I was thinking about doing a honey miso butter sauce for a vegetable…..I thought that it would work best on carrots so here it is. Serving size is always difficult to judge. I don’t know if you want a small serving or a big plate. I see this as 4 servings.
Ingredients for around 4 servings.
2 lbs. carrots – scrubbed, peel if not organic (two carrots cut in thin match sticks or shred)
2 Tablespoons canola oil
2 Tablespoons sweet butter
2 Tablespoons white miso
2 Tablespoons honey
1/3 cup roasted salted peanuts – lightly crushed
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 Tablespoons fresh mint leaves – chopped or torn
2 Tablespoons cilantro leaves (fine stems ok) – chopped or torn
sea salt – to taste
black pepper – to taste
Directions
Set oven to 420 F.
If you have a grill pan use it or a baking sheet. Lighty oil it with a small amount of canola oil. Use the rest of the canola oil to oil the whole carrots.
In a medium mixing bowl add the carrot shreds, olive oil, paprikas, Aleppo & cayenne peppers and sea salt. Mix well. Shred this mixture on a baking sheet.
Put the whole carrots on the middle rack of your oven and the carrot shreds on a lower rack.
In around 20 minutes the shreds will be done. Mix in the peanuts to it.
It is also time to flip the whole carrots. They will need around 10 minutes more. (maybe slightly less or more depending on size)
Make the honey miso butter. Melt the butter in a small dish in the microwave or oven (since it’s on) mix in the honey and miso and it’s done. Keep to the side.
When the carrots are done salt and pepper them lightly. Spoon the honey miso butter butter over the carrots. Top the carrots with a spiced carrot peanut shreds and top the shreds with the fresh mint and cilantro.
Roasted Carrots in Honey Miso Butter with Roasted Spiced Carrot Peanut Crumbs
This recipe is sort of a spin off of Food & Wine Magazine’s recipe Sweet Potato Gyoza with Beet Puree. I wanted to make my own pasta instead of buying gyoza wrappers. I also needed to change a few things. But I did the beet puree almost the same. This recipe made me 22 half moon ravioli. Serving size is difficult to judge…It depends if you only want a couple of ravioli or a whole plate of ravioli. I’ll guesstimate this to be 4 servings for the majority of people.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
2 eggs – pasta
3 egg yolks + 1 egg white – (the egg white is for sealing the ravioli) – pasta
1 cup ap flour + a few tablespoons + a sprinkle for rolling (different brands are ground different you might need up to 1/3 cup more than one cup)- pasta
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil – pasta
2 pinches sea salt – pasta
8 oz beets -peel, cut in half or thirds depending on size -beet puree
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter – beet puree
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar – beet puree
2 Tablespoons cooking water from beets – beet puree
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest – beet puree
1 lb sweet potato – peeled, sliced 1 – 1-1/2 inch disk -filling
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter – melted – filling
2 Tablespoons hazelnut butter (I made mine in a spice grinder) – filling
1 teaspoon sumac – filling
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander – filling
1/2 teaspoon ground sea salt – filling
1.4 teaspoon ground black pepper – filling
2 Tablespoons scallions – sliced thin for finishing
2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves – chopped or torn for finishing
Directions
Set oven to 400 F.
Put the sweet potato slices in a pan and add about 1.2 cup of water and cover the pan with foil. Do the same with the beets. Timing might differ some. In my oven on the middle racks the beets took 90 minutes and the sweet potatoes took 60 minutes. Take them out of the oven when you can piece them with a fork.
Make the pasta dough.
In a medium sized bowl mix up the two eggs with the three egg yolks, oil, and salt. Mix well. Add the cup of flour and mix well. I suggest to have up to 1/3 cup of flour on the side. Each brand of flour is ground different so it is impossible to give an exact measurement. Today I needed to add about half of the 1/3 cup of flour that I had on the side. You knead the dough and you can tell it’s right with it doesn’t stick to your hands. Wrap the dough up in plastic wrap and leave out till you are ready to roll it out. (You will need a little more flour for rolling.
Mash the sweet potatoes with the butter, hazelnut butter, sumac, coriander, salt and black pepper. Set to the side.
Blend the beets with butter, rice vinegar, beet water, and lemon zest. Set to the side.
Roll out the pasta dough around 20 x 15 inches.
I used a three inch cookie cutter and painted the edges with egg white. (I also didn’t re-roll the pasta scraps. You can re-roll the scraps but the dough will be tough…Instead it’s a better idea to just hand cut the scraps into strips and make something like a macaroni and cheese….
