Aren’t these FORKING cute!

I was spiralizing some potatoes with my Paderno Spiralizer on the ribbon blade and what’s left behind looks like a mushroom.

So I saved my potato mushrooms and sprayed a sheet pan with non-stick canola oil and placed my potato mushrooms on the pan and into a pre-heated 350 degree F oven for thirty minutes.

 

Added Fresh ground sea salt and black pepper.

Would these Faux Mushrooms be great next to a steak or in a pasta dish with mushrooms?

I think they look nice coming out of the mashed potatoes too!

Ingredients for up to 8 servings

3 lbs russet potato cores (leftover from something else you spiralized)

non-stick canola spray (or any spray you like)

fresh ground sea salt to taste

fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Directions

Set your oven to 350 degrees F

Spray your baking sheet with non-stick spray.

Gather up your mushroom potatoes and place them on the sheet tray.

When the mushrooms are slightly brown remove them from the oven. (about 30 minutes)

Forking Cute!

If you read my recipes you know that I never use full fat mayonnaise because it is very high with fat and calories and I feel with enough flavor in your food you can usually use light or fat free mayonnaise. The exception for me is egg salad or deviled eggs. The light or fat free just isn’t good on egg salads so you have to make the fresh mayo/dressing for this egg salad. This egg salad comes out forking delicious. The dressing that you make will have all the seasoning in it to make it perfect. This should have been four servings but husband kept snacking on it so I only got two lunches (mine and his) and my husband got three snacks. He also asked me if I wrote down how I made it. I am guessing so I make it the same way again for him.

Ingredients for four servings (unless someone can’t stop themselves)

1 XL egg yolk – for dressing

2 Tablespoons dijon mustard – for dressing

pinch salt – kosher or sea salt – for dressing

1/2 cup canola oil (1/4c & 1/4c) – for dressing

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar (1 T & 1 T) – for dressing

dash Worcestershire sauce – for dressing

1/4 teaspoon cayenne – for dressing

pinch Hungarian Paprika – for dressing

pinch white pepper – for dressing

8 XL eggs

1 Tablespoon of kosher salt – for boiling the eggs

1/8 cup sweet onion – chopped fine

1/8 cup celery – chopped fine and the leaves plus a few extra leaves

fresh ground sea salt

fresh ground black pepper

Directions

Using a blender of some kind add the egg yolk and dijon mustard and blend till emulsified.

Add pinch of salt and slowly add 1/4 cup of oil and blend till emulsified.

Add 1 Tablespoon of vinegar and blend till emulsified.

Add remaining oil and blend till emulsified.

Add Worcestershire, cayenne, paprika, white pepper and blend till emulsified.

Cover and put in your refrigerator to chill.

Put your eggs into your sauce pot and cover the eggs very well with water and add the salt. Bring to a boil and then SHUT THE HEAT OFF and leave the pot stay on 5 minutes. Exactly after the five minutes throw out the hot water and replace with cold running water and add some ice to chill the eggs. (The eggs will be cooked medium with a slightly soft center) Chill the eggs really well so the shells will be easier to remove. Get a large mixing bowl. When the eggs are cool then peel them and cut them in quarters and add to bowl. Add the onions, celery, some of the celery leaves rough chopped and reserve a few leaves for garnishing. Add fresh ground sea salt and black pepper.

Now fold in your dressing as needed. You might not use all the dressing so keep a little on the side that can be used later or for a sandwich. It’s better to leave the salad on the dry side because your leftover will get slightly moister from a small amount of water that comes out of the vegetables.

Add reserved celery leaves as the garnish.

Serve on cucumber slices, crackers or your favorite bread.

Forking Great Egg Salad!

 

 

 

These Butternut Squash Pancakes come out light and fluffy and are easy to prepare. I served them with hot toasted pecans and home made cinnamon ricotta cheese filling and a little syrup. When I first made them my husband squealed why didn’t you just make plain pancakes? Then he ate them and said they were very good. Don’t know if they will please everyone out there but they do taste good.

Ingredients that make 15 small pancakes or three servings

2 oz unsalted butter – room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup butternut squash – cooked and mashed

1 XL egg beaten

1 cup wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

nutmeg – fresh around a half dozen scrapes against the grater

1/4 cup buttermilk

pinch salt – kosher or sea salt

non-stick spray – neutral flavor like canola or vegetable

Directions

in a large bowl mix together the sugar and butter till it looks creamy.

Add squash and continue mixing and then add egg and mix well again.

Add all dry ingredients and then mix in the buttermilk. The mixture will be thick.

Get out your fry pan and put on on medium heat and spray it with the non-stick spray. Make sure it’s hot before you start making pancakes.

I used a heaping teaspoon of batter for each pancake in the fry pan. Then cover loosely with aluminum foil.  Cook until you see small bubbles on the top of your pancakes……….

and then flip them uncovered for a short time or until you see a little browning underneath them.

Repeat till you are done.

