Gnudi in tomato sauce. I tasted many soups

I like reading cookbooks in bed and of course, novels too. But cookbooks are like fiction, for mr at least, anyway. I know they are not the same for most people, even my friends in Manila laughed at me when I confessed this little idea of mine to them.

Two nights ago I was reading the cookbook "At the table with a good appetite" by Melissa Clark that my sister in-law Jane sent for my birthday. I love it. However, on my bedside table, next to this cookbook there is a Collins English dictionary and a notebook to write down the English words I don't know so I am able to understand Melissa's amusing and interesting stories and recipes. For a non-English speaker Melissa Clark is like Charlotte Bronte writing a cookbook. My English vocabulary is slightly increasing though thanks to Jane's present (she also sent me a funny tea towel that says "Too many cookbooks, not enough dinners!"...I pretend I don't get the message).

I wish I could be a really good food writer. That could have been my answer 20 years ago if someone asked me what I wanted to do when I was a grown up. It has taken me a long time to realise it. I have finally found my goal in my professional life. My law degree and Masters in International Relations have given me the structure to think, to speak and to write, and to get a job in the past (who knows what lies ahead, maybe again in the future!).

It is still frustrating though, because I feel I am in between two languages, English and Spanish, and in between two cultures every so often. I don't dominate the first one (and I don't think I will in the future but I am getting better) and I am losing a bit the second one. When I start a sentence in Spanish but I finish it in English or when I have been asked "mum, how do you say xxx? " and I don't remember the Spanish word, I consider myself a Spanglish speaker. 

When I am concentrated in doing something, I totally disconnect from what's around me. And that's not a good idea!  This is the reason why my baked French Toast got burnt...I was reading Melissa's story about how she had tried countless lentil soups but never got the right one. Until she found the perfect recipe she made up based on her friend's one.  Her five senses came in one all together and that's how she knew it was the right lentil soup.

I wonder if my professional attempts in life working in different jobs have come together in this blog, my "perfect lentil soup". Sometimes we just need to taste many soups!

It was Bread and Butter pudding...

This is what I could save!

Aurelia liked it anyway because it was dessert time and Nick too. He didn't have any clue about the burnt top because I removed it but also because he just came home after having a few beers with his friend. I should thank the alcohol.

Ricotta gnudi

Makes 30

• 2 cups of ricotta (recipe in the post of how to make ricotta)
• 1 large egg, beaten to blend
• 1 large egg yolk, beaten to blend
• Salt and black pepper
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup Italian "00" flour

1. Mix ricotta, egg, egg yolk, pepper and salt, and the Parmesan, in a large bowl until well combined. Add the 1/2 cup of flour and stir until the mixture forms a ball. if it is wet, add more flour, by tablespoon.
2. Dust a baking sheet generously with flour and semolina. Shape heaping tablespoonful of dough into football shapes, 2.5cm each.
3. If you are not going to use them straight away, cover them with semolina and place them in the fridge well wrapped in plastic cling film.
4. Cook gnudi in a large pot of boiling salted water. Gnudi will quickly float to surface so cook them for 6 minutes or until tender. 
5. Using a slotted spoon, divide the gnudi among bowls and top with the tomato sauce (recipe below) and more Parmesan.

Gnudi with pomodoro sauce 

My tomato sauce

1. In a big pot, add 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Fry 1kg of brown onions, finely sliced, and 2 chopped garlic cloves. When soft, add 2 cans of 500g of whole tomatoes, season with salt and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Cover partially for 45 minutes, stirring once in a while, or until the oil comes to the surface. Add one tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil and mix it through.
2. Blend it and check for seasoning. It should have a balance of sweet and salty.
3. It freezes well.

Buen provecho!