Monthly Archives: February 2015

Are YOU a Forking SUPER-TASTER?

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According to Popular Science people with lots of taste buds are forking super tasters.

Not only does this super tasting ability have to do with the amount of taste buds but it also has to do with the way your taste buds work or their ability to detect different molecules.

It’s forking somewhere in the brain we get the message that recognizes bitter, sweet, salty, sour and umami (savory).

Also some of this is genetic. People from Malaria-Infested parts of the world tend to carry a gene that makes them less sensitive to bitter. (I didn’t forking make this up…Read it your forking self from Popular Science)

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According to supertaster.com Super-Tasters have a hard time and much less of a preference towards consuming-

Raw Broccoli

Grapefruit Juice

Coffee

Dark Chocolate

Fatty Foods

Sugary Foods

Scientific American reports that super-tasters just taste these foods much stronger than other people.

Wikipedia’s list of foods that super-tasters are sensitive towards and prefer not to consume foods that are-

Brussels Sprouts

Cabbage

Kale

Coffee

Grapefruit Juice

Cheddar Cheese (no whey!)

According to some of the references. People who are not sensitive to the above forking lists are non-tasters but people do fall in-between.

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I have found some of this information BUT NOT ALL is linked to purchasing forking taste kits to find out if your a super-taster, a non-taster or somewhere in-between.

Are YOU a Forking SUPER-TASTER?

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

 

 

 

Healthier Tastier Spinach Fontina Poppers Recipe

Spinach Fontina Poppers

Spinach Fontina Poppers

These poppers are absolutely FORKING delicious. They are healthier and easier than regular poppers because they lack frying and breading and are mostly healthy fresh vegetables with only a small amount of flavorful cheese and seasonings. They are very flavorful and have the just right textures. You won’t miss the frying one forking bit.

To prepare delicious spinach is key.

For delicious spinach you need regular fresh spinach and not forking baby spinach because baby spinach lacks flavor.

Clean your spinach and rough cut smaller including a most of the stems. For each large bunch of spinach you need about half an onion sliced very thin and add your spinach and onion to vegetable stock and bring to boil and let simmer a few minutes.

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Drain.

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Add a big splash or two of extra virgin olive oil, some fresh ground sea salt, fresh ground black pepper and between 1/2-1 clove of garlic smashed or grounded up in to your spinach mixture.

 

Wash up some sweet crispy mini bell peppers and cut in half. Remove core and seeds if you forking see any.

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Stuff with some spinach mixture and a small chunk of fontina cheese.

Very lightly sprinkle the tops of the stuffed poppers with fresh ground sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, oregano, basil, micro pinch of rosemary, micro pinch of granulated garlic.

Place on lightly oiled baking pan and roast in a 400 degree oven till just melted. (only a few minutes) Doesn’t forking take long.

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These are forking absolutely delicious!

Your Forking Welcome!

Forking Good

Forking Good

Black Beluga Lentils with Black Garlic, Kumatoes & Baby Bells Recipe

Black Beluga Lentils with Black Garlic, Kumatos and Baby Bells

Black Beluga Lentils with Black Garlic, Kumatoes and Baby Bells

The Lentils come out creamy and well seasoned because you prepare them Thomas Keller Style. Cooked with onion, thyme, carrot, s&p and the trick is a little vinegar for tenderness and infusing the flavor. I added balsamic after the lentils were cooked. They were delicious just like that but I added Kumatoes that are

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better than your average forking store tomato and roasted them with sweet black garlic. The sweet black garlic doesn’t taste like garlic it’s more of a smokey prune kind of taste.

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I also roasted up some super sweet baby bell peppers and added some fresh chopped scallions.

I made a big batch of lentils and froze some, left some plain in the fridge for adding to salads and only needed a heaping cup of them cooked for this recipe.

Basic almost (Thomas Keller Style Way) of doing lentils

For about 2 lbs of lentils.

