Potluck Perfection: Almond Roca

This weekend I was invited to not one but two potlucks.  Whenever I am asked to bring something to a potluck, I'm always looking for a recipe that's easy to make but is still a crowd pleaser.  Over the holidays, my sister's mother-in-law made a delicious homemade almond roca that easily fit the bill.  Since I didn't have her recipe, I did a bit of internet research and found the following recipe.  It wasn't just a crowd pleaser - it was an absolute show stopper. And best of all, it only took 20 minutes of active cooking time.  In my opinion, that's about as close to perfection as you can get.

Almond Roca

1 lb (4 sticks) of unsalted butter
2 cups of granulated sugar
2 Tbsp of light corn syrup
6 Tbsp of water
1 cup of finely chopped almonds
1 11 oz. bag of chocolate chips

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat:

Once the butter has melted, stir in sugar, corn syrup, and water (the mixture will bubble rapidly):

Stir constantly with a wooden spoon. (If you have a candy thermometer, you'll want to cook the mixture until it reaches 290 F.  I don't own one, so I cooked the mixture until it turned the color of a brown paper bag, which took approximately 20 minutes.):

Remove the mixture from heat and stir in 1/2 of the almonds:

Pour the mixture onto a greased rimmed cookie sheet:

As the mixture cools, score it using a butter knife:

Melt the chocolate over low heat and stir until smooth:

Pour the melted chocolate over the hardened almond mixture and spread to coat evenly:

Sprinkle the remaining almonds over the bark:

Place the bark in the refrigerator and allow to cool for at least 2 hours (and up to overnight):

Remove the bark from the tray and break it apart (the squares that I had scored in the bark turned out to be a bit too large, so I broke them in half).

Culinary Bucket List: Gnocchi

If there were such a thing as a "culinary bucket list", making gnocchi from scratch would be at the top of that list for me.  Like risotto or souffles, gnocchi is one of those food items that approaches urban legend status among home cooks for the sheer level of difficulty that is reported to be associated with it.  For years I have been tempted to try my hand at making it, but I never owned a potato ricer and I had been assured by everyone I met that attempting to make gnocchi without one would end in certain disaster.

As luck would have it, Santa saw fit to bring me a potato ricer for Christmas this year (ok, so technically it was my sister Anne, but saying that Santa brought it just makes it sound so much more magical).  Since I no longer had an excuse to hide behind and I did vow to be more adventurous this year, I figured I'd give it a whirl.  A few months ago I bookmarked a webpage that Bon Appetit had created with a step by step slideshow on how to make gnocchi, just in case a ricer ever found its way in to my kitchen.  I used this guide as a reference and combined the tastiest sounding elements of several recipes that I found online.  The rest is culinary bucket list history.

Potato Gnocchi

6 medium sized potatoes
a dash of grated nutmeg
a dash of salt
a dash of pepper
1 cup all purpose flour
1 large egg

Preheat the oven to 425 F.  Prick potatoes with a fork and bake them on the center oven rack for one hour, turning them once to ensure even baking.  When the potatoes are done baking, the skins will be brown and crispy:

Remove the potatoes from the oven and allow them to cool for approximately 5 minutes (until they are still warm but cool enough to handle).  Cut the potatoes down the center and scoop the insides out of the skins and into a potato ricer.  (If you have an adjustable ricer, make sure that it is set to the finest/smallest setting.)  Run the potatoes through the ricer.  You should end up with fluffy mashed potatoes:

 

 Add the nutmeg, salt, pepper, and flour and toss to coat.  After all ingredients have been combined, create a well in the center of the mixture and crack the egg into it.  Mix together by kneading with your hands until the dough just comes together (be careful not to over knead the dough):

Shape the dough in to a ball on a lightly floured surface.  Cut the ball into four evenly sized pieces.  Roll each piece between your hands and the work surface to form a 3/4-inch-thick rope:

Cut each rope into approximately 1 inch pieces using a sharp knife.  Place the cut pieces on a tray in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Working in 4 batches, cook the gnocchi in salted boiling water.  (The gnocchi will sink to the bottom of the pot when they are first placed in the water.  When they are finished cooking, they will float to the surface.)  Cooked gnocchi are delicate, so remove them from the water using a slotted spoon:

You could top these gnocchi with just about anything (pesto, marinara, brown butter, etc.)  I made a roasted tomato sauce to accompany my gnocchi, as follows:

Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce

5 vine ripened tomatoes
olive oil
salt
pepper
2 cloves of minced garlic

Cut tomatoes into quarters and place in a glass baking dish.  Drizzle olive oil over tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.  Bake at 425 F for 45 minutes (until the tomato skins become wrinkled):

Saute garlic over medium heat in a frying pan that has been drizzled with olive oil.  Place the potato ricer on the coarsest/largest setting.  Spoon the oven roasted tomatoes into the ricer and crush them into the frying pan (this process will remove the tomato skins but not the seeds).  Saute the tomatoes and garlic for approximately 20 minutes.  Puree the mixture using a blender or food processor in order to break up the seeds and obtain a smooth consistency.  Pour the blended sauce over the gnocchi, top with freshly grated parmesan cheese, and enjoy!

Something Old, Something New

Like so many other people, this time of year always finds me simultaneously reflecting on the past year and looking forward to the year to come.  Some of my resolutions are the same as they have been in years past (eat healthier, exercise more) and some are new (spend less, experiment more).

In the spirit of this "something old, something new" philosophy, I decided to take two recipes that I've made in the past (pesto, crispy tofu) and experiment with combining them with new flavors in order to create a new favorite dish.  Because just like a new year, sometimes there's just nothing better than a new interpretation of an old classic.

Tofu with Cilantro Lime Pesto

1 block of extra firm tofu (prepared as previously described)
1 bunch of cilantro
freshly squeezed juice of one lime
1/4 cup of pine nuts
2 tsp of fish sauce (to make this recipe vegetarian/vegan, omit fish sauce and double soy sauce)
1 tsp of soy sauce
2 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

Fill the bowl of a food processor to the top with fresh cilantro:

Add lime juice, pine nuts, fish sauce, soy sauce, garlic, salt and pepper to the food processor:

Puree ingredients, drizzling the olive oil into the food processor with the motor running until it becomes fully incorporated.  The pesto should be thick and creamy, like so:

Mix tofu with pesto and serve over steamed white rice.  Enjoy!