Welcome back, Kitchen Parade!
Long-time Region readers will remember when my Mom, Shirley Kellogg, introduced this column in 1959.
Mom was a young wife and new mother then, also a home economist finding her place in a small town. Week in, week out, she wrote the column for twelve years and only stopped when our family moved.
When my parents returned to Baudette some years later, Mom was pleased when women would stop her on the street to welcome her home and add, “I got my favorite recipe for such-‘n’-such from your column.”
My father, my sister Adanna and I remember that during the Kitchen Parade years, meals could be, errr, interesting at our house.
But perhaps it was the rich mosaic of Mom’s cooking that instilled in me an appreciation for simple food cooked well.
With the events of September 11th and my mother’s death in May, I began to consider a career change. I’ve fixed upon a recipe column – you guessed it, called Kitchen Parade – for small-town newspapers like the Region. You’re reading the debut column. Wish me luck – better yet, send your favorite recipe!
Pronounced “NO-kee” and meaning “dumpling” in Italian, this unusual side dish became a family hit a year ago. My cousin Sharon made it twice a week that spring! Few guess the “secret” ingredient, cream of wheat.
CHEESE GNOCCHI PIE
Hand-on time: 15 minutes
Total preparation time: 45 minutes
- 2 cups milk
- 1/2 cup cream of wheat
- 1/4 cup butter, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Dash cayenne pepper
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 egg, beaten
Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9-inch glass pie pan or ceramic quiche dish with cooking spray. Heat but do not boil the milk in a double boiler. Add the cream of wheat, butter, salt and cayenne pepper. Heat thoroughly, stirring frequently, until butter melts. Remove from heat.
Add cheddar cheese. Add 1 tablespoon of the hot mixture to the beaten egg and stir. Repeat four times. Add egg mixture to hot mixture. (This process prevents the hot mixture from cooking the egg too quickly, which can cause lumps.) Pour into prepared pan and bake 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Whole milk makes a rich, creamy version while skim milk creates a slightly grainier texture that is also delicious. If you double the ingredients for a thicker pie, do not double the salt.
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I know your mother would be very pleased that you have followed in her career footsteps. I am probably around your Mother's age. I will be 89 on Sept. 16.
Either way, gnocchi are one of the best additions for ham-Great Northern bean soup. It just isn't ham-bean soup without gnocchi. We have made my mother-in-law's recipe with homemade flour, salt and egg dumplings, but my husband and I prefer gnocchi. Can you say Mmmmmm?!
For these many years my husband's Italian-American family has made fun of the name (while enjoying the dish nonetheless) - his Mom makes what they call "real" gnocchis (small potato dumplings, pronounced nyuck'-ees) by hand.
However, I recently found a recipe in a 1996 Lorenza de'Medici book on the traditional regional cooking of Italy for "Gnocchi alla Romana", with similar ingredients and preliminary preparation, though it calls for semolina instead of the branded Cream of Wheat (which is the same thing, basically) and the finishing prep is different/more complicated. So there is some authenticity here, just 'American-ized'!
Maybe this is 'one-pot' gnocchi, versus the individual dumplings? How convenient!
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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. But I also love hearing your reactions, your curiosity, even your concerns! When you've made a recipe, I especially love to know how it turned out, what variations you made, what you'll do differently the next time. ~ Alanna