I had 4 English cucumbers and came up with a Middle Eastern Inspired cucumber salad. It’s light and delicious. It’s not very spicy but does have a small amount of mild heat. I’ve found that radish sprouts not only look pretty but also make any cucumber salad extra delicious. I made this salad with ground Aleppo pepper and Urfa pepper that you might have to order on-line. I’ve found them at my local Asian Market. My idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size.
Ingredients for around 6 servings.
4 English cucumbers – ends trimmed and sliced (you can use regular cucumbers with seeds removed or Persian cucumbers would be best but I don’t know how many would equal 4 English cucumbers)
7 rainbow baby bell peppers with end and core remove. Slice into rings.
1/2 sweet onion – sliced
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves – chopped
2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro – chopped
2 Tablespoons fresh parsley leaves – chopped
1 cup radish sprouts
4 oz feta – crumbled (preferably a less tangy less salty one)
1 Tablespoon Urfa pepper
1 Meyer lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice
1 orange – just the fresh squeezed juice
2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 garlic clove – ground to paste or microplane
1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
Directions
In a big bowl add the cucumbers, baby bells, sweet onion, mint, cilantro, parsley and radish sprouts. Set to the side.
In a small bowl mix up the olive oil, lemon juice, orange juice, salt, garlic and Aleppo peppers and mix well and add to big bowl of cucumbers.
Add the feta cheese and urfa pepper and mix well. Top the cucumber salad with the peppered feta.
Enjoy!
Cucumbers with Radish Sprouts, Rainbow Baby Bell Peppers, Feta, Mint and Urfa PepperThe Forking Truth
I throw together this chicken and got the idea to marinate it similar to the way I did ramen eggs. It was pretty easy to stir fry and came out FORKING AMAZING! After I stir fried the chicken I stir fried quick cooking vegetables with a little garlic, oil, soy sauce and mirin. WOW! It taste as FORKING AMAZING as it smells! My husband gave me the greatest compliments on it too and he usually isn’t a fan of Asian Food. The chicken also came out super moist delicious and perfect. I wasn’t planning on publishing this so I didn’t measure exact but this is really easy to wing.
Ingredients for around 2 dinners
1 – 1/2 breast of chicken (around a pound raw) without skin and bone – butterfly and remove tender – half the butterfly – cut across into strips about as wide as your finger.
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup mirin
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
around 4 cups vegetables mostly soft (I used a carrot sliced like spaghetti, 1/2 onion slice thin, handful snow peas, handful snap peas, cup cabbage (chopped) and maybe 2 cups zucchini that was spiral cut.
1 hot pepper sliced paper thin or fine chop (I used a Serrano)
3 garlic cloves – ground to paste or microplane
2 tablespoons canola oil
splash soy sauce
splash mirin
4 pinches toasted sesame seeds (to finish)
fresh cilantro (around two Tablespoons to finish)
few shakes togarashi if you have it.
crushed sea salt to taste (not much)
fresh ground pepper to taste
optional non stick spray (I started the chicken in a regular fry pan that isn’t non stick)
optional ramen eggs to finish with.
Directions
Depending on the pan you are using you need to add a little oil or non stick spray and put your pan on high heat. The chicken only needs only a short time and you start pushing the pieces around so it browns all over. Maybe a total of two minutes to cook the chicken. Put the chicken to the side in a big bowl.
Add oil to the pan. Start frying up the harder vegetables till they are almost done. Remove them and add them to your bowl of chicken. Add the sauces and garlic and softer vegetables. Add them to bowl. Salt and pepper slightly or to taste. Serve it up and top with cilantro, sesame seeds, optional togarashi. Finish with ramen eggs if you already made them.
Ramen eggs are easy to prepare and are very delicious. Slow boil eggs for 7 minutes and then they go into ice bath. They need to marinate over night in equal parts of soy sauce mirin and water.
Stir Fried Chicken and Vegetables
Then when I threw this into a bowl to eat it looked like this.
