And The Winner Is ...

The winner of the Spring Basket from "Mouth Full of Food" is Connie Thompson! Congratulations Connie. Three runners up will recieve mini baskets for their efforts, so congratulations to Abi Robinson, Rachel Wallace and Stacey Ball. Thank you to all that entered, we will have more contests in the future with oppotunities to win excellent culinary prizes.

As I Said, "Above Average, Potential Classic"

Check out this blog write up on a very deserving young, female talent here in Sacramento. I have worked with her before,( post Oct.23 "It WAS Finger Lickin' Good") and she is an amazing chef. http://www.girlsonthegrid.com/?p=2670#more-2670.

You Wanna Gnocchi, You Got It

By request I am posting the gnocchi recipe. As I said it's four ingredients. Super simple but, make sure you have a large work surface to prepare the gnocchi on.

Gnocchi

• 2 large potatoes
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 egg
• pinch of kosher salt

Peel potatoes and chop into large cubes. Place potatoes in a large pot of cold water and bring the water up to a boil. Your potatoes will cook more evenly when placed in cold water and brought up to temperature. Boil until potatoes are cooked through, but still firm. Do not overcook. Drain potatoes and place in a bowl and mash them into a smooth consistency. Let the potatoes cool to room temperature. This allows the majority of the moisture to exit your potatoes . You do not want any excess water in your gnocchi dough. It will also allow you to work the dough with bare hands without burning your tender fingers. Once cooled, in a separate bowl, take one cup of the mashed potatoes and add your flour, egg and salt. Using your hands incorporate all the ingredients together.
On a floured surface, take the gnocchi dough ball and cut into quarters. Working with a quarter at a time, roll the dough into a ball and lay it on the floured work surface. Lightly roll the ball into a long cylindrical shape, like the shape of a snake. Make sure that you have a very even cord. Once you have a cord of dough with even thickness throughout, cut the dough into about 1 inch portions. Set aside on a floured surface. Continue to roll the remaining dough into cords, cutting the dough into the 1 inch dumplings.
After you have finished, take each dumpling and roll them over the back of a fork. This will create little wells that help to hold onto the sauce that you may dress them with after cooking. If you have a gnocchi roller, then go ahead and use it, if not the back of a fork will do. You can also skip this step all together. Often when I am lazy I don't do this last step. They taste the same, rolled or not.
Bring a pot of water to a gentle boil, I like to add a little olive oil to my water. I lightly flour my gnocchi one last time before I add them to the water. Place the gnocchi in the water and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Or until the gnocchi float to the top. Don't crowd your pot with lots of gnocchi, as they will stick together and not cook evenly. Instead work in small batches. Take your cooked gnocchi and dress with whatever your favorite sauce may be. The options are endless, from browned butter to spicy tomato basil. Eat and Enjoy.

Non e Facile Guadagnarsi Il Pane

So this post is dedicated to my husband. Lately he has been working really hard so that I can have the time to run our catering business and try to open our restaurant. For about a year, he has let me have the freedom of getting our restaurateur future together and just recently he picked a second job.
Like a Jamaican, he's gone most of the day at work and as the title of his post reads, "It ain't easy bringing home the bacon." So the other night I made a dish that we have not had since before Isaac was born. Gnocchi! I forgot how simple gnocchi is too make. It's 4 ingredients and whammo you have these beautiful little dumplings. Ian assisted me in the kitchen, which again, has been rare since the birth of our son. We used to cook every night together in our tiny apartment that we had on I St. in downtown Sacramento. The apartment was so small that we had no dining room. We used to put the food in one big serving dish and sit on the bed and eat

it out of the bowl together. At the time I felt like we were a couple of poor asses, with no extra room or furniture, but when I think of it, that was romantic dammit! It's so Lady and the Tramp. I miss subtle romance like that. Ian made the pesto for the gnocchi and he went old school too. Instead of just placing all the ingredients in the food processor, he ground everything together with a mortar and pestle. Hats off to you babe! It was really good. The flavors, as he explained, would be more intense and they were. As the dish came together and I got ready to plate the gnocchi I asked him, "Hey, do yo want to eat this old school?" He replied, "Hell ya, let's do it." I took the big bowl of gnocchi and plopped down next to Ian on the couch, and as we tried to watch TV through our son's afro, we enjoyed our dinner. (Side note: It may time to cut that boy's hair.)
With Valentine's Day on the horizon, sometimes the big flashy displays of love aren't the most genuine or satisfying. Regardless of what Zales and The Diamond Store may try to say, sometimes I just need subtle romance and sitting on the couch next to the love of my life, sharing a bowl of gnocchi and watching our son do "The Stanky Leg" dance while blocking the TV is enough for me.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

