

Besides free rum for me and a lot of rum-based recipes for you, there’s another great aspect to this program – every time the #CaptainsTable hashtag is used on social media this season, Captain Morgan will donate $1 to Why Hunger. So break out your rum, get cooking/mixing, and share your recipes and entertaining tips using the hashtag, because drinking is even better when you’re drinking for a cause.

Since I know you guys mostly come here for the food, I didn’t want to leave you hanging with no recipe today, so I have a bit of a bonus recipe for you. Trevor and I were both feeling a little rundown this weekend, although we did manage to put in a respectable showing on the dance floor at our coworkers’ wedding Saturday night. Come Sunday, all I wanted to do was lie on the couch and avoid going out into the “feels like 4°F” weather.  While I was laying there, bundled up and half-asleep at 4 in the afternoon, Trevor sat down next to me with a steaming cup of sweet, herbal rum. He’d been toying with the idea of a sage-based rum cocktail all weekend, and I’d been kind of a hard sell, but one sip of the drink changed my mind. Hot, soothing, sweet from the honey and rum, but balanced by the meyer lemon and sage, it really did make me feel better. This is probably completely a placebo effect, but my mom was always a proponent of hot toddies (just a teeny splash of whiskey) when we were sick, and who am I to argue with my mother’s wisdom? Side note: is Trevor not the best boyfriend of all time? I’m pretty sure he is.

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Captain Morgan, who provided me with product samples and monetary compensation in exchange for my participation in this program. All opinions are honest and my own, as always.

Meyer Lemon and Sage Hot Toddy

Serves 1.

• 1 TBS honey
• 1/2 c. water
• 4 sage leaves, washed
• 1 small meyer lemon
• 1 1/2 oz. Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum

1. Add the honey, water, and sage leaves to a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat until sage is fragrant and honey is dissolved, about 4-5 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent the syrup from foaming up, and do not let it come above a gentle simmer. Remove from the heat, remove and discard the sage leaves, and pour the syrup into a pre-warmed glass.
2. Cut the lemon in half, and squeeze 1-2 tsp of juice into the glass. Cut a slice of the remaining lemon for garnish. Add the rum and stir to combine. Serve immediately.

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It’s been a while since I’ve managed to publish one of these things in the month that it’s supposed to be in, but I’m ready this time, and with a few days to spare before we move into September (September!  Already?).  Perhaps I’m more on top of things because this month’s book, Sunday Suppers at Lucques, is one of my absolute favorites, and cooking from it all month has been anything but boring.  It’s up there with Antojitos and In the Sweet Kitchen as a cookbook that I turn to again and again, always producing great results, always exciting and inspiring.  I get the feeling that I could cook every single recipe from this book and be amazed by the results every time.

Written by Suzanne Goin, owner of the prestigious California restaurant Lucques, Sunday Suppers at Lucques is the ultimate entertaining cookbook for an ambitious home cook.  Organized into seasonal menus with 4 dishes per menu, the recipes are not simple or quick, but they are certainly inspired.  The five or six recipes I’ve tried have all been jam-packed with flavor, color, and texture.  Each menu tends to have a lot of different elements in it, but as long as you’re not in a hurry and you go into it ready to enjoy the process, the techniques are simple and rewarding.  And even though this book was published almost 7 years ago, none of the menus are tired or overdone.  For example, one spring menu has you start with an Endive, Meyer Lemon, Fava Bean, and Olive Salad, followed by Hawaiian Snapper with Green Rice and Cucumbers, a Leg of Lamb with Chorizo Stuffing, and finished off with Vanilla Semifreddo and Rhubarb Compote.  In the winter, you may find yourself itching to try the menu that starts off with a Broccoli, Burrata, and Pine Nut Salad and ends with a Meyer Lemon and Chocolate Tart.

