Tonight's menu involves the pea shoots in this week's delivery. A quick search of the net and I found a recipe for a pea shoot walnut pesto. Here it is (from www.peashoots.com). I didn't exactly have the amounts in the original recipe so what I'm posting is what I did.
1 bunch pea shoots
1/2 clove of garlic
90g (ish) walnuts
20g (ish) grated Parmesan
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste
I first whizzed the pea shoots and garlic in a food processor. Use the pulse button, be patient and scrape down the sides often. I might pre-chop the shoots next time. Adding a splash of water also helped. Meanwhile, toast the walnuts in a fry pan - watch carefully and don't let them burn. Add them to the food processor and pulse a little - you want to leave them sort of chunky. Scrape the mixture into a bowl and add the Parmesan. Mix and then add olive oil until its kinda pasty. Season with salt & pepper.
I also made some gnocchi from scratch today. I must have been feeling ambitious. This recipe comes from Lidia Bastianich's book "Lidia's family table". I looked and it doesn't appear to be on her website.
1 1/2 lbs baking potatoes
3/4 tbsp salt
1 large egg
1 1/2 to 2 cups all-purpose flour
Boil the potatoes whole until fork tender. Don't let the skins burst. Take them out of the water and let them cool until you can handle them. While you're waiting, get the gnocchi making station ready with a cutting board, a bowl with some flour in it, a fork, a baking sheet, and a tea towel. Peel the skins off the potatoes and send them through a potato ricer onto the cutting board. Sprinkle salt on them and let dry for about 20 min. Beat the egg and pour onto the potatoes. Also spread 1 cup of the flour on top and work with your hands into a dough. Add more flour, but don't work too much or Lidia says the dough will get tough. I probably ended up using 1 1/2 cups of the flour total. Cut the dough into 3 equal portions and roll each into a long tube about 18" long. Then cut about 2/3" bits. Here's where the gnocchi making station comes in. Take each bit and roll it along the tines of the fork and into the bowl - there should be ridges on one side and your thumbprint on the other. When you have about 15 or so in the bowl, toss in the flour and place on the baking sheet so that they are not touching, then cover with the towel. Repeat with the rest. Freeze what you don't use on the baking sheet. They'll last 6 weeks.
Lidia says you should end up with about 72 pieces. I did not. I guess I don't estimate length very well... In future, I will roll out my dough to about 2' and do 1/2" pieces.
To cook the gnocchi, boil some water. Drop the floured bits into the water 5 at a time and let the water return to a boil. The more water you use, the less time you'll wait. When the gnocchi floats, it's done. I also had a fry pan with a little olive oil in it heating and used a slotted spoon to transfer cooked gnocchi to the pan to brown and crisp up a bit. I was at a restaurant in Nelson, BC where they had done that and I thought it was a nice touch.
Lastly, when all the gnocchi were cooked I took the pan off the heat, added the sauce and served it up.
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