Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Our Favorite Pasta Bread aka Horseradish Chive Smoked Bread





Laura discovered this recipe last year and it instantly became a family favorite.  Can't praise it enough - literally my new go to recipe - AND Bonus its super easy to make.  Any recipe I will repeat and make again, is really saying something, not because the recipes I try are bad, but because food is so good and there are so many recipes, I rarely want to waste time repeating a recipe, when I could try something new.  This bread breaks that feeling inside me.  Since making it early in 2013 for the first time, I have made it for birthday's, family dinners, and I even used this recipe for one of my cooking classes at the Cook's Nook.

It's a taste deceiver, making you feel like you're eating garlic bread, when there's no garlic in sight!  Which is perfect for when you have visitors or pickey eaters who are wary of the tasty little bulb I love so much. 

It goes great with any pasta dish, but it also holds it own with a delicious rich soup like French Onion, Minestrone or even a stew!

As always I works to use all organic ingredients for this recipe: I buy organic butter in bulk, vinegar and coarse salt at Oryana (buying in bulk gets you 20% off - www.oryana.coop), I use horseradish from my garden (it is an insanely easy perennial to grow, in fact, once you start, I don't think you can get rid of it if you want to - though many farmers sell it at the market if you don't have any and don't want to try growing it on your own) and I typically uses an Italian loaf from Bay Bread Company (http://www.baybreadco.com/) or Stone House Bread (http://www.stonehousebread.com/).

Active Time: 10-15 minutes
Total Time: 35-50 minutes
Serves: 8-10

Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature (or use Boss Mouse Cheese Smoked Butter - http://www.bossmousecheese.com/)
2 tablespoons fresh horseradish (or prepared)
Dash of white vinegar (only if you're using fresh horseradish)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
Coarse salt
1 large Italian bread loaf (or 2 small loaves)

Directions:
 
1)  Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Peel the horseradish root and roughly chop.  Place in food processor and blend until pureed.  You may add a little white vinegar to make this process easier!





2)  Mash butter with
horseradish and chopped chives until smooth.
Season with salt.





3)  Slice bread, without cutting all the way through. Generously spread butter mixture evenly onto each piece, and wrap loaf in foil.





4)  Bake for 25-35 minutes. Serve warm.