I thought it was only appropriate to share the first recipe I made from Sunday Suppers at Lucques, a dinner I made over two years ago when my aunt and cousins were visiting us in Maine.  Now, making homemade gnocchi for 8 is not necessarily something I would recommend unless you really like making gnocchi, but making this meal when you have a little bit of extra time on hand and someone to impress is definitely recommended.  If you’ve never tried them before, ricotta gnocchi will be a delightful change from traditional potato gnocchi – they are incredibly light and fluffy, a little bit sweet and rich from the cheese, and not too difficult to work with.  Sauteed with some mushrooms, sweet corn, and a bunch of summer herbs (as well as a copious amount of salty butter), they make the perfect late summer meal.

I’m far from done experimenting with this book.  In fact, I’m planning on putting together a full menu from the summer section of this book this weekend – if it’s successful, I’ll be back with more recipes.  Come fall, I’ve got a bunch more recipes flagged to try, including Tunisian Lamb-and-Eggplant Stew with Farro, Cranberry-Walnut Clafoutis with Bourbon Whipped Cream, and Grilled Duck Breasts with Roasted Grapes and Potato-Bacon Gratin.  Sounds luxurious, doesn’t it?  In the meantime, give this one a try, or check out some of the other ones I’ve shared in the past.

More from Sunday Suppers at Lucques:

• Roasted Beet and Fried Chickpea Salad with Ricotta and Olives
• Molasses Chews and Plum Sorbet (for ice cream sandwiches)
• First-of-the-Season Summer Succotash

Ricotta Gnocchi with Mushrooms, Sweet Corn, and Sage Brown Butter

Recipe adapted slightly from Sunday Suppers at Lucques.  Serves 6.

For the gnocchi:

• 2 eggs
• 2 c. flour
• 1 lb. whole milk ricotta, drained of excess liquid
• 3 TBS olive oil
• salt and pepper

1. Beat the eggs together in a small bowl.
2. Whisk together flour, 1 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper in large bowl.  Add the ricotta, and use two butter knives to cut the ricotta into the flour.  When they are evenly mixed, make a well in the middle of the bowl and add the eggs.  Use a fork to slowly incorporate the eggs into the flour/ricotta by dragging a small portion of the eggs out into the flour, mixing gently, then returning to the center.  Once eggs are fairly well mixed in, use your hands to briefly knead the dough, just until it comes together into a ball.  If it is too moist to work with, add a bit more flour (careful, too much flour or kneading will make it tough).  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured cutting board, cut into eight equally sized pieces, and cover with a kitchen towel.
3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  One at a time, take dough pieces out from under towel and roll out into a 1-inch thick rope on a floured work surface.  Gently cut the rope into 1 inch slices and sprinkle with flour.  If you’re feeling fancy, roll the gnocchi over the tines of a fork, but this step is purely decorative.
4. In batches, cook the gnocchi in the boiling water for a few minutes.  Once they rise to the surface, they need to cook for about 1 minute more before they are done.  The whole cooking time should be less than 5 minutes per batch.  Transfer the gnocchi to a large baking sheet and toss with olive oil.  You may make the gnocchi ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze if using later in the week.

For the sauce:

• 1 recipe gnocchi, see above
• 1 1/2 c. fresh breadcrumbs
• 4 TBS olive oil
• 7 TBS butter
• 1 lb. mushrooms, preferably wild, cleaned and sliced into uniform pieces
• 1 TBS thyme leaves
• 1 TBS sliced sage leaves
• kernels from 4 ears fresh corn
• 2 large shallots, finely diced
• 1.2 c. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• salt and pepper

1. Heat 2 TBS olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat.  Add the breadcrumbs and stir to coat with oil.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until breadcrumbs are toasted and golden brown.  Remove from pan and set aside.
2. Add remaining olive oil plus 1 TBS of the butter to the pan, and heat until the butter foams.  Add the mushrooms, thyme, 1/2 tsp salt, and pepper.  Saute the mushrooms about 5 minutes, until golden brown and beginning to crisp.  Don’t move them around in the pan too much – let them begin to caramelize on each side before turning.  Remove mushrooms from pan and set aside
3. Add remaining 6 TBS of butter to the pan and cook until the butter begins to brown and smell nutty.  Scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, then add sage, cook for 1 minute or until it sizzles, then add corn, shallots, 1 tsp salt, and pepper.  Saute quickly, stirring the whole time, until corn is tender, about 2-4 minutes.  Add prepared gnocchi to pan and toss to coat gnocchi with butter.  Add mushrooms, parsley, and breadcrumbs, and heat the whole dish through if necessary.
4. Remove from heat and season to taste.  Serve hot.

