I made this easy quick kraut style slaw to go on my turkey pastrami. It’s flavored like kraut but no fermentation. It’s not as harsh as some krauts are. It takes about three days to get full flavored. This recipe might make more kraut slaw than you need but it will stay good for at least two weeks. My idea of serving size will differ from yours but this makes over eight serving.
ingredients for around 8 servings
1 small cabbage – sliced very thin on a mandolin
1 red onion – sliced very thin on a mandolin (white or sweet onion is fine too)
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 Tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
8 juniper berries – ground
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
Directions
Combine everything in a large bowl and mix well. Let this sit on the counter for one hour. Mix well again. Refrigerate. Mix once a day till day three.
Enjoy!
Here it is on a Forking Truth Rye Roll with Forking Truth Turkey Pastrami.
I happened to have some potatoes, sage and fontina cheese that I had to use and came across Melissa Clark’s recipe for Mashed Potato Casserole with Sage and Fontina Cheese from Food and Wine Magazine. I did her recipe but when I tasted the potatoes they didn’t seem flavorful enough. Maybe it was a typo since her recipe didn’t include salt to boil the potatoes? I bet Mellisa Clark used better potatoes than mine. If you ever tasted potatoes from the farmers market you know that they taste a whole lot better than super market potatoes. She also maybe used a better quality fontina cheese that had more flavor so her recipe was good with better ingredients. I added additional spices and a 1/2 teaspoon of bomba (an Italian hot pepper condiment) and I thought the potatoes tasted much better. Incase you aren’t familiar with bomba it’s a delicious condiment that I highly recommend. It’s full of flavors and heat. A little bit just adds so much flavor to foods. Incase you are wondering the potatoes aren’t spicy but are very flavorful. Bomba is a secret weapon to make food delicious. I also cut her recipe in half because I didn’t need eight servings.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
1 1/2 lbs potatoes – peeled and cut in maybe 6 pieces
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 oz creme fraiche (or substitut sour cream or a thick yogurt)
1 1/2 teaspoon sage – chopped
4 oz fontina cheese – shredded
1 Tablespoon parsley leaves – chopped
1/2 teaspoon bomba
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
few grates of fresh ground nutmeg
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter – grated
2 1/2 Tablespoons bread crumbs
2 1/2 Tablespoons parmigiano reggiano – grated
small handful fresh sage leaves
A little oil to fry or oven fry the sage leaves
non stick spray or butter or oil to grease a small baking dish
Directions
Set oven to 400 degrees F. Grease your smaller baking dish and set it to the side.
The potato go in a pot and get covered well with water. Bring to medium boil and boil them till tender (usually 15 minutes). drain and mash them with butter, creme fraiche, chopped sage, fontina cheese, parsley, bomba, salt, peppers, nutmeg.
Add this mixture to your greased baking dish and smooth the top.
In a small bowl mix up the remaining butter, bread crumbs and parmigiana reggiano cheese and spread it out evenly over the potatoes.
Put in oven till the crumbs are nicely browned (about 15 minutes). Then cover to stop the browning for around 5 more minutes.
Serve and enjoy!
Bomba Mashed Potato Casserole with Sage and Fontina
A special THANKS to Melissa Clark for her Mashed Potato Casserole Recipe that inspired my version.
I was watching a competition Food Network TV Show where the contestants had to make rugelach. It is a cream cheese and butter pastry that is wrapped around a filling such as jam, chocolate chips, nuts and or cinnamon and sugar. I looked up recipes for rugelach. Basically most are 1/2 flour and the other 1/2 is 1/4 cream cheese and 1/4 butter. I know these pastries are always delicious and now I know why……They are very rich and fattening. I decided that since these pastries are very rich I only wanted to make a very small batch and figured out on how to only make EIGHT small pastries. The FUN part is that you can make any flavor you want. Figure out what filling you want. Then you have to roll out the pastry in some sort of sugar…see if you can figure out something that matches your filling in the sugar. I went with pistachio. I had in imported pistachio spread. And I mixed crushed pistachios with the sugar that I rolled the dough in. These came out FORKING AMAZING….Next time I will do a high end Nutella filling and do my sugar mixed with hazelnuts. I think a date filling with chocolate chips would be delicious. I think orange marmalade with a orange zest sugar topping would also be delicious. We could do a cherry filling with crushed almonds and sugar…..Could go on and on and on….The fun is for you to pick your flavor! (This recipe does not include a filling recipe…you have to come up with that yourself)
Ingredients for 8 servings
1/2 cup flour
small pinch salt
2 oz cream cheese
2 oz unsalted butter – chopped into small cubes or grated (I grated on a big hole grater and lost some of the butter)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 egg yolk
sugar to roll dough….I used course raw sugar maybe two tablespoons, use any sugar you want like flour to roll sticky dough
optional -other add ons to sugar
A small amount of filling for your pastries (chocolate chips, jam, nuts and honey, peanut butter, etc)
Directions
Mix up the flour, salt, cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and yolk with a fork. You don’t need to mix it up all the way more like 80%. This dough is rich and soft so you need to wrap it in plastic wrap in a disk shape and chill it in the refrigerator over night or give it a few hours.
