While I do my best to keep this space relatively free of my personal angst, today was really crappy, and I need to tell someone about it. It was the kind of day where I talk to my mother on the phone three times in the span of a few hours: one call to deal with some straightforward, wedding-related business, the second where she calls me back after we get cut off (bad cell reception up north) and I regress to levels of 11th grade petulance and take all of my frustrations out on her but don’t actually tell her why I’m acting out, and a third when I call back later to apologize. In short, it’s the kind of day for which comfort foods, such as gnocchi, were invented.

You see, I’ve been doing everything that I can since we returned from California to land a bread baking job with a reputable bakery to keep me working whenever I’m not in school. That was the point of going to school for bread first – so I could get a lot of bread work in while I continue my education in pastry. It’s a niche field and sometimes its a little tough to get a gig, what with the waiting for a slot to open up, but I never dreamed it would get to be so frustrating.

I’ve spent the last month working on getting hired by two of the top bakeries in NYC. I met with the chef of the first, a small place, and there will be a job eventually, but it’s going to take some time. I got impatient and started pursuing a job at the second place, which does a larger -scale production and has many more employees, including one of my pals from bread class. I interviewed, got scheduled for a trial run, only to have it be rescheduled a number of times. Then it was cancelled. A week went by before they got back in touch with me to come in for another interview.

That’s when I became a bit miffed, because while bread-making is complicated, those on the lowest rung (my rung) of the totem pole are not expected to be rocket scientists. All I want now is to get back into bread production, so I cranked out some resume copies and headed back over to the bakery, where I proceeded to wait for 45 minutes before my 4 minute interview with the man who runs the show (and who, by the way, was not particularly busy during that 45 minutes of waiting) took place.

It was an uncomfortable four minutes. First, the he told me I should pay him for the privilege of working there. He asked me questions like, “what do you like about baking?” Which forced me to produce a cooking reality show style answer that made me want to gag. Then he grilled me about my previous career in business, which didn’t really seem relevant in the context of the job I was after. The last thing he did, and I’m not sure which is more sad – his audacity or that I actually obliged – he told me to let him feel my muscles. And, not taking the time to absorb the utter inappropriateness of the request, I removed my jacket and produced the guns. He squeezed up and down, not just one, but both of my arms, from wrist to armpit. I felt icky for the rest of the day.

I know that you need a thick skin in this industry, and now I can’t tell if I’m being too sensitive, or what. The worst part is, I want to bake bread so badly that I’ll probably end up working for this creep for free if I have to, self-respect be damned. That’s what makes me really want to cry. I can take someone being cruel and demeaning me if my work is sub-par. But this four minute interrogation had nothing to do with my skills – my trial run had been cancelled. I was still digesting what had happened, and why, exactly, it was making me feel so crappy, when my mother called. Later that day, I found out Gourmet magazine is to be cancelled – how incredibly depressing.

Ugh, that was a lot of heavy unloading, right? I’m really, truely sorry about that, and I probably just drove away half the EVK fan base. I’m going to go to the kitchen right now to roll out some of the leftover gnocchi dough from our last dinner party and make myself a nice bowl of tender, cheesy, sweet potato love. If you’re going to drown your sorrows in food, make sure it’s a good one, and these will surely cure what ails you.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Sage Brown Butter
Adapted from Bon Appetit, December 2005

This is a very large recipe, designed for making plates and plates of gnocchi as an entree. It’s such a rich dish, I can’t imagine serving or eating a whole plate of it. I made it as a dinner party appetizer and each person was satisfied with just 8 small gnocchi. The brown butter with sage is really rich and delicious, the perfect accompaniment to the very strong sweet potato flavor. Be careful not to overwork the dough, just mix the flour enough to incorporate it, otherwise your gnocchi will be rubbery. I found it helpful to wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for an hour before dividing and rolling, it made the dough a lot easier to handle. Also, be warned, this dough sticks to parchment that is not heavily floured.

