Mostarda is a spicy Northern Italian Condiment. It is usually but not always made with candied fruit and mustard syrup. I read at www.LaCucinaItaliana.com that there are SIX basic kinds of mostarda (cherry, apricot, fig, peach, squash, tomato). According to La Cucina Italiana instead of mustard they use something called mustard essence instead of mustard to make mostarda. I used a combination of mustard and mustard powder to make my inspiration. I previously made a FORKING DELICIOUS acorn squash with mostarda and taleggio cheese….so this is a spin off of that. Serving size is always difficult to judge because I don’t know if you want a small or large serving. For me this made 6 side servings so I’ll say 6 servings.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
1 cabbage – core removed, rough chopped
1 onion – rough chopped
3 carrots – peel if not organic – slice on a slight diagonal around 1/4 inch thick
1/4 cup chives
4 oz gorgonzola – crumbled (or any blue cheese)
1 cup sugar
1 lemon – zest and juice but separate
2 Tablespoons mustard powder
3 Tablespoons whole grain mustard (I used Maille Old Style)
2 short Calabrian dried chili peppers – crumbled
1/2 teaspoon course sea salt
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
sea salt – to taste
black pepper – to taste
Directions
Set oven to 400 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl (or maybe a few bowls if you bowl isn’t very large) mix together the sugar, lemon juice (zest is for finishing), mustard powder, mustard, oil, Calabrian chili flakes, and sea salt. Mix well. Mix in the cabbage, onion, and carrots.
This goes on baking sheets with rims in an even layer.
Add a light amount of fresh crushed sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.
This goes in your preheated 400 degree F oven for 30-50 minutes or until lightly charred.
I was reading a recipe for Focaccia and I was very surprised that it had an egg and heavy cream in the dough. This recipe I would have not read but it was by an Italian Chef from Lombardy so I guess it’s for real. I didn’t have heavy cream at home but I did have a French cheese called Fromagerd d Affinois with herbs (basically Brie). I used that in the dough instead of cream and I changed up the flours due to what I had in my pantry. I also changed up the liquids slightly. I also had to figure out the oven temperature and timing. But WOW! It came out FORKING DELICIOUS! Serving size is always difficult to determine because I don’t know if you want a small serving or a large serving. This made 6 small breads……so that means between 6-12 servings depending on if you want a half bread or a whole bread…..so I’ll say 9 servings. That is my guesstimate.
Ingredients for around 9 servings
1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon water warmed up to 110 degrees F
1 pack active dry yeast
1 Tablespoon honey
1/4 cup brie cheese or something similar
1 egg – lightly beaten
1 teaspoon course sea salt
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
5 Tablespoons 00 flour
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil + more for spraying the dough
4 Tablespoons water
6 pinches flake sea salt
1/4 red onion – sliced extra thin
12 sweet grape tomatoes – sliced thin
3 oz Grana Padano – shredded
3 small pinches rosemary
3 small pinches Italian seasoning (This is what I used…..I tablespoon sea salt, 1 Tablespoon black pepper, 1/2 Tablespoon garlic powder, 1/2 Tablespoon onion powder, 1 Tablespoon basil, 1 tablespoon oregano, 1 Tablespoon fennel seeds, 1 crushed small dried Calabrian Chile pepper)
non stick spray
a few pinches of cornmeal or semolina
Directions
Set oven to 425 degrees F.
Combine yeast, 110 degree water, and honey in a large bowl. Mix and wait about ten minutes till you see a foamy surface. Whisk in cheese, egg, and salt. Add flours, water, and olive oil. This mixes together very well. Knead it some and make a ball and put it in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. In around an hour divide the dough into 6 balls. 2 sheet pans get sprayed lightly with non stick spray and then spray the lightly with olive oil and add a light sprinkle of corn meal or semolina. Shape each ball of dough into a flat pancake. Three pancakes will fit on each sheet tray. Cover them loosely with plastic wrap. Let them rise 30-60 minutes.
Spray them with olive oil. Sprinkle them with a light sprinkle of sea salt flakes and rosemary. (Optional….you should make the dimples in the dough….I did but they didn’t stay dimpled)……Add a sprinkle of raw onions slices and tiny sweet tomato slices. Add a sprinkle of Grana Padano. Finish with a LIGHT sprinkle of Italian seasoning and another sprinkle of extra virgin olive oil.
This goes in your preheated 425 degree F oven till slightly browned. Ovens do differ. This took around 25 minutes in my oven on a middle rack. In my old oven I think this only would take around 15 minutes.
