Semolina Gnocchi (Gnocchi alla Romana)

Why this recipe works:

Most recipes for these Roman-style dumplings call for stirring semolina flour into a hot liquid and cooking it much like polenta to make a batter, or dough. This mixture is then spread out into a thin layer and allowed to cool before being cut into rounds, which are shingled in a baking dish, topped with cheese, and baked. We found that the key was getting the ratio of liquid to semolina right. Too loose and the mixture took a long time to set up, and even then cleanly cutting out the dumplings was difficult. Plus, the gnocchi fused together in the heat of the oven. A mixture made with 2½ cups of milk and 1 cup of semolina was stiff enough that we could shape the dumplings immediately—no need to cool. And instead of stamping out rounds, which wasted much of the semolina mixture, we simply portioned dumplings straight from the pot using a measuring cup. Refrigerating them before baking allowed a skin to form on the outside of each dumpling, ensuring that they held their shape and could be lifted out of the dish cleanly to be served individually. An egg provided binding power and, along with a little baking powder, lift.

Serves 4 to 6

These gnocchi can be served as a side dish or as a light entrée topped with Quick Tomato Sauce or another of our suggested toppings.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups whole milk
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• Pinch ground nutmeg
• 1 cup (6 ounces) fine semolina flour
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 ounces Gruyère cheese, shredded (1/3 cup)
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. 
   
   1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Heat milk, salt, and nutmeg in medium saucepan over medium-low heat until bubbles form around edges of saucepan. Whisking constantly, slowly add semolina to milk mixture. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring often with rubber spatula, until mixture forms stiff mass that pulls away from sides when stirring, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes.
   2. Stir 3 tablespoons butter and egg into semolina mixture until incorporated. (Mixture will appear separated at first but will become smooth and bit shiny.) Stir in Gruyère, rosemary, and baking powder until incorporated.
   3. Fill small bowl with water. Moisten 1/4-cup dry measuring cup with water and scoop even portion of semolina mixture. Invert gnocchi onto tray or large plate. Repeat, moistening measuring cup between scoops to prevent sticking. Place tray of gnocchi, uncovered, in refrigerator for 30 minutes. (Gnocchi can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 24 hours.)
   4. Rub interior of 8-inch square baking dish with remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Shingle gnocchi in pan, creating 3 rows of 4 gnocchi each. Sprinkle gnocchi with Parmesan. Bake until tops of gnocchi are golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.
   
   
   

Technique

Making Semolina Gnocchi

By making a very stiff dough and then refrigerating the shaped dumplings before shingling them in the pan, we ensure that they don’t fuse together in the oven.

START DOUGH: Slowly whisk semolina into warm milk mixture.

FINISH DOUGH: Cook over low heat until stiff dough forms. Add butter, egg, cheese, rosemary, and baking powder.

SHAPE GNOCCHI: Use moistened 1/4 cup measure to portion gnocchi, inverting onto tray.

CHILL: Refrigerate gnocchi, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

ARRANGE IN PAN: Shingle gnocchi in greased 8-inch square dish, then sprinkle with Parmesan and bake.

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Sausage Meatballs and Spaghetti

Why this recipe works:

We wanted to use commercial Italian sausage to create meatballs that were full of sausage flavor but still fork-tender. To temper the springy texture that sausage can have, we add a combination of ground pork, brined with baking soda and salt to help the meat retain juices and appear more tender, and a panade made with heavy cream instead of milk; the extra fat helps ensure moist and tender meat. Pulsing the meat mixture in a food processor, rather than mixing it by hand, ensures that it is thoroughly mixed without being overworked. To really make the flavors of Italian sausage shine, we add a hefty dose of the spices already present in the meat. Baking the meatballs in a hot oven lets you quickly brown them in a single batch, and a simple, bright tomato sauce pairs well with the richness of the meatballs.

Serves 4 to 6

The fennel seeds can be coarsely ground in a spice grinder or using the bottom of a heavy skillet. Use a light touch when rolling the meatballs to prevent them from being dense. To portion the meatballs, use 2 tablespoons or a #30 scoop, loosely filled, of the pork mixture. Our preferred brands of crushed tomatoes are Tuttorosso and Muir Glen.

Ingredients

• Meatballs

• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 teaspoons water
• 12 ounces ground pork
• 2 slices hearty white sandwich bread, crusts removed, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, coarsely ground
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 12 ounces sweet Italian sausage, casings removed and broken into 1-inch pieces

• Tomato Sauce

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
• Salt
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh basil
• 1 pound spaghetti

Instructions

1. 
   
