Basically a coarsely chopped and modified version of gremolata accompanies these gnocchi. Normally I would use ricotta, but goat’s cheese is a delicious substitution — the tangy flavour really stands out. You expect the bland ricotta but are greeted by goat’s cheese instead. Nice.

Goat’s Cheese Gnocchi

225 g goat’s cheese
60 g parmigiano-reggiano
60 g all-purpose flour
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
some gratings of fresh nutmeg

Mix everything to form a thick paste. Refrigerate for an hour. Roll the gnocchi dough into logs about the width of your index finger. Cut log on the bias and roll the pieces on a gnocchi board. You end up with torpedo-shaped gnocchi. Cook in salted boiling water. Remove with a slotted spoon when they begin to float. You can also freeze them for later use.

I recently received a non-stick muffin pan that makes square muffins. Necessity is the mother of invention, so someone had to create a square muffin tin — square muffins being such a necessary part of life.

Instead of muffins, these are savoury cheese tarts. Served with some garlic and chili sautéed rapini, hot pepper oil and chive flowers.

Goat Milk Ricotta Tortino

1 cup parmigiano-reggiano, grated
1 ½ cups goat milk ricotta
1 egg
2 T all-purpose flour
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp white pepper
sea salt

Combine all the ingredients to form a paste. Grease a muffin tin. Coat with some fine breadcrumbs. Put a good dollop of cheese mixture into the individual muffin spots. Bake at 350°F for about 20 minutes.

Puntarelle is:

“a variety of chicory, with serrated leaves, like those on dandelions, attached to the base of the plant and surrounding long, hollow, blunt-tipped whitish-green shoots that grow from the inside of the plant during the course of the winter. Also known as Catalogna de Galatina, puntarelle is a good representation of the flavors we usually expect of the chicory family. Its flavor profile hints at pepperiness like arugula in the leaves, a touch of fennel in the stalks and an underlying flavor that is a cross between chicory and endive.”

www.theproducehunter.com

Grown in the vicinity of Rome, puntarelle looks like thick asparagus stalks are growing out of a cluster of dandelion greens.

Here we have ravioli stuffed with a mixture of puntarelle that has been blanched and then sauteed with olive oil and garlic. Cool down the sauteed puntarelle and then add some finely chopped smoked scamorza, some pecorino romano and some drained ricotta. Get a thick paste consistency to pipe into your ravioli dough.

Cook the ravioli in abundant boiling, salted water.  Toss with some baby arugula, toasted pinenuts, golden raisins, wild fennel seeds, a touch of lemon juice and a little chopped garlic which has been sauteed in some olive oil. Add some pasta water and some shaved pecorino romano to finish.

The portobello mushrooms were marinated in some miso paste, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, black pepper and garlic paste. No need for extra salt due to the miso paste. Roast at 400°F for about a half hour.

The green beans and gigantes were dressed with a robust vinaigrette. The lime is a nice surprise (if you like limes).

Lime Vinaigrette

juice and zest of 1 lime
3 T rice wine vinegar
3 T extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp grainy mustard
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried dill
clove garlic, microplaned
sea salt
black pepper

Slice the roasted portobello on the bias. Fan it out on top of the bean salad, some tender leaves, parsley and toasted pistachios. Drizzle some of the lime vinaigrette on everything.

Pisarei are tiny breadcrumb and flour gnocchi which are a specialty of Piacenza, in the northwest corner of Emilia-Romagna. Lengthwise end-to-end they are a little smaller than a dime.

I first made them while working in a village outside of Bergamo. I don’t know how many hours were spent rolling out these time-consuming little nuggets. After awhile you start using both thumbs — either that or it will take forever.

Here’s my recipe. I don’t think eggs are normally used, but it works for me. In Piacenza, pisarei are served with beans in tomato sauce or in broth.

Pisarei

50 g fine breadcrumbs
100 g all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1/4 cup water
pinch salt

about 4 servings

Place the breadcrumbs and flour on a counter. Make a well in the centre and add the egg, water and salt. Gradually draw the dry ingredients into the centre and thoroughly combine. Knead the dough for 5 to 10 minutes. Let the dough rest for 1/2 an hour. Roll out dough to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch. Cut thin strips and roll them into thin cylinders. Cut the cylinders into small pieces and roll each little morsel with your thumb to form small gnocchi.

Boil in salted water for a few minutes.

Stracnar is a pasta native to Puglia. It is formed by rolling a sheet of dough on a carved wooden board called a cavarola. The pasta sheet takes on the herringbone pattern of the wood, which is then cut into rectangles of about 1 inch by 2 ½ inches. I would like to thank Terry Mirri for crafting such beautiful works of form and function.

The following recipe is based on Giuliano Bugialli’s recipe for stracnar in “Bugialli On Pasta.” It should be enough for 4 people.

Stracnar

150 g all purpose flour
100 g semolina
3 large eggs

Roll out the pasta so that it is thick enough to accept the impression from the cavarola. On my machine that would be about the second or third last notch.

