Paremasan Custard display

Ricotta Gnocchi with Smoked tomato sauce.

Ricotta Gnocchi, is a classic dish which I truly enjoy doing. The ingredients that are used in this dish needs to be followed carefully, for good results. The ingredients are:
Ricotta Cheese 1/4 tub
Flour 6oz (can add more if needed)
Fresh chopped herbs (oregano, thyme, parsely) 2oz
Smoked tomato sauce 12oz
Fontina cheese 8oz
Egg whole 2ea
Egg yolk 1ea
Salt 2oz

The ricotta gnocchi are made by, mixing the ricotta cheese, egg yolk and whole eggs. Once you find it’s thoroughly mixed add in the flour & salt, according to consistency add more. In a large pan pour water and let it simmer for sometime. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag and cut about 1 inch from the tip to make a hole in the sharp end of the piping bag (use disposable piping bag). Now gently pipe, the mixture into the simmering water. As you are piping into the water cut the gnocchi mixture about 1inch, and let it fall into the water. I would advise to check consistency by sampling one of the cooked gnocchi. Once you think it is right (the gnocchi should hold firm in the water), start to cook the rest of the batch. You can know if the gnocchi is cooked, when it starts to float on the surface of the water. Once it starts to float transfer to a sheet tray and let it cool in the refrigerator. In the meanwhile you can prepare smoked tomato sauce. (It is the same as making tomato sauce but the tomato’s are smoked before they are made into a sauce).
For serving place 1oz of smoked tomato sauce on the bottom of the dish, and place 10 each gnocchi and again cover with the sauce. Sprinkle grated fontina cheese and bake in convection oven or a clay oven at 400*F, until you get a golden brown color. Once done garnish with fresh oregano.

Handpulled Mozzarella with Heirloom tomato salad

When there is a combination of harmony with respect to color, taste, presentation, this is the right salad that I prefer. I prefer hand pulled mozzarella to the one’s that you can get at the supermarket, as this is more soft and can be salted to your satisfaction. To have a soft mozzarella on your plate you need to boil a pot of hot water (roll boil), pour half the quantity of water into a flat pan and crumble the mozzarella curd into this hot water. The remaining hot water needs to be kept on the stove top with the gas burning so that you have some reserve if you need, leave the curd in the hot water for about 4 minutes and let it loosen. Before you can start doing anything with the curd, wear about 3 layers of vinyl gloves to protect your hand form the hot water. Once you are ready gently pull the mozzarella and roll them into equal round balls. Make sure to release the air trapped inside them when you are rolling, by gently spreading the surface with you thumb. Once that is done immerse them in cold water (not good to put in ice water as it will become hard), so that it retains the shape. The heirloom tomato has to be cut into quarters and marinated in olive oil, sea salt & pepper. The mozzarella cheese also has to be cut into equal quarters once it is set. The cheese has to get the same marination. On the plate spread basil pesto and around the pesto sprinkle aged balsamic vinaigrette. Both the cheese and the heirloom tomato that is marinated needs to be placed alternatively on a plate. It can be garnished with brioche croutons and also pieces of basil.