   1. FOR THE MEATBALLS: Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 500 degrees. Set wire rack in aluminum foil–lined rimmed baking sheet and spray with vegetable oil spray.
   2. Dissolve salt and baking soda in water in large bowl. Add pork, fold gently to combine, and let stand for 10 minutes.
   3. Pulse bread, cream, Parmesan, egg yolks, garlic, fennel seeds, oregano, pepper, and pepper flakes in food processor until smooth paste forms, about 10 pulses, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add pork mixture (do not wash out bowl) and pulse until mixture is well combined, about 5 pulses.
   4. Transfer half of pork mixture to now-empty large bowl. Add sausage to processor and pulse until just combined, 4 to 5 pulses. Transfer sausage-pork mixture to bowl with pork mixture. Using your hands, gently fold together until mixture is just combined.
   5. With your wet hands, lightly shape mixture into 1 3/4-inch round meatballs (about 1 ounce each); you should have about 24 meatballs. Arrange meatballs, evenly spaced, on prepared wire rack and bake until browned, about 15 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking.
   6. FOR THE TOMATO SAUCE: While meatballs bake, heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer gently until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Stir in basil and season with salt to taste.
   7. Add meatballs to sauce and gently simmer, turning them occasionally, for 10 minutes. Cover and keep warm over low heat.
   8. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add pasta and 1 tablespoon salt and cook, stirring often, until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking water, then drain pasta and return it to pot.
   9. Add 1/2 cup sauce and 1/4 cup reserved cooking water to pasta and toss to combine, adjusting consistency with remaining reserved cooking water as needed. Transfer pasta to large serving platter and top with meatballs and remaining sauce. Serve, passing extra Parmesan separately.
   
   
   

Technique

Discovery: Don't Mix in Panade by Hand; Process It

To ensure that meatballs hold their shape, retain moisture, and stay tender during cooking, we typically combine the ground meat with a panade, a paste made of milk and bread. The starches and liquid form a gel that coats and lubricates the meat proteins, preventing them from linking together into a tough matrix.
The problem: It’s hard to thoroughly incorporate a panade into the meat when blending by hand, so we use a food processor. Its sharp blade literally cuts the paste into the meat so that the mixture is homogeneous.

CLUMPY: Blended by hand.

HOMOGENEOUS: Blended in a food processor.

Technique

400 Meatballs to Perfection

When we started testing, our sausage meatballs were dense and springy. We made close to 400 meatballs before landing on just the right combination of ingredients and mixing methods that produced the savory, juicy, fork-tender meatballs we wanted.

1. FIRST WE TRIED: Hand-mixing sausage with standard panade (bread-milk mixture).
BUT: Meatballs were dense, with mushy pockets of bread.

2. THEN WE TRIED: Subbing less-dense ground pork for sausage.
GOOD: Meatballs were less dense.
BUT: They were lacking sausage’s rich juiciness.

3. NEXT WE TRIED: Combining sausage and ground pork.
GOOD: Richer meatballs.
BUT: The meat and panade were not homogeneous.

4. SO WE TRIED: Mixing with a food processor.
GOOD: Smooth, homogeneous.
BUT: Meatballs not truly tender and juicy.

5. AFTER THAT WE TRIED: Mixing in portion of pork mixture by hand.
GOOD: More tenderness.
BUT: Still not juicy.

6. SO WE TRIED: Soaking pork in baking soda.
GOOD: Juicier meatballs.
BUT: Meat still a little sticky.

7. FINALLY WE TRIED: Subbing heavy cream for milk.
GOOD: Extra fat = less sticky meat.
SUCCESS: Rich, savory, tender meatballs.

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Japanese-Style Stir-Fried Noodles with Beef

Why this recipe works:

For a home cook–friendly version of this classic Japanese noodle stir-fry, we started by isolating the best possible supermarket alternatives to hard-to-find Japanese ingredients. In place of chewy yakisoba noodles, we use lo mein noodles (which also contain an alkaline ingredient that gives them some elasticity) and undercook them to enhance their chew. We also rinse them very well with cold water, which removes surface starches and makes them appropriately slick. We treat thinly sliced flank steak with baking soda to ensure that each piece is tender and juicy. Soy sauce, Worcestershire, ketchup, and rice wine vinegar make up the savory-sweet sauce—a facsimile of the traditional version made with Japanese Worcestershire sauce.

Serves 4 to 6

This recipe calls for lo mein noodles, but use yakisoba noodles if you can find them and follow the same cooking directions. Garnish the noodles with pickled ginger (often found in the refrigerated section of the grocery store near tofu) and our Sesame-Orange Spice Blend (see related content) or, if you can find it, commercial shichimi togarashi.

Ingredients

• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 12 ounces flank steak, trimmed, sliced lengthwise into 2- to 2 1/2-inch strips, each strip sliced crosswise 1/4 inch thick
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 anchovy fillets, rinsed, patted dry, and minced
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
• 1 pound fresh or 8 ounces dried lo mein noodles
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 6 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1 carrot, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick on bias
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 6 cups napa cabbage, sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch strips
• 7 scallions, cut on bias into 1-inch lengths
• Salt

Instructions

1. 
   
