Beetroot Risotto

Cheers to you 2012!!

A warm and hearty New Year wishes to all my dear readersJ

Hope you had a wonderful New Year party with your dear ones!

Coming to the recipe..

Remember how I managed to get a good bargain for Risotto rice here?

I have been trying different Risotto recipes over the holidays and this one is the winner so far.

Isn’t the color lovely?? [Excuse the self praise :-)]

  

Beetroot Risotto

Ingredients

3/4 Cup Carnaroli rice

1 Large Beetroot

3 cups of vegetable stock

1 Onion diced

3-4 Garlic Cloves chopped

1 tspn of dried rosemary leaves or flavorings of your choice

3-4 tablespoon of parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon Olive oil

Directions

Peel and dice the beetroots. Lightly cook the beets in an oven or a microwave until tender.

I cooked in microwave for 3 minutes.

Let it cool and puree the beets in a blender. Keep aside

Now bring the stock to boil

In another pan, heat the olive oil ,sauté the onion, garlic and rosemary for few minutes

Add the rice and sauté for 2-3 minutes

Add the stock 1/2 cup at a time and stir lightly. You have to keep stirring lightly.

Once the stock is completely absorbed, add another half cup of stock and continue to stir.

Once the rice is almost half done, add the beetroot puree and mix well.

Keep adding ½ cup stock at a time and stir until the rice is cooked and slightly chewy.It might take 15-20 min

You can add the parmesan cheese towards the end and stir well.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Gnocchi with Mushrooms in Red wine reduction

Gnocchi, the soft Italian dumpling is one among my all time fav Italian delights!

I have posted a Gnocchi recipe from scratch here

That was when it was really hard to find Gnocchi here and once in a blue moon when you spot it in Cold storage the price would be really repelling

Back to Gnocchi..The best thing about the Gnocchi is that it’s very versatile..You can choose an alternate base instead of potatoes like pumpkin, carrots, sweet potato .

And can play around the flavorings by adding different varieties of cheese and herbs

Now a days you can easily find Gnocchi here in Singapore, that too at very reasonable price.

So here is one recipe which is very easy to put together!

Gnocchi with Mushrooms in Red wine reduction 

Ingredients

150 gms Gnocchi

100 gms Mushrooms. [I chose the pretty white Beech mushrooms]

¼ Cup Red wine

Flavorings of your choice- I used Oregano and Rosemary

1 tspn Olive oil

3-4 tbpsns Parmesan Cheese

Salt/Pepper to taste

Directions

First step is to start cooking the Gnocchi. Bring some water to boil in a large pot, add some salt.

Once it starts boiling, add the Gnocchi. In 2-3 minutes, they will start to float. Drain it in a colander and keep aside

While the water is boiling you can start with your Mushrooms.

Heat Oil in a wok, add the herbs of your choice, once that sizzle up, add the mushrooms and sauté for 2-3 minutes

Add the wine, salt and pepper to taste and stir until most of the liquid has been evaporated.

Add the cooked Gnocchi to the mushrooms and add in the cheese.

Give it a quick stir and the creamy Gnocchi is ready.

I served it on top of some yummy Tomato and Basil pasta sauce. It was an absolute delight!!!

Gnocchi

Gnocchi is an Italian dish which are small dumplings made of Potato, flour and flavorings..
I first had a taste of it from Melbourne and loved the texture of it…
I also managed to bring back 4 packs of Gnocchi ..Ya you heard it right...Four :-)
Once I ran out of my Aussi gnocchi stock, I started to hunt for Gnocchi in Singapore…
I did manage to find it in Carrefour …It was Spinach Ricotta Gnocchi and to be honest I didn’t like the taste…
Thatz when I came across pretty easy Gnocchi recipes in one of the food shows…
In fact it is so easy that you don’t have to run to grocery shop for ingredients..its right there in your kitchen

Here is what you need
2 Large Russet Potatoes
1 Cup All purpose Flour [plus extra for dusting]
Salt to Paste
1 tablespoon Parmesan Cheese [Optional]
Quarter Cup pasta Sauce.

Clean the potatoes.
Bring water to boil in a big pot and add in the potatoes. Cook on medium low heat until it is cooked but not too soft.
Remove the potatoes from hot water and let it cool.
Once cool enough to handle, peel the potatoes and grate it . You need the potatoes in fine grains so use a cheese grater for grating
Transfer the grated potatoes to a bowl and sprinkle little salt over it.
Add flour little by little and knead well till a soft dough is formed.

Now you need do lot of rolling and playing so chose a big chopping board and flour it generously.

Pull off a chunk of the dough and roll it to a tube shape.
Now using a knife cut in half inch length of dough from the tubes.
Do check out this video for more details

I will leave it to your creativity to shape the Gnocchi’s.
I used a fork , gently roll each Gnocchi on top of the Fork so that the groves are formed for the sauce to sink in.

Place the Gnocchi’s on a floured surface. Don’t let the gnocchi’s to get too friendly with each other coz they will stick and lose shapes when u try to separate.

Bring water to boil in a large pan , once water starts boiling add about 10-15 Gnocchi’s. Once Gnocchi’s are cooked it will start floating.

Now take it out of water and serve with your favorite pasta sauce

Sprinkle some Parmesan and dried basil on top just before serving.