Daring Cooks - Challenge TWO!!

Hello again!

Posted late (what's new LOL) again. So anyway, this month's challenge for my cooksie friends is potstickers, also known as Chinese steamed dumpling things. And sometimes fried on the bottom to make then crunchy.

A thin unleavened dough contains my filling. I found that it is a lot more enjoyable when the dough is thin. Too thick and it just feels thick and unpleasant.

Little Asian Tip: put vinegar in the steaming water to whiten the dough.

Look! Crunchy butts. mMmm!! :)

I filled them with a Malay-style curry chicken thing. Very tasty.

...and cut them in half with my Kyocera ceramic knife!!

Very fun challenge!

Daring Cooks - Challenge ONE!!

Huh? Daring WHUT?

Well, dearest readers, the masterminds back at The Daring Kitchen decided that "Hey! Let's branch off! Franchise! EXPAND. Why stick to just baking?? First cakes, next THE WORLD!!!"

Anyway, cut a long story short, now there's a savoury cooking challenge every month too! Yay cheer clap sing dance tiao wu! And this month's challenge is....

Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi!!!

Woohoo...or not. I've never even tasted gnocchi in my life. always thought it had something to do with potatoes. I guess ricotta works too!

Source: From The Zuni Café Cookbook.

Well, time to get cracking isn't it? You need some ricotta for ricotta gnocchi. Seems the story is the guy is always wet and that's never good so what we gotta do squeeze all all of his juice. Using a cheese cloth, of course.

Overnight's always good, till you get something like...

...this! Looks like a giant steamed bun~! YUM!

Apparently to test if the cheese is dry enough is to make a ball and leave it on a piece of paper napkin, and if no ring of water forms, then hey presto your good to go!

A little wet-patch but I think we'll be alrite.

Add some eggs, butter, Parmigiano-Reggiano...

...and mash mash mash till it looks fluffy and awesome.

Then wash your hands, take out your handy plain flour and get cracking! Roll all your dough into cool little ovaloid gnocchi things and dust them heaps or they'll get all sticky and you'll get pissed.

Leave in the fridge for an hour for a nice firm-up session.

When you're ready to cook, bang a pot of water on the stove, salt generously when it begins to boil, dump the gnocchi's in and lift them out when they float and are a little firm and...

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Voila!

Prettiness!

Oh, forgot to talk about the sauce. It's just butter and a bit of water cooked on a skillet. I added garlic too.

Mmmmm tasty.

Gratuitous zoomy macro shot.

Haha. Haven't written a post like this in a while. Hope you liked it!

Here are some numbers for you pedantic-types:

For the gnocchi:

1 pound (454 grams/16 ounces) fresh ricotta (2 cups)
2 large cold eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) unsalted butter
½ ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (about ¼ cup very lightly packed)
about ¼ teaspoon salt (a little more if using kosher salt)
plain flour for forming the gnocchi

For the gnocchi sauce:

8 tablespoons (227 grams/1/4 pound/4 ounces) butter, sliced
2 teaspoons water

ENJOY!