Anyway…back to ravioli
Then I used my smallest scooper and scooped out the filling.
I think it is easiest to start in the middle……and just pinch your way down on each side.
Have a pot of salted water boiling.
Boil up your ravioli. They don’t need too long maybe up to two minutes. If you aren’t eating them all now you might want to give them a spray of oil so they don’t stick together.
Serve with beet puree and top with cilantro and scallions. (I had some leftover squash puree so I added that for a pop of color.
Sweet Potato Ravioli with Beet Puree
A Special THANKS!!! To Food & Wine Magazine for inspiring me to come up with what I did here.
I had half a cabbage head and potatoes that I had to use up so this is what I came up with today. I made the kimchi and then I thought that it made sense to add the potatoes “Peruvian Potato Salad Style (partly mashed in)” so they’d just soak up all the yumminess from the well seasoned kimchi. That made the potato salad healthy style. This whole batch of kimchi potato salad only has one tablespoon of sugar and one teaspoon of sesame oil. Also the potato ratio is far less because it is a lot of cabbage too. Serving size is difficult to judge because I don’t know if you want a small side serving or a dish full. Based on the amount of potatoes in this I’d guesstimate this to be eight servings.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
2 lbs potatoes. – peeled, cut into large cubes ( I cut each potato into 6 big chunks 1/3 and half the third)
2 Tablespoons sea salt (to boil the potatoes)
1/2 cabbage medium/small – shred thin on mandolin
1 red bell pepper – shred thin on mandolin, rough chop slightly
4 radish – shred
1/2 cup scallions – sliced thin
1 Asian pear – peeled and shred (you can substitute an apple)
2 Tablespoons gochugaru (This needs to be kept in your freezer or it goes moldy….closest substitute is Aleppo pepper)
3 Tablespoons sriracha – (I like Shark Brand..It’s very smooth)
2 garlic cloves – ground to paste
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon sugar
4 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1. teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 Tablespoons fish sauce (I use Red Boat Brand)
Directions
The peeled potatoes go in a pot with water covering them well. Add sea salt to boil the potatoes. Boil until very soft. (around 15-20 minutes…maybe a little longer if your potatoes are very large)
In a big bowl combine the cabbage, bell pepper, radish, scallions, Asian pear, gochugaru, sriracha, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, rice vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, and fish sauce. This mixture needs to sit and marinate it’s self for about an hour on the counter. When the potatoes are soft you can drain them and stir them into the cabbage mixture. You need to brake them slightly but you don’t want to completely mash them either…you want them nice and lumpy but slightly mashed and creamy for your salad. Liquid will come out of the salad. Mix it a few times gently so you don’t break the potatoes too much. This needs to get refrigerated. You can serve cold, room temperature, or warmed up.
I had a lot of zucchini to use up so I was looking for zucchini recipes. The most interesting one that I found today was one by Great British Chefs called Harissa Hasselback Courgette Recipe with Dukkah. I liked the idea of the recipe but changed many things. The zucchini white bean dip I did not exact but from memory of a Michael Solomonov recipe of Brussels sprouts that I thought made sense….I also flavored it with his recipe for zhoug sauce since I have a jar of it that I made. The dukkah recipe from G.B.C. tasted ok but I thought it was missing something….. I happen to have Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe for dukkah and I added the ingredients that he put in his and it tasted much better. I also didn’t use purchased harissa and have my own recipe for it so I used mine. So this recipe is a mash up of Great British Chefs, Michael Solomonov, Yotam Ottolenghi, AND ME! I had enough zucchini for a party. You might want to cut this recipe down in half or a quarter depending on your needs. I had 4 pounds of zucchini to use. It’s at least 8 servings.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
4 lbs zucchini
6 Tablespoons harissa – preferably home made (2 CLEANED UP roasted red bell peppers chopped, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon caraway, 2 Tablespoons e.v.o.o., 3 garlic, 1-3 hot peppers-chopped, 2 Tablespoons tomato paste, juice of 1 lemon, 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar, s&p to taste Blend)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (leaves and only the tender stems) for finishing
Directions
Set oven to 400 degrees F.
In a bowl (med-large bowl) combine the harissa, olive oil, and lemon juice and set to the side.
Hasselback 3 pounds of the zucchinii using either chop sticks or a wooden spoon next to the vegetable so that you don’t cut threw. You can pick up the zucchini and fan it open and dip it into the harissa to coat it.
After the zucchini get coated with the harissa the zucchini go on sheet pans.