The ragu is a mixture of homemade tomato sauce from Ontario field tomatoes, some olive oil, garlic, softened onion, fresh basil and sea salt. To that was added a generous handful of cooked wild mushrooms. Simmer slowly and adjust the seasoning. Grated on top is some grana padano. A robust red wine compliments this pasta nicely — perhaps a glass of Primitivo.

As Bugialli makes a point of mentioning, “This is another of those great old pastas that must be made manually and is disappearing, but let us work to revive it.”

Recently I purchased a number of pasta making tools from Terry Mirri, an artisan handcrafting some traditional items out in Sonoma, California. Check out his website to see some amazing craftsmanship www.artisanalpastatools.com. He makes corzetti stamps, cavarola boards, garganelli/gnocchi boards and polenta boards. Everything is very traditional, just like artisans were making similar implements hundreds of years ago.

Last night I made some corzetti and served it with basil pesto as is done in Liguria. Some zucchini blossom pieces are scattered on top (because the zucchini vine is taking over the front yard).

But first things first. What are corzetti? Here’s the description from ‘The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink’ by John Mariani:

“Pasta made with white, whole wheat, or chestnut flour, shaped into rounds, and embossed with a pattern (commonly a star) with a wooden stamp, from Liguria. Corzetti are named after old Genovese stamped money pieces, and old stamps, many now family heirlooms, commemorate heraldry or Genoa’s history.”

Here’s what the pasta discs look like after being pressed between the 2 segments of the corzetti stamp:

Beautiful. At this point I didn’t even care if I cooked them. I was happy just to look at the corzetti.

But eventually hunger won out. The dough is a basic ravioli dough with flour, eggs, semolina, a little milk and a splash of olive oil. Your favourite egg-based pasta recipe should work fine. Roll the dough so it still has enough thickness to accept the impressions on both sides. Too thin and it won’t work out. Too thick and your pasta will be too heavy.

Serve with basil pesto:

2 cups packed basil leaves
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup parmigiano-reggiano, grated

Put everything in the food processor and pulse until the desired consistency is attained.

A vintage Berarducci Brothers cavatelli maker is one piece of technology that is actually worth investing in. It’s a genius device that takes a rope of dough and turns it into nicely carved little pasta shells…

The cavatelli take about 5 minutes to cook in boiling salted water. I made a simple sauce with some sweet golden cherry tomatoes (organic and bursting with flavour), olive oil, chopped garlic and a bit of pasta water. Some purple and green basil and some grated grana padano were added at the end. The juices from the tomatoes combine with everything else to form a delicious sauce. A drizzle of olive oil and some more grated padano to finish.

Use a spoon for this dish to scoop up the cavatelli with some of the orange tomato essence and basil.

“Strozzapreti” – the “priest strangler” is a hand-rolled pasta formed by rolling strips of thin dough through your palms, and then pinching off the rolled strip with the fingers of the hand not holding on to the dough.

The dough recipe is basic — the same as for strascinati, with the softness of the dough making it easier to shape. This will make enough for 6 to 8 people.

Strozzapreti

250 g all-purpose flour
250 g semolina
1 cup water
1 T olive oil

There are many anecdotes regarding the origin of the name, but it probably has to do with the ‘strangling’ of the dough between the hands, with such force that it appears you’re mad enough to strangle a priest. It could also have to do with gluttonous clergy eating so many, so fast, that they ended up choking. Who knows for sure? At the end of the day, this is a fun pasta to make. It’s got great texture, and holds some sauce in the nooks and crannies.

Pansotti are ‘pot bellied’ pasta triangles from Liguria, usually stuffed with ricotta and borage. I don’t have any borage growing at the moment, but I do have a bunch of wild leeks. The filling is simply equal parts of seasoned wild leeks sautéed in butter, with freshly made ricotta. Place everything in the food processor with a few gratings of pecorino romano to make a thick paste for stuffing the pansotti.

The pasta dough is my usual ravioli dough recipe (which makes enough for about 3 main course portions):

250 g all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T milk

The pasta has been garnished with sautéed wild leek bulbs and some shavings of pecorino romano. All the leek tops are inside the pasta. You have to cut open the pansotti with a fork for the green to be revealed. If you do use borage leaves, the purple-blue flowers would make a beautiful garnish.

This is a good patch of stinging nettles. They are perfect at this time of year — just bring along some work gloves, your kitchen scissors and a plastic bag and snip off the tender tops. I could literally fill the freezer with cooked nettles awaiting their uses in pasta, risottos, or just on a plate with a little butter, salt and pepper.

You’ll get some strange looks when you’re out harvesting. Some people wonder about the green plant you’re stuffing into a shopping bag, one guy asked me about all the ‘mint’ I was cutting (it’s probably a bad idea to make a mojito with these). A woman out walking her dog knew they were nettles, but was surprised that they were actually edible, and not just painful.

Well they are both painful and edible. Cook them and they won’t be painful. For dinner, stinging nettle risotto.

You can just see the hairs that deliver the payload of chemical irritants into your skin (if you’re not wearing a long-sleeve shirt, long pants and gloves). Fortunately, cooking them in boiling water completely negates the stingers.