   1. Combine 1 tablespoon water and baking soda in medium bowl. Add beef and toss to coat. Let sit at room temperature for 5 minutes.
   2. Whisk ketchup, soy sauce, Worcestershire, sugar, garlic, anchovies, and vinegar together in second bowl. Stir 2 tablespoons sauce into beef mixture and set aside remaining sauce.
   3. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add noodles and cook, stirring often, until almost tender (center should still be firm with slightly opaque dot), 3 to 10 minutes (cooking times will vary depending on whether you are using fresh or dry noodles). Drain noodles and rinse under cold running water until water runs clear. Drain well and set aside.
   4. Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until just smoking. Add mushrooms and carrot and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are spotty brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1/4 cup broth and cook until all liquid has evaporated and vegetables are tender, about 30 seconds. Transfer vegetables to bowl.
   5. Return skillet to high heat, add 1/2 teaspoon oil, and heat until beginning to smoke. Add cabbage and scallions and cook, without stirring, for 30 seconds. Cook, stirring occasionally, until cabbage and scallions are spotty brown and crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to bowl with mushrooms and carrot.
   6. Return skillet to high heat, add 1 teaspoon oil, and heat until beginning to smoke. Add half of beef in single layer. Cook, without stirring, for 30 seconds. Cook, stirring occasionally, until beef is spotty brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to bowl with vegetables. Repeat with remaining beef and remaining 1 teaspoon oil.
   7. Return skillet to high heat; add reserved sauce, remaining 1/2 cup broth, and noodles. Cook, scraping up any browned bits, until noodles are warmed through, about 1 minute. Transfer noodles to bowl with vegetables and beef and toss to combine. Season with salt to taste, and serve immediately.
   
   
   

Technique

How Asian Noodles Get Their Spring

Asian noodles come in countless varieties, but many, including yakisoba, ramen, and lo mein, are characterized by a satisfying chew. These springy noodles contain the same core ingredients as Italian pastas—wheat flour and water—along with two salts, sodium and potassium carbonates, that raise the pH of the dough. A little research confirmed that the alkaline environment increases the bonding between gluten strands, making the gluten network stronger and more elastic, for noodles that stretch and spring back. The effect of the alkalizing salts is clearly visible if you compare cooked Italian spaghetti strands with the alkaline noodles: The former swell more and have less give, while the latter stay firm and chewy.

HOLDING STRONG: Elastic alkaline noodles are so resilient that they can hold more than 4 ounces of weight before breaking. (Tender Italian spaghetti can hold only 1 3/4 ounces.)

Technique

The Other Worcestershire

Yakisoba sauce (Japanese Worcestershire sauce) is a thicker, sweeter relative of the familiar British kind. To create a facsimile with similar flavor and body to the popular Bull-Dog brand’s, we used widely available Lea & Perrins, doctoring it with ketchup, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and brown sugar.

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Pasta with Cauliflower, Bacon, and Bread Crumbs

Why this recipe works:

Pasta, nutty cauliflower, meaty bacon and crispy bread crumbs are a wonderful combination when the flavors and textures are all balanced. We brown our cauliflower in a skillet to develop its flavors and drive off some of the water to keep it from becoming mushy. By employing a risotto method and cooking our pasta in a small amount of water, we skip the draining step and make a creamy sauce for this dish as the pasta cooks. Finally, we top our pasta with bacon-flavored bread crumbs to add texture and another layer of flavor.

Serves 4 to 6

Farfalle, orecchiette, or gemelli can be substituted for the campanelle. If the pasta seems too dry, stir in up to 1/4 cup of hot water.

Ingredients

• 3 slices bacon cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup panko bread crums
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large head cauliflower (3 pounds), cored and cut into 1-inch florets
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
• 1 pound campanelle
• 5 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice, plus lemon wedges for serving

Instructions

1. 
   
   1. Cook bacon in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until crispy, 5 to 7 minutes. Add panko and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until panko is well browned, 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer panko mixture to bowl and wipe out skillet.
   
   2. Heat 5 teaspoons oil in now-empty skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add cauliflower and 1 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until cauliflower is crisp-tender and browned in spots, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and cover to keep warm.
   
   3. Heat remaining 1 teaspoon oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion, thyme, and 1/2 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring frequently, until onion has softened, 4 to 7 minutes. Increase heat to high, add pasta, broth, and wine, and bring to simmer. Cook pasta, stirring frequently, until most of liquid is absorbed and pasta is al dente, 8 to 10 minutes.
   
   4. Remove pot from heat; stir in parsley, lemon juice, and cauliflower; and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve, passing panko mixture and lemon wedges separately.
   
   
   

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