I make danishes now! And proper potato gnocchi, instead of the cheat's ricotta kind. I've been tackling a bunch of bucket list recipes on wet weekends and while I've been feeling nervous about spending too much time out of the house (again).
One Saturday I made potato gnocchi, which was no where near as fussy as I figured it would be (a potato ricer helps!). And it was nice to try the winter gnocchi recipe from Ostro because I love the summer one so much. Our new weekend ritual is to buy a house brand bottle of red wine from Blackhearts & Sparrow (always under $15 and good) to go with our fancier than usual dinner. I love having new rituals in this weird time.
But of all the things I've made lately, I'm most proud of my cream cheese danishes! I bought myself a NY Times Cooking subscription a few months ago and have been using it at least once a week. A little while ago, I saw these danishes on Instagram and thought they were beautiful. I've never wanted to make pastries before because it looks so hard but the recipe promised to take just half an hour to make the dough.
The recipe seemed so straightforward I wasn't sure the danishes would actually work. The next morning I filled them with cream cheese, left them out to proof before baking. We treated ourselves to some bake at home croissants from a local bakery early on in the pandemic, so I also froze some danishes to see if they'd work in the same way. They totally do - which is a win for lazy weekends. It also means I can add them to food care packages for friends.
Ta da! We loved eating hot and crunchy danishes very soon after they came out of the oven. I can't wait to make them for my parents - we used to have a Sunday pastry tradition growing up. Hopefully travelling between Sydney and Canberra becomes safer again soon.
It's been really lovely to take a break from cooking mainly work-related recipes and using cookbooks and the internet instead. It's probably my main way to unwind and get off my phone and away from the news. Last weekend I also tried this coconut-gojuchang glazed chicken after seeing it mentioned a couple times in interviews and newsletters. Basically all the cool girls on the internet were making it. It's really delicious and easy and deserving of the hype :)
In between all the eating and cooking, we've been watching a ton of TV. Lately The Great, Normal People and Love Life - clearly making the most of our Stan trial :)
I'm also loving a Facebook group my coworkers tipped me off too. It's called Food Cuties and it's an Australian group for people who love food, home cooking and swapping recipes. I saw an ABC Life recipe posted the other day, with someone describing it as "the tits". Made me laugh!
Hope you're keeping warm and well wherever you are.
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