I thought Corned Beef & Cabbage Hand Pies would be a good idea for a St Patrick’s Party. I bought a brined corned beef from the supermarket and boiled it adding some garlic, onion, carrots, and some leftover pastrami spice. I used the cooking liquid from the corned beef to braise the cabbage When the corned beef was cold it got sliced and some cabbage got chopped. Then I made the dough. Brushed the inside of the dough with beaten egg whites.
Filled the dough with some corned beef and cabbage. Closed the dough and brushed with egg yolks. Baked till light brown.
These went in the 350F oven for around 30 minutes.
Hand Pie Dough Recipe – Makes 12 (divide dough in 12 balls) Lines pans with parchment paper.
2 cups flour
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon course sea salt
1/3 cup water
2 egg whites for brushing and sealing the dough before stuffing it
2 egg yolks for glazing the top of hand pies.
Directions
Mix together with a fork the flour, canola, vinegar, salt, water, and baking powder.
This recipe is different but based on Chef Micheal Solomonov”s recipe for Hamentasen. (he suggests apricot filling). I really didn’t mean to change his recipe but made 3 substitutes due to what I had in my house. This recipe makes a little over 30 cookies.
Ingredients for around 30 cookies
8 oz unsalted butter melted
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
3 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanila extract
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon course sea salt
optional – a teaspoon or two of water if the dough seems too dry
Filling for your hamentashen (I used cheery pie filling and chocolate drizzle that I made by melting chocolate chips with butter)
Directions
Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix all the ingredients (expect filling and optional chocolate drizzle) till the dough feels nice. I thought my dough was too dry so I added a couple teaspoons of water.
Roll out dough in small batches. (I used plastic wrap over dough)
Cut into 3 inch circles.
Add about a teaspoon of filling and bring up edges of dough into that familiar triangle shape. Add each one to parchment lined pans.
They go into the oven until lightly browned (ovens differ but in my oven mine took about 25 minutes.
Hamantaschen
A Special THANKS!!! To Chef Micheal Solomonov so I could do what I got here!
The Notable Restaurant of the week was Rang’s Cocina Moderne. They are the Notable Restaurant because we’ve dine there over ten times and each and every time each dish and service is perfect. It is very rare that you will get perfect service and perfect food at any restaurant ten times in a row. They are doing something right. They also recently won an award from the Nevada Restaurant Association for Best Rising Star. In case you don’t know this restaurant offers a very nice menu of foods that are a mix of Italian, Spanish, and Filipino. Rang herself does most of the cooking and her husband Benedict does most of the serving. (Pictured above is their wonderfully flavorful and tender slow braised beef cheek).
Inside
Had another notable experience.
Asian Wok is the only American/Chinese Restaurant that I’ve found that offers REAL EAST COAST STYLE American/Chinese foods (Instead of the sticky sweet FLAT Nevada type style). It’s not a fancy place at all but the food really shines. So far we enjoyed “REAL” egg rolls, Szechwan Chicken, pepper beef, ginger scallion flounder, and hot and spicy chicken with shrimp.
No bad dishes to report this week.
In more Las Vegas Food News for Wine People
In even more Las Vegas Food News FOOD TRUCKS will be at Tivoli Village March 9th at The Purim Parade and also March 14th at Food Truck Market Nights.
In more Las Vegas News – RESERVATION BIDDING
In WEIRD Las Vegas Food News I saw ground BORK for sale at my local Smith’s Grocery Store.
In regular WEIRD Food News –
The government is recammending for us to chow down these beaver-like creatures.
Food News – Would YOU pay $19. for one strawberry?
In even WEIRDER Food News ……WOULD YOU PAY OVER $80,000.00 for a single Cheeto?
In more slightly weird Food News –
Did you know that there is such a thing as Zucchini Food Poisoning?
Food News –
PB & J Reese’s are coming out sometime soon!
Food News –
First one in Texas.
Food News – Mixue Fast Food Chain is BIGGER than McDonald’s Now!
Food News -Food Recall
In really weird but true Food News –
Who knew that baby stingrays look like anthropomorphic raviolis?
That was some of the Las Vegas and Beyond Food News
By accident I invented Halvah Fudge. I was reading several recipes for halvah……I also read a lot of complaints that most of them didn’t work out as well as people hoped for. This is my first try at it. It came out delicious. Anyone would like it as a confection. I think the cubes would also be FORKING FANTASTIC chocolate coated. I added around a 1/2 cup of pistachios. I added maybe a 1/3 of a 1/2 cup to the batter and some for the top and bottom. Do what you want for yours…a different nut? some chocolate chips? This makes 8-16 servings depending on if you eat one or two squares.