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It feels like ravioli season to me.  I don’t know that anyone ever named November ravioli month, but it would seem appropriate to do so.  It’s time for comfort food – it’s getting cold, the days are getting shorter, and all sorts of things that are delicious in raviolis – butternut squash, sage, chestnuts, mushrooms – are coming into season.  A bowl of steaming ravioli with a thick, tangy sauce seems about as comforting as comfort food can get.

I enjoy making pasta by hand, but I don’t do it that frequently.  To me it is only worthwhile when I’m filling the pasta with something interesting – the difference between the flavor of the $2 boxed fettucine and my hand cut fettucine is just not worth the time, but the difference between the flavor of pre-packaged tortellini and homemade ones is well worthwhile.  When I do break out the pasta roller for ravioli, I tend to make a lot at once and throw a few meals worth in the freezer.  It even goes by pretty quickly with help from a friend who’s willing to work for his dinner.

This particular recipe is another one from Peter Berley’s Modern Vegetarian Kitchen, and stuffs a classic semolina pasta dough with a white bean and sage filling, then serves the pasta in a light saffron-infused vegetable broth.  I did make a few significant changes to the broth, choosing to cook all of the vegetables together and then remove them all, leaving a clear broth, rather than leaving the carrot and fennel pieces in the soup, as the recipe calls for.  I enjoyed both parts of the recipe, and would make the broth again for an elegant presentation, or perhaps even as the base for a soup, but probably not if I was just going to eat the ravioli themselves – I think they might be better suited to a thick tomato sauce.  I might even take these the greek route, and add a small amount of feta cheese to the bean mixture, although they were also delicious with just the beans as a filling.  I did end up adding some of our homemade cheese to about half of the ravioli to a positive effect.  Yes, I said homemade cheese.  You can have the full story when we’ve got a little bit of a better handle on the whole cheesemaking process, but if our most recent attempt is any indicator, there may be some super delicious cheeses in our future.  With or without cheese, I enjoyed these bean filled ravioli, and I’m looking forward to the few dozen I have stashed in my freezer for the next month!

Looking for more ravioli?  Try these beet ravioli with goat cheese, these pumpkin stuffed ravioli served in a coconut curry sauce, or these delicate mint-flecked ravioli filled with sweet peas.

White Bean Ravioli in Orange-Saffron Broth

Adapted from Modern Vegetarian Kitchen.  Makes about 4 servings

For the pasta:

• 1/2 c. semolina flour
• 1/2 c. AP flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 2 TBS warm water
• 1/2 TBS olive oil

For the filling:

• 1 TBS olive oil
• 1/4 c. finely chopped onion
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 tsp finely chopped fresh sage
• pinch red pepper flakes
• 1 c. Great Northern beans, cooked (from 1/3 dried beans, soaked and cooked)
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• salt
• pepper

For the broth:

• 6 c. cold water
• 1 onion, chunked roughly
• 1 stalk celery, chunked roughly
• 1 carrot, chunked roughly
• 1 fennel bulb, chunked roughly
• 2 tsp tomato paste
• 8 garlic cloves, peeled
• 8 leaves fresh sage
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/4 tsp saffron threads
• 2 3-inch strips of orange peel
• 1 bay leaf
• 10 whole peppercorns

