Hand Carved Belly Lox from Abe’s Deli Scottsdale AZ (Now Closed for Business)

Lox is a Brined Salmon

Belly Lox is a fattier salmon that’s smoother in texture to Nova Lox. Belly Lox is not smoked Salmon it’s salmon that’s cured in salt.

Nova Lox Cream Cheese on a Bagel from Goldman’s Deli Scottsdale AZ

Nova Lox is done with a milder brine and then cold smoked.

Scottish Style is a mixture of salt, sugar, spices, applied to the fish, then washed off and then cold smoked.

House Made Gravlax from Beaver’s Choice Mesa AZ

Gravlax is a traditional Nordic way of preparing salmon. The salmon is coated with dill, sugar, salt, dill and juniper berries and is cold cured. The Gravlax is then served with a sweet mustard sauce.

Hand sliced lox taste better than pre sliced lox for many of the same reasons that fresh sliced cheese and deli meats that better than pre sliced. Air coats the fish and changes the flavor. The fish isn’t as fresh tasting. The fish below was very affected by air but not the cute doggie looking at it.

Nova Lox platter from JJ’s Delicatessen Scottsdale AZ

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Regular Garlic on the left and Elephant Garlic on the right

It’s hard to forking believe the Elephant Garlic is a close relative to the Leek and isn’t a Garlic at all. Elephant Garlic is a member of the onion family and is NOT a true garlic.

They are best used raw when you want a hint of the garlic kind of taste.

Elephant Garlic has a higher sugar content than real garlic and burns very easily and when burnt  becomes very bitter.

Elephant Garlic isn’t Garlic.

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Purple Bell Peppers

Some Heirlooms Tomatoes look sort of Purple

Purple Asparagus

Some of the Heirloom Carrots look sort of Purple

The purple peppers taste sort of like green peppers.

Each Color of Tomato taste different.

Purple Asparagus is the sweetest of asparagus and can be served raw.

Each color of the carrots taste different too.

Food just taste better when it’s colorful.

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At my local Sprouts Grocery Store I saw Apple Bananas also called Latundan Bananas and Manzana Bananas.

I thought I had to try them since trying the Burro Banana that was so interesting and different.

When I got home I tried one and didn’t taste much of a difference between an Apple Banana and a regular banana. So in the morning I had one at breakfast and I did taste that Apple Taste to it.  I don’t know if one day of ripening made a difference or if my taste buds were just working better I don’t know. The finger length bananas peal like a normal banana. The Texture is also similar and I didn’t get that mild itch that I occasionally get from bananas. But this banana has that slightly acidic apple snap to it today. All bananas vary in sweetness so I don’t know if they are normally sweeter or not.

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Who knew the Cashew is a seed that grows on a fruit called the Cashew Apple. (picture from HoboTraveler.com)

Unless you live in Brazil, India, SE Asia or Africa it’s likely that you’ve never seen a Cashew Apple. The Fruit is extremely Juicy and fragile and is usually only used as a drink, or made into liquor,  or just given as feed to livestock.

The Cashew must be properly roasted to release the toxins it contains in it’s shell. That is why you never see cashews in the shell.

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Cute little fruits that are easy to peal. They taste sort of similar to sweet green grapes with one large pit in the center that is edible and can be cooked.

Rambutan grow on trees and are native to Indonesia and Malaysia. They currently grow all though South East Asia and are strongly related to the Lychee.

Give them a try!

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Burro Banana

Not only does the Burro Banana look different from other bananas it can also be used different. It can be prepared savory like a plantain or sweet like a regular banana.

So I go to taste it.

You have to open it on the other end of the stem.

The thing about it that is the most different to me is the mouth feel. It’s completely itch free with a creamy but thiner than a regular banana creamy texture. This banana doesn’t cling to your mouth the same way. It also is somewhat sweet but not as banana bright sweet as regular bananas with a slightly  sort of citrus after taste.

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Cherimoya

The Cherimoya is a fruit that grows on a small evergreen tree. According to Wikipedia Mark Twain called the Cherimoya, “The Most Delicious Fruit Known to man”.

I tried one.

You scoop it out like an avocado.

It kind of breaks up into pieces with seeds. You need to remove or spit out the large hard seeds.

I don’t know if my fruit was a good representation of a typical Cherimoya or not but mine was sweet but mildly flavorful. It almost was like a creamy but fruity banana but sort of half strength in flavor and texture.  Like if a banana and a citrus had a baby and the mother was the banana. The texture was light but also creamy but not as creamy as a banana.

The Cherimoya fruit is very similar in appearance and taste to the Guanabana Fruit I tried in Mexico.

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Unless you forking live on a farm you most likely never heard of or seen a forking Mangelwurzel (also spelled Mangel-Wurzel) Vegetable.

The Mangelwurzel is a cultivated vegetable that has a swollen root in colors of white, yellow, or orange-yellow. The vegetable is really a type of beet developed for feeding mainly cattle livestock. Mangelwurzels can grow as large as 50 forking pounds.

The Mangelwurzel leafy top and root are edible but most people don’t forking eat them.

I never seen a forking Mangelwurzel carved into a Jack-O- Lantern but I read that people do carve these that way.

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Clafoutis Type of Dessert From Bottega in Yountville CA

Earlier this year I tasted a Clafoutis Dessert at Michael Chiarello’s Restaurant Bottega.  I thought it was the best new dessert I tasted this year. It’s not too sweet and it’s light and rich at the same time. I like that this dessert features fruit. The batter is described as a flan sort of recipe but it taste sort of like rich, airy, custard-like, smooth pancakes.

So I found Michael Chiarello’s Recipe for Apple Clafoutis on Foodnetwork.com and decided to make my first Clafoutis.

Apple Clafoutis

It came out very light, the lightest of the clafoutis I tried and tasty. I did look for other recipes for Clafoutis and they all differ a bit.

The traditional flavor for Clafoutis is Cherry with the pits. The pits give off a flavor that enhances the dessert. But today nobody leaves the pits in.

I found a recipe for Cherry Clafoutis from Chef Raymond Blanc. He owns a two star Michelin Star Restaurant/Hotel and is one of Britain’s most respected Chefs.

I didn’t use the proper cherries but other than that I followed his recipe and came out with this.

It’s still light and rich at the same time. The ingredients are slightly richer and uses more butter with more flavor because the butter is toasted and poured in warm.  A slight layer of crust is formed from buttering and dusting the baking dish with sugar. You also count the drops of vanilla you use and lemon zest brightens the fruit.  Other than that the only interesting differences is that only castor sugar is recommended as a garnish and the dessert should be served shortly after it comes out of the oven. The Clafoutis should always be served warm.

All the Clafoutis were good and all were different.

Found a recipe on BBC that they say is Gordon Ramsey’s for a Clafoutis….His differs and involves ground Almonds in the batter and is an even richer recipe.  I might try that one in a few weeks.

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