The Butternut Squash Wheat Pancakes are very light and Fluffy and seasoned nicely and might please people who think they only like plain pancakes.

I had a bunch of Butternut Squash and it was a nice flavorful sweet one so I thought it would be great baked into a dessert. Hard Squash is a food that is difficult to cut threw. You need strength and a good heavy sharp knife.  Many people don’t have a good enough knife and many people also don’t have the strength to prepare hard squash. There was some sort of article published that hard squash is the one food that sends the most people to the emergency room with kitchen cut injuries. When I cook a hard squash I usually cook it the safest way. I just remove any stickers and wash the squash well. I give it a couple of fork pierces and set the squash in a pan with a little water and then cover it with foil and cook it in a 350 degree F oven until the squash is for tender. Depending on the size of the squash that will take between 45 minutes to one hour and one half. When the squash is cool enough to handle split the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Then scoop out the flesh. The Butternut Squash Cinnamon Rolls are delicious! The butternut Squash doesn’t add much flavor but makes the dough seem much richer than it is. Don’t get the wrong idea this still isn’t dieter food but if I didn’t add the squash I would have used more butter, sugar and eggs in this recipe. The Cinnamon Rolls are sweet but not too sweet because my husband isn”t someone who really likes sweets and he even he thinks these are just delicious. I think they are the just right sweetness for Cinnamon Rolls and the spice gives them the right kick and makes them sassy. These Cinnamon rolls are hard to stop eating. If you like Cinnamon Rolls you will like these.

Ingredients for 24 servings recipe makes 12 large rolls but I feel 1/2 a roll is a serving.

4 cups bread flour – dough ingredient (plus extra to rest the dough ball in)

1 Tablespoon salt – kosher or sea salt – dough ingredient

1 3/4 cup cooked butternut squash – heated up – dough ingredient

1 packet yeast – dough ingredient

1/4 cup sugar – dough ingredient

1 Tablespoon cinnamon – dough ingredient

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg – fresh – dough ingredient

2 oz unsalted butter – melted – dough ingredient

1 XL egg – beaten – dough ingredient

4 oz unsalted butter – for the filling

1/2 cup sugar – for the filling

1/2 cup dark brown sugar – for the filling

3 Tablespoons cinnamon – I used Vietnamese, this is for the filling

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg – fresh – for the filling

1/4 teaspoon salt – kosher or sea salt – for the filling

non-stick neutral – canola or vegetable – for the pan

2 oz unsalted butter – room temperature – for the frosting

1/2 teaspoon vanilla – for the frosting

pinch nutmeg – fresh – for the frosting

pinch sea salt

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F

Put all your dry dough ingredients in to your mixing bowl from your stand mixer. Stir in squash, melted butter and then mix till just mixed in. Now slowly add your beaten egg and mix on medium/high for about five minutes or until the dough cleans it’s self off the bowl and is like elastic. Make the dough into a ball shape and put in a large floured bowl. Cover the dough with a little flour and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place till doubled in size.

Make the filling – combine ingredients in a small bowl and set to the side.

Punch the dough down and knead it a bit and then roll the dough out thinly. You might want to use a little of the flour from the bowl for dusting your rolling surfaces.

Spread out your filling on the dough.

Roll up the dough.

Move the dough to a surface that you can cut on and cut the roll in half and then each half into thirds and then cut each third in half. You will end up with twelve rolls.

Spray your pan (s) with nonstick spray. Place your four biggest rolls in the corners of the pan if you are using a square pan and the smallest pieces in the center.

Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place till the dough doubles.

At this time you can put your pan in a preheated 350 degree F oven. The rolls will be done in 20-25 minutes. Mine looked perfect at 23 minutes.

While your Cinnamon Rolls are baking prepare the frosting. Just mix all the frosting ingredients together and put in a disposable pastry bag. Cut the tip off and squirt on however you like.

Have a piece. They are moist sweet and full of cinnamon and are really delicious. I think everyone will love them.

 

I thought I’d do something different to make spaghetti squash tasty.  The patties are made of seasonings, dill, egg, feta cheese and flour.  I pan fried the patties with non-stick spray so they wouldn’t be too heavy or absorb grease. This recipe makes about 20 patties.

Ingredients for about six servings

2 lb spaghetti squash

1 cup scallions – chopped

2 garlic cloves – minced well or mashed

1/4 cup parsley – fresh chopped

5 oz feta cheese – preferably a creamy less tangy type – broken up in small pieces

1 XL egg – beaten

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon dill – I used dried

1 teaspoon salt – kosher or sea salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

non-stick spray – neutral variety like canola or vegetable

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Put your washed whole squash in a pan with about 1/2 cup of water and cover with foil. Cook till slightly soft when your finger can dent the squash and a fork can just pierce it. The time will differ depending on the size of your squash. For me the squash was perfect in one hour.  When the squash is done let it rest about an hour so the squash is cool enough so you can handle it. When cool enough to handle cut in half long ways and pull out the stringy seeds. Then scoop out the spaghetti with a fork.

