Bistro Products

Sweet Gnocchi

A fusion of the typically Belgian “Speculoos” biscuit and an Italian dumpling. The gnocchi can be served with spicy main courses or form the base for an exciting dessert with ice cream and melted speculoos paste. Preparation Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

1 egg
60 g sugar
30 g (2 Tbsp) mascarpone cheese
90 g flour (or more, as needed, see instructions below)
50 g speculoos
1/4 tsp salt
a 1 tsp-sized piece of butter
Preparation:

Grind the speculoos finely. You can do this in your food processor, or just put the cookies in a ziploc bag and run a rolling pin over it until finely ground (excellent stress-relief, too). You should get about half a cup of crumbs.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the egg, sugar and mascarpone cheese, and whisk together well. Add in the cookie crumbs, salt and half the flour, and blend together with a fork. The mixture will get quite thick. Add in the rest of the flour progressively, until you get a dough that’s still somewhat sticky, but not so sticky you can’t work with it at all. You may need to add more than stated in the ingredients list above, depending on the precision of your measures and also the size of the egg you used (small, medium, large or jumbo).
Put the bowl of dough in the fridge to rest for about an hour. Turn it out on a floured work surface or, better yet, a silicon baking mat. Working with two small spoons, form gnocchi-shaped dumplings, not too big (they will expand in size when poached). At this point, if you find the dough still too sticky to work with, add in more flour.
Bring water to a gentle boil in a large saucepan. Using a small spoon, gently drop in the gnocchi. Try to do this quickly so they’ll all be ready at about the same time. You may want to work in batches.
Leave them in for about four minutes : poaching time will depend on the size of your gnocchi, but they’re ready about two minutes after they’ve bobbed to the surface. Take one out with a slotted spoon, wait for it to cool slightly and probe it gently with your finger. It should still be firm, with a little softness in the center.
When ready, take them all out and transfer to a colander to drain for a few minutes, then onto a greased plate. Repeat with the remaining dough. The gnocchi can be prepared ahead up to this point : cover and store in the fridge.
Just before serving, heat up a little butter or olive oil in a frying pan (non-stick) and reheat the gnocchi, sautéing them until golden. Serve immediately.

Rosemary & Bistro Tea Poached Chicken Breast

This lemon rosemary poached chicken breast recipe is very light, but not lacking in great taste. The flavourful poaching liquid gently cooks the breasts, and is then reduced to make an easy sauce to top this tender chicken. My advice in choice of Bistro Tea: Green (Lemon grass, Peppermint) or Herbal. Preparation Time: 15 minute
Cooking Time: 20 minutes.

1 cup white wine, ½ cup of fresh cream
2 cups chicken stock (use 1 cube)
2 Bistro Tea pods
2 sprigs rosemary, 1/2 onion, sliced
salt to taste, pinch of fresh ground black pepper
pinch of cayenne
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tbsp butter & 1 tbsp flour
2 tbsp of olive oil
lemon wedges & another 2 sprigs rosemary to garnish
Starch: 4 cups cooked mashed potatoes/pasta/rice.
Preparation:

Add the wine, chicken broth, rosemary sprigs, onion, ¼ tsp salt, black pepper, cayenne and tea pods to a pan (just large enough to fit the 4 chicken breasts). Bring to a simmer over high heat, and add chicken breasts.
Turn the heat down to very low, and simmer the chicken breasts gently for 10-12 minutes, or until cooked through. The chicken breast will spring back lightly when poked. Do not overcook the chicken breasts or they can get dry.

When done, remove the breasts. Place them on a plate and cover with foil.

Turn the heat up and boil the liquid for 5 minutes to reduce to half.

Strain the liquid and keep warm.

Rinse the pan & melt the butter, add the flour and whisk until dough texture.This is called “Roux”.

Add the liquid to the roux & boil for 2 more minutes while adding the cream (adjust the thickness of the liquid to your own preference).

Taste for salt and add the other ¼ tsp (to own preference).

Heat up the olive oil in a frying pan (just large enough to fit the 4 chicken breasts) on high heat and “flash” fry (just to brown the outside) the breasts.

Place a serving of cooked starch into each of 4 shallow bowls. Slice the breasts into 5 or 6 pieces each, and arrange over the starch (dividing it between the 4 portions).

Spoon the sauce on the side of the dish (don’t poor over the breast as this would destroy the overall presentation).

Serve hot with extra lemon wedges and rosemary sprigs as garnish.