When you are ready to roll.
Set your oven to 375 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Use your sugar like flour to roll out the dough and make it into a round shape. (I used raw sugar and crushed pistachios)
My sugar was mixed with crushed pistachios
Spread your filling on the dough.
Cut like a pizza in quarters and cut threw each quarter so you have 8 wedges.
Roll UP from the large or crust end and place on the parchment lined baking sheet.
Place on middle rack. Mine took 14 minutes in the preheated 375 degree F oven. Timing may differ slightly.
I watched The French Cooking Academy’s video on French Style Carrot Soup that is actually called Potage Crecy A La Briarde. It looked very easy to prepare and I had all the ingredients ((except for one)). In the video he didn’t tell you most of measurements but it was pretty easy to guess. My idea of portion size might differ from your idea of portion size. This recipe makes around 6 medium sized bowls of soup…
Ingredients for around 6 servings
2 lbs carrots – trimmed, peeled, sliced extra thin on a mandolin
1/2 a large sweet onion – peeled, sliced thin on a mandolin
1 sprig fresh thyme
4 oz unsalted butter – (2oz to start soup, one ounce to finish soup and one ounce to fry bread cubes)
1/2 teaspoon course sea salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
10 oz potato – peeled and cut into small cubes slightly bigger than peas
4 cups water
2 Tablespoons creme fraiche (I substituted a high quality cream cheese that was without preservatives, gum and stabilizers…but in a pinch sour cream or French or Australian style yogurt would work)
1/2 a quality roll – cut into small cubes
1/4 cup canola oil to fry bread
2 Tablespoons fresh chervil or cilantro leaves
Directions
In a pot on medium heat melt 2 ounces of butter and add the carrots, onion, thyme, salt and sugar. Cover with lid or foil and let it steam for five minutes.
Add the potatoes and water. This needs to SLOW SIMMER for 15 minutes. (this did take a while…I left my pot on the medium heat….I started timing once it started to simmer and then I turned it down a bit more.
after slow simmering for 15 minutes
During this time you might want to fry up the roll cubes. Get a fry pan on medium high with the oil and one ounce of butter. Stir every so often and they get golden and crisp. (this doesn’t take too long…maybe? 5 minutes) When done remove from pan and put on a paper towel lined pan.
When your pot of soup has slow simmered for 15 minutes remove the thyme sprig. Blend with a stick blender. Add the creme fraiche to taste. (In the video he first said one tablespoon….then he tasted it and said I need another……then he put a third Tablespoon in….I thought two tablespoons seemed right in the batch I made but you might prefer more) Also blend in the butter. It should be very smooth and creamy. If you want to be prefect strain the soup.
Serve soup topped with fresh chervil or fresh cilantro leaves and only few croutons. (I added a pinch of piment d’ espelette)
French Style Vegetarian Carrot Soup
A special THANKS to The French Cooking Academy for making a video on how to prepare Potage Crecy A La Briarde – French Style Carrot Soup.
I was inspired to make this dish when I saw a photo of chef James Oakley’s Kombu Cured Salmon, Cucumber and Crisp Quinoa on Twitter. It was one of the most stunning plates that I’ve ever seen and it sounded so delicious that I had to give it a try. His restaurant is in Hong Kong so it’s too far for me to try it since I’m on the other side of the world in Phoenix Arizona. I didn’t know how to cure salmon with kombu so I looked it up. I found three different methods. I picked Bon Appetit’s method because it made the most sense to me. Along the way I had some problems getting the correct ingredients. I thought I bought kombu ( a darker thicker seaweed) but I picked up seaweed. I couldn’t find yuzu so I did a mixed citrus instead that became my faux Yuzukoshō ( Japanese chili/yuzu condiment). Got lucky with the cucumber sauce. I don’t know how chef Oakley’s was made but I had an idea and it worked. ANYWAYS It came out FORKING INCREDIBLE! This recipe takes two days to prepare. It was difficult to photo the hot salmon that I was about to eat and for the photo forgot to add some faux Yuzukoshō on top of the salmon but some is pictured on the green cucumber sauce in the photo. The combination was delicious! I would make different chips next time. Either a fried radish chip or a potato chip. My idea of portion size may differ from your idea of portion size. I used one salmon steak…I think it was close to a pound. It made two large dinners. I guess it could have made three or four lunches.
