Avocado Tartine with Girbiche Egg Salad . sprouted kitchen

I know, the avocado toast thing has been played, but this one is my new favorite. Goodies on toast is a timeless food application, I'm sure of it. I was at a baby shower brunch for one of my dearest friends a few weekends ago at a charming restaurant in Los Angeles called Eveleigh. Life is its own sort of wonderful when you see a friend who your soul trusts and adores, growing a person inside them. Baby, your mother has one of the most tender spirits and sweetest hearts and greatest laughs of all time, you're the luckiest. I'm thrilled you'll get to receive her love. So that part is exciting. But the second most exciting was this avocado toast starter that all the ladies at the table talked about after multiple shared courses. It was quite simple - thin crispy pieces of fresh, grainy bread, smeared with avocado, a sprinkle of aleppo pepper, and then a very chunky sauce gribiche was served on the side to top your toast. I get stuck on what to make for the blog and I just listened to the table chatter about the toast and felt like I was doing blog field research - people want a recipe for this toast, and I need to eat this again.

Classically, this sauce is more of an aioli base, where the yolk emulsifies for a more cream sauce consistency than the egg salad disgrace to the French I have here. It is intended to put on potatoes, chicken, fish... Molly writes about it here if you need more persuading. She's one to be trusted. I am an easy sell as eggs, shallots, heavy on the green herbs, and ripe avocado all fall into my favorite ingredients list. I suppose you could manage this on small baguette-size toasts for an appetizer or serve it along side a green salad for a complete meal. Even if you didn't want it on a tartine, the egg salad part would be an easy to pack lunch for work with a bag of crackers. All I know is this combo will be happening here often.

AVOCADO TARTINES WITH GRIBICHE EGG SALAD // Makes 4

I don't like my egg salads super yolky, so I take the yolk out of 2-3 of the eggs and chop from there. This makes it a little less rich and I prefer it that way, but you can make that call. If it gets chilled over an hour or two, leave the egg salad at room temperature for at least fifteen minutes before serving for the dressing to be the best texture.

2 teaspoons dijon mustard
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup well chopped mixed herbs: flat leaf parsley, tarragon, thyme, chives, fennel fronds
1 small shallot, minced
1 tablespoon capers, drained
6 hard boiled eggs (see headnote)
sea salt and pepper to taste
4 slices of a grainy country loaf
1-2 avocados

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the dijon, vinegar and olive oil. Add the herbs and shallot. Give the capers a rough chop and add them too. Add a hearty pinch of salt and pepper and give it a stir.

Remove the shell from the eggs and discard any yolks if you so choose. Chop the eggs up and add them to the dressing. Stir to mix. Add salt and pepper to taste. Keep covered in the fridge until ready to use. The egg salad can be made up to a day in advance.

Toast the slices of bread. Mash the avocados well with a pinch or two of salt. Spread a layer of avo mash on the toasts and top with a few heaping spoonfuls of the egg salad on top.

Print This Recipe

Snack, Breakfast, Bread, Winter, Fall

YEASTED PUMPKIN BREAD

Sara Forte · October 31, 2013

"Our first objective has been to peel off the fluff and commercial layers that complicate entertaining. Next we have tried to put the social reasons for inviting friends into our homes - the relationships, traditions, community and conversations- in the foreground and let the superficial details like fancy recipes and table decorations recede into the background...this book represents an effort to take the same communal neighborhood approach by welcoming you into the homes of our Kinfolk team, along with a diverse group of friends, family, contributing writers, artists and other makers." - Nathan Williams, Kinfolk

I think this book is special because it is not your modern day cookbook. The pages do not go between recipe and food photo with an expected rhythm. There are people and stories and a number of super simple or clearly personal recipes, but I like it because it is different. Hugh and I are flattered to be included. We contributed a pancake, as well as a scrambled leek & egg recipe to the book. While they are not mind-blowing by way of ingredients or preparation, they are foods that go through our kitchen routinely, not recipes written for the sake of writing recipes. The breakfast we make together often, and that is where the book hits the mark on its thesis. You'd have to read the entire introduction to put all the pieces together, but it was refreshing to see such a collection of personal, everyday food in a cookbook. Think 50/50 coffee table book to cookbook for a realistic expectation. Kinfolk catches a lot of flack for the curated niche they snuggle into, but the book is different and inspired and gorgeous. I'm not just saying that because there is a full page picture of my babe of a husband.

I made this recipe even though it wasn't paired with a photo, so that's big. Love me a visual. The only swap I made was a bit of spelt flour for some of the bread flour. The recipe in the book is printed with a maple pecan glaze option. I am going to include it here for more a monkey bread/sweet roll-esque deal, which totally has it's time and place. The bread has a decent amount of sugar in it, so I will scale that back to maybe 1/2 or 2/3 a cup if I do the glaze. I will make it for the next loaf, wouldn't mind the extra moisture here. We wanted a sweet bread, but the sort to lightly toast in the morning, so we forfeited the glaze this loaf.

