hey everyone! it’s friday! of a looooonng weekend! at least here in ontario it is. why not get in that kitchen of yours and cook up a feast! just because! maybe my latest travelling crockpot dinner will inspire to cook up a meal you haven’t before, or perfect a tried and true recipe. enjoy your weekend regardless of – wherever you are.
for some stupid reason i decided to do my dinner only 3 days before josh and i moved to our new apartment. talk about hectic! the real reason though, adrienne left toronto for the summer so it was imperative we get in one more dinner before she departed.
i’d never made gnocchi before. or biscotti’s. or browned butter. or poached a pear before. or made chocolate mousse.
so why not try all of it out at once right!!??!
only recently have i realized that i love mushrooms. i had a craving, and so, mushrooms on toast. i toasted rye bread with olive oil and salt and pepper. cremini, oyster, and hedgehog mushrooms were chopped up and fried with one shallot and a liquid mix of apple juice, vegetable oil, apple cider vinegar, and a splash of amber maple syrup. cooked down for a solid 25 minutes until the liquid is no longer or has become a delicious glaze. topped on the toasted rye bread and topped with chives.
the pears were poached in sugar water with cinnamon, cloves, allspice, lemon… i really can’t remember what else. my reason for poaching them? they weren’t ripe yet! pop them in simmering hot liquid for a bit and soft as can be. arugula was tossed with a dressing of olive oil, balsamic, hot mustard, maple syrup and salt and pepper. my favourite additions were the blue silton cheese and roasted pecans which had been baked in maple syrup, rosemary, thyme and cayenne. hmmm… i just might be addicted to maple syrup.
sweet potato gnocchi in a sage browned butter sauce. delicious. i wish i had some right now in fact. the crispy sage was really tasty too. it’s this light, but decadent earthy taste. hand making gnocchi wasn’t as bad as i thought. although, i didn’t make them look super pretty by adding ridges and such. maybe next time.
and finally, chocolate mouse with an almond biscotti. oh, and two squares of cadbury coconut cashew chocolate because why not right!? the biscotti’s, i should have shaped flatter and pancake like rather than a nice hilly bump. they were super fat and didn’t cook as evenly as i would have liked. one side was darker than the other too. and so – because panic set in about the mediocre biscotti’s i quickly decided chocolate mousse would redeem me. having never made it before either, i could use the practice, but all in all i’d say it all worked out.
