Cooking with Barbara Lynch: Google+ Hangout

Renowned chef Barbara Lynch demonstrated one of her delicious recipes in a Google+ Hangout! 

The demonstration took place on Thursday, October 18, at 5 p.m. Thanks to everyone who joined us! Here's the recorded video:



What did they cook?
Celebrity chef Barbara Lynch, who recently began a partnership with the Aquarium, is committed to using fresh, local, healthy ingredients, and to children’s nutrition. She is sharing her philosophy and a delicious, easy recipe for gnudi and tomato sauce with the Aquarium's members and fans.

Get the recipes
Here are the recipes Barbara demonstrated.
You can also download them as a PDF (343 KB).

Ricotta Gnudi
Serves 8

1 pound fresh ricotta, drained if very wet
3/4 cup to 1 cup all purpose flour,
plus more as needed
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (optional)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
In a large mixing bowl, combine the ricotta, 3/4 cup

of the flour, the egg, cheese, salt and pepper. Use a wooden spoon to mix ingredients together well. Lightly flour your work surface and a baking sheet for holding the shaped gnudi. With floured hands knead the ricotta mixture briefly; it will be quite wet and sticky at this point. Dump the mixture out onto your work surface. Cut off a piece of the gnudi dough and try rolling it into a 3/4-inch-thick log. If you can’t get it to roll, add a little more flour to the dough and try again. You want as little flour as possible to keep these together so the resulting gnudi will be light and ethereal. Cut the log into 1-inch pieces and then form into little balls. If you have a gnudi board, hold it at a 45-degree angle over your floured baking sheet and roll each ball down the length of it to give the gnudi grooves. As the gnudi nears the end of the board, let it drop onto the baking sheet. If you don’t have a gnudi board, hold a fork, tines facing down, and roll the ball down the length of the tines. Repeat until all of the dough is rolled and cut. Freeze the gnudi for about 1 hour. (Because they are so soft, they are much easier to handle when frozen, so do this even if you plan to use them soon.)

To serve, bring a large pot of well-salted water to a gentle boil. In batches, drop the gnudi into the water and cook until they float, about 1 to 2 minutes. As each batch cooks, remove them with a slotted spoon and keep them warm or transfer them directly to the sauce they are being served with. Serve with Odd Fellow Marinara.

Odd Fellow Marinara
Makes about 4 cups

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, plus more to taste
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, preferably
imported San Marzano tomatoes
Kosher salt
2 or 3 fresh basil leaves
Black pepper, freshly ground

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and crushed red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is just tender but not colored, about 8 minutes. Add the wine, increase the heat to medium-high and cook for a few minutes until it’s reduced by about half. Add the tomatoes with their juices and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Simmer for about 10 minutes, stir in the basil and season with a few grinds of pepper and additional salt and red pepper flakes if needed.

Recipe Source: 
Stir: Mixing It Up in the Italian Tradition by Barbara Lynch (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

(Photos: J. Ide)