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I added them to my sauce pan and added enough water to cover them well.

about 1 teaspoon kosher salt

about 1/2 teaspoon pepper ( I used Aleppo this time)

about 1 teaspoon dried thyme (you should use fresh sprig but I didn’t have one)

one carrot or a parsnip (to be tossed out after cooking because it’s flavorless now)

1/2 large red onion or a forking leek if you prefer (to be forking tossed out after cooking)

Bring to boil and reduce to simmer and cover for about 15 minutes or until tender. Mine soaked up all the water and were perfect so I didn’t drain. Discard onion and carrot. Add two big splashes of balsamic vinegar and set a side and let cool.

Now roast up your chopped 5 or 6 kumatoes or good tomatoes and place on pan with your pealed 2-3 heads of black garlic and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Set your oven to 375 degrees for roasting.

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Get about 9 baby bell peppers.

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Chop them into rings and place on baking pan, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and place in oven with your tomatoes.

The peppers will take around 25 minutes and the kumatoes with black garlic will take about 35 minutes.

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Now with a spoon mixed up the roasted tomatoes with black garlic mixing the garlic up into the mixture.

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Season both pans with fresh ground sea salt and fresh black pepper.

Add your kumato/black garlic mixture to a heaping cup of prepared black beluga lentils.

Top with the roasted baby bells and fresh cut scallions.

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Forking Good

Forking Good

Binkley’s of Cave Creek Arizona is an Experience Like No Other

 

One of many Amuse Bouches

One of many Amuse Bouches

Dining at Binkley’s in Cave Creek Arizona is an experience that can’t be compared to any other dining experience I had before and is certainly forking memorable.

Binkley’s doesn’t have the finest atmosphere as it is a small restaurant located in a strip mall. But if you reserve a spot on patio you might get a view of a beautiful cactus studded sunset.

At Binkley’s you can count on some molecular gastronomy, benson burners and a James Beard Nominated Chef to create you some unexpected, playful magnificent courses and get served many amuse bouches all night long. Dinner may take close to three hours so come with an empty belly, a big bank account and forking enjoy the show.

You have a choice of a la carte, multiple tasting menus and expert wine pairing choices. We picked the smallest of the tasting menus the four course tasting menu of one cold, one hot appetizer, a main course, and either dessert or cheese course.

Our meal started with an amuse bouche of miniature gherkins paired with smoked chicken liver   mousse, stone grain house made mustard and crostini and an offering from the bread basket and butter from France. The house made breads were really delicious and well made. The little salted brioche breads were really forking scrumptious.

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We placed our order and soon receive another amuse bouche and a sparking glass of wine.

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We receive a mini coffee cup filled with pear curry soup that’s finished with raisin oil. It doesn’t sound that great but honestly this was really forking delicious.

We received two more amuse bouches before our cold appetizer plates.

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A forking Barbie Sized beef sloppy joe with a fancy potato crisp and the best tasting forking caper I ever had. The tiny sandwich seemed a little too much bread to meat but was packed with flavor and was delicious.

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Tiny savory smaller than a marble sized donuts appear. They were filled with rich mushrooms and disappeared quickly.

Now our cold appetizers  arrive!

Fruit de Mar - Prawn, Crab, Geoduck, Foie Gras, Seaweed, Onion, Radish, Chile, Mango

Fruit de Mar – Prawn, Crab, Geoduck, Foie Gras, Seaweed, Onion, Radish, Chile, Mango

My husband had the Fruit De Mar. He was sort of excited to try Geoduck for the first time but couldn’t figure out what forking morsels were geoduck.

I had the Asparagus as my cold plate.

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I had a very small but crispy puntarelle ( a kind of chicory)  on my plate. lots of little dots of liquid that tasted sort of mushroomy, a smear of caramelized onion creme fraiche and a mound of smokey sun choke salad and all harmonized like an orchestra in key.

This next amuse bouche photo is bad but I’m forking using it anyway.

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Pellets of frozen grapefruit and blackberries arrive.

The most flavorful and my favorite plate of the evening arrives next.

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The Black Truffle Acorn Squash Risotto. This was mind Blowing crazy good!