Ingredients for around 2 servings
1 salmon steak (mine was close to a pound)
Seaweed to cover both sides of salmon (I used two sheets)
1 lemon cut in thin slices
2 Tablespoons mirin
1 Tablespoon white miso
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 hot pepper – ( I used a Serrano) – microplane
1 orange – just the zest
1 lemon – just the zest
1 lime – just the zest
fresh crushed sea salt to taste
1/2 lb Persian cucumbers – microplane
1 teaspoon sugar
pinch sea salt
1 Tablespoon tapioca starch (I used a spice mill to ground up tapioca pearls)
Directions
A layer of seaweed goes on both sides of your fish and you top that with lemon slices. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.
Make the faux yuzukosho. Today or before you cook the fish combine the lemon, orange and lime zest with your microplane hot pepper. Add fresh crushed sea salt to taste. (refrigerate or put to the side if preparing just before the fish.
Make the glaze for the salmon. In a small bowl mix the mirin, miso and soy sauce together and brush on both sides of the salmon. Wash off the seaweed and throw out the lemons. Blot the fish dry. You can cook the salmon however you like. I slow cooked the salmon in a 225 degree oven about 15 minutes on one side and about 10 minutes on the other side and then I finished it under a high broiler for about 5 minutes. It came out medium-medium rare and really awesome…..that melt in you mouth kind of fish that you only get out only SOMETIMES in very expensive restaurants.
While you are cooking the fish add to a sauce pot the microplane cucumber, sugar, salt and ground tapioca on medium high heat…stirring constantly. In about 5 minutes the mixture will turn bright green and get smooth. When all the tapioca is cooked the mixture will be done.
Enjoy immediately.
Spread some cucumber sauce on the plate. Top the plate with salmon….then top the salmon with the faux Yuzukoshō. Serve with a few chips or crisps if desired.
Seaweed Cured Glazed Salmon with Mixed Citrus Kosho and Cucumber Sauce
A SPECIAL THANKS! To chef James Oakley for this inspiration and also a SPECIAL THANKS to Bon Appetit for their recipe of Kombu Cured Salmon with fresh Yuzu Kosho so I’d have an idea of what to do.
I had this idea that balsamic vinegar and bomba (a hot spicy Italian pepper condiment) would go well with beets and they do. Onions, basil, blood oranges and robiola cheese tie it all together. I fried some plain capers and a few mushrooms rolled in cornstarch just for fun. I didn’t include any frying for this recipe but you can if you want. I also note that my idea of a serving size might differ from yours. I think this is something that you only eat a small dish of.
Ingredients for 6 small servings
1 1/2 lbs red beet root – washed well, skin removed – depending on size cut in half and if large quarter
1 Tablespoon Bomba or Bomba Calabrese (each brand is very different and also might be an inconsistent product as far as heat (you might need more or want to use slightly less). Today I’m using Trader Joe’s Bomba that is made with fermented Calabrian chili peppers)
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 large sweet onion – sliced very thin
3 blood oranges – supreme them if you can
8 oz robiola cheese – cut in cubes that aren’t too big
1/4 cup fresh basil
Directions
Set oven to 400 degrees F.
In a large baking dish or pan add the bomba, balsamic, water and fennel seeds and mix well. Then add the beets and cover pan tight with foil. Put on the middle rack. This stays in the oven till beets are fork tender. The time will differ depending on age and size of beets, the pan and the oven. Usually this takes one-one and one half hours. When fork tender remove the beets from the oven. Remove the beets from the liquid so they can cool ooff and you can cut them in a desired shape.
Use the liquid and add the sliced onions to it. Now you have bomba balsamic onions. After the beets are cut to desired shape mix them with the onions.
To serve top with blood oranges, basil and robiola cheese.
ENJOY!
