Another score on a tasty and fast meal using pantry staples, courtesy of an old issue of Cooking Light. This recipe served my family of 4 with a small amount of leftovers, though I also served a large green salad (served with every dinner at our house) and homemade French bread with butter. I have a tried and true French Bread recipe that is very easy using the bread machine – the hardest part is having enough time before dinner to get it made – usually a weekend or vacation day activity. I will include the recipe after the main dish.
Easy Gnocchi with Marinara Sauce
For Sauce:
1 T. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1.5-2 cups)
2 garlic cloves, minced (about 2 t.)
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 t. sugar
½ t. dried oregano
¼ t. salt
For Gnocchi:
1 c. warm water
1 t. salt
1 large egg
1 c. all purpose flour
2 c. instant potato flakes
1 T. chopped fresh basil
1/8 t. ground pepper
Make sauce first. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and sauté for 5-10 minutes until tender. Stir in remaining ingredients for sauce. Bring to gentle boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes until slightly thickened.
Meanwhile, prepare gnocchi. Bring a large pot of water for cooking the gnocchi to boil on the stovetop. Combine the 1 cup warm water, salt, and egg in food processor bowl fitted with blade and give it a couple quick pulses to mix. Add remaining ingredients and pulse again to mix. When first mixed, it will be a little soupy. Let it sit for about a minute and then run the food processor again until dough begins to form a ball. Either coat a baking sheet with cooking spray or lay a couple pieces of wax paper on the counter to hold your gnocchi pieces as you cut them. Very lightly flour a work surface and divide dough into 4 equal portions. I set 3 balls back into the food processor bowl while I work with the first one. On floured surface, roll ball into a rope about 18 inches long. Using a bench knife or table knife, cut each rope into pieces about 3/4-1 inch long and place on cookie sheet or wax paper. Continue to do the same with the remaining 3 balls of dough. Depending on the size of your pot, cook about 1/3 of the gnocchi at a time. Add the gnocchi to the boiling water and let cook for about 3 minutes. They will float after about 2 minutes, but let them cook for 3 minutes. Fish out of the water with a slotted spoon and put cooked gnocchi in a strainer over a bowl. Continue with the next two batches.
Serve gnocchi with the marinara sauce, parmesan cheese if desired, and a nice crusty loaf of bread. See my recipe below for bread machine French loaves.
Easy Bread Machine French Bread (makes 2 loaves)
1 1/3 c. warm water
1.5 t. salt
4 c. bread flour
1.5 t. dry yeast (SAF brand is my favorite)
Mix all of the above ingredients in your bread machine in the recommended order and run on the dough cycle. Your dough should pull together nicely into a ball that is neither too wet nor too dry. When bread cycle is over, divide dough into two portions and roll each out into a baguette shape – I try to make my loaves almost as long as a cookie sheet, though they shrink a little after rolling. I place my loaves on a cookie sheet with a piece of parchment paper on it for easy cleanup. You may also simply place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Cover with a lint free towel to rise for about 45 minutes. About 30 minutes into the rise (15 minutes before baking), preheat your oven to 450 F. This recipe also works well in a convection oven – bake at the equivalent of 450 per your oven’s convection instructions. When the loaves have risen nicely (about 45 minutes total rise time), slash the tops either diagonally or with one long slash along the entire top, and bake for about 20-25 minutes. Loaves should be nicely brown when done. Cool on a rack and serve. Note that your parchment paper will get brown and crispy at this temperature. Many people bake with parchment at high temps, but keep an eye on it in case your oven is running hot. You can also bake this recipe on a preheated pizza stone with a pan of water on the bottom shelf (see instructions for Artisan bread in one of my other posts) for an extra crispy crust.
http://lynnkz.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/artisan-bread-in-5-minutes-are-you-kidding-no/
Enjoy!
Best regards,
Lynn
I just pulled my bread machine out of storage today and look forward to trying out your french bread recipe. Thank you!
Denise,
Let me know how it turns out! This bread recipe is great because with the bread machine, it’s really easy. I too sometimes forget about my bread machine, but it is so great for doughs. I hardly ever use it to actually bake bread in:). Yesterday I made some incredible fried pizza dough, modeled after an appetizer at a local restaurant. Yum! Recipe will be posted soon.
For the French loaf, you can also sub up to about a cup and a half of whole wheat flour in for the bread flour if you like. My family snarfs down the two loaves easily within a couple days, but sometimes I will pop a warm loaf into a paper lunch bag and have one of the kids run it over to a neighbor’s house. They are always thrilled.