I was paging threw Food Network Magazine and they had a recipe for Korean Chicken Stew. I’ve done similar recipes before. Then the idea popped in my head to do similar flavors on a butternut squash so I did. Serving size will differ because all squashes are a different size and all people don’t eat the same amount of food. I used a small squash that made 4 small side servings for me.
Ingredients for around 4 small side servings
1 small butternut squash, peeled, cut in half long ways, seeds and membranes removed (or use any size squash you want but timing and serving sizes will change)
2 Tablespoons gochujang (preferably a Korean brand purchased from an Asian Market)
2 Tablespoons sugar
4 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon granulated ginger
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
non stick spray
Directions
Set oven to 425 F.
Spray a baking sheet with non stick spray
OPTIONAL DIRECTIONS If you want to hasselback the squash put in the the preheated 425 F oven for fifteen minutes and let cool to handle. OH BUT BEFORE YOU PUT THE SQUASH IN THE OVEN sprinkle with canola oil.
then
Make the hasselback if desired….This looks better on bigger fatter squash. I use chop sticks so I don’t accidentally cut all the way threw.
Mix up the sauce.
In a small mixing bowl mix up the gochugaru, gochujang, sugar, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic.
Spoon and rub it all over top surface of the squash. Place in oven 10 minutes. Take squash out of oven and spoon or brush on more sauce and put it back in for another 10 minutes. Mine was done at this point.
I made some cooked carrot flowers. I used something that looks like a pencil sharpener on a peeled carrot. Shaped the shavings into a flower. Put the carrot flowers in the oven with the squash for only three minutes.
I made some Mexican Style turkey chorizo (recipe not published as of yet) I read that someone else (chef Paul Welburn) combined chorizo with beets (honestly I don’t think that I would have ever thought about combining chorizo with beets) and fried them up into egg rolls. He served the egg rolls with raspberry ketchup and black garlic emulsion. I didn’t follow any of his recipes even though they are probably delicious. I also wanted to put a healthier spin on them. I didn’t follow his recipes but I was inspired by them. My recipe only makes around 4 small servings that are an appetizer or small side. I was very surprised on how delicious that it turned out. My husband also had his doubts and was also very surprised.
Ingredients for around 4 small servings
9 smaller peppers to stuff (I used baby bell peppers…..you might need more or use less peppers depending on their size) – (You slit pepper in a “T” shape across the top of the core and down the middle. Remove core)
8oz peeled beet – cut in half or quarters depending on size.
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3oz chorizo – crumbled
1 egg – lightly beaten
8 oz cantaloupe – cut into chunks
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
pinch sea salt
pinch ground white pepper
2 oz black garlic (already peeled)
1 Tablespoon dijon mustard (I used Amora Brand)
1 1/2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 Tablespoon or more water to thin down…(I used one tablespoon but think I can thin down a little more)
Directions
Set your oven to 400 degrees F.
Put your beets in a covered dish with the sugar, water, apple cider vinegar and salt. The beets need to cook till tender. (usually around an hour plus fifteen minutes could be more or less) Then the beets need to cool and when you can handle them you shred them.
While the beets are cooking roast up the peppers. Leave them in the oven till they start to brown. (I forgot to time this…..think it was around 20-25 minutes)
Make the cantaloupe ketchup.
The sugar, apple cider vinegar, melon, salt, white pepper all get blended together. You need to reduce this mixture in a pan on medium high heat. Reduce mixture around by half. Then take off heat and set to the side.
Black garlic emulsion is really easy and quick to make. It will be easier with a stick blender. Just blend together the black garlic, dijon, balsamic, oil, and at least one tablespoon of water. Thin down to taste.
By now the beets are cool and should be shredded and the peppers should be cool enough to stuff.
Turn your oven on to 350 degrees F.
In a small bowl mix up the shredded beets with the egg and crumbled chorizo. Squeeze the mixture into a tight ball and stuff the peppers as best as you can.
These only need 15 minutes on your middle rack.
Serve with the cantaloupe ketchup and the black garlic emulsion.
