Welcome to a new featured series on Mangia McCann: Top Chef Tuesdays! I’m a huge fan of the show and every Tuesday I’m going to come up with a challenge based upon the prior week’s episode. I will try and keep spoiler alerts to a minimum. Be sure to check out my Instagram TV page for associated video content.
Week 5’s Quickfire Challenge was a bit of a mystery. The cheftestants had to cook with roses or rose water and Padma never told the chefs (on TV, anyway) how long they had to complete the challenge. The first call-out by the chefs was like 23 minutes, so I gave myself 30 minutes to come up with a dish.
I’ve only cooked with rose once in my life and it was in a long slow braise. I had to eat some to get an idea of the flavor. Dried rose is gross, kind of soapy, and doesn’t taste like it smells. I decided to grind some dried rose and steep it in hot water to bloom and whip them into ricotta gnudi.
Why gnudi? Because the challenge was for the chefs to also honor their mothers. What is gnudi? Think of it as cooked, but naked tortellini filling; the cousin of gnocchi. I decided to make an Italian offering of gnudi with pickled vegetables over arugula and with a tomato vinaigrette. I don’t have an exact recipe for the vinaigrette or any of these items as I was flying by the seat of my pants. But, below is an attempt to re-create the dish - however, I’m taking the rose out of the gnudi, because it didn’t really do anything for the flavor.
Gnudi with Pickled Vegetable Salad
Pickled Vegetables
Fennel
Red onion
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp honey
Red pepper flakes
Mustard seed
1 tsp red pepper flakes
Salad
Arugula
English cucumber
2 tomatoes
Whole grain mustard
Rose water (optional)
Extra-virgin olive oil
Pickled vegetables (see above)
Tarragon, snipped
Ricotta gnudi
16 oz ricotta cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
1 egg, lightly beaten
Flour
In a saucepan, combine all but the vegetables, and whisk to combine. Season with salt and black pepper and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, thinly slice half of each the red onion and fennel and place them into a jar. When the pickling liquid comes to a boil, pour into the jar over the sliced vegetables. Chop some fennel fronds and stalks and push down the sliced vegetables. Let cool to room temperature. Cover tightly with the lid and place in the refrigerator.
Bring a pot of heavily salted water to a boil.
While the pickle cools, using a mandoline, thinly slice the length of an English cucumber into 1/8-inch ribbons. Reserve.
Using a box grater, shred the tomato into a sieve over a bowl. Push the juice through the sieve and season with sea salt. Combine the tomato juice with 2-3 tbsp rose water and emulsify with evoo and a tablespoon of mustard. Season with salt and black pepper and adjust as necessary.
Stir together the first 3 gnudi ingredients and season aggressively with salt and pepper. Add in about 3/4 cup of flour and stir to combine; adding more flour until it forms a cohesive mass; like a very thick pudding. Using a small scoop or 2 spoons, make little dumpling-sized portions. Drop the gnudi into the boiling water and boil until the gnudi rise to the top of the pot, testing for doneness after a few minutes.
To plate, make a round with the cucumber ribbon. Dress the arugula and place into the cucumber round. Sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper. Top with pickled vegetables and a gnudi or two. Drizzle with some dressing and olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt.
______________________________ Copyright 2021, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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