They stay in till they look slightly caramelized. About 40 minutes..The other pound gets sliced up and drizzle a small amount of olive oil on it. Also give it a small amount of salt and pepper. This also goes in the oven with the rest of the zucchini.
While the zucchini is cooking make the dukkah. Combine hazelnuts, sesame seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, sea salt, black pepper, paprika, and oregano. Mix and put to the side.
The sliced zucchini is done when it gets charred.
The last thing to make is the zucchini white bean dip. Blend but leave chunky the charred zucchini slices, beans, tahini, lemon juice, zhoug, yogurt. Add salt and pepper to taste.
SERVE! Put the dip under or on the side of the zucchini. Top with dukkah and fresh cilantro.
Harissa Hasselback Zucchini with Dukkah and Zucchini White Bean Dip
It’s FORKING Delicious!
Harissa Hasselback Zucchini with Dukkah & Zucchini White Bean Dip
I read about a different method for crispy breaded eggplant that I had to try to believe. The award winning celebrity chef and food author chef Selin Kiazim said that for the crispiest eggplant to peel and roast it first before basic panko breading and to fry in ghee (clarified butter). Today I didn’t follow her recipe but I did sure try her method and it gave me the greatest results. Shattering crisp eggplant that isn’t soggy or oily at all. The inside is only creamy and meaty. This is the best eggplant that I have ever fried. I had to try it to believe it. *********A word of warning…To pull this off you will need a very good vegetable peeler. Not like one you buy from Walmart or the grocery store. You need a heavy duty vegetable peeler. I got mine from a home show. This thing can peel a butternut squash.
First the eggplant gets peeled and partially sliced…..(leave connected at stem) because the breading slides off of the skin sometimes.
Then do your basic flour, eggs, panko crumbs. Make sure that each bin is seasoned along the way.
I rubbed a small amount of non-stick spray on the bottom of my baking sheet…..Nothing else…no salt or added oil. This goes in a 400 degree F oven until the eggplant is soft……Timing can differ greatly……really TINY eggplants might only need 20 minutes and if you have a REALLY BIG eggplant it can take maybe up to an hour. I think for the best results you will want to use smaller eggplants that are a little sweeter.
After the eggplants were roasted I let them cool till I could handle them and dredged them in the flour mixture.
My trick for the eggs is to add a spoonful of Amore French Mustard….It’s mild but delicious and very smooth and does a great job to season the eggs and it also makes any breading stick better. Last is a coating of seasoned panko (I used whole wheat panko).
Then on just slightly over medium heat you fry up the eggplant in butter. It fries up pretty fast. Men were smaller eggplants and only took around 2-3 minutes a side.
A cooling rack is the correct way to let the eggplants cool.
I’ll be honest and admit that I didn’t use my coloring rack today and used paper towels on sheet pan and this still worked out perfect.
Then you get these adorable eggplants that might look like this.
FORKING Crispy Breaded Eggplant
What you do with your eggplant is up to you.
Today I reheated mine with a mixture of cheeses, tomato sauce on top of the cheese and fresh basil. Still CRISP not soggy anywhere and meaty not soggy eggplant.
A special THANKS!!!!!! to Chef Selin Kiazim for this eggplant method. This makes GREAT Crispy Eggplant!
I’m always looking for new beet recipes and came across this recipe from Apricot Lane Farms for Beet Pudding with Yuzu cream. It’s a very good recipe that is also easy. You can even substitute another citrus since fresh yuzu is hard to come by. It’s not as good as fresh but I used bottled yuzu because I like the unique flavor. I also made one mistake while cooking this recipe. I substituted corn starch for the arrowroot…..It turns out that corn starch has far more thickening power than arrowroot. Luckily I had some thickened beet liquid that I added to thin it down to the correct consistency. So if you substitute corn starch you will only need one tablespoon and don’t use two tablespoons like I did. This makes 8 servings.
Ingredients for 8 servings
2 medium eggs
1/4 cup honey
1/8 cup yuzu juice
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter – cut up in small cubes
1/2 cup heavy cream
12 oz beets – peeled, small dice
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup yuzu juice
4 medium egg yolks
2 Tablespoons arrowroot
1 teaspoon vanilia
Directions
Make the yuzu cream.
1 Fill a medium saucepan with around 2 inches of water. Bring the water to a simmer on medium – high heat.
2 In a medium metal bowl combine the 2 egg yolks and a 1/4 cup honey. Set the bowl over the simmering water. Whisk one minute. Add (1/8 cup) yuzu juice and continue whisking till thickened (5-6 minutes).
