Nailed It! A NEW RECIPE

So, if Sweet Sarah were writing this post it would inevitably start out something like this.....actually, never mind.  I'm going to step aside and let Sweet Sarah put in her own words.  [I promise not to edit!]

Cauliflower Jambalaya

1 Head Cauliflower

Olive Oil

1 pkg Hilshire Farms Turkey Sausage 

Tomatoes

Garlic

Salt

Pepper

Paprika

Cumin

Chili Pepper

Chop the cauliflower in small enough pieces to place in a food processor.  [I use my Ninja small pitcher for this].  Blend until you have the consistency of couscous or rice.  Heat about 3 Tbs of olive oil in a large skillet over med/high heat.  Add garlic and saute.  Add cauliflower, tomatoes and seasonings to taste.  Stir occasionally.  [I know, I know!  How much?  Seriously.  I don't know.  I wanted it to have some good pop to it like real Louisiana Jambalaya, so I was pretty liberal].  Cut sausage into bite sized pieces.  In a separate pan brown the sausage.  I had some leftover red wine.  So I used that instead of water.  They were great!  Once the cauliflower is the tenderness of rice add the sausage.  Mix and heat through and Serve.  

YUMMO!!!!

Ummm.....yep.  Not a single picture.  [I seriously, need to get better about that.  I'm always impressed with those people who have pictures for EVERY.SINGLE.STEP in the recipe.  It seriously must take them an extra HOUR to cook.  And then to say nothing of the fact that they happen to have their digital SLR always charged up and ready to go.  OH!  Oh!  and OH YEAH!!!  What about the added time it takes to load, edit and add to the blog?  sigh.  I guess that's why those people get paid to have blogs.]
Yeah, so over here at deliberatelifespann, well we're all about getting simplicity.  Ok, that's not entirely true.  Actually, it's not true it all.  Here's the truth....over here at deliberatelifespann we suffer from ADD and the inefficiency of multi-tasking.  The digital camera is never charged, the individual steps to the recipe would require lots of kitchen clean up before the pic would look good, and usually it's all we can do to get a meal on the table without a drop in blood sugar or complete end of day exhaustion.  Who's with me on this?

So nope.  not a single picture.  But here's the real recipe test:  Sweet Sarah asked to put it into the rotation.   And that, my friends, is a victory!

Heavenly Pillows of Goodness

Holy Manna from Heaven!!!!  

Ever since we enjoyed such a loverly dinner at Volare I have been jonesin' for Gnocchi.  And not just any gnocchi.  This needed to be good.  Really good.  Good enough that I wasn't completely disappointed and suffering from anticipated let-down because my flavor memory had different expectations.  

I looked online at different recipes and I was never really convinced until I found The Grizzly Kitchen's post about this being a "go-to" recipe.  As soon as I started reading, I knew this was the one.  [My go-to recipe is probably Spinach Enchiladas.  Though as I type this I'm not sure it's my go-to or it's just  Sweet Sarah's most requested].

Nevertheless, last night we decided  rather than eating out we'd give these little gems a shot.  Gnocchi with Vodka Sauce.  Sounds delish, no?  [What I didn't think about was taking pictures throughout the process.  Honestly, it wasn't until I started cutting the little pillows that I realized they were going to be perfect!  So my apologies.]

All in all, this is not a complicated process.  It is a bit lengthy however.  From the time we put the potatoes in to bake to the time we sat down.....elapsed time probably two and half hours.  Now, now, now.  Don't give up on this recipe yet.  An hour of that time was the oven doing the work baking the potatoes.  

The other hour and half?  Well, just plan ahead.  Open a bottle of wine, prepare some appetizers and enjoy the cooking experience.

Sweet Sarah and I took the divide and conquer method.  She made the sauce, I made the gnocchi.  Both were restaurant worthy [no joke! If you doubt, feel free to Open Table a spot at The Drayer and place an order.  teehee]

I'll let you peruse The Grizzly Kitchen's recipe.  She gives some really good advice.  I'll share the tweaks we made and then the pictures!

Tweaks:

• We cleaned the contents of a 3 lb bag of potatoes and threw them into a roasting pan @ 400 degrees.
• I mashed the potatoes by hand with a potato masher
• Tomatoes, food processor, chopping step, etc:  We totally kept this simple.  We bought diced canned tomatoes.  Eliminated the processor and chopping step.  And threw the entire can in the pot.
• The forking of the gnocchi.  Nope.  Didn't do that either.  An extra step that is only for looks.  [It's like criss-crossing peanut butter cookies with a fork.  Just MASH those things down with a glass and move on people!  No time for that.]

Pre-Vodka, pre-cream.  Simmering for taste and depth.  Yummy!

An up close look at the goodness.  Note the glass of wine helping me along.

Three pounds of potatoes makes a LOT of Gnocchi.
We put one pan in the freezer, then in a zip-lock.
One pan served both of us plenty!

Sweet Sarah adding the cream.  [Note the back of spoon technique.  See Virtual Cocktail Hour for reference.]

And here it is.  Beautiful.  

Toss in some grilled chicken or a nice beautiful salmon filet and this little dish is a superstar!

Enjoy!