1. Make the pasta dough: in a large bowl, whisk together the semolina flour, AP flour, and salt.  Make a well in the middle of the flour and crack egg into well.  Beat egg lightly in the well, then add water to the well.  Use a fork to slowly pull the flour on the outside into the wet center, trying not to disturb the well for as long as possible.  Continue doing this until the dough is an even consistency.  The dough will be fairly dry, but should stay together when pressed.  If it does not, add 1 TBS of water.  Pull dough together into a loose ball, drizzle with olive oil, then wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.
2. Make the filling: heat a medium pan over medium-high heat.  Add the olive oil, onion, garlic, and sage, and cook for 5-7 minutes, until beginning to brown.  Remove from heat and add to cooked beans, along with vinegar, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.  Mash the mixture with a potato masher until it is mostly smooth with a few bean chunks.
3. Roll out the pasta according to pasta maker instructions, starting on the largest setting and working your way down.  Cut the resulting pasta sheets into 2-inch by 4-inch rectangles, and place a teaspoon of the bean filling on one side of each rectangle.   Use your pinkie finger dipped in cold water to brush the edges of the dough with water, then fold opposite side of dough over, pressing along edges to seal ravioli.  Work in batches – the dough will dry out quickly if it is left as sheets for long.  It will take longer to dry out when pressed in a ball.
4. Make the broth: place all the ingredients in a large stockpot and cook at a simmer for 1 hour, adding 1-2 cups more water if necessary as the water evaporates.  Strain the broth through a colander, catching the broth in a bowl and discarding the cooked vegetables and herbs (or eating them).  Season the broth to taste and set aside.
5. Cook the ravioli in a large pot of salted gently boiling water.  They should cook in approximately 2 minutes.  Serve ravioli in a warm bowl of broth, garnished with orange zest.

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Since starting work, my goal has been to get the cooking and photographs for two posts done each Sunday, so that I can post twice a week without having to worry about shooting after dark.  If you look at the number of posts in September (4) and so far in October (this one makes 2), you’ll notice that I haven’t exactly achieved this goal.  Last Sunday I finally managed to get two cooking-styling-shooting sessions done in one day, and I was pretty excited about this accomplishment, so it should tell you something about my week that I’m not getting to posting it until a full week later.  The beginning of the week went smoothly enough – I had a great dance class Tuesday, and Wednesday I went to my very first food blogger event, which was awesome, and which I will hopefully write more about soon.  After that, no good.  Thursday night I got home from work at 10:30.  Friday night at 11:30.  Saturday night at 10:00.  Who has to work all day and all night on a Saturday??  Me, apparently, but I think this is a pretty rare occurrence in my group, so I’m trying to let go of the immense frustration canceling all of my weekend plans to sit staring at a computer screen in a boring office caused me and move forward.  Huge sigh.

Moving on, welcome to fall!  It hasn’t quite been the fall I’ve been dreaming of, but it’s had its moments.  The wet, humid streak seems to have finally ended, and this weekend was warm, sunny, dry, and beautiful – and at least I got to have a nice brunch with Becky outside before being sucked back into a climate controlled environment on Saturday.  I’m hoping to get just one good fall day in to get me through to next fall – preferably a day with apple picking, pumpkin carving, leaf catching, earth toned sweaters, cider donuts and hot cider, stargazing, and snuggling by the fire.  Yes, I would like to live in an L.L. Bean catalog.  Here’s hoping.

While I wait for this perfect day, on which I’m going to play hooky from work to make up for the few miserable nights of this past week, I made this sage pesto, apple, and goat cheese flatbread to get in the fall spirit.  Fall is obviously the best season for apples in any form, and sage has always struck me as an autumnal thing.  Plus, I’m trying to use up my herbs before the first frost gets ’em.  The inspiration for this flatbread comes from these sage pesto, chicken, and apple sandwiches, but I didn’t feel like grilling chicken (grilling is still a missing culinary skill of mine), so I reinvented it.  I’ve had the sandwiches as they are before, and was able to make some tweaks to the pesto this time to make it … sagey-er.  I loved the pesto I ended up with – the dominant flavor was sweet and mild with that tiny medicinal hit sage has and twangy-salty undertones from the pecorino cheese.  The execution of the flatbread itself wasn’t perfect, but the flavors were great together.  I’m posting the pesto portion of the recipe as I made it, but the flatbread recipe here is improved in elegance over what I actually did, which was throw all the ingredients on top of a pre-existing foccacia bread and heat it up for 10 minutes (I know, I know, but I was racing the sunset… it was still tasty enough to eat for dinner and breakfast).  Even if the flatbread doesn’t appeal to you, I hope you try the pesto and use it elsewhere – it’s such a nice, autumn-y twist on regular basil pesto.

