Spring is officially here! What better way to kick off this season than with a delicious spring farro salad that is easy to make and packed with flavor. Plump chewy and lovely nutty farro grains are the star of this recipe.
Farro is an ancient grain high in protein that is grown in Emilia-Romana, Tuscanyand other regions of Italy. I really like the farro products from Poggio del Farro, a family owned company in Tuscany. They have a range of products that are delicious, healthy and easy to prepare. Try combining flavorful farro wheat berries with seasonal vegetables and this lemon Dijon vinaigrette and you’ll surprise yourself with how simple it is to prepare a stunning and mouthwatering main course or side dish for your family and friends.
I created this recipe for my cooking shows with Smeg in Chicago and New York City. While Spring had sprung in Italy, little did I know that a snow storm would be heading my way when we landed in Chicago last week! We arrived with sunshine and optimal temps but awoke to a flurry of snow. It was quite a sight. Luckily it was just a one day ordeal and the snow quickly melted in the following days. Thank goodness! I am so over winter…bring on spring and all the good seasonal fruits & veggies, t-shirts and light weight coats and longer days of sunshine.
Add the farro and water to a medium-sized pot and bring to a boil. Cook according to the package instructions.
In the meantime, add of the ingredients for the sauce to a bowl and stir.
When the farro is done, drain and pour into a serving bowl. Add the carrots, fennel, radishes, spinach, Parmigiano Reggiano, chives and the sauce. Mix well. Serve warm or cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator and serve cold. Buon appetito!
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Here are some photos of the shows in Chicago at Williams-Sonoma ,Eataly, Bloomingdales and the IHHS tradeshow . I had a great time in Chicago and now am having a lot of fun at the shows in NYC. If you want to see more photos, check out my Facebook or Instagram pages. March 26, I will be atBloomingdale’sNY 59th from 12-2pm and will be making this salad along with beet farro crepes topped with ricotta, blood oranges, pistachios, honey and aged balsamic vinegar. I look forward to hopefully seeing you there!
So what does International Women’s Day and homemade saffron gnocchi have in common? Well, if you have ever visited Italy on this day, this dish may remind you of the mimosa spring that is given to women to celebrate March 8th,, La Festa delle Donne. All throughout Italy, you’ll find this lovely yellow blossom handed to women as a symbol of love, appreciation and when given woman to woman, as a sign of solidarity.
This lovely Italian tradition inspired me to create a dish that resembles the mimosa. Cooking a homemade meal is my favorite way to show a gesture of my love, so dear readers, this mimosa dish is for you.This is my gesture of solidarity and admiration towards women. We are stronger today than ever before, we love to share and give, we love to create, we love to cultivate and we especially love to grow. We’re like these fluffy gnocchi: simple in nature, good and each piece, is one of a kind.
Homemade saffron gnocchi is a simple and genuine dish to make for your special group of friends. 100% handmade. In every bite your friends get a taste of your love. Here’s to equality for women, not just once a year, but every day.
Homemade saffron gnocchi is a simple and genuine dish to make for your special group of friends to celebrate International Women’s Day. 100% handmade. In every bite your friends get a taste of your love. Here’s to equality for women, not just once a year, but every day.
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
For the gnocchi:
2.2 lbs (1 kg) potatoes suitable for gnocchi
1½ to 2½ cups (150-300g) all-purpose flour
1 egg
For the saffron sauce:
1 tablespoon (14g) butter
8oz (240ml) heavy cream
1 pinch of saffron threads
2 tablespoons of hot water
Salt, to taste
Freshly cracked black pepper
Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
Instructions
Wash the potatoes with their skins on. Drop them into a large pot, fill with cold water, then bring them to boil over medium-high heat until the potatoes can easily be pierced with a fork. Drain. While hot, peel them then pass them through a potato masher, letting them fall onto a large floured workspace.
In a small cup, add the hot water and saffron threads. Allow them to infuse for 10-15 minutes.