Ramen eggs are very easy to prepare and are delicious! You can enjoy them many ways. You can enjoy them plain, to dress up a vegetable dish, any soup dish, a salad, a burger or sandwich or even a dinner. I didn’t create this recipe but found it on the web years ago and can’t find the same one again to give the author credit. I did find that many recipes are similar. You have some flexibility with the recipe and adjust it to your needs. You cook the eggs the way I did and you just need to remember to marinate the eggs over night in a solution that is 1/3 soy sauce, 1/3 mirin and 1/3 water. I wrote the recipe in 1/3 cup measurements but I used a 1/3 cup dry measuring cup because that is easier to eyeball. It doesn’t have to be exact but the measurements are meant to be even.
Ingredients for 6 servings (I did 7 eggs and it was enough)
Water to cover eggs well in pot
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup mirin
1/3 cup water
Directions
1- Bring a pot of water to boil with enough water to cover eggs well.
2 – Add eggs slowly with a spoon and don’t drop them in or they will break
I had these plum tomatoes that had to be used so I made a tomato soup. I made it chunky but if you like smooth you can blend, strain and add a little cream if you like. After I made it I thought what can I do to make it more interesting? I thought I’d make grilled cheese ravioli so I did. The soup is far more interesting now. My idea of serving size will differ from your idea of serving size. To me this makes 4 bigger servings or 6 smaller servings.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
2 Tabllespoons olive oil
1 onion – chopped – like pea sized
1 carrot – remove skin, trim end, chop into small cubes like pea sized
3 garlic cloves – ground to paste or microplane
1 1/2 plum tomatoes (they must be super ripe like one day from throw away) – remove the stem button and dice small
14 oz Italian crushed tomatoes
2 cups water
1 Tablespoon vegetable soup base (this adds flavor and also reduces the salt added)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (or to taste)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 egg
2 egg yolks + one of the egg whites to seal ravioli
1 1/2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
pinch sea salt
10 slices American cheese
2 oz butter to fry with
2 Tablespoons corn meal or semolina to rest ravioli on
few squirts of olive oil so ravioli don’t stick
optional a few fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons flour + extra flour for rolling *****amount of flour may differ slightly because different brands are ground different****It’s possible that you might need 2 Tablespoons less*****Start with 1/2 cup flour and slowly add till dough isn’t too sticky
Directions
In a big mixing bowl add the egg and yolks and mix well. Then add the oil and salt and mix well. Add 1/2 a cup of flour and mix well. You might need up to two tablespoons more flour. Slowly add flour until the dough is smooth and not too sticky. Knead it into a ball pat some flour all over it and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate about an hour.
Make soup.
In a sauce pot on medium high heat add the olive oil. When the olive oil is hot add the onions and carrot. Stir Occasionally and cover. This takes around five minutes. Add the garlic, plum tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, water, soup base, black pepper, thyme, salt, basil and white pepper. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer. Let it simmer about 20 minutes.
Roll out ravioli dough.
Cut out a circle and brush it with egg white.
Put about 1/2 a slice of cheese in the lower middle of ravioli. Fold and seal and place on semolina (or corn meal) lined tray.
If you have a dog it might appear by your feet now hoping that you will drop cheese.
Repeat till done. ( made 19 ravioli but I had to roll up scraps and re-rolll the dough..The second dough I couldn’t get as thin or as tender but it still was good)
Boil for one minute.
Fry in butter on both sides for about a minute or until lightly brown and serve with soup.
I guess you might have enough ravioli to give more than two ravioli a person but I thought two was the right size serving. You will have more ravioli than soup if you give two but don’t worry. They are so delicious that the ravioli will go fast. They taste like a grilled cheese sandwich but they are ravioli.
Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Ravioli
Add some fresh basil if you have any.
My husband said that he could eat all the grilled cheese raviolis. I hate to brag but they really are FORKING GREAT!
You need a stand mixer bread flour, salt, water and active dry yeast to make these rolls. The dough will be sticky so you need to knead it with extra flour. They come out DELICIOUS! This recipe make 8 good sized rolls.
Ingredients for 8 rolls
3 1/2 cups bread flour plus extra flour for kneading
1 (slightly heaping) Tablespoon sea salt
1 3/4 cups water
1 1/2 pack active dry yeast (around slightly heaping Tablespoon)
A small amount of semolina, corn meal or flour to rest dough balls on so they don’t stick to surface.
Directions
Everything goes in your stand mixer bowl. Mix everything up by hand so you don’t have flour going all over the place. Use your dough hook and set the mixer on medium high for around 5. minutes or until the dough is like elastic.
Get a large bowl and make a nice little bed of flour for your dough ball.