YEASTED PUMPKIN BREAD

Recipe from The Kinfolk Table: Recipes for Small Gatherings

I used a natural cane sugar as called for, but next time I will swap in some dark muscavado to lend a little of that caramely goodness that pairs well with pumpkin. The one cup of sugar that gets layered in the bread makes it on the sweeter side, scale back if you prefer it less so. Note this is not a slicing bread, it breaks in chunks for a free form breakfast treat.

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups natural cane sugar, divided
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp. sea salt
1 1/3 cup unbleached bread flour or all purpose
1 cup spelt flour
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg

In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook 2 Tbsp. of the butter, without stirring, until brown bits form, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in the milk and get the mixture to 110' (too hot and it'll kill the yeast). Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, stir in the yeast and 1/4 cup sugar. Let it stand for 10 minutes.

Stir in the pumpkin puree, salt and 1 cup of the bread/all purpose flour. When combined, add the rest of the flour in several additions, kneading between additions. Knead the dough until it is elastic and slightly sticky, 6-8 minutes.

Brush a large bowl with olive oil, place the dough ball inside and turn it over several times until it is well greased. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise in a warm, draft free place until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

Meanwhile, combine the remaining 1 cup sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and remaining 2 Tbsp. butter and stir well. After the dough has doubled in size, knead it for two minutes. Roll it out into a 12x9 inch rectangle. Sprinkle the sugar mixture on top, gently pressing it into the dough. Slice the dough lengthwise into six strips, and stack them on top of the other. Cut the strips into 6 squares and stack them into a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Cover with a clean dishtowel and allow it to rise for 30 minutes to an hour, until it doubles in size again.

Preheat the oven to 350'. Line a loaf pan with parchment for an easy exit. Bake the loaf on the middle rack for 30 minutes until edges are golden. Set the pan on a rack to cool.

Optional glaze:

3/4 cup confectioners sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp. real maple syrup
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1-2 Tbsp. milk
3/4 cup roasted and salted pecans, chopped

In a medium bowl, whisk together the confectioners sugar, syrup, butter and 1 Tbsp. of the milk. Whisk in more milk for a thinner consistency if desired. Drizzle the glaze over the bread and sprinke with pecans. Serve warm.

Print This Recipe

Snack, Breakfast, Beverage, Gluten Free

SMOOTHIES: HIS AND HERS

Sara Forte · October 10, 2013

We're keeping things simple today. I have been testing for the book and had a few quick-turnaround freelance jobs. There has been so much food I'm passing out tupperwares to anyone who stops by. There were a few food-heavy weeks, followed by drought. I was burnt out and uninterested in cooking unless it could be easily stuffed in a brown rice tortilla or blended up and considered a meal. I left Hugh in charge where I typically have a plan, so we had a solid handful of breakfast burritos and taco meals. No complaints from either side. When thinking food, and writing food, and making food becomes your work, part of its charm is sometimes lost. But only part and only sometimes. I love what I do, but I am not much for excess. I keep a fairly minimal home and prefer to have around the items we actually use as opposed to cling to clutter. So when it's all food all the time, I have to step back for a few days to avoid going completely nuts.

When needing hardly a meal, more of an in-between, tide-you-over, on the run mini-meal in a cup sort of deal, we make smoothies. Hugh makes his off a memory from his childhood. They'd shop at a health food store and the kids would get a shake at the juice bar on the way out. To his memory, it was a creamy combination of milk, peanut butter, banana, date and a little chocolate. It's delicious, but on the shake side of smoothie. Actually no, it's just a straight up shake. I am ever the fan of frozen mangos because they're creamy themselves and then stuck with the tropical theme. Hugh assured me everyone would like his better. My love, I even like yours better, but someone had to go the slightly lighter route here.

Sometimes I find smoothie recipes insulting - isn't it all just thrown in a blender? Yes, yes it is. But this is what we're eating 'round here so take your combination however you wish. This looks tasty if you're on the pumpkin train right now, and this looks Fall-ish as well, or something completely unique with sesame milk, and while the fresh are gone, this blueberry basil one could be made with frozen blueberries. Browse through Sarah's tips on smoothie boosters too!

MONKEY FLIP // Makes 1

As told by Hugh Forte

1/2 banana
2 Tbsp. natural peanut butter
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 date, pitted
1 scoop chocolate ice cream or frozen yogurt
1 cup milk

Add all ingredients to a blender. Blend until completely smooth, adding more milk or ice for desired consistency.

TROPICAL COOLER // Makes 1

handful of crushed ice
1/2 cup frozen mango chunks
1/2 cup coconut yogurt or plain yogurt (or coconut sorbet)
flesh of half a seeded and peeled papaya
1 cup coconut water
squeeze of honey
squeeze of fresh lime juice

Add all ingredients to a blender. Blend until completely smooth, adding more milk or ice for desired consistency.

Print This Recipe

SPROUTED KITCHEN COOKBOOKS

cooking club