Chorizo and Beet stuffed Peppers with Cantaloupe Ketchup and Black Garlic Emulsion
THESE are FORKING AMAZING! Beets go so darn well with the flavors of chorizo. I especially like the cantaloupe ketchup on them and the black garlic goes well here too.
Osso buco is usually a veal shank that is cross cut and braised in vegetables, white wine and stock. It is traditionally served with risotto or polenta and is topped with gremolata. This dish is usually expensive in restaurants.
This dish is pretty easy to make. It is hard to find shanks of any kind. Near where I live they sell beef shanks at my local Asiana Market. They sell mostly the smallest ones.
Anyways.
Just salt and pepper the shanks well.
Brown them on medium high heat on both sides (around 3 minutes a side). (It will come out tasting best if you saved beef fat from something you cooked……you can use oil.
Don’t clean the pan or pot.
Fry up a big onion, a few carrots, one hot pepper, a few celery till almost soft. Add a cup of white wine and let it cook down.
Add around half a can of tomato paste and try to fry it up at the bottom of the pan or pot.
Add around a 14 oz can of Italian tomatoes.
Add 2 bay leaves, Tablespoon thyme, Tablespoon oregano, 3 or 4 garlic cloves. I had seasoned beef jus from something else I made so I added that.
Then it all goes in a baking dish or pan….Or you can do this stove top if you prefer.
This gets covered tight.
It will take at least 3 hours at 375 F The last one I did was a little bigger and took 5 hours. You might need to check on it and add more liquid.
When it finally becomes tender remove the foil that covers the pan and let it go another half hour.
Suggested serving is risotto or polenta.
I had mashed potatoes and Brussel sprouts that I had to use up so that is what we had.
Top the meat with some of the contents of the pan…(some people blend this up Osso it’s smooth…but I didn’t)
beef osso buco
Top with gremolata. (parsley, orange & lemon zest, garlic (ground to paste), salt , pepper.
This recipe is an original that is a combination of reading about ramen tostadas from The Samurai Gourmet from Australia and from enjoying sushi tacos from the restaurant Headquarters Grill Bar Sushi in Peoria Arizona. Somehow I came up with something delicious. It was tasting all the seaweed in the sushi tacos that influenced how I made the toatadas. Then I started thing about ramen…..The tastiest part of a bowl of ramen can be the egg so that is what I did. I was thinking that sometimes you add that gochujang to enhance the ramen so I thought that kind of taste would be great on the vegetables I used (radish and pea sprouts). I don’t mean to brag but this came out really great.Serving size is difficult to judge. They do taste great but are small. I can see some people would eat only one while others would eat two or three. I’ll say six portions because they are small and two is one egg a person. You need to make the ramen eggs the day before so they have time to marinate and get all delicious.
Ingredients for around 6 portions
6 eggs
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup mirin
1/3 cup water
1 3oz package of ramen noodles (don’t use flavor packet for this recipe)
water to boil ramen noodles (reserve six tablespoons)
1 egg – lightly beaten
6 Tablespoons reserved water from boiling the ramen noodles
! Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon sweet butter – melted
4 Tablespoons flour
4 .18oz packages roasted seaweed – crumbled
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon gochujang (or more or less each brand taste different. I recommend the tastier brands from the Asian Market)
2 teaspoons honey
Directions
Make the ramen eggs.
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add eggs carefully. Turn down the heat till water is barely boiling and time them for 7 minutes. Add eggs to an ice bath. In a quart ziplock bag add the soy sauce, mirin, and water. Peel eggs and add them to zip lock bag. Squeeze out all the air that you can and refrigerate the eggs over night.
Make the ramen tostadas.
In either a pot or a microwaveable dish you need to boil water and cook the ramen noodles for three minutes. You can let it sit while you do other stuff.
In a small bowl combine the egg, reserved water, butter, flour, seaweed, sesame oil, and baking powder. Mix well. Drain the ramen noodles and add them in and mix well.
Set the oven to 325 F.
Prepare a couple sheet pans with parchment paper.