Make the dough into a dough ball. kneading it till it feels like a nice dough ball.
Cover with plastic wrap and leave it sit out 4 hours. Then punch the dough down and knead it into a dough ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 10 hours.
After ten hours pull out of the refrigerator and punch the dough down and divide the dough into eight by quartering it and cutting each quarter in half.
You need to lay down a large baking sheet or two baking sheets to rest dough balls on. The sheets need either flour, corn meal or semolina on them so your dough balls don’t stick.
The eight pieces of dough need to be kneaded into balls. Place each dough ball on a baking sheet that has either flour, corn meal or semolina on it and let the dough balls double in size.
Preheat your oven to 500 degrees.
I used my very oiled stone to bake the rolls on but I warn you that I took a chance.
Most bread stones can’t take 500 degree heat and might crack or burst. They make bread stones out of iron now that are more durable.
If I didn’t have a stone I would have used my pizza pan lightly sprayed with non stick spray.
Mine were perfect in 11 minutes…timimg might differ slightly.
I was watching chef Richard Blais on the Rachel Ray Show and all the food he made looked and sounded so delicious that I wanted to make it. This was during the coronavirus pandemic and I couldn’t make all his recipes yet but I was able to make his salsa verde and put it on a NY Strip Steak and a day or two latter but it on a salmon and IT WAS FORKING DELICIOUS! I didn’t have carrot tops to add to the recipe but even without the carrot tops it still was amazing. I also enjoy his restaurants. I loved my amazing meal I had at his restaurant in San Diego. I also liked his casual restaurant in Las Vegas called the Crack Shack. A special THANKS to chef Richard Blais for sharing this Forking Delicious Recipe.
ingredients for around 6 servings
1 teaspoon anchovy paste (I filled a teaspoon heaping with anchovies)
1 Tablespoon raisins (I used golden)
1 garlic clove (ground to paste or microplane)
1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup fresh tarragon
1/4 cup carrot top greens (this I left out because I didn’t have)
1 Tablespoon fine chopped jalapeño
2 Tablespoons capers
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 lemon – (just the fresh squeezed juice)
fresh crushed sea salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper too taste
Directions
Blend and add salt and pepper to taste.
How I made the steak. I salt and peppered it. added a small block of frozen olive oil and vacuum sealed it in a bag. Put it in a 130 degree sous vide machine for three hours. Dried it off with a paper towel (still had paper towels). Fried it in a pan with some canola oil at high heat about maybe a minute on all sides to sear and added salsa verde.
Both dogs were there but it was hard to get my bigger dog in the photo.
Richard Blais Salsa Verde on NY Strip Steak
We all Forking Enjoyed The Richard Blais Salsa Verde on the NY Strip and Latter on Salmon!
A special THANK YOU to chef Richard Blais for sharing his FORKING SCRUMPTIOUS DELICIOUS Salsa Verde recipe!
I’m a fan of celebrity chef Richard Blais. I’ve been to his restaurant Juniper and Ivy in San Diego and his fast casual restaurant Crack Shack in Las Vegas. The food was out of the ordinary and was delicious. I saw him recently on the Rachel Ray Show and wanted to try his recipes. I couldn’t make them all yet but have tried his amazing salsa verde recipe and here is his Tomato Celery Leaf Salad Recipe. I think the only changes I made was to add red onion and the other only change was that I crisped up the chickpeas in the oven and added some powdered hot sauce to them so they didn’t just taste like out of the can. (I’m sure the chef cooks his own chickpeas so they taste better). The dressing I made slightly different because I didn’t have Italian seasoning so I guesstimated my own and added different vinegars. I do note that for most people a cup of celery leaves might mean like from three bunches of celery. I happen to have saved a few celery centers and just got a new one so I had enough. My idea of serving size may differ from your idea of serving size. This makes around 6 small salads that I used as a side dish. It comes out very delicious!
Ingredients for around 6 servings
2 cups cherry tomatoes cut in half (I used a 10oz container)
1 cup celery leaves (for me it was from three bunches)
1 cup garbanzo beans
1 cup toasted walnuts
1/2 cup blue cheese – crumbled or cut in small pieces
1/4 cup fresh basil
1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 Tablespoons fruit vinegar (fig, pomegranate and red wine are suggested)
Directions in a big bowl add the tomatoes, celery leaves, garbanzo beans, walnuts, blue cheese and basil.