I am hosting my first contest! Yeaaaa. The prize is a handmade "Happy Spring" Basket from me. (I'd call it an Easter Basket, but it's for adults) The basket will include some handmade chocolates and candies, various culinary gifts ranging from cooking tools to pantry items and a small piece of artwork from me. (Didn't know I could draw did ya?) So here is how it works: First you must register as a follower of "Mouth Full of Food" if you are not one already. Next, answer the trivia question below.

What did Smirnoff Vodka promise Americans of alleviating in 1948?

Email your answer to ngina@eightamericanbistro.com. Remember to include your contact info so that I can send your gift basket to you. Those with the correct answer will be entered into a drawing for the culinary gift basket. The winner will be announced on March 6, 2010. Good Luck to all that enter!

Contest Guidelines:

Contest begins Febuary 5, 2010 at 12:00 am PST and ends March 5, 2010 at 11:59 PST, when all entries must be recieved. One entry per person/email address. Contestants must be 21 years of age at time of entry and be legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia. No substitutions of prize except from the Sponser, in which a prize of equal or greater value will be substituted.

My Top 10

So a while back the Sac Bee had an article about the top items a baker needed to have in their pantry. That got my juices a flowin' the other day when I was making my grocery list about the essentials that I always need in my own pantry. So here are my "Top 10" essentials that I think that every home chef should have in their pantry.

1. Cumin: This is my favorite spice in the whole world. My husband actually banned me from placing additional cumin in our food for 2010. I have to sneak it in our food now. You should have seen his face when I brought home a 1 pound bag that I got at the Mexican grocery store. Oooh he was heated. I put cumin in everything, spaghetti sauce, curry, it's part of my fried chicken spice combo. The smoky earthy flavor that it adds to dishes is incredible. I'd wear it as perfume if I could figure out how to make it.

2. Curry Powder: Now I specifically use Whole Foods Muchi Yellow Curry. I find that alot of curry powders have a overwhelming sweetness to them, that I am not a fan of. I prefer a bit of umami in my curries. I have been using this specific curry powder for over 5 years and it has never done me wrong.

3. Dark and White Chocolate: I only use dark chocolate and if it ain't dark then it's white. Chocolate isn't just for baking, when you take a journey into some of the great Mexican and South American fare, chocolate is used in a lot of the savory dishes. My husband likes to sneak into my stash, so very often I have to hide my chocolate in crazy places that I end forgetting where I put them. It is a staple in my pantry because you never know when you might want to make some Oatmeal, Almond, Dark Chocolate and Flaxseed Cookies or just a Mole for the enchiladas.

4.Chicken Stock: I'm not going to elaborate on this one because this is kind of a gimme. You should always have chicken stock in the pantry and if you don't then you should have the ingredients to make it. I am a big fan of making your own stock and storing it. Every Thanksgiving I make a turkey stock. Taking the entire leftover carcass of the turkey and simmering it down with a mirepoix and herbs for hours.

5. "Good" Vanilla Extract and Vanilla Beans: I would say most people have this item in their pantry, but most don't have good vanilla extract. The typical extracts that are on the shelves are "imitation" vanilla extract and offer a really weak flavor to baked goods. I stress that buying real vanilla extract will make an extreme difference in flavor for your baking needs. As well, I always have vanilla beans in the pantry. I made homemade ice cream for some friends and they complemented me on how it was the best vanilla ice cream they ever had. Well, I chalk that up to the vanilla beans that I scraped into the ice cream. Such an amazing flavor. I love to cook with vanilla whenever I have the opportunity and add it to recipes that don't call for it.

6.Arborio Rice: Now for me this is my "I don't know what to cook for dinner, so we are going to have risotto" go to. Some might feel that risotto is too labor intensive, but for me it's not. Adding hot stock every couple of minutes and letting it do it's thing allows me to have a couple of sips of wine while I talked to Ian or Isaac or pour through a magazine. With multiple ingredient combinations, you can make a great risotto with whatever veggies you have in the frig or garden.