Add half of the flour, a few pinches of salt and work the flour and potatoes together. Make a well and add the egg and continue kneading the mixture, adding little by little more flour until a soft dough forms. Roll the dough into a large loaf, then cut into slices like you would a loaf of bread. Roll out each slice into a small looking bread stick, making sure to use a small amount of flour so it doesn’t stick to the work surface. Slice into small pieces. For regular gnocchi, you can cook right away or roll off the tins of a fork to create marks or for festive gnocchi that look like the mimosa flower, a symbol of La Festa della Donne or Women’s Day, roll each piece into a ball.
Bring a large pot of water to boil.
In the meantime, make the sauce. Melt the butter in a skillet and add the heavy cream. Add the infused saffron water (you can also filter the water if you don’t want saffron threads to show), salt and black pepper. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
Salt the water with 1-2 tablespoons of coarse salt and add the gnocchi. Cook until the gnocchi float to the top;1-2 minutes. Drain, reserving a cup of the cooking water, and add the gnocchi to the skillet. Add a spoonful or two of cooking water. Mix until the sauce is the right consistency and remove from heat. Serve warm with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Buon appetito!
Cooking octopus seems difficult, right? After all, you typically find this delicious delicacy in fancy restaurants at an extravagant price or in gourmet food & wine magazines. Want to know a secret? It’s as easy as cooking pasta. You just plop the octopus in boiling water, let it cool, then slice it up. That’s it. You can serve it alone with a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and chopped parsley or add sweet Tropea onions to give a touch of color and a burst of flavor.
You can also easily roast octopus in a cast iron pan or poach then bbq your octopus to give it a charred taste. In Italy, octopus is found in various recipes like CONTINUE READING
This poached monkfish with brown butter, lemon & caper sauce makes quite an elegant little dinner for two or a posh meal for a special party.
Monkfish :: coda di rospo is probably one of the ugliest fish around. With an enormous head and oversized mouth filled with razor sharp teeth it comes as no surprise that “sea devil” is another preferred name. Yet, what this grotesque fish lacks in beauty, it makes up for in its CONTINUE READING
While you may think of an omelet purely as breakfast fare, in Italy the frittata, a similar egg-based dish, is much more versatile and commonly eaten for lunch, happy hour or dinner.
While traveling in Italy, you may find a rectangle of frittata served in a sandwich on crusty Italian bread, or cut in small squares and jabbed with toothpicks to be accompanied by a CONTINUE READING
Get out your vegetable peeler, it’s time to have some fun! Perhaps you have only used your peeler to shave off potato and carrot skins, but there is a great trick you can do with this common kitchen tool. You can turn ordinary veggies into silky, mouthwatering ribbons that are perfect for green salads, grain salads, pasta or egg-based dishes.
I first used this trick to make a delicious shaved asparagus and pesto dish that I topped with monkfish, although shrimp or another fish of choice could easily be used. And, why stop there? Carrots and zucchini are just as easy to CONTINUE READING
Farro is an ancient grain high in protein that is grown in Emilia-Romana, Tuscany and other regions of Italy. I really like the farro products from Poggio del Farro, a family owned company in Tuscany. They have a range of products that are delicious, healthy and easy to prepare. Try combining flavorful farro wheat berries with seasonal vegetables and this lemon Dijon vinaigrette and you’ll surprise yourself with how simple it is to prepare a stunning and mouthwatering main course or side dish for your family and friends.
I created this recipe for my cooking shows with Smeg in Chicago and New York City. While Spring had sprung in Italy, little did I know that a snow storm would be heading my way when we landed in Chicago last week! We arrived with sunshine and optimal temps but awoke to a flurry of snow. It was quite a sight. Luckily it was just a one day ordeal and the snow quickly melted in the following days. Thank goodness! I am so over winter…bring on spring and all the good seasonal fruits & veggies, t-shirts and light weight coats and longer days of sunshine.
