I remember having an appetizer which consisted of spinach
and (I think) cheese formed into bite-size balls or logs.
It was served in a casserole dish of broth. I can't remember
anything else about how it was made, except that I liked it
very much.

Googling has turned up a huge number of recipes, many
using commercial herbed bread stuffing.

Anyone have experience making something like this,
and can recommend a good recipe?

On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:34:41 -0800, Mark Thorson >
wrote:

>I remember having an appetizer which consisted of spinach
>and (I think) cheese formed into bite-size balls or logs.
>It was served in a casserole dish of broth. I can't remember
>anything else about how it was made, except that I liked it
>very much.
>
>Googling has turned up a huge number of recipes, many
>using commercial herbed bread stuffing.
>
>Anyone have experience making something like this,
>and can recommend a good recipe?

I can't contribute a recipe, but what you're talking about sounds good
(although I can't imagine it in broth) - so I hope someone contributes
a recipe that meets your approval!



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sf wrote:
>
> I can't contribute a recipe, but what you're talking about sounds good
> (although I can't imagine it in broth) - so I hope someone contributes
> a recipe that meets your approval!

I'm thinking about bringing it to a New Year's Party,
if I can figure out how to make it. Recipes I've
found on the net usually include spinach, breadcrumbs,
cheese, and egg.

The broth (whatever it was) made them extra moist
("Madge, you're soaking in it.") and added saltiness
and flavor. If eggs were in the recipe, that might
have bound them together sufficiently to resist
dissolution in the liquid (which I'm calling broth
even thought I don't really know what it was).

All of the recipes I've found on the web so far
were for baked balls, not in broth. I'd prefer
to recreate what I had, rather than a similar-
themed spinach appetizer, but I'm not ruling that
out at this point. Still have 3 weeks to go.

If I give up on the spinach balls, my backup plan
is to make wontons, which I've made zillions of
times before, so that will not be a gamble.
A complication is that the appetizer should be
vegetarian (though not necessarily vegan -- the
flying saucer from Vega was delayed, so they won't
be attending. :-)

I'm thinking of a cream cheese filling, flavored with
grilled onion (which I make myself from fresh onions),
and possibly sage and mushroom. If I use mushrooms,
it'll be fresh oyster mushrooms grilled to dryness over
very low heat, just like the onions, then ground to
a powder in my new blade grinder. When used in a
wonton, cream cheese gets a really great caky texture.
Avocado does that, too.

I also considered an alternative filling of cream
cheese and dill. That might be good, though I have
an uneasy feeling that if I went down that road
I'd have to add one more flavor, but racking my brains
I can't come up with what it should be. It's like
when you forget a word or the name of some famous
person, and you just can't remember it.

What goes with dill to flavor cream cheese? Not
pickles, which is a stupid suggestion anyway. Not
garlic. Not nosemary. WHAT IS IT ???? Not orange
peel, or any citrus. THIS IS DRIVING ME NUTS !!!
There must be some simple and obvious additional
flavor that would play against dill just right, so
I'd leap up and say "That's it!", but I just can't
think of it now. Oh well, I've learned in these
situations to mentally set it aside and think about it
tomorrow, when the answer will probably be obvious.

On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:56:06 -0800, Mark Thorson >
wrote:

>All of the recipes I've found on the web so far
>were for baked balls, not in broth. I'd prefer
>to recreate what I had, rather than a similar-
>themed spinach appetizer, but I'm not ruling that
>out at this point. Still have 3 weeks to go.

Have you thought about gnudi? No broth involved, although you do cook
it in salted water and serve it with a tomato sauce.

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sf wrote:
>
> On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:56:06 -0800, Mark Thorson >
> wrote:
>
> >All of the recipes I've found on the web so far
> >were for baked balls, not in broth. I'd prefer
> >to recreate what I had, rather than a similar-
> >themed spinach appetizer, but I'm not ruling that
> >out at this point. Still have 3 weeks to go.
>
> Have you thought about gnudi? No broth involved, although you
> do cook it in salted water and serve it with a tomato sauce.

A Google image search shows a wide variety of things
under this name. Some are green with spinach while
others are almost white. Some are poached, some
are pan-fried. Some are round, but many are oblong.
The green, oblong, poached version may indeed be what
I am remembering. I'll have to do more research.
Oddly, there's no Wikipedia entry for "gnudi".

Gnudi is made from ricotta cheese. That rings a bell.
I think this may be it. Thanks!

On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:29:43 -0800, Mark Thorson >
wrote:

>Gnudi is made from ricotta cheese. That rings a bell.
>I think this may be it. Thanks!

Here's the recipe I've made - straight from Giada De Laurentiis on FTV

Gnudi
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
User Rating: 4 Stars


1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
1 pound frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 cup grated Parmesan
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus 1 cup for coating
1 jar store bought marinara sauce, heated

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

In a large bowl, mix ricotta, spinach, Parmesan cheese, eggs, and
yolks. Stir in nutmeg, salt, pepper, and flour. Form mixture in to
small, flattened balls.

Dredge the formed gnudi in flour to coat, tapping off the excess.
Slide formed gnudi into the boiling water. Be careful not to
overcrowd the pan; work in batches if necessary. Remove the gnudi
using a slotted spoon after they float to the top and have cooked for
about 4 minutes.

Arrange gnudi on a platter and lightly drizzle with marinara sauce.

Episode#: EI0802
Copyright © 2006 Television Food Network, G.P., All Rights Reserved

http://i17.tinypic.com/8fajej5.jpg


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sf wrote:

>> Gnudi is made from ricotta cheese. That rings a bell.
>> I think this may be it. Thanks!

> Here's the recipe I've made - straight from Giada De Laurentiis on FTV
>
> Gnudi

To addo to what sf wrote: "gnudi" is an italian slang word for "nudi", which
means "naked". In fact these are a kind of spinach & ricotta stuffed noodles
(tortelli, ravioli, casoncelli... usually wrapped in egg-noodles) but they
have no noodle around them, therefore they can be called "naked".
BTW, I never understood the difference between "gnudi" and dumplings. Maybe
gnudi use something more akin to tortelli stuffing? Nay, tortelli stuffing
would dissolve in broth, there must be something else...
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'

"Vilco" > ha scritto nel messaggio
...
> sf wrote:
>
>>> Gnudi is made from ricotta cheese. That rings a bell.
>>> I think this may be it. Thanks!
>
>> Here's the recipe I've made - straight from Giada De Laurentiis on FTV
>>
>> Gnudi
>
> To addo to what sf wrote: "gnudi" is an italian slang word for "nudi",
> which means "naked". In fact these are a kind of spinach & ricotta stuffed
> noodles (tortelli, ravioli, casoncelli... usually wrapped in egg-noodles)
> but they have no noodle around them, therefore they can be called "naked".
> BTW, I never understood the difference between "gnudi" and dumplings.
> Maybe gnudi use something more akin to tortelli stuffing? Nay, tortelli
> stuffing would dissolve in broth, there must be something else...
> --
> Vilco

There is an experimental chef couple currently working on various
dumplings/gnocchi when what they're really producing are gnudi. It's a
problem when people out of a culture try to work to alter within it. They
think they are flying off into new territory while they're actually doing
things that have been done foir years, they just don't know the words.

AAMOF, I read some of the things they are doing with Mozzarella and
Gorgonzola, two of the finest things in the world and I think, "Why?" What
compels someone to alter a perfect thing? If the triumph is that I made
this and it still tastes like the original, what have you gained? Altering
the protein strings changes only the texture. If that's all you wanted to
do, why not work with something that already has that texture and serve it
with a perfect Mozzarella bufala? Cross-eyed here.

--
http://www.judithgreenwood.com

"Giusi" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Vilco" > ha scritto nel messaggio
> ...
>> sf wrote:
>>
>>>> Gnudi is made from ricotta cheese. That rings a bell.
>>>> I think this may be it. Thanks!
>>
>>> Here's the recipe I've made - straight from Giada De Laurentiis on FTV
>>>
>>> Gnudi
snip
> AAMOF, I read some of the things they are doing with Mozzarella and
> Gorgonzola, two of the finest things in the world and I think, "Why?"
> What compels someone to alter a perfect thing? If the triumph is that I
> made this and it still tastes like the original, what have you gained?
> Altering the protein strings changes only the texture. If that's all you
> wanted to do, why not work with something that already has that texture
> and serve it with a perfect Mozzarella bufala? Cross-eyed here.
>
> --
> http://www.judithgreenwood.com
Well said. Sometimes -- oftentimes -- something just is what it is.
Deconstructing it, adding 3 hours to the preparation process, using 14
saucepans, hasn't changed a thing. Except I guess that you can charge a
whole lot more for it now and get your own TV show. ;o}
Janet

Mark Thorson wrote:

