Dgourmac's Blog

Another advantage of vacation time is that I can bake bread again.  While the hands-on time preparing the dough is fairly small, I do need at least a solid day and a half without commitments to attend the various stages of mixing and developing the dough, plus baking time.  I had time this past weekend to do it, and my bread starter (going for at least five years now) was in good shape when I revivified it after it spent three mostly dormant days in the refrigerator during my New York trip.

Each batch of dough makes two good sized loaves, and because I wanted to put currants in some of the bread, I made two batches.  One batch was my favorite whole wheat levain recipe (about 90% whole grain, freshly milled organic flour); the other — with the currants — had a little more King Arthur Bread Flour (~15%) and the rest whole grain.  Following the Ken Forkish method (described in earlier posts), all four loaves came out as pretty and tasty as I had hoped.

The day I was baking, my lunch consisted of some toasted Iggy’s onion ficelle with Barbara’s hummus, Turkish black olives, a beet and micro-greens salad, and a glass of Estate Argyros Assyrtiko wine.

lunch of ficelle, hummus, and beet-micro greens salad

Beet and Micro-Greens Salad

whole wheat levain

Levain with currants inside, slightly elongated vs. a boule

whole wheat levain with currants

One of my unique food finds in NY was a package of Gnocchetti Sardi, a pasta from Sardinia.  I found it at BuonItalia and purchased the one which included the spinach and tomato pasta doughs.

I made up my own recipe, and it was excellent.

• boil gnocchetti in salted water until al dente
• dice carrot, onion and potato, and sauté them in olive oil in a large pan
• in a separate pan, sauté chopped chanterelle, shiitake, and soaked dried porcini mushrooms; add crushed, dried Sicilian rosemary; add salt and pepper
• when mushrooms are browned, add stock and boil off, then add white wine and reduce
• chop and blanch a handful of kale leaves, about 3 minutes, depending on age, until just tender
• combine sautéed vegetables, mushrooms, kale, and the gnocchetti in the sauté pan, add a handful of pitted, chopped Taggiasche olives, a little more olive oil, and sea salt (preferably from Ibiza), and cook two or three minutes until the flavors are well-blended.

Relish this beautiful and satisfying dish alone or with friends.  Buon appetito!

Gnocchetti with Vegetables My Way

Sea salt we bought in Ibiza last month

From Spain we move to India.  We have an Indian market in a nearby town, and they recently have upgraded the store —  cleaner design, better produce, nice selection.  One afternoon I stopped in to browse and was pleased to find a fresh bunch of Methi (Fenugreek Leaves).  I had used some once previously to add to our homemade chapati, but they were nowhere near as full and fresh as these.

A little research, stoked by my passion for legumes of all kinds, let me to make Methi Dal, using Red Lentils (Masoor Dal) and improvising with some of the vegetables in my refrigerator at the time.  The recipe I started (using Toor Dal) with is no longer online, but below is a pdf version I made when I found it.  And here is another simple version I found today, using red lentils.  My own recipe is posted below, along with a few photos.

Methi Dal Recipe | Indian Methi Recipes | Chef In You