Bomba Balsamic Beets and Onions with Blood Oranges, Basil and Robiola CheeseThe Forking Truth
I happen to have a jar of neonata. It’s a Calabrian Hot Fish condiment that often is just used on pasta. My jar was expiring so I looked up recipes on the web for neonata and Chef Matthew Taylor’s Recipe for summer squash with neonata (spelled incorrectly “neoata”), smoked yogurt and peppered feta came up so I thought I’d give it a try. I made a few changes to the original recipe. I thought of olive oil smoked paprika potatoes instead of smoked yogurt. I didn’t roast baby squash so I broiled regular squash instead. The last change was that I didn’t use Fresno peppers. I used baby bell peppers because I had baby bell peppers at home. I do note that you need to pickle the peppers the day before so they have a chance to pickle. A special THANKS to Chef Matt Taylor from Mora Italian Restaurant. This recipe is FORKING AWESOME! My idea of a serving size might differ from yours…..This makes around 4 servings.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
8 baby bell peppers sliced in thin rings (original recipe calls for 6 Fresno peppers)
1 cup champagne vinegar
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 lb potatoes – peel – cut in half
1 Tablespoon sea salt (to season the potatoes boiling)
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (maybe up to 2 Tablespoons more or add a little water till potatoes are the right consistency) ((I used 2 Tablespoons water because the neonata has a lot of oil in it and I wanted to keep the potatoes free of dairy)
1 Tablespoon pepper brine from peppers you pickled
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
crushed sea salt to taste
fresh cracked black pepper to taste
2 lbs squash (original recipe calls to roast baby squash in a 400 F degree oven for 5 minutes) ((I used Mexican squash and cut the squash in planks and broiled with olive oil.
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil – that got sprayed lightly on both sides of squash
3 Tablespoons neonata
4 Tablespoons peppered feta cheese
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
Directions
Make the pickled peppers. Bring the vinegar, sugar and water to a boil. Pour over pepper rings. Let cool on the counter to room temperature and then refrigerate.
The next day you can do the rest.
If you are broiling turn your oven on to broil.
You can either roast, grill or broil (if you cut into planks) the squash. I used Mexican green squash that were smaller in size in trimmed ends and cut into thirds longways and then half so the planks weren’t too long.
Put the potatoes and one Tablespoon sea salt in a pot. Cover the potatoes well with water. Bring to a medium boil and cook till fork tender. (around 15-20 minutes). Mash the potatoes by hand with a masher. Add the olive oil, pepper brine, smoked paprika, salt and either add more olive oil or just water till the potatoes are the correct consistency. Add sea salt and fresh black pepper to taste.
Lightly spray a baking sheet with olive oil. Place squash on baking sheet. Lightly spray top of squash with olive oil. Place under broiler till browned. Turn squash over and brown other side. Apply salt, pepper, fresh thyme to taste.
SERVE IMMEDIATELEY!
Spread out the potatoes on plate.
Toss the squash with neonata and place over potatoes.
Top squash with peppered feta and pickled peppers.
ENJOY
Squash with neonata, olive oil smoked paprika mashed potatoes, peppered feta and pickled peppers
A Special THANKS to Chef Matthew Taylor and Mora Italian Restaurant for sharing his Forking Awesome recipe Summer Squash with Neonata, Smoked Yogurt and Peppered Feta with us so we all can enjoy!
I planned to make a dijon tarragon wine sauce to go with turkey. Then I found out that I didn’t have any white wine at home so I made this slaw instead. You know I bet it will taste really great with turkey.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
1 small head cabbage – shredded very thin
2 cups corn kernels (cooked however you want)
1 red bell pepper – diced
1 celery rib – diced
1 shallot – sliced thin
1 carrot – shredded
2 teaspoons course sea salt (this goes on cabbage to melt it)
2 teaspoons sugar (this goes on cabbage to melt it)
2 Tablespoons hot sauce (tabasco or Frank’s Red Hot)
1/4 teaspoon celery seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon piment d’ espelette pepper
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 oz fresh tarragon – torn
Directions
In a large bowl add the cabbage, shallots, celery, bell pepper and carrot. Toss in the sugar and salt and mix well. Let sit on counter for an hour and drain. Add the corn and set to the side.
In a small mixing bowl add the dijon, oil, vinegar, hot sauce, celery seeds, white pepper, piment d’ espelette and honey and mix well. Toss the dressing into the large bowl with cabbage and mix well. Tear the tarragon leaves in half and mix into the slaw.