Fresh shaved perigord truffles and this magical delicious cream that just taste amazing on the best acorn squash I ever had.  You can always count on at least one mind blowing crazy good dish here.

My husbands favorite dish was also his hot appetizer.

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It was called a Choucroute Garni and was made with bresaola, duck confit, trotter (pig feet), and root vegetables.

Next came an amuse bouche of house made tangelo soda.

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I ate too much of the squash and was full by now but next was dinner.

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I had the Ocean Trout. It was a very tiny portion and I was able to eat it. It wasn’t as complex as Binkley’s usually prepares and was forking good but sort of not what I was expecting from here.  I think the tiny crisp on top of the fish might have been an artichoke but I wasn’t sure.

My husband had the Cider Braised Pork.

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He squealed with delight  when he saw the bacon (pancetta) on top of it. He said it was very good.

Now they forking bring over a Benson Burner kind of contraption and prepare table side hibiscus tea that’s flavored with fresh rosemary and meyer lemon.

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An amuse bouche of candy apple cream brûlée arrives. It taste just like a creamy candy apple.

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Followed by a really delicious mini root beer float.

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Now my dessert arrives.

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On a hot sizzling skillet and in some sort of bag arrives Butterscotch Pecans en Papillote topped with brown butter ice cream and a black pepper cinnamon twist along with salted pecans arrive.

The ice cream was very smooth and nicely flavored. The pecans were of a better quality than the ones I forking normally eat as they were very creamy inside and flavorful. I was already very full and couldn’t eat much of this. This wasn’t my favorite as it seemed like a melted pecan pie. Maybe I was just too forking full to enjoy this one.

My husband had a delightful cheese plate.

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They gave us one more amuse bouche.

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They were some kind of apple pectin fruit jells.

They thanked us for coming and gave us little bags of granola to take home.

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Binkley’s  of Cave Creek Arizona is an experience like no other.

Worth a Fork

Worth a Fork

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

Some Forking Truth about Cinnamon

Cassia

Cassia

According to www.superkidsnutrition.com only true cinnamon is called Ceylon Cinnamon and mostly everything else is cassia.

True cinnamon is the bark from an evergreen tree that’s mostly grown in Sri Lanka and Southern India. About a forking dozen different species of trees are called cinnamon but only a few are forking harvested for cinnamon.

True cinnamon sticks are thin like parchment paper and are rolled tightly from one side.

Cassia sticks are rolled from both sides and are much woodier, hollow and happened to cost forking less.

True cinnamon is sweeter and more refined in flavor.

references

www.superkidsnutrition.com

www.wikipedia

www.spice-racks.com

www.huffingtonpost.com

That was some Forking Truth about Cinnamon.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

EZ Baked Risotto Balls from your leftover Risotto Recipe

 

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Risotto doesn’t reheat well so with your leftover risotto you should make risotto balls. You can keep them in your freezer and pull out to use anytime. You can use my mushroom risotto recipe that I posted February 4th made with black trumpet mushrooms or you can use any other risotto recipe. These are FORKING delicious as an appetizer, snack or side dish and hold up very well in the freezer. They should be served with a small side of marina sauce for dipping.

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Basically you need your leftover risotto, a small scoop or spoon, some panko that you should season with at least salt and pepper and flavors that match your risotto. Your risotto ball should be stuffed with either cheese, meat & cheese or peas and cheese. I just stuffed mine with small cubes of fontina cheese and it went perfect with the flavors of the mushroom risotto I made.

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Set your oven at 400 bake. Scoop out some risotto and insert a small cube of cheese.

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Cover up the cheese and roll the ball in your seasoned panko.

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Place your risotto balls on slightly oiled pans.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10-13 minutes just to add a little color and crispness.

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They are HOT so let them cool a little. Serve what you want and when completely cool you can freeze them and use when you want.

 

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Forking Good!

Forking Good!

Mexican Inspired Tomatillo Chicken Gravy Recipe

Tomatillo Chicken Gravy

Tomatillo Chicken Gravy

Tomatillo’s go really well with chicken so I created a chicken based tomatillo sauce with Mexican Inspired Seasonings. This sauce goes great over chicken, burritos and more!

