Tuesday, May 11, 2010

May 10th - Cauliflower Gnocchi in Roasted Garlic White Wine Sauce (Lactose Free)

I love love Gnocchi.  The texture and the concept if its simple culinary roots is cool for me.  I had the most amazing Gnocchi when we went to the Bizarro Italian Cafe outside Seattle last fall.  It was hand-made on site and served in a decadent Garlic Cream sauce.  The Gnocchi themselves were like little delicate pillows.  For my rendition, I am using store bought, fresh Gnocchi.  They do not tend to be as light as the ones I had at Bizarro so I tried overcooking them by a minute to fake it.  It worked out okay.  The other major adaptation is that I did not make a Cream sauce at all.  If you want the original recipe, it is posted on Bizzarro Italian Cafe's own website.  It is alot simpler than the mine below because I had to use a non-dairy option which added a few stages and pans.

Cauliflower Gnocchi in Roasted Garlic White Wine Sauce

1 head Garlic
1 T Olive Oil

1 T Butter
1/2 T Olive Oil
1 small Shallot, minced
2 c Cauliflower Florets, chopped small
1 c dry White Wine

1 c Lactose-Free Milk
1 T Flour
1 T Butter

Roasted Garlic

Preheat the oven to 400F.  Cut the head off of head of Garlic.  I like to save as much of the Garlic as possible so I cut pretty high.  It should look like you're sawing off the elf hat off the whole bulb.  Drizzle with Olive Oil. Wrap in foil. Bake until you can smell it, about 20 minutes.  Turn off the oven and leave in there until you need it.

White Wine Sauce
Start the Gnocci boiling water.  Salt the water. 

Now I have tried to do this using the minimal amount of pans and movement.  When I thought this up based on a very easy dish from the Bizzarro Italian Cafe, the number of pans and pots started to pile up and I hate that.  The reason I have had to adapt this is because the original dish uses Cream and not a Bechemel (french white sauce thickened with a butter roux).  I have been having pretty heightened Lactose issues recently so I thought it better to avoid the confrontation.

In a large skillet (straight sides), melt 1 T butter and 1/2 T oil on Medium-High heat.  Sautee the Shallots and Cauliflower until the Cauliflower is slightly browned and smells nutty, 5 minutes.  You do not want to burn the shallots so if you want, add them toward the end if you are not going to babysit.

Add the White Wine and let simmer vigourously for 5-10 minutes until reduced by half.  I go by the time and appearance.  Season with 1 t of Salt or to taste.  Squeeze out the softened Roasted Garlic like toothpaste.  Breakdown with a fork to evenly distribute.

Basic Bechemel

While that is the reducing is going on, melt 1 T of Butter in a small saucepan.  Add 1 to 1.5 T flour and whisk to combine smoothly.  You want it slightly dry looking in appearance. Turn the heat up to high. Add the Lactose-Free Milk slowly while whisking the whole time.  Bring the milk to a boil briefly and then turn the heat down to Medium.  The sauce will thicken at that point and you do not want to scald or boil over the milk after that.  Season to taste but underseason and wait until the whole dish is combined.

You should add the Gnocchi to the water at this point.  It will only take about 5-7 minutes.

Incorporate the Bechemel (aka White Sauce) into the Wine sauce mixture.  Do not worry about breaking up the Cauliflower at all.  Let it melt.

With a slotted spoon, fish out the done Gnocchi and dish them directly into the Sauce.  Fold without smushing the Gnocchi.  Season with Salt and Pepper to taste (White Pepper if you have it so as not to speckle the dish.)

Serve with freshly grated Parmesan. (which is not entirely lactose free but a heap better than a pint of Cream)

The sauce, which was an experiment, worked out really well.  I will definitely re-use this recipe again!

0 Leave a / Read COMMENTs: