Pea Gnocchi with Browned Butter Radishes

Every now and then you find a recipe suits the season perfectly! This is one of those recipes that celebrates spring and all you need to make it is a bag or two of frozen peas, fresh radishes, parsley, butter...and some time. 

Sandy d'Amato, a local, James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurant-owner, writes a weekly food column in our Sunday newspaper. This recipe was one that he featured in his column just a couple of weeks ago.

Since we had the entire family over for a triple birthday celebration Saturday night, I had the perfect excuse to make it.  I did test it on my husband the week before and it was given 2 thumbs up (RIP Roger Ebert).  The recipe is time-consuming, but when I made it for my family, I tried some time-saving steps that worked great.  

The peas need to be blanched, puréed and then pushed through a strainer to remove the outer skin of the peas.  I did this a day ahead.  You also need to bake a couple of potatoes and pass those through a ricer.  I did that a day ahead also.  Then, you need to either make your own clarified butter or buy ghee if your food market carries it.  It was really quite easy to make the clarified butter and I followed instructions I found after doing an online search.  I did that 2 days in advance. 

The morning of the party, I made and boiled the dumplings and sliced the radishes and kept them refrigerated so all I had left to do was sauté the dumplings and radishes - which I did right before everyone arrived and simply lightly reheated them at dinner time. 

  

Pea Gnocchi with Brown Butter Radishes

Adapted from Chef Sandy d'Amato
~from Savoring Time in the Kitchen

Makes 4 servings (about 70 1-inch dumplings)

1 pound Idaho potatoes (two 8-ounce potatoes)
1 pound peas (fresh-shucked or frozen); one-fourth reserved for garnish
1 egg
2 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
3/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces flour (about ¾ cup)
2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 ounces clarified butter
2 tablespoons whole salted butter
8 medium radishes, trimmed and sliced 1/8th inch thick
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
¼ cup loose-pack fresh Italian parsley leaves, cleaned and dried

Bake potatoes 1 hour, until tender.  While still warm,  pass through a ricer or food mill into a bowl.  Cool and refrigerate, if necessary (Can be made a day ahead)

Blanch the ¾ pound peas in boiling salted water 1 minute. Drain and shock in ice water. Dry on a towel and purée in a food processor until fine. Pass through a medium strainer into a bowl to remove all skin (scaping off the bottom of the sieve occasionally to release the all of the strained pea purée.  (Can be made a day ahead).

When ready to make the gnocchi, add the cooled and riced potatoes to the strained peas in a large bowl.

In another bowl, whisk egg with salt, nutmeg and pepper. Add to potatoes and peas and work together. Add flour and mix to just incorporate.  Do not overwork the dough.

Divide the dough into 5 pieces. Dust lightly with flour and roll out each piece with your hands into a rope shape about ½ inch thick and 14 inches long. Cut into 1-inch lengths to yield about 70 dumplings total.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add about a tablespoon of kosher salt to the boiling water.  Quickly add half the dumplings, one by one, so they don't stick together. Turn heat to the lowest setting, cover, and let the dumplings poach 3 minutes. Remove and drain with a skimmer to a rimmed baking sheet. Toss with just enough oil to keep them from sticking together. Repeat with remaining half of dumplings and cool all of them (they may be covered and refrigerated until needed at this point).

When ready to serve, place 2 nonstick saute pans over medium-high heat. Divide clarified butter between pans. When butter is hot, divide dumplings between the pans and sauté 2 to 3 minutes until lightly brown.  Remove the dumplings to a large bowl. 

Divide the whole salted butter between the 2 pans. When the butter browns, divide the radishes and reserved peas between the 2 pans and stir for about a minute. Return the dumplings to the pans. Season lightly with salt and pepper (I love lots of pepper), toss and place on a serving platter.  Garnish with parsley leaves

Dutch Split Pea Soup and a Dutch Masters Evening

The inspiration for making this Dutch Split Pea Soup is this handsome guy who lived from 1606-1674.  I had the most wonderful evening with him last night!

A dear friend, who is a docent at our art museum, asked me to join her for the members' opening lecture and exhibit preview of the new and exciting Jan Lievens Exhibit, a forgotten artist who was a contemporary of Rembrandt. It opens to the public today.

It was like attending a rock concert! We arrived over an hour before the lecture was to begin and there was already a huge line that had formed. The lecture was given by the Washington National Gallery of Art curator Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr. I believe we are only one of three or four cities world-wide to host this wonderful exhibit.

Lievens was a friend of Rembrandt's, being born only one year later and in the same town in Holland. They may have even shared a studio. Lievens painted many portraits of Rembrandt which are featured in the exhibit. It was recently discovered that the man holding the pipe in the following painting is Rembrandt at the tender age of 17 which means Lievens would have done this painting when he was only 16!

Lievens was a brilliant artist whose massive paintings and career became overshadowed by that of Rembrandt's and thus, faded from importance and art history.

He was a prodigy at an early age. He painted the following portrait when he was only 14 yeas old! Can you imagine someone so young being able to depict the facial nuance and character of an older woman? The brush strokes seen in this painting are amazing in person.


The following painting of Rembrandt's mother was purchased by a local area physician in the 1950s thinking it was a Rembrandt. It is now known that it was actually painted by Lievens.


It was breathtaking to see so many of Lievens wonderful paintings face to face and so close you could have touched them. No cordons at our museum!
Hope you enjoyed my mini Lievens art lecture and exhibit :)

In honor of the Dutch Master, here is my favorite recipe for Dutch Split Pea Soup or Erwtensoep~


Erwtensoep (Dutch Split Pea Soup)
Adapted from a recipe in The Junior League Centennial Cookbook

1 pound dried split peas
1 shank or butt end of smoked ham (1-1/2 to 2 pounds)
3 large onions, chopped coarse
1 leek, thoroughly cleaned, halved lengthwise, and sliced crosswise
2 celery ribs, copped coarse
2 carrots, chopped coarse
1 potato, chopped coarse
2 teaspoons thyme
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
4 knockwurst, sliced (optional)
1 tablespoon hickory smoked salt (optional)
¼ cup chopped parsley

If the peas require soaking, soak overnight covered in water. Drain before starting the soup. Combine the ham with the peas and 3 quarts of water in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and cook 30 to 40 minutes, skimming frequently.

Add the onions, leek, celery, carrots and potato. Add the thyme and season well with salt and pepper. Simmer slowly, uncovered, for about 5 hours or until very thick, stirring occasionally.

Remove the ham shank. Discard the bone and cut the meat into small pieces and return to the soup with the optional sliced knockwurst 30 minutes before serving. Add the optional smoked salt and stir in the parsley. Serve with whole-grain bread and sweet butter.

Serves 8