Get a small scooper or use a spoon and try to make 12 even balls of dough with a good amount of room around them.
Then flatten them out…
Put them in the oven on the middle and lower racks for 20 minutes. Then flip them over and do 20 minutes again. Keep repeating till they look like this. Mine took I think an hour 20 minutes.
While you are cooking up the ramen tostadas you have time to prepare the vegetables (Your…choice I did a few radishes that I shredded up, scallions and pea sprouts…but you can just use lettuce or cabbage or other greens) You also have time to make vinaigrette.
In a small dish mix up the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, gochujang, and honey.
If you are serving all at once you can dress the vegetables. If not keep the vinaigrette on the side so it doesn’t get soggy. I sprinkled eggs with some togatashi.
Ramen Egg Ramen Tostadas with Gochujang Vinaigrette
Chef Davashankar Sharma is a multi award wining famous chef from England. He is also known for London’s best curry award and best Indian restaurant. He is also worked for several Michelin guild restaurants. When you find a recipe from him on the web it is worth doing. I have to say that this recipe is spicy and really delicious. It filled my house with aromatics that smelled amazing. I never tasted any dish like this one from any Indian restaurant that I’ve been to. This recipe Jodhpuri Tawa Chicken translates to frypan cooked chicken from (Jodhpuri now known as Rajasthan) India (North West India). I rounded the recipe some and placed the chicken over cabbage spiced like the potatoes that are suggested. The one thing about the recipe seemed like maybe a misprint to me……but I’m not sure……The amount of potatoes for four people only is about 8 ounces so that is only two ounces a person…..I don’t know if there is a minor misprint in the original recipe or not….I’m thinking that 8 ounces of potatoes is too little a serving for four people…….I used a whole small head of cabbage but I slow roasted it in the oven with the same spices in the recipe and this was a good amount of seasoning too…………for that so I am rounding up the amount of potatoes (or cabbage) to use because everyone wants more than two ounces of potatoes. This recipe makes around 4 servings. I do note that I doubled the amount of potatoes but didn’t double the amount of spices……I think it is plenty of spice use but you might disagree and want to bump up the spice for the potatoes.
1 1/2 lb chicken breast – (I cut mine into 4….and lightly pounded mine thin) do that or cut into 8 without pounding
4 Tablespoons sunflower oil (I substituted canola oil) (for chicken)
1 head of garlic – peeled – rough chopped (for chicken)
8 green chillies (I used serranos) – stems removed, rough chopped (for chicken)
1 Tablespoon oil (sunflower is suggested) (for tomato chutney)
1 teaspoon ginger – fine chopped (for tomato chutney)
1 teaspoon green chili – fine chopped (for tomato chutney)
1 teaspoon red chili powder (for tomato chutney)
1 teaspoon turmeric powder (for tomato chutney)
1 Tablespoon sugar (for tomato chutney)
1 teaspoon Kasundi mustard sauce (I substituted my home made beer mustard) (for tomato chutney)
1 pinch sea salt (for tomato chutney)
1 pound potato peeled and diced (original recipe says to use 200g potato…I used a whole small cabbage (rough chop) that I roasted slow with the same exact seasoning) (the vegetable)
1 teaspoon turmeric powder (the vegetable)
1 teaspoon ginger – fine chop (the vegetable)
1 teaspoon green chili – fine chop (the vegetable)
1 dash sunflower oil (I substituted canola oil) (the vegetable)
1 teaspoon cumin seed (the vegetable)
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter (the vegetable)
1 Tablespoon fresh cilantro (leaves and fine stems) finely chopped (the vegetable)
sea salt to taste (the vegetable)
Directions
Put the garlic, chillies, cilantro, tamarind, and salt into a blender and blend till smooth. Rub the marinade all over the chicken and marinate for at least an hour.
Make tomato chutney. Bring a small pan of water to boil. Blanch tomatoes two minutes, then drain. Cool and rough chop.
