I was watching chef Richard Blais on the Rachel Ray Show and all the food he made looked and sounded so delicious that I wanted to make it. This was during the coronavirus pandemic and I couldn’t make all his recipes yet but I was able to make his salsa verde and put it on a NY Strip Steak and a day or two latter but it on a salmon and IT WAS FORKING DELICIOUS! I didn’t have carrot tops to add to the recipe but even without the carrot tops it still was amazing. I also enjoy his restaurants. I loved my amazing meal I had at his restaurant in San Diego. I also liked his casual restaurant in Las Vegas called the Crack Shack. A special THANKS to chef Richard Blais for sharing this Forking Delicious Recipe.
ingredients for around 6 servings
1 teaspoon anchovy paste (I filled a teaspoon heaping with anchovies)
1 Tablespoon raisins (I used golden)
1 garlic clove (ground to paste or microplane)
1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup fresh tarragon
1/4 cup carrot top greens (this I left out because I didn’t have)
1 Tablespoon fine chopped jalapeño
2 Tablespoons capers
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 lemon – (just the fresh squeezed juice)
fresh crushed sea salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper too taste
Directions
Blend and add salt and pepper to taste.
How I made the steak. I salt and peppered it. added a small block of frozen olive oil and vacuum sealed it in a bag. Put it in a 130 degree sous vide machine for three hours. Dried it off with a paper towel (still had paper towels). Fried it in a pan with some canola oil at high heat about maybe a minute on all sides to sear and added salsa verde.
Both dogs were there but it was hard to get my bigger dog in the photo.
Richard Blais Salsa Verde on NY Strip Steak
We all Forking Enjoyed The Richard Blais Salsa Verde on the NY Strip and Latter on Salmon!
A special THANK YOU to chef Richard Blais for sharing his FORKING SCRUMPTIOUS DELICIOUS Salsa Verde recipe!
I’m a fan of celebrity chef Richard Blais. I’ve been to his restaurant Juniper and Ivy in San Diego and his fast casual restaurant Crack Shack in Las Vegas. The food was out of the ordinary and was delicious. I saw him recently on the Rachel Ray Show and wanted to try his recipes. I couldn’t make them all yet but have tried his amazing salsa verde recipe and here is his Tomato Celery Leaf Salad Recipe. I think the only changes I made was to add red onion and the other only change was that I crisped up the chickpeas in the oven and added some powdered hot sauce to them so they didn’t just taste like out of the can. (I’m sure the chef cooks his own chickpeas so they taste better). The dressing I made slightly different because I didn’t have Italian seasoning so I guesstimated my own and added different vinegars. I do note that for most people a cup of celery leaves might mean like from three bunches of celery. I happen to have saved a few celery centers and just got a new one so I had enough. My idea of serving size may differ from your idea of serving size. This makes around 6 small salads that I used as a side dish. It comes out very delicious!
Ingredients for around 6 servings
2 cups cherry tomatoes cut in half (I used a 10oz container)
1 cup celery leaves (for me it was from three bunches)
1 cup garbanzo beans
1 cup toasted walnuts
1/2 cup blue cheese – crumbled or cut in small pieces
1/4 cup fresh basil
1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 Tablespoons fruit vinegar (fig, pomegranate and red wine are suggested)
Directions in a big bowl add the tomatoes, celery leaves, garbanzo beans, walnuts, blue cheese and basil.
In small bowl add the Italian seasoning, olive oil and vinegar. Mix well and serve with salad or mix into salad as desired.
My version of the dressing was 1 garlic clove (microplane), 1 teaspoon dry basil, 1 teaspoon dry oregano, 1 teaspoon dried thyme,1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, 3 Tablespoons olive oil, 3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar and one Tablespoon balsamic vinegar. If you want to crisp up your chick peas you need to slightly dress them with canola oil and I sprinkled mine with powdered Frank’s Red Hot sauce. I put them in a 350 degree oven for around 30 minutes.
The salad came out DELICIOUS!
Richard Blais Tomato Celery Leaf Salad
Special THANKS!!! To chef Richard Blais for sharing his DELICIOUS Tomato Celery Leaf Recipe with us.