Ingredients for 8-16 servings
3/4 cup tahini
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup water
optional 1/2 cup pistachios
Directions
Spray a small tray (Like a take out container I didn’t measure it but it was something like 5×7 inches) with non stick spray. Add a few nuts if adding nuts and set to the side.
Mix all the ingredients well in a microwavable dish (I used a Corningware bowl) Cover with plastic wrap. Microwave 2 minutes (mix in nuts)
Pour mixture into small tray. Top with some nuts if using nuts.
Cover with plastic wrap and let chill over night in the refrigerator.
Enjoy!!!!
Halvah Fudge
Then I chocolate covered them and topped with a few more pistachios.
Basically this is a variation of Pimento Dip…But different… This one is a delicious base of ricotta cheese mixed with mostly cheddar cheese, some cream cheese, roasted peppers and Calabrian Chili Paste. I mixed it up together and it tasted amazing…..I mean FORKING AMAZING. My husband usually HATES Pimento Dip but he said that this one is delicious. I’m serving it with thin crisp breads that is published on my site.
1 lb ricotta cheese
7 oz cream cheese (preferably a quality brand without gum in it) room temperature to mix in easily
1 lb aged cheddar – shredded
Around 12 oz. roasted red peppers – seeds and stems removed around 1/2 fine chopped and the other half blended
Bomba Calabrese to taste – each brand does taste different and also has a different amount of heat. Today I used Italian Harvest Brand. I used about a heaping Tablespoon.
Directions
Just mix together the ingredients and you are done.
Roasted Pepper Cheesy Dip with Calabrian Chili Paste Cheesy Roasted Pepper Dip with Calabrian Chili Paste
I got the idea for pizza rolls after I made butternut squash cinnamon rolls. I just winged a focaccia type dough, rolled it thin, topped it with leftover lasagna cheese filling and some sauce and rolled it just like cinnamon buns. Then I sliced a little off and put each sliced in a non stick sprayed cupcake pan and topped the tops with a little bit of pizza seasoning and a little bit of shredded parmesan. In about 30 minutes at 350F give or take they were done. You can get my ideas for pizza, focaccia, and butternut squash cinnamon rolls here. I got lots of compliments on them and everyone loved them and gobbled them down. My husband said that he could eat them all day long.
Pizza Rolls
Everyone will love them and they make a great appetizers for entertaining.
I was searching for a corn cookie recipe because I made that really great Vivian Howard’s Corn Pudding Recipe and it is great but I thought some sort of corn crust might be good with it? I came across a King Arthur Baking recipe for corn cookies that is also based on another recipe…..A recipe by Christine Tosi for Momofuku’s Milk Bar so I thought it had to be delicious. I only made two small changes to the ingredients and one change to the method. When I read the comments for the King Arthur Recipe many people did say that the cookies were delicious but they spread like crazy when being baked. I thought that recipe had too much butter in it so I cut it by two tablespoons. I also cut the amount of cookie dough for each cookie and so they couldn’t spread I baked them in a muffin pan. FIXED THAT! The other small change is that I substituted some dark brown sugar for a small amount of the white sugar because a little bit of brown sugar adds great flavor. I do need to mention that cookies not always but usually do come out better if you make the dough the day before and chill it in the refrigerator so that is what I did……The dough the next day was EXTRA HARD but the cookies worked out well so that is how it goes. This will make at least 24 cookies.
Ingredients for 24 cookies
1 1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup masa harina
1/4 cup cornmeal
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
10 Tablespoons unsalted butter – melted
1 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 egg
non stick cooking spray
Directions
Ina large mixing bowl mix together the flour, masa harina, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, butter, sugars, and egg. Mix well cover and chill over night.
This dough is going to be very hard the next day.
The Next Day
Set oven to 350 F convection Bake (If you don’t have convection bake I’d suggest 350F) and spray a muffin pan with non stick spray and set it to the side.
Use a small meatball scoop and PACK the dough into it and put one in each of the muffin cups.
This goes on near bottom rack of your preheated set at 350 F convection Bake (that is actually 325 F)
In my oven they were perfect in 21 minutes.
They don’t look special BUT THEY TASTE SPECIAL!
They have a crispy crunchy exterior and the first day have a moist chewy delicious interior with a great corn taste. The 2nd day they still taste FORKING AMAZING but the one I tried was very crispy…..The rest other people ate.
A Special THANKS!!! To www.KingArthurBaking.com so I could do what I got here.
This recipe is delicious and really different. It is based on Yotam Ottolenghi’s Recipe for Sesame Date Banana Cake. One of the biggest things I changed was that I used my already frozen bananas because I freeze bananas when they are ripe and on sale and they are more delicious and much sweeter that way. Often I take frozen sweet banana and just whip them up for a sweet no added sugar frozen treat. I changed the recipe only slightly and made it easier to prepare. This will make around 23 cupcakes but I recommend to double the frosting recipe if you want frosting on all the cupcakes. I just froze my leftover unfrosted cupcakes for another time.