Heat oil in a sauce pot on medium heat and add ginger and chilli. Cook one minute, then add red chili powder, turmeric and a pinch of salt and cook another minute. Add chopped tomatoes and turn down the heat to low and gently simmer for 6-8 minutes until the mixture thickens. Add sugar and mustard. Taste for seasonings and set to the side.
For the potato mash. Bring a medium pan of water to boil and add the turmeric and ginger and a big pinch of salt and boil the potatoes until soft (around 15 minutes).
Heat a small splash of oil on a small pan and add the cumin seeds till they sizzle and remove from heat.
Mash the potatoes with butter, cilantro, and fried cumin seeds until smooth and keep warm.
Heat up a fry pan on medium heat with a good splash of oil. Add the chicken when the oil is hot. Fry chicken around 3-4 minutes a side or until cooked threw.
Serve chicken topped with chutney over the potato mash (or cabbage if you made cabbage like me)
Jodhpuri Tawa Chicken with Tomato Chutney and Cumin Cabbage
A Special THANKS to Chef Davashankar Sharma for this FORKING Amazing recipe.
water or vegetable stock (to boil cauliflower) (optional add parm cheese rinds if you have them)
2 cloves garlic (just for boiling the cauliflower)
2 Tablespoons vegetable base (for if you are using water…DON’T USE if using vegetable stock)
1 cup parmesan cheese – shredded
4 eggs – lightly beaten
15 oz ricotta cheese – drained
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground fresh nutmeg
1 lemon (just the zest)
non stick spray
semolina for dusting the pan (around two tablespoons)
Directions
Bring a sauce pot of either water with soup base or vegetable stock to a boil. Add garlic cloves and cauliflower. Add cheese rinds if you happen to have any around. Boil the cauliflower till very tender. Remove the garlic and cheese rinds. The cauliflower needs around 15 minutes) then drain (you might want to save liquid for making a soup). Blend up the cauliflower and put to the side. In a large mixing bowl mix together the parmesan, eggs, ricotta, pepper, nutmeg, and zest. Now add the cauliflower a little bit at a time till incorporated.
Set oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray whatever pans that you are using with non stock spray.
Dust the pans with semolina.
Pour in the cauliflower mixture. Get the mixture level by banging the pan on the counter gently.
Place on the middle rack of the preheated 350 degree F oven till done. Timing will differ depending on what pan you are using. I used a bundt pan and mine took 35 minutes. If you do cup cake sized I am guessing that it will take much less time maybe as soon as 15 minutes.
The sformato should be eaten either room temperature or warmed up. I think that it is easiest to make the day before. Cut what ever portions that you need and reheat to serve.
You can dress up the sformato a bit if you like. I added my pesto, tomato sauce, fresh basil, cherry peppers and pine nuts. I think most people only dress with a few herbs and olive oil.
I came across a Food & Wine Magazine recipe for Endives in Schmaltz with Peanuts recipe. I have some endives that I just picked up and I have saved chicken fat in my freezer that I save from stewed chicken that I make. So my chicken fat is a little different than schmaltz but is similar. I didn’t have fresh mint so I used some dry mint with fresh basil and chives. I had a little bit of trouble with the recipe probably because I didn’t weigh my endive. My endives got fork tender and were starting to fall apart while I was frying so I couldn’t leave the endives long enough in the pan to evaporate the liquid…..So I did things a little different to make it work. I still fried the endives till soft and finished them under the broiler to char. I’m thinking that maybe the recipe didn’t work for me because I didn’t weigh my endives so I am guessing that my endives were too small so the 5 Tablespoons of schmaltz were too much to use……..I used 5 endives instead of the 4 so I didn’t worry about weighing them but I should have weighed them…We can both learn by my mistake. When ever a recipe also gives a weigh then that means you need to weigh it.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
4 heads Belgian endive halved longways (about 1 pound)
fresh crushed sea salt to taste
up to 5 Tablespoons schmaltz, saved chicken fat, or sweet butter divided into 2 & 3 Tablespoons
2 Tablespoons water
2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lime juice + lime wedges for serving
chopped roasted salted peanuts for serving guessing I used about 1/2 cup…could go lighter.