I was watching Rachel Ray and chef Richard Blais was on and he made a really nice, interesting and healthy chicken dinner. I made a few of his side dishes that are suppose to go with the chicken and each one was FORKING DELICIOUS! I highly recommend his tomato celery salad (would come out better with a leafy Chinese celery or you need like three celery for enough leaves)) I also recommend his salsa verde (best I ever tasted). My idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size. This made 6 – 4 oz dinners and two 3oz lunches for me.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
1 whole chicken (I used a fryer because that is all they sell here) (you need to remove the spine and spatchcock it)
1 Tablespoon fennel seeds
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 Tablespoon dried basil
1/2 Tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 Tablespoon onion flakes
salt & pepper
2 Tablespoons butter (I used canola oil)
Directions
Set oven to 375 degrees F.
Blot off the chicken with a towel to dry it.
In a small mixing bowl add all the spices and coat chicken with the spices on both sides.
Heat up a fry pan with the butter on medium high.
Put the chicken skin side down in the pan for 5 minutes.
Remove from pan and place on a pan in oven till done.
Recipe reads 25-35 minutes but mine took 70 minutes….(I cooked it till it got to 170 in the thigh) … I’m thinking mine took longer because I didn’t flatten out the chicken enough…or maybe because my oven sucks????
AnyWHO – It came out FORKING DELICIOUS!
Richard Blais spatchcocked chickenRichard Blais Tomato Celery Leaf SaladRichard Blais Salsa Verde on NY Strip Steak
A special THANKS! to chef Richard Blais for sharing his Forking Delicious recipes!
To make Forking GREAT Untraditional Masa Matzah Balls you need to Achiote marinate and stew a chicken (4 pounds with skin and bone whole or parts). Stew it with herbs and vegetables. Then chill it over night in the refrigerator so you can scrape off the flavorful fat to make the delicious masa matzah balls. I had enough soup for maybe 4 bowls but after I cooked the masa matzah balls they drank up the soup and became amazing but I was left with only two bowls of soup. So it’s up to you…so you might want to cook off the balls in separate chicken broth so you have all that delicious soup. You will also have plenty of pulled chicken for around 4 dinners and two lunches. I must note that this recipe is not suitable for passover. I also note that my idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size. The Masa Matzah Balls come out delicious fluffy and very flavorful. I made 4 large balls because that is the size they normally are but next time I think I’d make 8 smaller balls and freeze my leftovers for another time. This recipe make 4 large traditional sized masa Forking delicious masa matzah balls.
Ingredients for 4 servings (plus extra chicken)
4 lbs chicken with skin and bone (whole or parts)
1/2 achiote brick (half of 3.5 oz brick)
1 cup water
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice
1 lime – just the fresh squeezed juice
2 carrots – peeled, sliced or chopped
2 celery ribs – chopped
1 large onion = chopped
6 guero chili peppers (or any combination of hot and mild peppers)
13 garlic cloves – chopped
2 bay leaves
bunch fresh espazote (mine weighed .08 oz)
4 sprigs fresh mint
1 cup water
2 cups cilantro stems
4 chiltepin peppers – crushed
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground achiote (annatto)
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons matzah meal
1/4 cup corn masa flour (harina de maíz)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 garlic clove – ground to paste or microplane
2 Tablespoons scallions – chopped
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon water
2 eggs beaten
2. 1/2 Tablespoons chicken fat
Directions
Heat up one cup of water and add the 1/2 brick of achiote lemon, lime juice, and oil. Let it cool. Then put your chicken in a gallon ziplock bag and add the achiote mixture. Squeeze all the air that you can out of the bag and zip it shut. Squish the liquid around the chicken. Let sit out one hour.
Set oven to 350 degrees F.
Get a big casserole dish or a buffet 1/2 pan and fill the pan with the carrots, celery, onion, peppers, garlic, bay leaves, epazote, mint, water and chiltepin peppers. Set to side.
Remove chicken from liquid and blot off.
in a small bowl combine the salt, garlic, black pepper, oregano, cumin and ground achiote. Rub this all over all sides of chicken. If you have a whole chicken stuff the cilantro stems in the cavity. If you are using parts get set then down in the middle of the filled pan so you can easily remove them later. Set the chicken or chicken parts over everything in the pan. Cover tightly with foil.
Cook till at least 165 degrees F too be safe to eat or up to 180 degrees F. Timing will differ. This usually takes 105-120 minutes. It can take longer.
When done remove the chicken and let sit out to cool and pull meat when cooled down. Refrigerate.
Remove and discard cilantro stems and bay leaves. Pour soup into a container. Leave on counter till it is cool and then refrigerate over night.
The next day you scrap off the fat for the masa matzah balls.
Set oven at 350 degrees F.