Sage Pesto, Apple, and Goat Cheese Flatbreads

Inspired by Bon Appetit.  Serves 2.

• 1/2 c. lightly packed fresh sage leaves
• 1/2 c. cashews
• 3 oz. pecorino romano cheese
• 1/3 c. olive oil
• 1 foccacia bread or unbaked pizza crust
• 1 apple, cored and sliced thinly
• 1 TBS butter
• 3 oz. goat cheese

1. Make sage pesto: in a food processor, pulse cashews, pecorino, and half of olive oil, until smooth.  Add sage and pulse until fully blended.  Add remaining olive oil as needed (plus more if required) to get a smooth consistency.  Taste and adjust ingredients as desired, adding more of whatever flavor you think is missing.  Set aside.
2. If using pizza crust, preheat oven to 400°F.  Melt butter in a large saucepan and place sliced apples in pan (you might even consider adding a touch of brown sugar at this stage if you’re not opposed to too much sweetness on a pizza).  Sautee, flipping once, until soft and slightly browned.  Smooth pesto over pizza crust (or foccacia) and top with sauteed apples.  Crumble goat cheese over top and bake for 10 minutes, until crust is golden and cheese is slightly browned.  If using a foccacia, spread pesto on foccacia, cover with apples, then sprinkle with goat cheese.  Broil on high for 2-4 minutes, until it is heated through and cheese is slightly golden.

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Strawberry-Sage Muffins

Adapted from The New Best Recipe.  Inspired by these biscuits.  Makes about 18 muffins.

• 2 c. AP flour
• 1 TBS baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 1 c. sugar
• 4 TBS butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 1/4 c. sour cream
• 1 1/2 c. diced fresh strawberries
• 6-8 large leaves of fresh sage, finely minced

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Line muffin tins with paper muffin cups.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, briefly whisk egg until pale yellow.  Whisk in sugar until slightly cream.  Whisk in melted butter in 2 additions.  Whisk in sour cream in 3 additions, until batter is just uniform in color and texture.  Try not to overmix.
2. Add diced strawberries and sage to the flour mixture, and toss gently to incorporate.  Now add flour/strawberries to wet ingredients, and gently fold together until just combined.  Some remaining clumps of flour are OK, and the batter will be quite thick.  Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling almost to the top, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until they are a light golden color and a toothpick comes out clean.

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My first experience with homemade gnocchi was through Violeta.  She decided to host a dinner party in our dorm, Osadni.  The menu was homemade gnocchi with either meat sauce or vegetable sauce.  The size of the guest list was eighty.  EIGHTY.  Homemade gnocchi for eighty people??  Major undertaking.  But she pulled it off and of course everything was delicious and after eating our resident band The Relatives played a very intimate concert in one of the piano rooms and Prauge is just a magical place.

Sweet potatoes also have a special Prague story.  It’s very short: you can’t get them.  There are a lot of foods that are still very hard to find in Prague, even if you can find them in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Poland.  The Czech Republic is still a bit more closed than it’s neighbors.  At first this was a major source of frustration for me, but it ended up forcing me to explore the city in search of things like cranberries and cilantro.  And sweet potatoes.  Which I never found.  But my neighbor Steph did.  As Thanksgiving approached everyone got a little bit anxious about how Thanksgiving would be so far away from home (it was great – Violeta cooked) and people began to scramble to put together their favorite dishes, which is why Steph went to the TESCO hypermarket and bought their entire supply of sweet potatoes.  Which I think was about six.  They were delicious, and oh so American.

These sweet potato gnocchi are not specifically something I ate in Prague, but they definitely remind me of it a bit, which makes any food better.  At least for me.  But for everyone who is not me, these were also easy and fun and very tasty.  Gnocchi have a reputation for being difficult to get right, but these came together very well on the first try.  Of course, that could be because they’re not traditional potato gnocchi.  Or it could just be because I’m awesome.  But it’s most likely because it’s a very good basic recipe.