> sf wrote:
>
>>I can't contribute a recipe, but what you're talking about sounds good
>>(although I can't imagine it in broth) - so I hope someone contributes
>>a recipe that meets your approval!
>
>
> I'm thinking about bringing it to a New Year's Party,
> if I can figure out how to make it. Recipes I've
> found on the net usually include spinach, breadcrumbs,
> cheese, and egg.
>
> The broth (whatever it was) made them extra moist
> ("Madge, you're soaking in it.") and added saltiness
> and flavor. If eggs were in the recipe, that might
> have bound them together sufficiently to resist
> dissolution in the liquid (which I'm calling broth
> even thought I don't really know what it was).
>
> All of the recipes I've found on the web so far
> were for baked balls, not in broth. I'd prefer
> to recreate what I had, rather than a similar-
> themed spinach appetizer, but I'm not ruling that
> out at this point. Still have 3 weeks to go.
>
> If I give up on the spinach balls, my backup plan
> is to make wontons, which I've made zillions of
> times before, so that will not be a gamble.
> A complication is that the appetizer should be
> vegetarian (though not necessarily vegan -- the
> flying saucer from Vega was delayed, so they won't
> be attending. :-)
>
> I'm thinking of a cream cheese filling, flavored with
> grilled onion (which I make myself from fresh onions),
> and possibly sage and mushroom. If I use mushrooms,
> it'll be fresh oyster mushrooms grilled to dryness over
> very low heat, just like the onions, then ground to
> a powder in my new blade grinder. When used in a
> wonton, cream cheese gets a really great caky texture.
> Avocado does that, too.
>
> I also considered an alternative filling of cream
> cheese and dill. That might be good, though I have
> an uneasy feeling that if I went down that road
> I'd have to add one more flavor, but racking my brains
> I can't come up with what it should be. It's like
> when you forget a word or the name of some famous
> person, and you just can't remember it.
>
> What goes with dill to flavor cream cheese? Not
> pickles, which is a stupid suggestion anyway. Not
> garlic. Not nosemary. WHAT IS IT ???? Not orange
> peel, or any citrus. THIS IS DRIVING ME NUTS !!!
> There must be some simple and obvious additional
> flavor that would play against dill just right, so
> I'd leap up and say "That's it!", but I just can't
> think of it now. Oh well, I've learned in these
> situations to mentally set it aside and think about it
> tomorrow, when the answer will probably be obvious.

<snip>

Beau Monde. It was one of the classic ingredients in dill dip served in
a rye bread bowl. It's a seasoning blend consisting of salt, dextrose,
onion, celery seed and silicon dioxide (I'm sitting here looking at a
caked-up bottle of the stuff that has to be 20 years old).

If I were going to make some sort of creamy dill concoction I'd add a
little grated onion, some ground celery seed and a hefty pinch of white
pepper. Salt to taste with a few shakes of soy sauce.

Kathleen wrote:
>
> Beau Monde. It was one of the classic ingredients in dill dip served in
> a rye bread bowl. It's a seasoning blend consisting of salt, dextrose,
> onion, celery seed and silicon dioxide (I'm sitting here looking at a
> caked-up bottle of the stuff that has to be 20 years old).

Ah, yes! Aged dextrose and imported silicon dioxide!

> If I were going to make some sort of creamy dill concoction I'd add a
> little grated onion, some ground celery seed and a hefty pinch of white
> pepper. Salt to taste with a few shakes of soy sauce.

Celery seed is a good suggestion, because it's a
subtle flavor, which is important when dealing
with dill.

I had thought of pepper, but immediately dismissed it
as an ingredient, because it was far too strong.
You'd pair pepper against beef, garlic, lemon,
powerful flavors like that, not dill.

But white pepper is a very good suggestion. It's
much milder than black, yet retains much of the
broad applicability when pairing with other flavors.
Actually, I can see the argument that it is more
applicable, because new opportunities are created,
but that doesn't seem to be so. The world eats
a whole lot more black pepper than white pepper
every year, which indicates the increased versatility
is accompanied by less competence in its principal
function -- sort of like the relationship between
white chocolate and dark chocolate.

However, as predicted, I knew exactly which flavor
I was searching for when I woke up this morning.
Duh! [Hits self on head!]

On Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:09:12 -0800, Mark Thorson >
wrote:

>The world eats
>a whole lot more black pepper than white pepper
>every year, which indicates the increased versatility
>is accompanied by less competence in its principal
>function -- sort of like the relationship between
>white chocolate and dark chocolate.

IMO: White pepper is more like black pepper than "white chocolate" is
like real chocolate.

A black peppercorn is picked when still green and dried in the sun
until it turns black. A white peppercorn ripens fully on the vine
before it is picked. http://www.ochef.com/569.htm

Officially white chocolate cannot be called "chocolate" because it
does not contain chocolate liquor. Good white chocolate contains
cocoa butter, sugar, milk solids, vanilla, and lecithin.
http://www.joyofbaking.com/WhiteChocolate.html

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Giusi wrote:
>
> There is an experimental chef couple currently working on various
> dumplings/gnocchi when what they're really producing are gnudi. It's a
> problem when people out of a culture try to work to alter within it. They
> think they are flying off into new territory while they're actually doing
> things that have been done foir years, they just don't know the words.

I was thinking about substituting a court boullion
for the salt water, but now I don't know! I might
be committing some foul crime for which the saints
of gnudi will torment me for the rest of my life!

On Tue, 11 Dec 2007 21:14:57 -0800, Mark Thorson >
wrote:

>I was thinking about substituting a court boullion
>for the salt water, but now I don't know!

*Court* bullion? Ugh!

> I might
>be committing some foul crime for which the saints
>of gnudi will torment me for the rest of my life!

Most likely, so don't give into temptation.

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