Anyway it really did come out FORKING DELICIOUS! (Below is one of the 6 small loaves sliced up)
Took some to a party I went to with my FORKING AMAZING chocolate chip cookies.
Focaccia Style Bread with Onions, Tomatoes, and Grana Padano
I didn’t make chef Mattia Agazzi’s recipe for Focaccia (only because I didn’t have the ingredients) but it inspired me to make what I got here so a Special Thanks!!!! to him!
I was thinking about calling this recipe FORKING TASTY cauliflower because when my husband tried it he said that this was, “FORKING TASTY Cauliflower. Sorry I missed photographing my dog for you……….. but even he thought it was FORKING TASTY too and STOLE a piece off of this plate while my back was turned. I used an orange colored cauliflower that is slightly tastier than the white ones but you can use a white cauliflower. Purple cauliflowers are more delicate and would probably burn up so I wouldn’t recommend using purple. Serving suggestion size may differ because we all have different appetites.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
1 cauliflower (preferably orange) – break down to florets
2 eggs
3 tablespoons mustard (I used Amora Brand Dijon mustard)
4 oz parmesan cheese – grated
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
non-stick spray
Directions
preheat oven to 450 degrees F
Spray your baking sheet(s) with non-stick spray and set to the side.
In a large mixing bowl mix together the eggs, mustard, cheese, pepper, and paprika. Mix well and then add the cauliflower florets. This mixture will be very thick. Mix well till it looks like the cheese mixture is all over the cauliflower. Then arrange the cauliflower on sprayed sheet pan(s) in single layer with a small amount of room around each floret.
These go on your middle rack for around 25 minutes or until cauliflower is cooked and slightly brown.
A long time ago I used to go to Eddie’s House Restaurant in Scottsdale AZ and he used to serve complimentary bread baskets. Those bread baskets contained an assortment of breads and these flat crisp breads with blue cheese butter and pistou herb sauce (pesto without nuts). A few years ago I published a similar recipe. I did get the crisp bread recipe from Epicurious. This is pretty much the same recipe for the crisps but in my current oven I need to bump up the heat 25 degrees for the crisps to come out the same. The rest is even easier than before because I decided that you don’t need to measure the butter and blue cheese. Just blend a stick of butter with a wedge of blue cheese. For the herbs I grabbed a handful of basil, some leftover marjoram, some green parts of scallions and olive oil. Portion size is always difficult to determine because I don’t know if you want one small piece or several pieces. This makes three flatbreads that I’m guessing are two servings so I will round this to 6 servings.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
1 3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil + extra for brushing or spraying the flat breads
sea salt flakes – to taste
poppy seeds – to taste
sesame seeds – to taste
1 – 4 oz stick butter (doesn’t matter if salted or not) – room temperature
1 wedge (around 4 oz or more) blue cheese – room temperature
handful of herbs
extra virgin olive oil to blend
Directions
Here’s the difficult part………picking a temperature for the oven……….In my last oven I made these same flat breads at the Epicurious suggestion of 450 degrees F for ten minutes……I tried that and it doesn’t work in my current oven so I cranked it up to 475F and then the crips came out. You can try 450F and if yours is still raw then crank it up to 475F till done.
After you pick your oven temperature……In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, water, and oil. Divide the dough into three balls.
Roll the balls on parchment paper and top the dough with plastic wrap and roll the dough into a flat bread. Remove the plastic wrap and spray or brush with olive oil. Sprinkle sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and sea salt flakes. Transfer your raw flat bread on parchment paper to a sheet pan and place in your oven for about 10 minutes.
Repeat with 2nd and 3rd dough balls.
I’ve found out that you can bake two in the oven but in my oven the flat bread on lower rack needed two more minutes.
For the blue cheese butter just blend the blue cheese with the butter.
For the herbs remove any stems and blend with olive oil.
This is FORKING Delicious!
EZ Bread Crisps with Blue Cheese Butter and Herb Sauce
A special THANKS!!!!! to Epicurious for a FORKING fantastic bread crisp recipe and also to Chef Eddie that was from Eddie’s House for this amazing idea!
