Spicy Tomato Soup

This is a nice and cheap soup, and really easy. Great novice soup recipe (I'm looking at you, Alice!) I love Barbara Lynch and saw the recipe on Food52 and had to try it. Yum! It's very simple but really nice, especially with a gooey grilled cheese.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 big tsp red pepper flakes (or more or less, depending how spicy you want it)

1 1/2 cups water

2 28oz cans whole tomatoes with their juices

salt and pepper

big handfull of basil

Bolognese

Another Barbara Lynch recipe here. She said that her secret ingredient was chicken livers and I really wanted to test it out. It's a great, hearty sauce. It's very meaty and not very tomatoey, so different than what I would normally think of for bolognese, but it was so flavorful and rich and a perfect Sunday dinner with a little pasta and some Pecorino.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 large celery stalk, finely chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
5 oz chicken livers, finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh sage, chopped
salt and pepper
1 1/2 pounds ground meat, 1/2lb each pork, veal, and lamb (or beef if you can't find lamb)
1 1/2 cups dry red wine
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 14.5-oz can chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

Bibb Lettuce with Creamy Parmesan Dressing and Cheese Crisps

Another recipe from the wonderful "Stir" cookbook by Barbara Lynch. She said she'd so tired of Mesclun, and I kind of get it. The Bibb lettuce is so crispy and nice. The dressing is creamy and subtle and the cheese crisps are awesome.

Ingredients:
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 cup grapeseed oil
3 1/2 cups finely grated Pecorino Romano (she says parm, but I used Pecorino)
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large head Bibb lettuce, washed, dried, and torn into pieces
1/2 cup almonds, finely chopped
Parsley and tarragon, finely chopped

Prune-Stuffed Gnocchi with Foie Gras Sauce

This is another one from Barbara Lynch. She wrote it up as being kind of hard to do but worth it for special occasions. For my New Year's dinner, I wanted something special and had the luxury of time for making these. It is a lot of work, but if you have a free Saturday and have friends coming over, this is a very indulgent appetizer (or entree if you give everyone a few more gnocchis). The dough is extremely light and fluffy, the prune filling is tart, and sweet, and the earthy, rich foie gras sauce is amazingly decadent. The crunch of the almonds on top is also a nice contrast. Yum!

I had to make a few changes because it's really hard to find 8oz of foie gras, so I used a foie gras spread which worked fine. This has also inspired me to try stuffing other things into gnocchi. Any suggestions? Maybe a pureed bitter green?

Serves 6
Ingredients:
For the Gnocchi:
22 pitted prunes
1 cup Madeira (or Vin Santo, but Madeira's cheaper)
2-2 1/4 lb Idaho or Yukon Gold potatoes (I used 2 Idaho, 1 Yukon gold) unpeeled
1 1/2 - 2 cups all purpose flour, plus more as needed
2 large eggs
kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

For the Sauce:
8 oz foie gras spread
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup finely chopped shallots (about 2 large)
15 sprigs thyme
15 black peppercorns
15 coriander seeds
2 cups Madeira