This makes about 23 servings
2 oz tahini
3 oz orange juice
10 dates chopped (pits removed)
1 cup sliced bananas (mine were from frozen)
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
4 oz sweet butter cut into small chunks
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 + 1/3 cup flour
2 + 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 big pinch sea salt
non stick spray
Tahini Cream Cheese Frosting (double if you want enough for all the cupcakes)
4 oz cream cheese
4 oz ricotta cheese
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 Tablespoons tahini
12-22 sweetened banana chips
Date syrup for finishing
Directions
Preheat oven to 320F or 320 Convention.
Spray cupcake pan(s) with non stick spray
In a large mixing bowl add the 2oz tahini, orange juice, dates, frozen bananas, sesame seeds, butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well with a fork.
Fill sprayed cupcake tin half way.
Place in preheated oven until done. In my oven this took 20 minutes but your oven may differ some.
Make the frosting. I used a potato masher and mashed together the cream cheese, ricotta, brown sugar, and tahini till smooth and set to the side. Don’t top the cupcakes until they are cool.
Top the cupcakes when cool.
Drizzle with date syrup.
Finish with a banana chip.
Sesame Date Banana Cupcakes
A Special THANKS!!!!! To Yotam Ottolenghi for yet another FORKING AMAZING RECIPE so I could get what I got here.
They had a pasta sale at my local Smith’s Grocery. Pasta was only $1.00 a box so why the Fork not? This is pretty easy to prepare. You will get around 10-20 servings depending on if your serving size is one or two. I think some people will eat one and at least half the people out there will eat two so I’ll say 15 servings.
Ingredients for around 15 servings
1 lb spaghetti
2 cups spaghetti sauce
1 egg – beaten
1 cup ricotta
1/2 cup parmesan – grated – plus extra for serving
2 oz cream cheese – room temperature
1 egg
1 cup spaghetti sauce
sea salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
non stick spray
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F and spray two cupcake pans with non stick spray.
Boil spaghetti 2 minutes less than box suggests.
Drain spaghetti and mix with 2 cups sauce and beaten egg.
Fill about 21 cups from the cupcake pans with the spaghetti.
In a medium bowl mix together the ricotta, parm, cream cheese, egg, salt and pepper and set to the side.
Next they get topped with the cup of sauce.
Next use a spoon or a small scoop and top each with some cheese mixture.
About 20 minutes on the middle or lower rack and they are done.
Spaghetti Cupcakes
Serve with extra grated parmesan, hot red pepper, and if you have them some fresh basil.
I had a can of salmon and got the idea to make salmon balls. I also got some inspiration from a Jean George Vongetichten I read. It is a very different recipe (Crab Balls with Grapefruit Salad) but it still gave me interesting delicious ideas that I had to try. This recipe makes around 28 balls and 2 cups of sauce. So that means about 28 cocktail servings or around 5 meal servings. I don’t mean to brag but they really came out FORKING AMAZING! Much more delicious than a lot of food I eat out. I think most people will make this recipe for a meal so I will say 5 servings.
Ingredients for around 5 servings
1 Tablespoon butter
1/4 cup onion – grated
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (mine was separated so I poured the watery liquid out and used the thickened coconut milk) *****NOTE you might need slightly less if your coconut milk is not as thick****
1 – 14.75 oz. can salmon – remove skin and bones and crumble the fish
1 cup panko
2 eggs
1 teaspoon Aleppo red pepper
sea salt – to taste
2 Tablespoons white sesame seeds
2 Tablespoons black sesame seeds
non stick spray
4 oz unsalted butter
6 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons yuzu (or substitute lemon) juice
2 Tablespoons ginger – fresh grated
4 mandarins – skin removed – chopped
1 Thai Chile – chopped
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray a couple baking sheets with non stick spray and set them to the side.
Sauté the onions with butter till lightly brown and take off the heat and put to the side.
In a large bowl combine the corn starch, coconut milk, salmon, salt, pepper, panko, eggs, and the cooked onions. Mix well and set to the side. (Below is to show you how thick my coconut milk was and a picture of the can it came from)
In a shallow pan add the sesame seeds.
Use a small scooper and make meatball sized balls and roll them in the sesame seeds and add each finished ball to a nonstick sprayed pan leaving a little room around each one.
They go in the preheated 350 F oven for about 15 minutes.
While they are in the oven you can whip up the sauce.
Melt butter in a pan on medium high heat with the sugar.
Blend the yuzu (or lemon) juice, ginger, mandarins, Thai Chile, soy sauce, together. Then add the sweetened butter and mix well.
Baked Salmon Mousse Balls with Mandarin Ginger Sauce