I had these baby bell peppers that I had to use so I was thinking cornbread…..Then I thought cheesy cornbread. Then I made them so darn cheesy they were pudding and I topped it with a FORKING AMAZING salsa macha. You can buy salsa macha from many stores and Mexican grocery stores but the recipe on The FORKING Truth is FORKING AMAZING. Don’t mean to brag…BUT…If I was on a competition show…I’d WIN for this. If a restaurant served this they’d be written in the newspaper for this dish. That is how FORKING AMAZING they really taste!…..Anyways…… This recipe makes at least 24 mini stuffed peppers…I ran out of peppers but had enough to do at least 5 more. I’m figuring around 8 servings thinking that you are going to eat about three mini peppers a serving.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup masa de harina
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter – melted (doesn’t matter if salted or not you adjust salt)
sea salt – to taste
1 egg – lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 cup shredded mature cheddar
2-3oz sliced mature cheddar (this is for topping the corn puddings)
3 Tablespoons salsa macha
24 mini bell peppers
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Directions
Set oven to 350 degrees F.
The baby bell peppers get sprayed with oil and go on a sheet pan. Roast the peppers until cooked. Ovens do differ…in my old oven this would take only 15 minutes. In my current oven this took 30 minutes.
Line mini muffin pan(s) with paper liners.
In a large mixing bowl add the cornmeal, masa de harina, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cheese and mix well, Add the melted butter, egg, milk, You will need a little salt. I used salted butter and added about 5 turns of salt from my salt grinder.
When the peppers are cool enough to handle remove cores and stems. Split them down the middle and put them in the cups.
Fill about 3/4 of the cup with corn pudding mixture. Then top each with a chunk of cheese.
This goes on the middle rack of your preheated 350F oven. For around 15 minutes.
Serve warm and top with salsa macha.
They are FORKING SCRUMPTIOUS!
Enjoy!
Cheesy Mini Corn Pudding Stuffed Peppers with Salsa Macha The Forking Truth
I got a nice big fat cauliflower that I had to use and some walnuts I keep in my freezer and blue cheese so I was able to come up with this recipe easily. Going forward my new oven roasts different than my last oven so I need to turn up my recipes a little and most things seem to take a little longer. So it is very important to know that ovens really do differ. Your cauliflower might not be the same size as the giant one that I was lucky to get at a great price….SO…that also means that servings may differ too. I got six side servings out of this one but often I only get 4 servings from a cauliflower. I’ll say 4 servings because I usually can only find 4 serving cauliflowers.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
1 cauliflower – break down to florets
1 onion – rough chop
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes – slice in halves
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup walnuts
4 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons walnut oil
1 garlic clove – either chopped or ground to paste
1 Tablespoon date syrup
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup blue cheese – crumbled
1/4 cup toasted walnuts – slightly crumbled
1/4 cup scallions – sliced thin
sea salt – to taste
crushed black pepper – to taste
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Cauliflower florets, bought cut onion, sliced cherry tomatoes go on a sheet pan(s) and get sprayed generously with olive oil. Do a light sprinkle of sea salt and black pepper. Place in preheated 425F oven until lightly charred…..(ovens do differ…in my old oven this would be 30-45 minutes…in my current oven it is more like 50-60 minutes.)
While the cauliflower is roasting use a stick blender and lightly blend the walnuts with the vinegar, oil, garlic, and date syrup. You might want it still a little chunky and not like peanut butter. Set to the side.
When the cauliflower is done assemble and serve. Add the walnut vinegar sauce. Finish with a sprinkle of walnuts, blue cheese, golden raisins, and scallions. It’s delicious and most people will enjoy!
Roasted Cauliflower with Walnut Vinegar Sauce, Walnuts, Blue Cheese, and Golden Raisins
This recipe is a variation of the Ottolengi Test Kitchen’s Middle Eastern Mac ‘N’ Cheese with Za’atar Pesto. I made it a few months back and it was SO FORKING AMAZING!!!!!!!! Incase you don’t know Yotam Ottolenghi is a famous chef, restauranteur, and multi award and James Beard winning cookbook author. Anyways that Middle Eastern Mac ‘N’ Cheese really was FORKING Amazing…. so
Middle Eastern Mac & Cheese with Za’atar Pesto & Crisp Onions
I thought these same flavors would also be great on a flatbread so I gave it a try.
