-Lebanese Proverb

I haven’t posted a recipe in quite some time now. I thought this would be a good recipe to pick it back up with. I learned this from my lebanese mother-in-law.

Lebanese Maccarun Mensytatoum
Translation - Gnocchis with Garlic Sauce

The dough is so very simple to make. It’s only 3 cups of flour and 1 cup of water, salt to taste. Mix the flour and water as much as you can. When it becomes too gooey to stir, dig in with your hands and knead it until it forms into dough. If it’s sticking to your fingers, add a little more flour. If it’s flaking into pieces, add a little more water. Once you have it at the right consistency cover the bowl with a towel and let it set for 30 minutes.

Next comes the fun part! Break off quarter sized pieces and roll into a ball that fits into your cupped palm.

Place the ball on a floured piece of parchment and press with a fork.

Pull the fork towards you so that the dough rolls and wraps up around the fork, creating a jagged little pocket in the middle of the dough ball. (This is what holds the sauce in the gnocchi)

And voila… you have a gnocchi.

Once you have the entire ball of dough rolled into gnocchis and a big pot of water brought to a boil, dump the gnocchis into the boiling water. Once the gnocchis begin floating in the boiling water, drain them.

The sauce is simple, too. 1/4 cup Oil (whatever kind you prefer) 1/4 cup lemon juice and 5 cloves of garlic. Dump that onto the drained gnocchis, stir and serve!

These are somewhat time consuming, but so delicious and easy to make. It’s great to make when you don’t have time to run to the market because who doesn’t always have flour in the house? Flour and water is all you need! You can use whatever sauce you like or add some cheese. Get creative, they’re really fun and easy to make.

Enjoy!

-Mark Twain

Last night, my family decided to take my sister-in-law, Lindi, and me out for our birthdays.  They are still a few weeks away, but with them being in town, it seemed the perfect opportunity to party.

The evening began with The Melting Pot.  This was a first for me.  I’ve long been a devoted fan of fondue, but never made it a priority to go experience The Melting Pot.  It was incredible!  With 4 courses, 3 of them being different kinds of fondue, the evening left me stuffed, happy, and anxious to go home and try to mix my own cheddar cheese, beer, worcestershire sauce and garlic.

After we finished our amazing dinner we walked down to the river and watched the dancing water show for a while until the sun set and I was able to snap this amazing photo of this beautiful city that I live in.  Everytime I drive through the tunnels and they open up to downtown, it takes my breath away and I’m reminded of why I will never ever move from here again.

After literally hours of attempting to get to the log-on page of this blog, I finally am successful!  This is cause for celebration. 

Anyway, I haven’t posted about cooking since, well, my first post ever.  Here’s another dish I have recently come to love.  I set out to make a cream sauce for pasta and came up with a wonderfully delicious meal.  It’s a Portabella Cream Sauce.

I used Baby Bella’s and some large Portabella’s.  I sauteed them in EVO Oil, Garlic and sea salt until cooked.  Then I added 1 shot of vodka and simmered until the liquid was gone.

I let the pasta cook while the mushrooms were cooking.

When the pasta finished cooking, I drained it, put it back in the pot added a small container of light cream and the cooked mushrooms.  I just cooked the pasta + cream + mushrooms until the cream thickened, added some Asiago cheese and that was it!  So easy, and SO declicious.

And of course, as with almost every meal I make, I have to make a salad.  I always make my own dressing.  It simply consists of EVO Oil, White Vinegar, granulated garlic, lemon juice and oregano.  I always add shredded Asiago, Parmesan and Romano cheese, too.  For the greens, I use Green Leaf Lettuce, Parsley, Cilantro and Chives. 

And for the record, I bought an Herb Mincer… and I detest it!  It seriously just squished the chives until all the juice was running out of them and the chive itself was unrecognizable.  Anyone know of one that actually works??

Today is the beginning of ShannyLee.com.  The beginning of something wonderful, I must say.  Thanks to Rob I have this beautiful blog to start this new era in my life.  Here, I will be documenting all of my creative endeavors whether it be through crafts, painting, drawing, photography or even cooking.  

Today I’m just going to post pictures of my favorite meal to cook.  I sort of made it up as I went, so I don’t have a name for it.  I’ll just describe it for you through pictures and a few words…

I wanted a light, fresh, organic sauce for my pasta.  With the above ingredients I set out to accomplish just that!  After chopping up my tomatoes, garlic and white pearl onions, adding some spices and extra virgin olive oil, it looked like this…

Then I added some mushrooms and the end result was this…

We enjoyed the pasta along with a salad and homemade lemon garlic dressing…

I love cooking.  I especially love cooking from scratch.  I feel most creative when I cook a meal that I make up as I go and it turns out to be delicious.  It’s fun to experiment, too.  Everytime I go to the market, I buy a different spice that I have never used before and make a dish using it that week.  It’s proven to be quite entertaining!

Once I get into the swing of painting and sewing again, I’ll post my progress.  I just need to find the time!