In small bowl add the Italian seasoning, olive oil and vinegar. Mix well and serve with salad or mix into salad as desired.
My version of the dressing was 1 garlic clove (microplane), 1 teaspoon dry basil, 1 teaspoon dry oregano, 1 teaspoon dried thyme,1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, 3 Tablespoons olive oil, 3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar and one Tablespoon balsamic vinegar. If you want to crisp up your chick peas you need to slightly dress them with canola oil and I sprinkled mine with powdered Frank’s Red Hot sauce. I put them in a 350 degree oven for around 30 minutes.
The salad came out DELICIOUS!
Richard Blais Tomato Celery Leaf Salad
Special THANKS!!! To chef Richard Blais for sharing his DELICIOUS Tomato Celery Leaf Recipe with us.
I was watching Rachel Ray and chef Richard Blais was on and he made a really nice, interesting and healthy chicken dinner. I made a few of his side dishes that are suppose to go with the chicken and each one was FORKING DELICIOUS! I highly recommend his tomato celery salad (would come out better with a leafy Chinese celery or you need like three celery for enough leaves)) I also recommend his salsa verde (best I ever tasted). My idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size. This made 6 – 4 oz dinners and two 3oz lunches for me.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
1 whole chicken (I used a fryer because that is all they sell here) (you need to remove the spine and spatchcock it)
1 Tablespoon fennel seeds
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 Tablespoon dried basil
1/2 Tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 Tablespoon onion flakes
salt & pepper
2 Tablespoons butter (I used canola oil)
Directions
Set oven to 375 degrees F.
Blot off the chicken with a towel to dry it.
In a small mixing bowl add all the spices and coat chicken with the spices on both sides.
Heat up a fry pan with the butter on medium high.
Put the chicken skin side down in the pan for 5 minutes.
Remove from pan and place on a pan in oven till done.
Recipe reads 25-35 minutes but mine took 70 minutes….(I cooked it till it got to 170 in the thigh) … I’m thinking mine took longer because I didn’t flatten out the chicken enough…or maybe because my oven sucks????
AnyWHO – It came out FORKING DELICIOUS!
Richard Blais spatchcocked chickenRichard Blais Tomato Celery Leaf SaladRichard Blais Salsa Verde on NY Strip Steak
A special THANKS! to chef Richard Blais for sharing his Forking Delicious recipes!
To make Forking GREAT Untraditional Masa Matzah Balls you need to Achiote marinate and stew a chicken (4 pounds with skin and bone whole or parts). Stew it with herbs and vegetables. Then chill it over night in the refrigerator so you can scrape off the flavorful fat to make the delicious masa matzah balls. I had enough soup for maybe 4 bowls but after I cooked the masa matzah balls they drank up the soup and became amazing but I was left with only two bowls of soup. So it’s up to you…so you might want to cook off the balls in separate chicken broth so you have all that delicious soup. You will also have plenty of pulled chicken for around 4 dinners and two lunches. I must note that this recipe is not suitable for passover. I also note that my idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size. The Masa Matzah Balls come out delicious fluffy and very flavorful. I made 4 large balls because that is the size they normally are but next time I think I’d make 8 smaller balls and freeze my leftovers for another time. This recipe make 4 large traditional sized masa Forking delicious masa matzah balls.
Ingredients for 4 servings (plus extra chicken)
4 lbs chicken with skin and bone (whole or parts)
1/2 achiote brick (half of 3.5 oz brick)
1 cup water
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice
1 lime – just the fresh squeezed juice
2 carrots – peeled, sliced or chopped
2 celery ribs – chopped
1 large onion = chopped
6 guero chili peppers (or any combination of hot and mild peppers)
13 garlic cloves – chopped
2 bay leaves
bunch fresh espazote (mine weighed .08 oz)
4 sprigs fresh mint
1 cup water
2 cups cilantro stems
4 chiltepin peppers – crushed
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground achiote (annatto)
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons matzah meal
1/4 cup corn masa flour (harina de maÃz)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 garlic clove – ground to paste or microplane
2 Tablespoons scallions – chopped
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon water
2 eggs beaten
2. 1/2 Tablespoons chicken fat
Directions
Heat up one cup of water and add the 1/2 brick of achiote lemon, lime juice, and oil. Let it cool. Then put your chicken in a gallon ziplock bag and add the achiote mixture. Squeeze all the air that you can out of the bag and zip it shut. Squish the liquid around the chicken. Let sit out one hour.