3 Remove bowl from the pot and whisk in butter a few cubes at a time till incorporated. Cover bowl. Refrigerate until cool.
4 When curd is completely cool whip up 1/2 cup of heavy cream until stiff. Use a rubber spatula and fold in the curd. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
5 Make the beet pudding. Place beets in a medium sauce pan with around 2 inches of water. bring to boil on high heat. Reduce to a medium-high simmer. until beets are fork tender (15-20 minutes).
6 Drain the beets and blend them up with the heavy cream, coconut cream, honey and salt. Blend till smooth and creamy. This mixture goes back in the sauce pan. Bring it to medium heat and simmer for around 5 minutes and so that it thickens some.
7 While the beet mixture is simmering in a small bowl mix together the egg yolks, yuzu juice, arrowroot, and vanilla and set to the side.
8 ladle about a 1/4 cup of the beet mixture and whisk it into the egg mixture and whisk well. SLOWLY pour the egg mixture into the beet mixture whisking aggressively. Continue whisking until the mixture is thick. Remove pan from heat.
He found this interesting
Have 8 cups ready for the pudding. Top with yuzu cream when ready to serve!
Beet Pudding with Yuzu Cream
A special THANKS! to Apricot Lane Farms for this amazing recipe.
I got this recipe sent to my email that was called something like Cabbage Caesar with Crisp Chic Peas that I was going to do. But I couldn’t when I read the recipe because you don’t actually make the dressing. You just add a few things to mayonnaise. I used to work in fine dining and I used to make Caesar Dressing table side so I had to do something different. By LUCK I had a great original idea and the leftover egg white from the dressing became a crouton. I didn’t add cheese to the dressing that is traditional because when you prepare fresh Caesar dressing table side the cheese is just part of the finishing. You can toss cheese into your dressing if you desire. This recipe makes around 4 servings.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
1 egg white (You will need the yolk to make the Caesar Dressing) – egg white crouton
pinch granulated garlic – egg white crouton
big pinch Red Boat salt – egg white crouton
4 garlic cloves – ground to paste – dressing
8 anchovies – dressing
1 teaspoon anchovy oil (from the can of anchovies – dressing
1 egg yolk – (You will need the egg white to make the crisp Red Boat egg white croutons) – dressing
6 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil – dressing
1 Tablespoon (heaping) dijon mustard – dressing
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire – dressing
1/2 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice – dressing
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar – dressing
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper – dressing
1 small cabbage cut in small wedges with core removed
1 bell pepper cut into strips
1 red onion cut in half and strips
1 carrot – peeled and cut into thin slices
1/4 cup olive oil (to sprinkle on vegetables)
sea salt to taste
black pepper to taste
1 – 15oz can chick peas drained and rinsed three times
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
A generous amount of Parmesan cheese for serving
Directions
Set oven to 250 degrees F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Whip the egg white till firm peaks. Stir in the garlic and Red Boat salt. Drop half teaspoons of mixture on to the parchment paper. Bake 10 minutes on a middle rack and shut the oven off. Leave them in the oven to harden for about 30 minutes and then remove from the oven.
Set to the side for when you are ready to serve.
Make the Caesar Dressing.
In a medium bowl mix together the ground garlic, anchovies and anchovy oil till it is a smooth paste. Then add the egg yolk and mix well. Add two Tablespoons of oil and mix until it emulsifies.
Add two more tablespoons of oil and make it emulsify again.
Then add two more tablespoons of oil and make it emulsify again.
Add the dijon and mix well. Add the Worcestershire and lemon juice and mix well again. Lastly add the red wine vinegar and black pepper and mix well again. It should look like picture below. You put this away till ready to use in the refrigerator.
Roast the vegetables and the chick peas.
Set oven to 425 degrees F.
The cabbage should be in small wedges and the pepper onions and carrots go together on another pan.
The chic peas go in a bowl with the olive oil, garlic, and pepper. Mix well and place them on a sheet tray too.
Then put the vegetables on the middle rack. The chic peas go on the top rack and in around 25 minutes they should be done.
(sorry forgot to photo the chic peas)
Now put everything together.
