Monthly Archives: November 2014

Elephant Garlic isn’t Garlic

Regular Garlic on the left and Elephant Garlic on the right

Regular Garlic on the left and Elephant Garlic on the right

It’s hard to forking believe the Elephant Garlic is a close relative to the Leek and isn’t a Garlic at all. Elephant Garlic is a member of the onion family and is NOT a true garlic.

They are best used raw when you want a hint of the garlic kind of taste.

Elephant Garlic has a higher sugar content than real garlic and burns very easily and when burnt  becomes very bitter.

Elephant Garlic isn’t Garlic.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

 

Romesco Sauce

Romesco Sauce

Romesco Sauce

Romesco Sauce is a Nut and Red Pepper based sauce originally from Spain.  Red Bell Pepper is not traditional to Romesco but the traditional Spanish Dried Peppers are very hard if not impossible to find so in the US so nearly all US recipes use Red Bell Peppers and sometimes a combination with some sort of dried pepper. Any combination of Almonds, Hazelnuts or Pine nuts can be used but most often it’s a combination of skinned roasted almonds and hazelnuts. I choose to use all Hazelnuts because of the unique flavor and I didn’t want this sauce to be too similar to the Muhammara Lebanese Roasted Red Pepper Dip also with nuts that I made before. Often but not always a slice of bread is added to Romesco and also Muhammara to thicken it more but I didn’t think it was needed in either recipe.

Romesco Sauce is used for grilled meats, fish and vegetables. Often when used for fish fresh mint is added.

Ingredients

3-5 Tomatoes (I used 5 VERY small tomatoes)

1/4 Sweet Onion (rough chopped)

1 Head Garlic (split in half)

approx 1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 Large Red Bell Peppers (roasted, skinned, seeded)

1/2 Cup Roasted and Pealed Hazelnuts

2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika

Directions

Set oven to roast at 375 degrees.

On your roasting pan place your tomatoes on one side of pan and your onions and garlic on the other side of pan and give a good drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive oil over the produce.

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Get some foil and cover the half with the onions and garlic.

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Let it roast for about an hour.

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After an hour it will look about like this.

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The Skin with peal easy off your tomatoes. And just squeeze the Garlic Halves to get the cloves out.

Toss your cleaned up tomatoes, garlic, onions and all the liquid into your blending container.

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Add your roasted Peppers and Hazelnuts.

Blend till smooth. It will have a slight texture from the nuts.

Add your dry spices, vinegar and blend some more.

Now you have Romesco Sauce.

Romanesco Cauliflower with Romesco Sauce

Romanesco Cauliflower with Romesco Sauce

Brown Rice topped with Romesco Sauce, Giant Beans and mint.

Brown Rice topped with Romesco Sauce, Giant Beans and mint.

Forking Good!

Forking Good!

 

 

The Forking Truth about Red Kidney Beans

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The Forking Truth is that Red Kidney are the most Toxic of Beans.

Oddly UNDERCOOKED red Kidney Beans may be MORE TOXIC than raw red kidney beans.

NEVER cook red kidney beans in a slow cooker because the slow cooker doesn’t boil and will never get hot enough to kill the dangerous protein in red kidney beans that can make you forking sick!

Eating as few as 4 or 5 undercooked red kidney beans can onset extreme nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Some forking truth about Red Kidney Beans.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

The Search for local Sushi Part 1

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Sushi fish must be fresh and sweet tasting and the rice should be seasoned and be prepared to the proper texture. Sushi is meant to be eaten in one bite so the size does matter. Soy sauce is used to season the fish and fresh grated (or real from frozen wasabi) not powdered wasabi is the perfect compliment. Ginger is used to clear your pallet between courses. When made correctly sushi is delicious light and healthy.

I prefer Sushi over Carpaccio. Both are forking raw. Something about eating raw cow flesh is less appetizing to me than the pretty colored sushi.

A local place near me did all these things correctly but has changed ownership and isn’t the same anymore.

From Sushi Catcher Glendale AZ

From Sushi Catcher Glendale AZ (still open but under new ownership with different recipes)

Made two attempts to find good sushi in the area.

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YUK! Old and not good! This place recently changed ownership and has a very good rating on a review site.

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Looks good but not so good. Not tasty….. The rice isn’t right and not sure about the fish. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between quality and freshness.

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The test for me is to try something with tuna. If a Sushi place can make raw tuna taste good it usually is a winner. This Tuna didn’t taste delicious to me and I already wasn’t a fan of the way they make their rice as it was too soft and missing seasoning. This place also has an excellent rating on a review site but has only a very average rating according to our local newspaper.

The search for Good Local Sushi may continue.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

Purple Veggies

Purple Bell Peppers

Purple Bell Peppers

Some Heirlooms Tomatoes look sort of Purple

Some Heirlooms Tomatoes look sort of Purple

Purple Asparagus

Purple Asparagus

Some of the Heirloom Carrots look sort of Purple

Some of the Heirloom Carrots look sort of Purple

The purple peppers taste sort of like green peppers.

Each Color of Tomato taste different.

Purple Asparagus is the sweetest of asparagus and can be served raw.

Each color of the carrots taste different too.

Food just taste better when it’s colorful.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

 

2014 Halloween Candy Usage

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I forking started with…………..

A mixed Box of Snickers, Regular and Peanut M&M’s, 3 Musketeers, Starburst and Skittles.

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A Box of Hershey’s

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Some Candy Necklaces

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And A Forking Box of Giant Pixy Stix

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The little Monsters took 92 pieces of candy.  I noticed not many but a few forking kids grabbed two pieces of candy.

They took….

3 Starburst

3 3 Musketeers

3 Regular M&M’s

4 Skittles

5 Snickers

5 Peanut M&M’s

7 Candy Necklaces

15 Hershey Bars

47 Pixy Stix

Forking Truth

Forking Truth