In a small to medium bowl combine the matzah meal, masa, baking powder, baking soda, garlic clove, scallions, salt, black pepper, water, egg and chicken fat. Mix well. This mixture needs to chill at least 20 minutes in the refrigerator.
The mixture will make 4 traditional sized large balls.
You can either cook the balls in half of the soup (but this uses up all the liquid) or you can cook the in additional chicken broth so you can keep the soup. After 30 minutes flip balls so that both sides are thoroughly cooked.
5 minutes before serving add some pulled chicken and top with fresh cilantro and some scallions.
Untraditional Masa Matzah Balls in Mexican Style Chicken Soup
This is a spin off recipe of the French Style Carrot Soup I did from the video I watched from The French Cooking Academy. I did almost the same recipe with beets. I’ve found that my beets had some fiber in them so you really have to stain beet soup or your soup might have a chunky texture depending on your beets and also depending on your blender. At the end I thought the beets needed a little adjustment with flavor too so I added a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and it gave the soup more definition. I do note that my idea of a serving size may differ from your idea of a serving size. This makes around 6 medium sized bowls.
Ingredients for around 6 servings.
2 lbs beets peeled and sliced extra thin on a mandolin
1/2 large sweet onion – peeled sliced extra thin on a mandolin
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh tarragon
4 oz unsalted butter – (2oz for soup, 1 oz for finishing soup and 1 oz for croutons
1/2 teaspoon course sea salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
10 oz potato – remove skin, small dice like pea sized
4 cups water
2 Tablespoons creme fraiche -OR TO TASTE (you might want more or a little less – substitutes like higher quality cream cheese, sour cream, Australian or French style yogurt can be used
1/2 a quality roll – cut in small cubes
1/4 cup canola oil – to fry croutons
2 Tablespoons tarragon (torn) or chives (snipped)
optional – pinch piment d’ espelete for finishing
Directions
Put a pot on medium heat and melt 1/2 of the butter. Add beets, onion salt, sugar, thyme and tarragon. Cover with foil and steam till beets are tender (around 8 minutes..timing may differ)
Add potatoes and water. Slow simmer for 15 minutes. NOTE it will take a while to bring to slow simmer. start timing once it starts to simmer. You will have to turn heat down slightly.
While you are waiting fry the bread cubes. Get a sauce pan on medium high heat. Melt the butter and add the oil. Fry the croutons till golden brown stirring a bit. This doesn’t take to long. Drain them on a paper towel lined pan and put to the side.
After the soup has slow simmered 15 minutes remove the thyme and tarragon sprigs. Now use a stick blender and blend till smooth. Add an ounce of butter. You will need 1-3 Tablespoons of creme fraiche (or substitutes) depending on your taste. Add one Tablespoon at a time till it’s as creamy as you want.
Strain soup. Push it threw the strainer.
SERVE!
Top with a few croutons and some fresh tarragon or chives.
Beet Soup
A Special THANKS to the French Cooking Academy for showing me how to make this kind of soup.
I’ve been working on and tweaking my pastrami recipes for years. I had a very good idea on how to do a turkey breast as pastrami. It’s different than working with beef because you don’t want to do the pastrami solution for more than 4 hours. I figured out the perfect formula and spice rub for the most delicious pastrami turkey I’ve tasted so far. I do note that I started with a dry brined turkey breast. A brine is means the meat was soaked in a salt solution. Marinades are for flavor and are usually acidic this marinade is salty but it contains the flavors for pastrami.. I skipped the brining step so you need to brine your turkey breast first or skip that step by purchasing an already brined or dry brined turkey breast. You can use this recipe for both sides of the breast or do one half and use half the brine for another time or for something else. I did half pastrami and the other half traditional with herbs. I used an average sized turkey and each half after cooking weighed around 1 1/2 pounds…I consider that around 6 or more servings for each half breast. You can make the marinade and rub the day before if you want.