2 Tablespoons fresh mint – chopped (I didn’t have fresh mint so I used around 1 1/2 teaspoons of dried mint)
2 Tablespoons fresh basil – chopped or torn
2 Tablespoons fresh chives or scallions – chopped
Directions
Sprinkle cut sides of endive with sea salt to taste. Heat 2 Tablespoons of fat in a large skillet on medium high. Add endives and cook cut side down around 2 1/2 minutes. Flip endives over add the two tablespoons water and the lime juice. Cover pan and cook about two more minutes or until the endives are fork tender.
Remove lid. Add the rest of the fat and bast the endives with the fat. Until they brown…about another three minutes….Mine were starting to fall apart and didn’t brown too much so I pulled mine out and broiled them a few minutes.
Serve endives on a platter and finish them with peanuts, mint, chives, and basil. Serve with lime wedges.
Chicken Fat Fried Endives with peanuts. basil, chives, and mint
A Special THANKS! to Food & Wine Magazine so that I could come up with this dish!
I was watching a TV show called The Talk and chef Shota Nakajima was on. He is a James Beard semi finalist, and also a Top Chef finalist among other accolades. Anyways………one of the dishes that he made was this watermelon salad with miso honey dressing and everyone was going crazy tasting it so I figured that I should make it. I didn’t want to make changes to his recipe but I had to because the recipe was for one pint of watermelon and the recipe for the dressing contained three cups of oil and 2 cups of vinegar are way too much for me. I might have created something different but it is really great. Actually the flavors really are so FORKING AMAZING that I cut out all of the blended oil (3 cups) from the original recipe. I made a few other changes but they were only minor. I do recommend not to pre-dress the watermelon because the dressing after a while starts to break down the watermelon. This is FORKING DELICIOUS….You will want to make it over and over again. Portions are hard to judge. It’s say that it might make about 4 servings for most people.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
1 personal size watermelon, rind removed, cut into bite sized pieces
1/4 cup fresh basil – torn or chiffonade (original recipe calls for fresh mint. you can use mint or basil or even 1/2 and 1/2 would be delicious)
In a small mixing bowl mix together the miso paste, honey, ginger, vinegar, and oil. Taste and adjust to your taste. Set to the side.
In a large mixing bowl combine the watermelon and cucumber. Top with feta, togarashi and black pepper to taste. Top with fresh herb and sunflower seeds. Add dressing to taste.
Watermelon salad with miso honey dressing
A special THANKS to chef Shota Nakajima for his Forking Amazing recipe so that I could come up with this.
I had mushrooms that were getting old so I wanted to do something interesting with them. One of or maybe the most talented vegetable chefs in the world is Yotam Ottolenghi so I looked up whatever mushroom recipes that I could find of his on the web. In case you didn’t know….Yotam Ottolenghi is multi award wining and James Beard award winning cook book author, chef, and restauranteur. Anyways I found a few of his mushroom recipes and they all sounded worth trying…..Today I picked the Marinated Mushrooms with Walnuts and Tahini Yogurt Recipe because it used the variety of mushrooms that was similar to what I had at home. After I marinated them I was so surprised at how special the mushrooms were. I only made a few minor changes that were due to what I had at home and they also went marvelously well. I added the Fried enoki mushrooms……I thought they added something to an already FORKING Amazing recipe. You don’t have to add the fried enoki if you don’t want to.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
8oz mixed mushrooms – cleaned, cut off bases
5 oz seafood mushrooms – cleaned cut off base
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice (for marinade)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
fresh cracked black pepper to taste
1 lemon (just the juice for tahini yogurt)
2 tablespoons tahini paste
1 garlic clove – ground to paste
1/2 cup greek style yogurt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup peas
3 oz toasted walnuts lightly broken
2 Tablespoons fresh basil – torn or chiffonade
2 Tablespoons fresh marjoram leaves
optional – 5 oz enoki mushrooms
optional 1/2 cup potato starch
optional 4 oz butter for frying
Directions
In a large bowl mix together the oil, vinegar, maple syrup, juice of one lemon, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and black pepper to taste. Mix in the mushrooms and let them marinate an hour.
