The Gastrokid Cookbook: Feeding a Foodie Family in a Fast-Food World by Hugh Garvey, Matthew Yeomans

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Table of Contents

View a Recipe

FAUX PASTOR

The taco is our household's favorite way of using up leftovers: any little bit of last night's protein (be it fish, chicken, pork, beef) can be chopped up, seasoned in a vaguely Mexican manner, and then served with fresh chopped cilantro, red onion, salsa, and a squeeze of lime. The trick is to chop the meat finely, season it well, and then fry it over high heat in copious amounts of olive oil to give it a richness and crispness that allows a little meat to go a long way.

Makes 4 Servings

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups roughly chopped leftover chicken
Chili powder
Pimentón de la vera (smoked paprika)
Cumin
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Warm corn tortillas
Chopped fresh cilantro
Onion
Salsa
Lime wedges

Heat the olive oil in large heavy pan until smoking. Add the chicken and spices. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken crisps up. Serve on warm corn tortillas with chopped fresh cilantro, onion, salsa, and a squeeze of lime.

GNUDI

We've recently been experimenting with variations on the gnudi from Spotted Pig restaurant in New York City. This version there is made with sheep's milk ricotta, which we have no easy access to. The version at the Spotted Pig is light, pillowy, unctuous, and somehow seemingly weightless, despite being loaded with fat and sauced with about a 1/4 cup of sagey brown butter. This stuff is by no means healthy, but if you refrain from feeding your kids Big Macs and the like, once in a while a dish like this is ideal. The kids adore it. But then again, much like all children, they are cheese freaks.

Makes 4 Servings

15 ounces ricotta, drained
1large egg, beaten
3/4 cup flour
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
A few gratings nutmeg
1/2 stick butter
12 or so sage leaves
1/4 cup grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese

In a large bowl mix together the ricotta, egg, flour, salt, pepper, and nutmeg until just combined. Using a tablespoon, scoop up a good measure of the mixture and roll into a sphere, much like making a little ricotta snowball roughly 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place on a floured surface. Repeat until you have a whole mess of little gnudi, made in as uniform a size and shape as possible. At this point you should refrigerate the gnudi for at least a half hour before proceeding. You can also freeze them for future use.
Bring a pot of salted water to a gentle boil, add the gnudi, and cook until they float to the surface.
While the gnudi are gently boiling, melt the butter in a saucepan until it has foamed, the foam has subsided, and the butter starts to turn a honeyed sort of brown. Add the sage leaves and cook, stirring a bit, until super fragrant and a bit crisp.
Once the gnudi is cooked, divide it among bowls and then top with the browned sage butter, with the crispy sage as a garnish. Top with a serious grating of Parmesan. Serve immediately to deafening applause from children of all ages.

TWO-ZONE SHIITAKE MUSHROOM & PLUM TOMATO PIZZA

Here's a two-zone pizza inspired by two ingredients that always seem to be in the grocery store, no matter what the season. It's not die-hard locavore, but sometimes all you want is a mushroom-and-tomato pizza, no matter what the season.

Makes 4 Servings

1 recipe Basic Pizza Dough (below) or ever happy to cheat, we use Trader Joe's premade pizza dough, the white, not the wheat
Olive oil
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella or 4-cheese blend
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

FOR ZONE 1
Several plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
Several meaty shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced

FOR ZONE 2
(just the cheese)

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Stretch the dough out into a rustic, free-form rectangular shape on an olive-oiled baking sheet. This might take a bit of manipulation and time, but it's important to make it as thin and wide as possible. Spread the cheese thinly all over. Top Zone 1 with the tomatoes and mushrooms. Season all over with salt and pepper.
Bake for 20 minutes or so, until it's as gorgeous as you'd like it to be. You know, brown and crispy on the edges, and everything else bubbling and happy.

BASIC PIZZA DOUGH

All of the ideas that follow start with the same base: a premade or homemade pizza dough stretched out onto an oiled cookie sheet; an oven preheated to 425°F; and a hungry family in a good mood because they know they're having homemade pizza for dinner. The main thing is to really stretch it out on the sheet so that it nearly meets the edges. Too thick and the dough will be too bready. Don't worry about making it circular: we actually think that a rustic rectangle has a more authentic air to it.

Makes enough dough for 1 pizza.

3/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 cups all-purpose fl our
1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons olive oil

In a large bowl, combine the water, milk, and yeast and stir. Add the flour, salt, and olive oil and mix it all up until it begins to form a messy sort of ball of dough.
Flour the counter or table, place the dough on the surface, and start kneading. Fold the dough on itself and knead that. Fold again and knead that. Keep going until it becomes smooth. This might take 5 to 10 minutes, depending on your strength and stamina!
Rub the inside surface of a large metal bowl with a little olive oil, and place the dough ball inside. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel, put it in a warm place, and let the dough rise. In about 1 1/2 hours or so, it will get pretty darned big.
Here's the fun part: punch down the middle with your fist (or let your kid do this!). Turn the dough over so it's a smooth ball, cover again with a kitchen towel, and let it rise another hour. Now you're ready to cook pizza.