I made my own bread and my own crisp onions but you can buy a flat bread already made. I always just wing bread because bread recipes are very rarely perfect to the brand flour you buy. They are all ground different so your results will differ. I basically made the bread the way I try to describe on how I make pizza dough. You can look that up on The Forking Truth if you like. The onions are easy. Either you can buy them already made crisp in a bag or slice onions yourself and coat them in either flour or cornstarch and fry in oil on medium heat till crisp. After that all I had to do was to make a cheese foundation that taste like what was on the pasta from the original recipe and then make the pesto. Serving size is difficult to judge. This recipe makes enough to dress two 14 inch breads that I cut into 16 small slices. I don’t know if you want one, two, three, or four slices to eat? I think the majority of people will eat two slices so I’ll guesstimate 8 smaller servings.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
2 – 14 inch flat breads
1/2 cup crisp onions
5 Tablespoons butter room temperature – topping
3 garlic cloves – ground to paste – topping
1/8 teaspoon turmeric – topping
1+ 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin – topping
5 Tablespoons cream cheese
1 + 1/3 cup mature cheddar cheese – shredded
6 + 1/3 oz feta cheese – crumbled
sea salt – to taste
black pepper – to taste
1 lemon – zest & supreme the segments and chop the supremes, squeeze what’s left not to waste the juice – pesto
3 Tablespoons za’atar – pesto
1 cup either parsley, cilantro, or celery leaves or a bit of each – rough chopped – pesto
1 garlic clove – ground to paste – pesto
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts – lightly crushed – pesto
6 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil – pesto
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil – to oil pan
Directions
Depending on your bread depends on the temperature you need. If you are using a purchased bread you only need to preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. If you are baking a pizza type dough then you would need a higher temperature on what your pan or stone can handle between 450 and 500 degrees F.
Make topping- In a medium bowl combine butter, garlic, turmeric, cumin, cream cheese, cheddar, and feta cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set to the side.
Make pesto – In a small bowl combine zest, lemon supremes, any lemon juice that you can squeeze from the skins you removed from the supremes, za’atar, cup of leaves (parsley, cilantro, and or celery), garlic, pine nuts, olive oil. You will want to blend this slightly. It is easiest if you have a stick blender. Or you can muddle it with a mortar and pestle.
Preheat your oven to at least 350 degrees F.
Place a bread on an oiled pan.
Spread 1/2 of topping on bread. (other 1/2 goes on 2nd bread)
This goes in oven till hot. (about 10 minutes)
Next – take out of oven and add up to 1/2 of pesto. (Some goes on 2nd bread)
Finish with crisp onions and slice and serve!
Cheddar & Feta Flatbread with Za’atar Pesto & Fried Onions
A Special THANKS!!!!!!!!! to Ottolenghi Test Kitchen so I could come up with what I got here!
A corn muffin is very easy to prepare. I gave these corn muffins a southwest twist by using masa de harina, green chilies and cheese to basic corn muffins. This recipes makes 24 small muffins. Extras can be frozen for latter use. Latter I found out that they make a FORKING SCRUMPTIOUS filling for fresh fish. They actually sell fresh fish at supermarkets here….WOW if you can get some fresh mild white fish by where you live you can make something incredible.
Ingredients for 24 servings
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup masa de harina
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter room temperature (either salted or unsalted butter will work here. – I usually use unsalted but got salted by accident and I thought I had enough salt so I’m adding sea salt to taste to recipe)
sea salt – to taste
1 egg – lightly beaten
2/3 cup non fat dry milk (or just one cup milk and skip the water in this recipe)
1 cup water
1 cup scallions – sliced thin
4 roasted chili peppers – peeled, stem & seeds removed – well chopped (I used Anaheims but many different ones are delicious…You might need more or less chilies depending on what kind you use)
2 cups mostly cheddar cheese – cut in small pea sized cubes.
1/2 cup cilantro – well chopped (thin stems are good but thick stems should be thrown out)
Directions
Set oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl mix together the masa de harina, corn meal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, dry milk, (and salt if using). Next mix in the butter, egg, water, scallion, chili peppers, cheese and cilantro.
You use paper cupcake liners because the cheesy muffins might stick to the pan.
Fill the cupcake liners a little over 1/2 way.
In my oven on middle rack the muffins were done in 15 minutes. Timing may differ slightly.
Green Chili & Cheese Corn Muffins
They are tasty and moist. Everyone will enjoy!
But after I made them I discovered that they make a FORKING AMAZING STUFFING for mild white fish. I cut a muffin in half and rolled a sole filet around half a muffin.
I rolled sole filets around 1/2 muffins and added my home made salsa to the tops of them and popped them in a 350 degree F oven on an oiled baking sheet for 20 minutes. They came out FORKING AMAZING!
Spices, dijon, maple, walnuts, and celery leaves all go together very well and all taste great on carrots so here we are! This recipe will make 4-6 servings depending on how big your serving size is. Ovens do differ so timing may differ. Tis took far longer in this oven than I think it would have taken in my last oven.
Ingredients for around 5 servings.
1 1//2 pounds carrots – peel if not organic. You can cut however you like but that will affect cooking time. I cut mine longways.
