tom foolery

I feel like as much as i've been cooking lately i have REALLY been neglecting my blog. I'm not sure if it was excitement over the release of Julie and Julia or a week of walking around the strip district in Pittsburgh and all of my culinary adventures there, but I've been so pumped I've been taking D lunch at work just to be able to cook twice a day! (now if this urge could only translate over to cleaning also....)

This evening I made fish tacos (panko breaded, baked tilapia for D) and a triple sec, honey lime shrimp tacos for both of us...is that food name dropping? in jest (i hope) i was told i was a food name dropper and i'm not sure how to take it honestly...makes me feel as though i've been pretentious which i'm really not trying to be...more just like passionate ;-)

While in Morgantown Saturday I picked up some homemade gnocchi from Nonna's Bakery...I was concerned about how it would turn out because it thawed on the way home (I foolishly made several stops and forgot to stick it in my freezer bag...) so I left it in the fridge and the last thing I wanted was for it to be gross as a result.

Happily, it turned out quite well....I browned butter with some jullienned fresh sage thrown in there until slightly crispy, and tossed the cooked gnocchi in to brown up a little then i shredded some romano on top. it was quite excellent and while looking for some gnocchi inspiration i came across a recipe for pumpkin gnocchi (also with the brown butter and sage) which i am anxious to try. I had purchased some little neck clams Saturday also, so after I poured the gnocchi into our bowls, I gave the skillet a quick wipe and threw the clams in the same pan...a little dab of butter and some red wine went in there too - then i just covered them until they opened up and dumped the whole thing onto D's dish.

I was on a streak and made dinner 7 night in a row but D REALLLY wanted Muriale's so I obliged. I must say though, I've been so pumped about cooking that it almost tarnished my dining experience...notice I said almost - we are talking about Muriale's afterall, and there were meatballs involved.