Set oven to 350 degrees F.
Get a big casserole dish or a buffet 1/2 pan and fill the pan with the carrots, celery, onion, peppers, garlic, bay leaves, epazote, mint, water and chiltepin peppers. Set to side.
Remove chicken from liquid and blot off.
in a small bowl combine the salt, garlic, black pepper, oregano, cumin and ground achiote. Rub this all over all sides of chicken. If you have a whole chicken stuff the cilantro stems in the cavity. If you are using parts get set then down in the middle of the filled pan so you can easily remove them later. Set the chicken or chicken parts over everything in the pan. Cover tightly with foil.
Cook till at least 165 degrees F too be safe to eat or up to 180 degrees F. Timing will differ. This usually takes 105-120 minutes. It can take longer.
When done remove the chicken and let sit out to cool and pull meat when cooled down. Refrigerate.
Remove and discard cilantro stems and bay leaves. Pour soup into a container. Leave on counter till it is cool and then refrigerate over night.
The next day you scrap off the fat for the masa matzah balls.
Set oven at 350 degrees F.
In a small to medium bowl combine the matzah meal, masa, baking powder, baking soda, garlic clove, scallions, salt, black pepper, water, egg and chicken fat. Mix well. This mixture needs to chill at least 20 minutes in the refrigerator.
The mixture will make 4 traditional sized large balls.
You can either cook the balls in half of the soup (but this uses up all the liquid) or you can cook the in additional chicken broth so you can keep the soup. After 30 minutes flip balls so that both sides are thoroughly cooked.
5 minutes before serving add some pulled chicken and top with fresh cilantro and some scallions.
Untraditional Masa Matzah Balls in Mexican Style Chicken Soup
This is a spin off recipe of the French Style Carrot Soup I did from the video I watched from The French Cooking Academy. I did almost the same recipe with beets. I’ve found that my beets had some fiber in them so you really have to stain beet soup or your soup might have a chunky texture depending on your beets and also depending on your blender. At the end I thought the beets needed a little adjustment with flavor too so I added a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and it gave the soup more definition. I do note that my idea of a serving size may differ from your idea of a serving size. This makes around 6 medium sized bowls.
Ingredients for around 6 servings.
2 lbs beets peeled and sliced extra thin on a mandolin
1/2 large sweet onion – peeled sliced extra thin on a mandolin
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh tarragon
4 oz unsalted butter – (2oz for soup, 1 oz for finishing soup and 1 oz for croutons
1/2 teaspoon course sea salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
10 oz potato – remove skin, small dice like pea sized
4 cups water
2 Tablespoons creme fraiche -OR TO TASTE (you might want more or a little less – substitutes like higher quality cream cheese, sour cream, Australian or French style yogurt can be used
1/2 a quality roll – cut in small cubes
1/4 cup canola oil – to fry croutons
2 Tablespoons tarragon (torn) or chives (snipped)
optional – pinch piment d’ espelete for finishing
Directions
Put a pot on medium heat and melt 1/2 of the butter. Add beets, onion salt, sugar, thyme and tarragon. Cover with foil and steam till beets are tender (around 8 minutes..timing may differ)
Add potatoes and water. Slow simmer for 15 minutes. NOTE it will take a while to bring to slow simmer. start timing once it starts to simmer. You will have to turn heat down slightly.
While you are waiting fry the bread cubes. Get a sauce pan on medium high heat. Melt the butter and add the oil. Fry the croutons till golden brown stirring a bit. This doesn’t take to long. Drain them on a paper towel lined pan and put to the side.
After the soup has slow simmered 15 minutes remove the thyme and tarragon sprigs. Now use a stick blender and blend till smooth. Add an ounce of butter. You will need 1-3 Tablespoons of creme fraiche (or substitutes) depending on your taste. Add one Tablespoon at a time till it’s as creamy as you want.
Strain soup. Push it threw the strainer.
SERVE!
Top with a few croutons and some fresh tarragon or chives.
Beet Soup
A Special THANKS to the French Cooking Academy for showing me how to make this kind of soup.