1 Tablespoon Dijon (I used Amaro Brand)
1 teaspoon ground yellow mustard
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1 orange – the fresh squeezed juice and zest separate
2 garlic cloves – ground to paste
2 Tablespoons butter – room temperature ( doesn’t matter if salted or not you adjust to your liking)
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
sea salt – to taste
pepper (of your choice) – to taste (I used one small dried Calabrian crushed)
2 Tablespoons walnuts – ground
2 loose Tablespoons – celery leaves – chopped
Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Lay the carrots in a single layer on baking sheet(s) and set to the side.
In a small mixing bowl mix together the mustards, coriander, fennel seeds, maple syrup, orange juice, garlic, butter, oil, pepper, salt. Mix well. Spoon this mixture evenly over the carrots.
Put them on the middle rack. In my oven this took a total of 45 minutes to be done. I put mine in for 35 minutes and turned them over and cooked them another ten minutes for a total of 45 minutes.
Finished them with the walnut crumbs, orange zest, and the celery leaves.
Spiced Dijon Orange Maple Carrots with Walnut Crumbs and Celery Leaves
The only main vegetable I had today was celery. So I looked up celery recipes. To my surprise I found a whole long list of Italian Celery with Chick Pea Recipes. They all were different but not all but most didn’t have meat in them. When I read all the recipes they sort of reminded me of turkey stuffing but with chick peas instead of bread but maybe slightly soupy. Not all but a couple recipes involved mashing a potato or more beans in it to thicken it up some. I also read that many Italians eat the celery with chick peas with an egg to make it a complete meal. I winged my own version that is different. I didn’t have potatoes or more beans to add to mine but I did have Taralli Pugliesi Pizza Crackers so I added some to give it some body. I thought it was just right to stuff into a chicken breast so that is what I did. I do note that the Celery & Chick Peas takes an hour or more to prepare and needs some time to cool before you can stuff it into chicken so you need to plan for that.
I usually cut 1/2 chicken breast different but with the shape this one was this seemed like the way that made sense to me today.
Then add stuffing
Roll it shut and season with an Italian type seasoning (I used not all but most of 1 Tablespoon sea salt, 3/4 Tablespoon ground black pepper, 1 small crush Calabrian pepper, I Tablespoon dried basil, 1 Tablespoon dried oregano, 1 Tablespoon fennel seeds)
If you have a sous vide this gets vacuumed sealed.
These go in the sous vide at 146 degrees F for around 3 1/2 hours. I refrigerated some of what I made and froze some. After refrigeration I reheated mine at 350 degrees for 35 minutes with Italian tomato puree. They came out delicious and expertly moist. My husband was very impressed. He said how come when we go to restaurants we never get chicken this moist. If I owned a restaurant I would sous vide most of the chicken.
Italian Style Celery & Chick Pea Stuffed Chicken
It’s just a fact that the sous vide results are so darn perfect that you can re-heat something you made from the sous vide and it will still be perfect.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
4 large 1/2 chicken breast opened up for stuffing
1 bundle celery – Sliced thin, reserve some leaves for finishing…..(Sorry I forgot to photo with celery leaves I reserved)
1/2 large onion – diced
6 garlic cloves – ground to paste
12 kalamata olives -pits removed, rough chop
2 short Calabrian peppers
1 can (around 15.5 oz) chick peas , drained, rinsed 3 times
1/2 teaspoon ground sage
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 lemon zest
1 mini red bell pepper – core, stem, seeds removed – diced
1 Tablespoon Better Than Bouillon (this adds great flavor and almost enough salt)
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 oz Taralli Pugliesi Pizza crackers – crushed
sea salt to taste
Italian seasoning to taste
1 cup Italian tomato puree
Directions
Set oven to 375 degrees F
In a 1/2 buffet pan or large dish add the celery, onion, garlic, olives, 2 short Calabrian crushed peppers, chick peas, safe, fennel seeds, lemon zest, bell pepper, Better Than Bouillon, olive oil, water, Taralli Pugliesi pizza crackers salt, and pepper.Cover pan. Cook on middle rack until the celery is tender (about an hour but timing may differ)
This mixture needs to cool to at least room temperature before you stuff it into chicken breasts.
When cool stuff the chicken breast, season each chicken breast all over with Italian seasoning. Then vacuum seal. Repeat till done. They go in a preheated sous vide. When the sous vide hits 146 degrees after the chicken is added let it go 3 1/2 hours. You can have heated tomato sauce or Italian tomato puree, vegetables and some of the extra celery and chick pea stuffing for serving. Garnish with some of the reserved celery leaves. You can brown in a pan if you like but it’s not necessary here.
