Rye Bread

After trying Adam Leonti’s (from the Brooklyn Bread Lab) recipe for Boule Bread, I felt I used  his basics to create a wonderful rye bread. Using his Boule Recipe I made a great bread that’s very developed in flavor and texture by taking about a day to prepare the dough. I know that rye flour doesn’t have enough gluten in it to become bread so I used two thirds bread flour. Rye bread isn’t like sour dough but has a slight sour with slight sweet and is accented with caraway seeds. Rye bread is essential bread of choice for pastrami, corned beef, rueben sandwiches and patty melts. Rye bread also goes very well with Swiss Cheese.

Ingredients for about 20 servings

4 1/4 cup bread flour (plus extra for the dough ball to rest in)

2 1/4 cup dark rye flour

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

2 1/2 Tablespoons kosher salt

1 Tablespoon yeast

1/4 cup caraway seeds

3 cups water (use liquid measuring cup)

1/2 cup oil (use liquid measuring cup)

1/4 cup semolina flour (to rest the un-baked loaves on)

Directions

Get out your stand mixer and put all the dry ingredients in the bowl and then slowly add the wet and mix with a spoon before you start up your mixer so the ingredients don’t fly all over. Now put your dough hook on and start out on low and slowly work up to medium high for around ten minutes or until the dough seems very much like elastic.

Now get a large bowl and get your ball of dough and cover it with flour and then wrap the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave the bowl sit out for FOUR hours.

After four hours it will look like this.

Now punch it down and make it into another ball. Cover it again with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for TWELVE hours.

After twelve hours punch the dough down again.

Get out a board and make two loaves.

Put semolina flour under the loaves and make three swallow slashes on the loaves.

Leave the loaves in your oven (not turned on unless you have a proof setting) till they rise and warm up.

Then after 2-3 hours the loaves should look something like this.

You need a well seasoned heated baking stone. If your baking stone isn’t well seasoned or oiled your baking stone will shatter. I preheated my oven for an hour at 475 degrees F and a few minutes before I put the loaf in then I turn it up to 500 degrees F I do this because the suggested heat for my stone is only 425 degrees so I know I am taking a chance pushing it.

Now that your oven and stone are good and hot turn the oven to 500 degrees F to one rack bake. I do note that you are taking a chance of your baking stone shattering. I keep my stone well oiled. I recommend the newer stones made of metal.

Carefully slide one loaf on to the stone and in about 15 minutes it will be done.

The exterior will be very dark like this and you will know that it’s done when you knock on it and it sounds like it is hollow.

Now you will want to repeat with your remaining loaf.

You wind up with two pretty nice flavorful loaves of rye bread. The semolina flour underneath adds a nice crunch and a slight nutty flavor to the bottom of the crust.

Rye Bread

Forking Good Rye Bread

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Pistou Sauce

Pistou is similar to Pesto sauce but lacks pine nuts.

Cold Provencal Pistou sauce is made from Basil, Garlic, Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper.

Newer less traditional Pistou recipes include a cheese like Gruyere.

Pistou means “pounded” and according to Chef Wolfert for true Pistou  the leaves are to be hand torn and Pistou is only made using a mortar and pestle.

Feel free to use a mortar and pestle. I’ll be a little rogue and use my stick blender.

If you happen to have a restaurant supply store near you I recommend to purchase your herbs there because I got a pound of basil for what my local supermarket charges for only four ounces. (supermarkets charge about a dollar an ounce)

If you have leftover Pistou sauce you can freeze it in an ice cube tray so you can pop out a cube when you want it.

I do note my Pistou is slightly thick because I try to use to least amount of oil as possible. Depending on your need you can thin the sauce by adding more olive oil.

While it is traditional to stir Pistou into a soup there are countess other uses. Add it to hard boiled eggs or an egg salad. Pistou in a tuna salad.  Pistol make a fabulous chicken salad. Pistou spread on a grilled cheese sandwich or a poultry sandwich. On a flat bread. In dressing, a dip or Pistou tossed with pasta. A local restaurant called Eddie’s House in Scottsdale AZ serves you complimentary bread and flat breads with blue cheese butter that is topped with Pistou and that’s forking delicious! You might want to give that a try! In the picture below I made flat breads, my version of blue cheese butter and poured Pistou sauce over the blue cheese butter the same way that Eddie’s House serves it.

Ingredients for about 18 ounces I’d say that’s about 12 servings

12 oz cleaned basil

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

6 garlic cloves – smashed

1 Tablespoon salt – kosher or sea salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

Give your basil a rough chop – or hand tear it if you prefer

Blend till smooth – or use a mortar and pestle if you prefer

Pistou Sauce

Pistou is just delicious! The Pastabilities are endless.

The Forking Truth

Forking Great Buffalo Blue Cheese Potato Salad

This Forking Great Buffalo Potato Salad is a little spicy from cayenne pepper sauce. I recommend Frank’s Red Hot Sauce. This potato salad is a crowd pleaser. People will ask you how you made it. The only difficult part of the recipe is cooking the russet potatoes just right. I had smaller medium sized potatoes so I cooked them peeled and cut in half at medium high for 15 minutes till mine were fork tender in boiling water, salt and a little Red Hot Cayenne sauce to flavor the potatoes. I removed about two thirds of the potatoes and let the remaining third cook for two minutes more and mashed them with other ingredients to make that just right creamy sauce. This potato salad came out really delicious and you might want to give it a try. If you have a Walmart Store near you might want to purchase the “Snacking Celery Sticks” wrapped in an American Flag sort of package. They are super sweet and crisp and are better for potato salad than any other celery I ever tried. Most likely you will be using regular celery. Try peeling your celery and see if the celery taste sweeter to you.