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.

Put a fry pan on medium heat with non-stick spray.

Do a tester patty with a slightly heaping tablespoon portion cooking it for about two minutes covered lightly with foil on one side and up to two minutes on the other side uncovered. To make sure you got the timing right and more importantly to make sure you don’t have to make any last minute adjustments for flavor or to make sure your mixture holds together well.

If the tester comes out the way you like it continue with making a few patties at a time not crowding the pan. About two minutes on medium heat loosely covered and another up to two minutes uncovered on the other side.

Let the patties drain on paper towels.

If desired serve with non-fat Greek Yogurt.

These are tasty and that’s The Forking Truth!

 

 

These Forking Delicious Baked Potato Fries come out a little crisp on the outside and fluffy and flavorful on the inside. Part of the secret in all the flavor is infusing the boiling potatoes with onion, garlic and a jalapeño.

Ingredients for about 8 servings

2 lbs Idaho Potatoes (about 5 medium sized potatoes)

5 red jalapeno peppers (one gets cut in half and boiled with potatoes the other 4 peppers get stem & seeds removed and chop them fine) (you can use green peppers I just thought red looked more appetizing)

1/2 onion peeled

1 garlic clove

1 Tablespoon salt (kosher or sea salt)

water to cover potatoes well

5 oz extra sharp aged cheddar cheese -shredded

2 oz unsalted butter

i XL egg – beaten

salt – fresh ground to taste

pepper – fresh ground to taste

Directions

Peel your potatoes, cut them in halves and add to your sauce pot that is already halfway filled with cold water. Make sure your potatoes are well covered with water. Add your onion, garlic and 1 Tablespoon salt to your sauce pot. Place pot on medium high heat. Boil for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain the potatoes and throw out the onion, garlic and pepper that was used to flavor the potatoes.

Put the potatoes back into your pot you just used and mash them with the butter. Now add the cheese and continue mashing. Add the jalapeño mix and and taste to decide on salt and pepper. (at this point the potatoes will taste spicier and less cheesy than after baked) Lastly add the beaten egg.

Get a disposable pastry bag and your sheet pan(s) lined with parchment paper.

Cut the end off your pastry bag and slide in your #6 star tip.

Fill the bag half way with potato mixture and twist the end to hold in the potato mixture.

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Squeeze out potato mixture in about thumb sizes with a shaky hand so you get the ruffled edges on your potato fries.

When you fill your pan place it in the oven for 20-23 minutes till the ruffled ends are brownish. Sprinkle with fresh ground salt and pepper if desired.

These are delicious as is.

I caught my husband eating the potato mixture in-between batches and came out with 42 fries. Not sure how many more this might have made. He said it was really good that way too and had to eat it. He also ate the plate of them I photoed and then came back to eat more because I didn’t give him enough.

Yup, these are another crowd pleaser. Mine didn’t come out too spicy and were just nicely flavored. I don’t think they need a dip but if I did serve a dip with them it would be a thin guacamole kind of cream.

Did it again these are FORKING GOOD!

 

 

 

 

Eddie’s House Restaurant in Scottsdale AZ serves up complimentary Blue Cheese Butter topped with Pistou with a bread basket that includes flat breads. It’s very indulgent and delicious! I used an Epicurious Recipe for the flat bread. It was very easy and quick to prepare. The blue cheese butter and pistou are also easy to prepare. You can whip this up for a crowd and they will be impressed.

Ingredients for Flat Breads about 6 servings

1 3/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil + extra for brushing breads

flake salt

Optional seasonings like sesame seeds, poppy seeds, zar’tar, rosemary, onion flakes, garlic flakes can also be delicious on flat bread.

Directions

Set your oven to 450 degrees F

In a medium size bowl add all your dry ingredients and make a well in the center. In the well add your water and oil and mix well.

Divide the dough into three balls.

Put your dough ball on top of  parchment paper that fits your baking sheet and top the dough with plastic wrap and roll thin with a rolling pin.

Now remove the plastic wrap and brush with oil. Top with flaked sea salt and what ever other herb or spices you want.

In about 10 minutes in your 450 degree F oven your flat bread should look like this.

Let cool and break up to serve.

You might want to serve with blue cheese butter.

Ingredients for about 6 servings

4 oz unsalted butter – room temperature

4 oz blue cheese – room temperature

2 oz whipped cream cheese

Directions

Mix well and serve.

For the Pistou – You might want to read the more detailed Pistou Recipe I published last week but it’s very easy and I made a big batch to use with other things. Extra Pistou can be frozen in an ice cube tray for latter uses.

12 oz. basil leaves – cleaned and rough chopped

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

6 garlic cloves smashed

1 Tablespoon salt – kosher or sea salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Just blend till smooth. I note you might want to use more oil. I try to use as little oil as I can so my batch is slightly thick.

It’s just delicious and is another crowd pleaser.

 

 

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.

Forking Good Rye Bread

 

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 is just delicious! The Pastabilities are endless.

 

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!

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