I was reading a review of a restaurant somewhere and the food critic was very impressed with blue cheese mashed potatoes with pickled onions from somewhere. I happen to have blue cheese and potatoes that I have to use up so I thought that is what I should make so I did. My idea of serving size might differ from yours. I think 2 pounds of potatoes is about eight servings but those are very small servings. You might figure 4-6 servings depending on how much you dish out. This recipe will also come out better if you make the pickled onions the day before because they need a day to get best.
ingredients for around 6 servings
1 large red onion – (cut in half so strings aren’t too long) – sliced very thin on mandolin.
1 cup white vinegar
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
2 springs fresh thyme
2 lbs potatoes – peeled – cut in half (6-7 average size potatoes)
1 Tablespoon salt (I love course sea salt)
1 egg – washed well (you will only be using the yolk)
3 oz unsalted butter – room temperature and optional more butter for serving
4 oz blue cheese – crumbled – room temperature and optional more for serving
2 Tablespoons celery leaves – torn or chopped for finishing
Directions
Make the pickled onions. Put the sliced onions in a tub or container and set them to the side. In a sauce pot bring to boil the vinegar, kosher salt, sugar, bay leaf, ground pepper, mustard seed and thyme. Cook until the salt and sugar is dissolved and pour over onions. Let this sit out on the counter until it’s room temperature and then refrigerate. If you have extra leftover onions you can use them on a sandwich. They should keep good in the refrigerator a few weeks.
When you are ready to make the potatoes put them in a pot with enough water to cover them well. Add the salt. You need to bring the potatoes to a medium high boil. depending on the size of the potatoes they need to cook usually 15-20 minutes. In the last 7 minutes of boiling carefully add the egg and let that cook. The egg will be medium cooked but on the soft side…if that isn’t good for you then you can cook it more. You will need to remove the egg and peel it. Save the egg white for a salad or just eat it as a snack. The yolk gets mashed into the hot drained potatoes along with the butter and blue cheese. Serve with the pickled onions and celery leaves. You can serve with extra blue cheese and melted butter if you desire.
Blue Cheese Mushed Potatoes with Pickled Onions and Celery Leaves
I have those frozen New York Strip Steaks and find that they usually don’t come out flavorful on the grill but come out much better if I put them in the Sous Vide and then pan sear them. Sometimes I sauté peppers and onions and or mushrooms In the same pan and serve that with the steak. Lately I find that I prefer a pickled vegetable with the steak. It’s very easy to pickle vegetables. I got the perfect recipe that you came boil up a couple hours or day before a steak and just pour it over your vegetables. As soon as a few hours latter you can have delicious pickled vegetables with your steak. My picture has roasted vegetables on the left side of the plate and on the right are the pickled vegetables. I took another photo of what I pickled. Yours will look different depending on what vegetables you use. I cooked 2 steaks that are around 4 meals in my house in your house this might be only 2 servings. Your idea of servings may differ as I like smaller portions of steak. The pickled vegetables make around 8 servings but they stay good for a few weeks.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
2 N.Y. strip steaks (around 1 lb each) – trim off thick fat
fresh ground sea salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper to taste
neutral oil to sear steaks
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup rice wine vinegar
1 cup water
2 Tablespoons kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar
3 garlic cloves chopped
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Assorted sliced vegetables like peppers and onions
You can use whatever vegetables you like.
This time I used a small red onion and half a white onion. I used 1/2 a bell pepper of yellow, orange and green. Part of a watermelon radish and leftover shaved leeks. I didn’t use a spicy pepper this time but sometimes I add a spicy pepper sliced paper thin and very thinly sliced carrots.
Directions
In a sauce pot on medium high heat add the vintagers, water, salt, sugar, garlic, pepper, coriander, bay leaf and oregano to a boil. After boiling pour over pickling vegetables and let sit out an hour on the counter to cool off some. Put in the refrigerator and can serve in about another hour but is best the next day.
When you are ready for the steaks.
Pull out the steaks one half hour before cooking to warm up slightly.
Add the water and set the Sous Vide to 130 degrees F.
Apply fresh ground sea salt and pepper generously to the steaks on both sides and vacuum seal the steaks.
The steaks go in the Sous Vide when the water is at 130 degrees F. They stay in for no more than 4 hours. Three hours is good.
Dry the steaks off as good as you can with paper towels.
Put a pan on high with a coating of oil. Sear a minute or slightly more on each side and serve.
pickled vegetablesSous Vide N.Y. Steak with roasted vegetables and pickled vegetables
I usually don’t like these steaks but when they are cooked in the Sous Vide and then seared with some pickled vegetables they are good!