Serving size: 10-12 appetizer portions, or even more

2 1-pound red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams), rinsed, patted dry,
pierced all over with fork
1 12-ounce container fresh ricotta cheese, drained in sieve 2 hours
1
cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)
2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
2 teaspoons plus 2 tablespoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 3/4 cups (about) all purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
6 tablespoons chopped fresh sage plus whole leaves for garnish

Line large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place sweet potatoes on
plate; microwave on high until tender, about 5 minutes per side. Cut
in half and cool. Scrape sweet potato flesh into medium bowl and mash;
transfer 3 cups to large bowl. Add ricotta cheese; blend well. Add
Parmesan cheese, brown sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, and nutmeg; mash to
blend. Mix in flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, until soft dough forms.

Turn dough out onto floured surface; divide into 6 equal pieces (you can also choose to wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour at this point).
Rolling between palms and floured work surface, form each piece into
20-inch-long rope (about 1 inch in diameter), sprinkling with flour as
needed if sticky. Cut each rope into 20 pieces. Roll each piece over
tines of fork to indent. Transfer to baking sheet.

Bring large pot of water to boil; add 2 tablespoons salt and return to
boil. Working in batches, boil gnocchi until tender, 5 to 6 minutes.
Transfer gnocchi to clean rimmed baking sheet. Cool completely. (Can
be made 4 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)

Preheat oven to 300°F. Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over
medium-high heat. Cook until butter solids are brown and have toasty
aroma, swirling pan occasionally, about 5 minutes.

Add chopped sage (mixture will bubble up). Turn off heat. Season sage
butter generously with salt and pepper.

Transfer half of sage butter to large skillet set over medium-high
heat. Add half of gnocchi. Sauté until gnocchi are heated through,
about 6 minutes. Empty skillet onto rimmed baking sheet; place in oven
to keep warm. Repeat with remaining sage butter and gnocchi.

Divide gnocchi and sauce among shallow bowls. Garnish with sage leaves.

Three weeks ago, my friend Eric sent around an invite to a scotch tasting party. Then, the week of the party, he and Brian found themselves on a flight bound for an impromptu work week in Ireland and the party was postponed until this weekend. For obvious reasons, the party morphed into a scotch and Irish whiskey tasting party, but I didn’t hear anyone complaining.

I had fun expanding my Irish whiskey repertoire beyond the bounds of Jamesons (although I’ll admit, it’s going to take a little more time for me to acquire a taste for Connemara peated single malt), and with the Michel Couvreur 12 year scotch, it was love at first sip.

When Eric requested cookies for the party, I began thinking about flavors and textures that would pair well with the booze. Chocolate is an obvious choice, and Eric had requested the double chocolate cookies specifically, but I wanted to bring something else along with those chocolate monsters. 

These cookies, with their tender crumble, subtle salty-sweetness, and intense butter flavor, with just a hint of sage were the perfect accompaniment to the scotch and provided a nice contrast to the array of chocolate treats. 

I made them a bit chunkier than they were intended, as they were finger food for a party and it’s hard to commit to one large cookie when there are so many others to try (so many cookies, so little time…sigh). I was pleased when one guest asked to take some with her as she was leaving. Having brought all of the cookies to Eric’s, I’m now wishing I had saved just one for an afternoon tea snack. Guess I’ll have to make these again.

Sage-Scented Shortbread
adapted from Bon Appetit, November 2007 

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

4 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh sage leaves (this is doubled from the original recipe, but I think does a better job of providing the “scent” of sage without it being overpowering)

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch-thick pieces, room temperature

Blend first 4 ingredients in processor. Add butter; using on/off turns, process until dough comes together. Divide in half. Shape each dough piece into log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter (I shaped  the dough using a piece of waxed paper to squeeze and roll it into logs before wrapping them tightly in plastic wrap). Chill until firm enough to slice, about 30 minutes.

Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Cut each dough log into 1/3- to 1/2-inch-thick rounds; place on sheets. Bake 10 minutes. Reverse sheets so bottom sheet is on top rack of oven and top sheet is on bottom rack. Bake until cookies are golden, about 15 minutes longer. Cool on racks.