In a small bowl combine the juice of one lemon, tahini, garlic, and yogurt. Mix well and set to the side.
After the mushrooms are marinated add the cumin, peas, and walnuts mix well. Top with fresh basil and marjoram. Then dollop with tahini yogurt.
If you are making the crispy enoki mushrooms all you do is a dollop of butter on medium high. Add the mushrooms dragged threw the potato starch. The mushrooms only need 2-3 minutes a side. You do have to clean the pan between the three batches because the butter burns. I usually fry with oil but butter always makes mushrooms crispier….
Enjoy!
Marinated Mushrooms with Walnuts and Tahini Yogurt
A Special THANKS!!!!!! To Yotam Ottolenghi for his FORKING AMAZING Recipe so that I could make this dish.
Someone in one of the food groups that I am in eats various cucumber salads with fish for breakfast. I thought that is a good idea and looked up recipes for fish with cucumbers. There are a lot of them on the web. The recipe is inspired by chef Simon Hulstone and I didn’t use his mackerel recipe because I don’t have fresh fish and but I did use his Pickled Cucumber recipe because it sounded so different and interesting. I also made the mustard seed pink peppercorn tuile for the beet tartar that I made recently. Both recipes make about twice as many tuile as you need and you will have some leftover. The good news is that these tuile keep well in a zip lock bag for a few weeks. Serving size is difficult to judge. This recipe makes around 3 servings of mackerel pate and cucumbers but you will end up with much more tuile than you need…You can also skip the tuile and use crackers or a thin toast instead.
Ingredients for around 3 servings
2 oz butter (room temperature) (tuile)
2 oz flour (tuile)
2 1/2 oz sugar (tuile)
1 egg white – lightly beaten (tuile)
1 1/2 teaspoons brown mustard seeds (tuile)
1/4 teaspoon pink peppercorns – crush with fingers (tuile)
1 long English cucumber – cut in thin slices
3 cups water
1 green cardamon pod
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
1 bay leaf
1 sprig fresh tarragon
1/4 cup good quality white vinegar
2 cloves
5 black peppercorns
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
6oz can mackerel drained – shredded (I used Trader Joes wild caught skinless boneless)
2 Tablespoons sour cream (or to taste)
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter – room temperature – or to taste
1/2 teaspoon prepared horseradish – or to taste
pinch smoked paprika – or to taste
pinch alderwood smoked sea salt – or to taste
pinch ground white pepper – or to taste
Directions
Make the tuile dough.
In a small mixing bowl combine the butter, flour, sugar, egg white, mustard seeds, and peppercorns. Mix well. Wrap it in plastic wrap and chill it a few hours or over night.
Make the pickled cucumbers.
Bring to a boil the water, cardamon pod, caraway seeds, mustard seeds, bay leaf, fresh tarragon, cloves, peppercorns and salt. Let cool and then add the vinegar and cucumbers. The longer this sits the better it taste. Refrigerate. Use when ready.
Make the tuile.
Set oven to 300 degrees F.
Leave dough sit out to warm up.
Fill a pastry bag with some dough with a writing tip.
Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.
This dough spreads so you want to do shapes in spirals. Put them in the middle rack of the oven. They are down when they start to brown. Timing will differ because the size and oven will differ. Mine took around 12 minutes. You can give the tuile a different shape if you scrap them off while they are hot and let them cool hanging off a small box, spoon, or pan.
Make the mackerel pate.
In a small mixing bowl combine the mackerel, sour cream, butter, horseradish, smoked paprika, smoked salt, white pepper. Adjust to your liking.
Optional some sweet pickled peppers, capers, fresh dill and edible flowers would be nice to add to this dish.
Easy Mackerel Pate with Pickled Cucumber and Mustard Seed Pink Peppercorn Tuile
ENJOY!
A special THANKS!!!! to chef Simon Hulstone for his amazing recipe so I could come up with what I got here.
