I had some penne to kill off so I decided to make Penne con Ricotta e Noci this week. This Sardinian recipe is another illustration of the simplicity of Italian cooking — just penne, ricotta, walnuts, and some grated Pecorino Romano on top. The flavor of this dish is not overwhelming, as neither ricotta nor walnuts have particularly pungent flavors. Nevertheless, it is an incredibly rich fare. So rich, in fact, that could not finish a normal sized portion and had to put some of my serving with the leftovers — that never happens. I can only assume that this is because of the fat and protein content in ricotta and walnuts. However, that’s not to say this recipe is unhealthy. Ricotta is relatively low in fat compared to other cheeses and walnuts have heart-healthy polyunsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids. Who says you can’t eat food that’s both healthy and delicious? So far this is one of my favorite recipes and I plan to make it again.

Number two in my cooking series is Gnocchi di Susine, or Plum Gnocchi. Yes, you do indeed wrap a plum in gnocchi — well, half of a plum. It’s then topped with sugar, cinnamon, and toasted bread crumbs. These are so delicious, but very rich. Although I did like them very much, I do think they could be even better with Satsuma Plums, which have red meat and are sweeter. I believe I used Damson Plums, which have yellowish meat and are tarter. Also, when I make these again I will make it a point to have a very large, floured plate to keep the gnocchi from sticking together before being put in the pan. That way I’ll have twelve separate gnocchi rather than one giant one.

Earlier this week I finally got around to cooking a recipe from Fred Plotkin’s book, Italy for the Gourmet Traveler. I decided my first recipe would be asparagus risotto. I didn’t really know what risotto was until I came to Italy. For those of you who don’t know, risotto is an Italian dish of rice cooked in stock, often with meat or vegetables. I got a bundle of asparagus from a nearby open-air market. I chose to use vegetable stock instead of the recommended beef stock because I am a vegetarian. That choice may or may not have also had to do with the fact that I couldn’t find any beef stock. As you can see below, it isn’t much to look at, but I assure you it is delicious. The asparagus was tender and fresh, and the flavor came through wonderfully. That is all for now — I must go attend to another meal I am cooking from Fred’s book. Ciao!

One of my goals while in Firenze is to learn to cook some Italian meals, and a student who lived in the apartment before left Italy for the Gourmet Traveler by Fred Plotkin. It’s a book that has information about restaurants and recipes broken down by region, which I am looking forward to going through. However, I decided to start things off by making gnocchi from scratch using a recipe I found here. Overall, things went pretty well — I think the greatest difficulty was finding a way to mash up the potatoes. I settled on using a glass with a flat bottom, but if you have a grater or food processor, that would probably work better. Still, I think they turned out well:

The thing I love about Italian food is that it often uses a few simple ingredients and yet still tastes great. This gnocchi has two more great things about it. First, it is inexpensive — the ingredients cost me little more than a few Euro. Secondly, it’s very filling. No need to go back for seconds with this recipe. This is a delicious recipe that I would encourage anyone to try. Happy cooking!