PAGE 190 PUMPKIN BUCATINI WITH DUCK LIVER AND GOLDEN RAISINS

Oh wow, this was so bad!  Sooo bad, so bad.  It pains me to remember it, how it smelled, how it looked, yucko!

I think the problem was my dislike of liver, not the recipe, but that didn't help.  The kids took one look at it and told me they couldn't take a bite.

The pasta went well, it was classic flour, 3 egg yolks, olive oil, and 1/4 cup pumpkin.  It alll came together nicely with the Kitchen Aid mixer and pasta attachments (love my Christmas gift!)  It cooked well, in three minutes.

The sauce was the problem.  I put the raw liver in the food processor and ground it finely.  I soaked raisins for 10 minutes in hot water.  After melting butter, I sauteed a shallot, then the liver for a couple of minutes.  I added bourban and cooked a little longer.  Finally, I added the raisins, sage, a little reserved pasta water, and the pasta.  The texture, smell and everythingn else was bad.  I couldn't even give it to Harry the dog because of the bourbon and the raisins.  Runs from this recipe!

Solved the photo problem.  I had to upload my photos to picassa.

PAGE 263 SAUSAGE AND PEPPERS

Surprisingly delicious!  I did not have high hopes for a recipe called sausage and peppers.  How boring is that?  The water, ketchup and bay leaf kinda made a sauce that was very nice, I just expected fried onions and peppers with my sausage.  Wish me luck on up loading pictures!''Sidenote.  My friend Pellegrin owes me lunch.  He offered me tips (good ones) on adding cilantro to the gnocchi sauce,  Hopefully he will come through.

So, I added oil to a pan, sauteed sausage, removed it and added onions and peppers.  I added the sausage back to the pan with 1/2 cup water, some ketchup and a bay leaf.  Cooked for 20 minutes, removed the bay leaf, sliced the sausage and served it on rolls.  Win!  Very delicious.  I am not a pepper fan, but they added here.  Will make again.

Still problems with photos!  I will investigate further! 

PAGE 121 GRANDMA'S POTATO GNOCCHI

Ha!  Had to look up the way to spell GNOCCHI in Mike's cookbook twice before posting this!  Kids and Harry napping.  Had a fun day in Quantico talking about Motor Transport.  It's all in strategic planning, thinking about the future while staying focused on the present.  Leading us to...potato gnocchi!

I've always been a bit ambivalent about gnocchi, finding them a little bland and wondering what they accomplished that other pasta did not.  I'm not sure these answered my question, they tasted like gnocchi...but they were GOOD gnocchi.

I baked 4 russet potatoes and let them cool until I could handle them.  Then I boiled a big pot of water and scooped the flesh out of the potatoes.  I don't have a potato ricer so I just mashed them up.  I stirred in a cup of flour, egg yolks, parm reggiano and a lot of salt.  The dough was rolled into ropes, floured, and cut into inch long pieces.  I didn't have a problem with the dough sticcking when I rolled and cut it, maybe I was just lucky.  The pieces went into the boiling water and cooked for 2 minutes.  I took them out and served them with the Grand Mother tomato sauce.

Like I said, they were good, not exceptional, but they weren't hard to make or anything.  I could taste potato, but I don't think that was bad or anything.  I can see myself making these again.

(Having problems uploading photos!)