Here’s the gist of the recipe, originally from Bon Appetit: cook 2 or 3 sweet potatoes in the microwave and let them cool.  I was impatient and tried to scrape them out hot, which resulted in pain (I would say minor burns but I would be exagerrating too much).  If you’re really in a hurry, wrap the bottom of the potato in a towel to protect yourself.  Scrape all of the insides of the potatoes out and mash with a fork.  Don’t worry too much about chunks of potato that won’t mash – as long as they’re not too big they won’t affect the final consistency of the gnocchi.  Mix ricotta and grated parmesean into the sweet potato mash, followed by brown sugar and salt.  Stir, stir, stir.

Once you have an even mixture, begin incorporating flour by the half cup.  I used 2 1/2 cups of flour for 3 medium sized sweet potatoes, and probably ended up incorporating another cup during the rolling process so that I had a workable dough.  I was worried that my dough would be too flour-y, but it turned out fine.  Divide the dough into six equal pieces and roll them into worms about an inch thick.  I had so much fun doing this – it was like being in elementary school art class.  I almost made a coil pot out of one worm but I refrained.  Don’t play with your food, unless it’s in the recipe instructions.  Cut your worms into 20 or so equal sized pieces.  They look like little pillows, and they have a great fluffy texture too.  If you’re feeling fancy, gently press a fork onto the top of each pillow for that true gnocchi look.  And once you’ve done that – boil them!  The recipe says to cook them in batches and then leave them out on the counter until you’re ready to re-heat them in whatever sauce you are going to serve them in, so that’s what I did.  I was wondering though if you could refrigerate the dough for 24 hours or so and cook them the next day, or if it would be better to cook them and then refrigerate them.  Thoughts?  The only problem I had with leaving them out on the counter already cooked was that every time I walked by I popped one into my mouth, so I had about 20% less at dinner time then I did at 4PM.  Oh well.

I served these in a sage-gorgonzola sauce adapted from Gretchen’s Cookbook.  It was delicious!  Margie (my roommate from Prague, just so many connections) came over and Megan was home and the three of us ate 2/3 of this recipe.  The other 1/3 was in the freezer so we couldn’t eat that.  I would say that this recipe makes 5 dinner sized servings, but people who eat less than me (i.e. regular amounts) might get 6 or 7 servings out of it, especially if you skipped the 20% reduction on the counter. =D

Sweet Potato Gnocchi in Sage-Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

makes 5-6 large servings

For the gnocchi:

• 2 lbs. sweet potatoes
• 12 oz. ricotta cheese, drained for 2 hours
• 1 c. parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 T brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 2 1/2 c. flour, plus more for rolling

For the sauce:

• 3 T butter
• 10-20 leaves sage
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 1 c. heavy cream
• 1/2 c. crumbled gorgonzola
• black pepper

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

1. Wash the sweet potatoes and poke all over with a fork.  Microwave on high until tender, about 7 minutes per side.  Cut in half and allow to cool.
2. Scrape the potato out of the skin into a large bowl.  Mash with fork.  Add ricotta cheese and stir until well-blended.  Add parmesan cheese, brown sugar, salt, and nutmeg, and stir until mixture is even.
3. Add the flour a half cup at a time, incorporating slowly, until a soft dough is formed.  Turn the dough out onto a well-floured counter.
4. Divide the dough into 6 equal portions.  Roll each portion between your palms and the floured surface until it is a log with thickness of about 1 inch.  Cut each log into 20 pieces.  Gently press the tines of a fork into the tops of pieces.  Place pieces on a floured pan to prevent sticking.
5. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Once boiling, add about 2 T of salt, and return to boil.  Boil the gnocchi in batches until tender – they are done cooking when they float to the surface of the pot.  Re-salt between batches.  Return cooked gnocchi to a clean, lightly oiled pan, and allow to stand at room temperature for up to 4 hours.

Sage-Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

1. Melt butter in a large skillet over low heat.  Add sage leaves and garlic clove and allow to stand 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Add cream, gorgonzola, and black pepper to taste, and stir until cheese is melted.
3. Add gnocchi to skillet and coat with sauce, cooking until heated through.

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