I am a huge fan of “wild game”, even if most of the stuff that is available is farm raised around here. I pound a few pounds of venison mince the other day and made two recipes (this and the next one). They are delicious. And I am guessing that they are pretty healthy because venison is very lean. Amazingly flavorful for something that is that lean too. While this recipe is a bit time consuming, it is one of the best “cooked” (vs “baked”) things that I have made in recent memory.
Pasta
It’s not much of a secret that two of my favorite foods are cheese and …. spinach. Yes, spinach. That statement is almost as ridiculous as stating that I love (gasp!) brussels sprouts (which I do), but spinach is something that I could eat every day, every meal. Anything that combines spinach AND cheese is high of the list of favorites, which this does. As we get close to the end of cheese week in the ingredient game, I present this amazing 3-Cheese Manicotti in Creamed Spinach Sauce. It’s vegetarian. It’s filling. It’s delicious and I will be making it over and over again.
Item Number two for Filled Pasta / Dumpling Week in this week’s Ingredient of the Week. I made something pretty over-the-top decadent yet comfort food at the same time. This riff on Lobster Mac & Cheese uses tortellini, a creamy cheese sauce and a healthy portion of Maine Lobster — you can swap out your favorite crustacean for crab meat or even shrimp/prawns of you don’t have lobster handy. Very rich, but also very yummy. Maybe the perfect thing for the seafood lover in your life for Valentine’s Day.
So of all the “pastas”, “dumplings” and “easily bought so why make them yourself” items, gnocchi is my least favorite to make myself. I mean, why bother making gnocchi when you can just buy them? They are generally a lot of work — roast the potatoes, let them cool, but make sure that they don’t gummy so make sure to release the steam just at the right minute. Then make the dough, but depending on the potatoes, add more less of this or that. So, America’s Test Kitchen came up with a recipe to make gnocchi, but using potato flakes — still potatoes, right? So, that is how I made these earlier today. Was much easier than the traditional method. The recipe is more about showing off the gambit of potato things than the actual gnocchi in mushroom sauce.