Ingredients for around 12 (or more) servings
1/2 cup olive oil (that you froze in a flat square shape that’s cut in half for each Sous Vide bag)
4 Tablespoons ground coriander (rub)
! Tablespoon ground black pepper (rub)
1 Tablespoon smoked paprika (rub)
1 whole boneless skinless turkey breast – from an average sized turkey that has been brined or dry brined – pierced all over with a fork
1 cup dark brown sugar
5 oz diamond brand kosher salt – DO NOT USE ANY OTHER BRAND BECAUSE OTHER BRANDS HAVE A DIFFERENT SALT CONTENT and also PENETRATE THE MEAT DIFFERENT ****ONLY USE DIAMOND KOSHER SALT FOR THIS RECIPE
1/4 cup honey
2 teaspoons juniper berries
3 Tablespoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons allspice berries
3 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon whole cloves
2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds
2 Tablespoons telicherry black peppercorns
2 teaspoons white peppercorns
1 teaspoon ground ginger powder
10 garlic cloves sliced thin
1 Tablespoon granulated garlic
2 hot dried peppers – crumbled (I used Calabrian Piri Piri peppers) (two pinches of crush red pepper will do in a pinch)
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
2 cups water
Directions
Make the marinade.
In a sauce pot add brown sugar, diamond salt, honey, juniper berries, coriander seeds, allspice berries, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cloves, mustard seeds, black peppercorns, white peppercorns, ginger, garlics, hot pepper, smoked paprika and water. Bring to boil then let simmer about 10 minutes. Take off heat let cool to room temperature. For best results refrigerate and marinate the turkey breast tomorrow.
Make the rub.
In a small mixing bowl add the ground coriander, ground black pepper and the smoked paprika. Mix well and put in a sealed container or a ziplock bag.
Next Day
Each Turkey Breast gets pierced all over and goes in a gallon ziplock bag with 1/2 of the marinating liquid. Squeeze out the air from the bag. This needs to be refrigerated for four hours.
Add water to the sous vide and set to 140 degrees F.
After four hours take the turkey out of the bag and rinse it off and pat it dry and then apply a light amount of rub to it. Then it goes in a vacuumed sealed bag with half the frozen cube of olive oil. The sealed bag(s) go in the Sous Vide for 3-4 hours after ruching prober temperature…(incase you don’t know…once set at 140 the temperature will drop and it takes awhile to reach the 140)
After the 3-4 the four hours in the Sous Vide remove the turkey breast bags. Run them under cold water or apply an ice bath to stop the cooking process.
Just before serving Blot them off. Apply a little more rub. Sear them off in a pan or finish on your grill.
ENJOY!
You might want to serve with-
Kraut Style SlawRye RollsPastrami Turkey on a Rye Roll with Kraut Style SlawFORKING DELICIOUS TURKEY PASTRAMI
You have to travel far to find delicious rye bread in certain parts of metro Phoenix. I make my own and just came up with this even easier version of rye rolls. This recipe is easy but it requires a stand mixer and takes a little over five hours. It makes eight nice sized rolls.
Ingredients for 8 servings
2 cups + 2 Tablespoons bread flour (plus more for dough to rest and to knead)
1 cup + 2 Tablespoons dark rye flour
2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 1/8 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 Tablespoons caraway seeds (plus a few pinches for sprinkling the tops of rolls)
1 1/2 cup water
1/4 cup oil
2 Tablespoons semolina flour – to rest unbaked rolls on (can substitute corn meal)
1 egg white – beaten
small pinch French salt flakes for finishing
Set oven to 425 degrees F
In your stand mixer bowl add the flours, sugar, salt, yeast, caraway seeds, water and oil. Before you start up your mixer you need to mix this up with a fork so when the mixer mixes it your flour doesn’t fly all over the place. Once you have the batter reasonably mixed then attach your dough hook. Set it on Medium High and let it go for ten minutes. The dough should pull away from the bowl and wrap it’s self around the hook.
Get a large bowl and add some bread flour for your dough to rest on. Take the dough off the hook and knead it and roll it into a ball. Let it rest in the bowl for FOUR HOURS covered with plastic wrap.
You need either one large baking sheet or two smaller baking sheets to be covered with parchment and the parchment needs a light coating of semolina flour.
After 4 hours punch it down and divide it in quarters and divide each quarter in a half so you have eight even pieces.
Kenad each piece in a ball. Slap it around a bit. Roll it in a log and then knead it into a ball and place on semolina lined parchment. Repeat till all 8 rolls are done spewing them apart some.
Brush with egg whites twice. Be careful and don’t get too close to the parchment or you will glue the roll to the paper. Sprinkle each roll with some caraway seeds and a very light pinch of flaked salt.
These go in a preheated 425 degree F oven. When they turn brown (13-15 minutes) turn down to 350 degrees F. They only need maybe 5 more minutes in the oven. In my oven the rolls took a total of 20 minutes. The timing may differ some.
ENJOY
Rye Rolls
My husband kept raving about these rolls. I thought they were pretty darn good.
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.