The risotto was made with the intense liquid remaining after cooking about 5 lbs of nettles. This liquid is medicine. Save it for a nutritious tonic. Some nettle purée has also been added to give the deep green colour and flavour. If green had a flavour, this might be it. Some cooked nettles and parmigiano-reggiano are on top.

You could also use the nettle stock as a soup. Here is some quinoa cooked in the stock with chopped nettles and caramelized onions. Quinoa is a source of complete protein. Nettles are very high in protein. Needless to say, this soup is extremely healthy and delicious.

I have a bottle of Marmite that’s been languishing in the back of the cupboard for quite some time. Instead of just smearing it on buttered toast (not that there’s anything wrong with that), I was looking for more interesting applications of this ingredient, which tends to elicit either hatred or love.

How about Marmite rarebit palmiers? A combination of a recipe by Gary Rhodes for Welsh rarebit made with Marmite, and a box of puff pastry (with a sprinkling of smoked paprika on top for good measure).

These are some tasty hors d’oeuvres. Even people who hate Marmite will eat them. Especially if they are holding a drink in the other hand.

For another use of Marmite, a big ‘thank you’ to Sarah at veggieDELISH for posting her Mum’s delicious “Marmite Tart” recipe.

There’s only 1 tsp of Marmite in the entire recipe, but its signature flavour definitely comes through — you end up with a buttery, light cake with cheese pockets and a huge umami hit from the Marmite. Serve with a salad dressed with a strong vinaigrette, to cut through the buttery richness. The only change I made was adding more grated cheese and lining some individual ramekins with panko after the butter.

Marmite and Cheddar Flan

based on the recipe at veggieDELISH

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup + 1 ½ T melted butter
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup milk
1 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp Marmite
¼ cup panko breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

In an electric mixer combine the flour and baking powder. Slowly add the melted butter and then add the grated cheese.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, salt and egg. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.

Pour into a pie dish that has been buttered and had panko bread crumbs swirled around the inside. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out cleanly from the centre, and the top is crackled and slightly golden.

Using the skewer, make small holes over the top of the tart. Melt together the 1 ½ T butter and 1 tsp Marmite and pour over the warm tart.

The chewy soft wheat berries make for a nice contrast with the cylindrical fried eggplant pillows.

The braised garlic sauce has some yogurt blended in at the end to make for a tangy garlic flavour that compliments the eggplant. The cilantro adds a fresh herbal top note.

Braised Garlic Sauce

cloves of 1 head of garlic, peeled
water
salt
white pepper
extra virgin olive oil
yogurt (3% fat content or higher)

In a small saucepan, place the garlic, enough water to cover and some salt. Simmer until the garlic is completely softened. Retain any remaining water that the garlic was cooked in.

Blend the garlic, sufficient yogurt and olive oil to form a thick sauce. Season with a pinch of white pepper and salt, if required. Adjust the consistency of the sauce with the garlic braising liquid.

Not a combination that initially lept to mind. More a case of “What I found at the Farmers’ Market in the middle of October.”

The turnips were given a quick boil in salted water and then glazed in some butter, sugar and a little water. At the end the turnips were tossed with some birch syrup. No need to peel the turnips beforehand if the skins are tender.

The carrots were tossed with some extra virgin olive oil and some Chianti vinegar, sea salt and pepper. I’ve left them raw for a bit of crunch, and also because if they are cooked the ‘purple haze’ pretty much disappears.

Tatsoi is not always easy to find (at least in these parts). It’s juicy with a peppery bite. Definitely worth seeking out. It’s been dressed with a vinaigrette of canola oil, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, a little birch syrup, pommery mustard, sea salt and black pepper.

The shiitakes have a pleasant chewiness, sautéed simply with a little butter and some garlic.

The Market is getting sparse these days (next week is the last market of the year) but there are still some great organic ingredients to work with!

Celeriac Remoulade

1/4 tsp sea salt
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 small celeriac, peeled and grated

—

1 egg
2 T pommery mustard
3 T hot water
4 T vegetable oil
2 T olive oil
2 T apple cider vinegar
fresh herbs, optional (I used some lemon thyme)
a pinch of cumin
cilantro stems, minced
sea salt / white pepper, to taste

If you enjoy a tuna salad sandwich then you will probably like this salad. Grated celery root in a flavourful mustard mayonnaise works nicely with the warm olive oil-infused tuna.

Mix the grated celeriac with the lemon juice and salt and set aside.

I usually make the mayonnaise with a stick blender. Place the egg in a cylinder that can hold at least 2 cups. Slowly drizzle in the vegetable oil with the blender on high speed. The emulsification should start to take place. Add the olive oil slowly, then the vinegar and hot water to thin slightly. At this point you can stir in the salt, pepper, cumin, cilantro and any other herbs you like.

For the poached albacore tuna: Heat about 2 inches of olive oil in a small pot on low heat. Ideally you will see a small bubble rise to the surface occasionally. Place 2 small albacore pieces in the oil and heat through until the flesh turns white. It should take about 5 minutes depending on the thickness of the tuna. I had pieces that were just under an inch thick.

Serve with some fresh greens and herbs. Watercress and purple basil are pictured.