#semolina

Have you ever wanted to eat a dish that is 70% dairy fat by volume? Have I got the recipe for you!

Tried a recipe tonight from Portico by Leah Koenig, which is about the cuisine of the Jewish community in Rome and has yet to let me down. This is semolina gnocchi gratin, which is semolina prepared with milk, butter, Parmesan, and a couple of egg yolks, cooled until firm, then cut into discs and baked in layers with more butter and Parmesan until golden ("gnocchi" is used somewhat esoterically in this case). I had a little extra so I shaped them into kitty cats and baked them separately.

So far I've tried separate portions with pesto, teriyaki sauce, sauteed mushrooms, and a little pile of Italian beef, and it went with everything. Because it's mostly butter.

[ID: four photographs from tonight's cooking project. Top left, ingredients including whole milk, butter, cheese, semolina, and egg yolks; top right, the mixture awaiting cooling. Center, a baking dish full of golden brown discs fresh from the oven, and finally bottom, a plate with two pieces of baked semolina that have been cut out with a cat shaped cookie cutter, with one upside down to show the browning underneath.]

Mushroom Uttapam (Vegan)

Ramadan is almost over, and I wanted to make something seasonally appropriate, so. Basbousa! It's a coconut/semolina cake soaked in syrup.

The recipe I used here came from King Arthur Flour, but there are a million variations; some use less coconut (or none at all), some use orange essence or rose water in the syrup, etc. It's a very quick and easy recipe to throw together if you've got the ingredients on hand, but I'll probably try to source more semolina and dessicated coconut from a middle eastern grocer.