Ingredients for about 8 servings

2 lbs russet potatoes – peeled and cut in half waiting in a pot of water

1 Tablespoon kosher salt – to put in your pot of potatoes

5 Tablespoons of cayenne pepper sauce – Frank’s Red Hot is recommended (two of the tablespoons goes into the potato pot and you might want extra for display)

1 cup celery – chopped

1/4 sweet onion  – chopped

1/2 cup radish shredded

1/2 cup scallion chopped

1 carrot fine shredded

1/2 cup low fat mayonnaise

1 garlic clove finely grounded

1/4 teaspoon celery seeds

1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder

1 teaspoon salt – kosher or sea salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

splash low sodium soy sauce – (this brings out more blue cheese flavor)

3 oz blue cheese – crumbled – ( you might use slightly more for optional  garnishing presentation)

Directions

In you pot of potatoes add the 1 Tablespoon of salt and two Tablespoons cayenne sauce. Get the pot on medium high heat.

Cook the potatoes till still firm but fork tender———about  in fifteen minutes. When done remove about two thirds of the potatoes with a slotted spoon and let the remaining potatoes cook till a little softer —about two minutes more.

Now drain the water and mash the one third of potatoes with mayonnaise, three Tablespoons cayenne pepper sauce, garlic, celery seeds, cayenne powder, teaspoon salt, black pepper, and splash of soy sauce. Mix well.

You potatoes might need a little breaking down at this point. Decide and break them down less than you want because as you stir they will break down more. Fold in all the remaining ingredients except the blue cheese and then fold in the blue cheese last.

This Buffalo Blue Cheese Potato Salad came out really delicious and Forking Great!

Forking Great Buffalo Potato Salad

For serving to a crowd you might want to top with a few splashes of cayenne sauce and a little more crumbled blue cheese.

This is FORKING Great and that’s The Forking Truth

Thomas Keller’s Eggplant (Aubergine) Chutney

When you have a bunch of eggplant and squash lying around you might want to prepare Thomas Keller’s Eggplant Chutney. After all this chutney is served at The French Landry and if it’s good enough to be on the menu there then you should forking make it because it cost about a thousand dollars a couple to dine there.

The French Laundry is considered to be one of the top fifty best restaurants in the world and has a three star Michelin Rating.

Now I can’t say if I did this recipe justice or not but at least it’s close. I followed the directions and made very few minor substitutions due to what I had in my kitchen. I used a whole red bell pepper instead of half a red and half a yellow. The other substitution was that I used all green squash instead of half yellow and half green. The only problem I had with preparing this recipe was adding my toasted curry powder to the sachet I made. The powder fell threw so If I made it again I’d just throw the curry powder in with the tomatoes , wine and juices and not worry about placing  the curry in a sachet.

If you ordered the Skate ( a fish that looks similar to a stingray) at the French Laundry it would be served over this chutney.

I got this recipe off the web. You can find this recipe at www.food.com , www.recipegreat.com , www.yummly.com , www.recipebridge.com , www.familyoven.com just like I did.

Ingredients for 6 servings

1/4 teaspoon curry powder

1 cinnamon stick – 1- inch

1 clove

1/2 lemon zest of, cut in 2 inch strips

1/2 orange zest of, cut in 2 inch strips

8 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup shallot – minced

1 cup tomatos – peeled – seeded, finely chopped

1/2 cup red wine

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

2 Tablespoons orange juice

3 cups eggplant – finely diced

1 1/2 cups  zucchini – finely diced

1 1/2 cups yellow squash – finely diced

3 Tablespoons butter unsalted, cut in small pieces (optional- leave out for vegan)

1/4 cup roasted sweet peppers – finely diced

1/4 cup roasted yellow peppers – finely diced

1 teaspoon parsley – chopped

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1-In a small skillet, combine curry powder, cinnamon stick and clove and place on medium heat, toasting till aromatic; removed from heat and wrap spices in a cheese cloth with lemon and orange zest and tie the cheese cloth to make a sachet.

2-In a medium saucepan, combine 2 Tablespoons of olive oil and the shallots and sauce over low heat until shallots have softened – about 4 minutes.

3- Add the tomatoes, red wine, sugar, lemon and orange juices, and add the sachet.

4- Simmer until the liquid has reduced and the mixture resembles a marmalade- about 20-25 minutes.

5- Remove from heat and discard sachet.

6- Ina large skillet over medium heat, heat 2 Tablespoons olive oil and then add the eggplant and sauté till tender-about 5 minutes.

7-Drain eggplant on paper towels set on a rack.

8- Return the skillet to medium heat, add two more Tablespoons of oil and when the oil is warm, add the zucchini and yellow squash and sauté till tender. 4-5 minutes.

9- Drain the zucchini and squash.

10- Note: Dish can be prepared in advance to here and chilled several hours; if it’s chilled bring to room temperature before proceeding.

11- Reheat the tomato mixture and whisk in the remaining 2 Tablespoons of oil.

12- Add butter one piece of a time, whisking to emulsify the sauce. (this step can be omitted to “veganize” the recipe).

13- Add the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash.

14- Fold in red and yellow peppers and parsley.

15- Serve warm.

16- If served as a base for skate (as at The French Laundry ), this serves six; as a condiment or as part of an appetizer plate, it will serve more-the yield is roughly 6 cups. I thought it was interesting and not like anything I ever had before. It says on the recipe that this dish can be made in advance but I thought the flavors were much more bright on the first serving.

Thomas Keller’s Eggplant (Aubergine) Chutney

The Forking Truth