7. Chili Flakes and Peppers: I'm Southern, so I like the heat. Especially in my food. Chilies are another staple that, like cumin, I try to add to everything. I never drink hot cocoa with out it. Try it. Take one dried red chili and crack into simmering milk. Add your dark chocolate pieces or cocoa powder and stir. It is an amazing pop of heat on the back of your throat that just lingers so slightly. Paired with the creaminess of the dark chocolate....don't even get me started.

8. Brown Sugar: Simple staple that most of us have, but again has so many applications outside of baking (from cocktail sauce to Caribbean soups) that I always have a three bags of some form of brown sugar in the pantry. Dark Brown, Golden Brown and the infamous Panocha...for those that speak Spanish this one always makes me laugh. I don't know how they get away with it at the grocery store.

9. Herbs De Provance: This is a new one to my pantry. I am still learning it's many applications. I recently used it in a shrimp stock for a catering and people went nuts over it. So I get braver each time to use it in more and more recipes that I create. When shopping I like to look for jars that have a heavier mix of lavender in them, which tend to be more expensive, but totally worth it in my opinion.

10.Onions and Garlic: In my kitchen there might not be milk, or coffee because of my laziness to go to the store, but there will always be onions. They are universal. Those that cook understand. They are the foundation for 90% of the dishes that I create. It's like salt to pork, onions and garlic to N'Gina.

Happy Belated New Year!!

So I know it's a week late, but Happy New Year. I know you all are at the edge of your seats on baited breathe wondering, "What did N'Gina do for New Year's?" I hate to tell ya and disappoint all that thought I might hit the grid and get "hyphy", break a bottle of Jamesons over a cops head after he scolded me for peeing in the street and then spend the night in the gray bar hotel, but I didn't. Instead I had a very adult evening, sipping on Rittenhouse Rye Whiskey Manhattans at Hawks. Followed by making a curry chicken dinner for my husband and friends. Real quick...we are going to go back to Hawks. I love Hawks...BUT I hate poor service. And that night our bartender was ridiculous. As our group entered the bar I notice three women in the lounge with empty glasses and paid check at the edge of the lounge table they sat at. The bar was completely empty. We strolled up and took seats at the bar and our bartender, 5 minutes later, asked us for our drink order. He started with me, got my order and then slowly made it. He continued to go down the line taking our drink orders one at a time and again, slowly making them. I have watched honey pour out of a jar faster than the way he was making drinks. Questions ran through my head, "Why is he taking one order at a time instead of grabbing all of our orders and making them?" "Why is taking so long to pour my husband's scotch on the rocks..it' scotch and ice!" And "Why is he making sweat cocktails?" (The last term is what my husband and I refer to someone that is profusely sweating into a beverages that someone will later consume. It started with me putting a chef that I worked with on front street for making "sweat pizzas" and the term has just evolved.)

The bartender was visibly frazzled, and having been a manager of many a restaurant, I looked for reasons why before I started to talk shit. Upon my scan of the restaurant there were no reasons. The dining room floor was slow, the bar was slow. I can only deduce that he heard one of those ads on the radio that go, "Hey are you making $300 a night?...Well if you're not you need to be attending The Bartending College of Sacramento!" He said,"Hell I can be a bartender!" Hey buddy no you can't! Bartending is a underrated skill that, I am sorry my friend, not EVERYBODY can do. When my husband asked him for some bread (because they were not serving appetizers at the bar) he retorted, "I'll have to ask my manager." WHAAAT. For bread? We should have brought our own. My grandma does it and I used to think she was hella crazy for doing so, but I see now that she was just a very sage woman.

Anywho after we left the bar and returned to our home, our friend Clint suggested that we change into PJ's ...what a great idea! They were staying the night and to be in PJ pants instead of high heels just sounded delicious. So we finished our night with a magnum of champagne and wine, my famous curry chicken and alot of laughs.It was one of the best New Year's that I have had in a long time. I told Clint that I would post my curry recipe on my next post, but I just can't. Somethings you have to keep a secret. So I'll just show a picture of it's goodness, and it was good. Since I am not going to post the recipe I will make a promise to anyone that can make it to my house, I will make them my famous chicken curry with all the fixins. Make your reservations now people! Seats are gonna fill up fast. Send me an email or post a comment with a request and I will make you dinner. Happy 2010.