Give out a nice little pile of cabbage. Top the cabbage with some vegetables and chick pea. Top with LOTS of parmesan cheese. (dressing can go now or serve on the side) Finish with crisp Red Boat Egg Whites and cracked black pepper. (Below picture is light with cheese and also light with chick peas so you can see things)
Roasted Vegetables with real Caesar, crips Chick Peas, and Crisp Red Boat Egg White Croutons
I used what I had that needed to be used up and came up with this delicious salsa. You can adjust the heat and acidity to your liking. Serving size is difficult to judge because I don’t know if you need a small amount for a mini taco or a lot to cover a big burrito. This recipe made around four cups so that might be around 8 servings.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
1 1/2 lbs tomatillos – peeled, washed, rough cut
1/2 cup cilantro (leaves & fine stems, rough cut)
1/2 cup parsley – leaves only
2 teaspoons sea salt
5 garlic cloves – fine chop
2 serrano chili peppers – fine chop
2 pickled jalapeños (preferably home made or purchased from a farmer’s market) – fine chop
1 avocado – pit removed, flesh scooped out and rough chop
1 med onion – diced
brine from the jalapeños to taste (I think I used around 1/3 cup)
This is tasty and easy to make but it takes a while to fry the parsnips crisp….I didn’t time it because you just have to keep an eye on it but it seemed to take forever to me. The crisp parsnips taste amazing. They are much more flavorful than any crisp potato. I also fried up the parsnip sticks so they came out like French fries. The carrots got done in 13 minutes in my microwave while the parsnips were still frying. This dish got seasoned with equal amounts of curry powder, cumin, and coriander. his makes around 4 side servings.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
canola oil – for frying
4 parsnips – peeled, woody center removed, one parsnip thin shaves from vegetable peeler, the rest fry shaped
6 carrots – peeled, small dice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon curry
sea salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
optional some clipped chives or scallions
Directions
Put a pot of canola oil (around 3 inches) to heat at slightly higher than medium heat.
The peeled parsnips go in till golden and crisp.
While you are making the crisp parsnips. Parboil the French fry shaped parsnips. You can do in either stove top or microwave. Boil around 5 minutes stove top or pop in microwave with water for around 9 minutes and drain.
When the crisp parsnips are done drain on a draining rack or sheet pan with paper towels. Fry up the parsnips till slightly golden. While the parsnips are frying boil the carrots either stove top or in the microwave and add 1/2 teaspoon sea salt. I did mine in the microwave for 13 minutes and they were perfect. Then drain carrots and add 1/2 the seasoning to them (1/2 teaspoon cumin, coriander, curry) also add a few tablespoons of the parsnip oil to them and water to thin as you like. Add salt and pepper to taste while you are whipping them up.
Toss the parsnip fries in the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Top with the crisp parsnips. Sprinkle with chives or scallions if you like.
someone is fascinated Parsnips two ways with whipped Carrots
A couple Thai restaurants in Phoenix offer this delicious Thai Treat called Miang Kham. It’s a minty type of leaf that not always but usually contains a combination of (sometimes shrimp), small whole pieces of lime, coconut, peanuts, shallots, hot chili (Thai or Birds eye), and ginger and also come with a tamarind based sauce. It might not sound as great as it really taste! It really is delicious and you should try it when you see it on a Thai Menu. Chada Thai AZ & Soi 4 Bangkok Eatery both are located in Scottsdale and both serve slightly different versions of this dish. I did an easy quick version of this dish. I think you can use almost any lighter protein if you want to add protein to this dish. Today I added some chicken breast. I think any fish would taste great here too! Portion size is difficult to judge because it depends on how much protein that you add and also on how many leaves that you want to eat. I’m guesstimating that this will make around the amount of stuffing and a light amount of sauce for around twenty leaves. I’ll guesstimate 4 servings. Also around here Perilla are easy to find at Asiana Market. They are not actual sesame leaves but are also called sesame leaves because of their appearance.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
4 Tablespoons cooking tamarind (nuuc me chua)
1/2 teaspoon galangal powder (sold at Asiana market)
1/4 teaspoon coconut extract
1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
2 Tablespoons date syrup (can substitute honey)
1 teaspoon Red Boat Fish sauce
1/2 lime – slice thin on mandolin and then cut into small pieces
1/2 cup toasted coconut chips
1/2 a small red onion – sliced thin and rough chopped
1/3 cup roasted salted peanuts – lightly crushed
1 Thai Chili pepper – fine chop (the smaller the better)
1 teaspoon crystallized ginger – fine chopped
optional protein
Directions
In a small mixing bowl combine the tamarind, galangal, extract, ginger, date syrup, and fish sauce. Mix well and set to the side.
In a small bowl combine the lime, coconut chips, onion, peanuts, Thai chili, ginger, and if you are using protein add that too in small pieces. This is what gets added to the leaves. I used mini bite size paper cupcake liners to hold the leaves. Serve sauce on the side and enjoy!
Perilla Leaf Thai Style Treats with Tamarind Sauce