Tomatillos

Tomatillos

Ingredients

3 1/2 lb tomatillos (husk removed and washed)

Pealed and washed tomatillos

Pealed and washed tomatillos

1 onion pealed and chopped

1 jalapeno chopped fine

3 cloves garlic ground

around 14 scallion (just the whites) chopped

around a total of 4 tablespoons neutral oil for roasting the tomatillos and sautéing vegetables.

6 roasted hatch chilies (pealed and seeds removed)

1/4 cup chicken fat

1/4 cup masa

3 cups chicken stock (home made if your stock is weak you might need a tablespoon of base for more flavor)

pinch ground chile

1 tablespoon sugar

fresh ground black pepper around 6 turns

fresh ground sea salt around 6 turns

1-2 leaves fresh epazote depending on size of leaf (you will NEVER need more than two leaves of epazote at a time because it’s very strong so keep a bunch in your freezer and peal off a leaf or two for usage)

1/2 a big bunch of fresh and cleaned cilantro about 3 handfuls chopped up

1/4 teaspoon ground annatto

Directions

Set your oven to roast at 350 degrees. Put the tomatillos on lightly oiled pans and lightly sprinkle them with oil. Place the pans on the top rack and in one half hour they should be done and slightly browned. Set a side.

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Sautee your onion, jalapeño, garlic, scallion ends, in some oil until onions are translucent.

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Chop up your hatch chiles and add them to mixture cook a few minutes and set a side.

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Now make your gravy. Chicken fat and masa in a sauce pan on medium heat. when it bubbles you can start adding the stock. Bring mixture to simmer.

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Now add the tomatillos, cilantro and  epazote.

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Blend and let simmer.

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Add the rest of the seasonings and the onion mixture that was set a side.

Tomatillo Chicken Gravy

Tomatillo Chicken Gravy

Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

Forking Good!

Forking Good!

Chennai Chettinaad Palace South Indian Buffet Phoenix AZ

 

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Ever have Sambar, Rasam, Upma Pulav, or Dum Aloo before?

You really get the feeling you visited India when you dine at Chennai Chettinaad Palace in Phoenix Arizona. Indian Television is playing on the large screen TVs above the bar. Unfamiliar but fragrant spices fill the air. The restaurant was packed with people and everyone except us were of Indian decent.

We were seated and I sort of expected someone to greet us at the table but after a while the person that sat us just said “it’s a buffet you help yourself.” As I approached the buffet I noticed a grade “A” Maricopa health inspection and that one side of the buffet was strictly vegetarian and five meats dishes were on the other side. Three dishes were chicken, one dish was fish and the last meat dish was goat.

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The Buffet started with appetizer savory mini donuts and a few vegetable soups one of the soups was called rasam and is a tamarind based vegetable soup that was more flavorful than the sambar vegetable soup.

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Some of the vegetable dishes had more heat to them than the meat dishes but it was a gentle heat that didn’t build.

Some of the vegetarian dishes were-

Upma- A porridge with vegetables

Pulav- Spicy long grain fluffy rice with vegetables

Dum Aloo- Baby potatoes curry

Channa Palgk- Spinach with Chickpeas

Baby Corn with Chilies

Dhal Tadka-Lentils

Mutteer Panger-Peas and Cheese

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Most of what I tried was delicious. Very flavorful food. Only two things I didn’t care for that I tried was the Dahi Vada and the Upma due to that I wasn’t brought up eating them. People that are new to Indian Food might have a hard time with lentil dumplings in yogurt and vegetable porridge.

I tried small amounts of the chicken curry, chicken tikka masala, chicken bryani and the fish curry. I found them all to be fresh and well prepared for a buffet meaning not dried out.  The meat dishes were all delicious I think anybody would like them. They had interesting flavorful spices to them. They all differed but all were interesting. Nothing was too salty or oily.

Desserts looked very foreign to me.

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Small fragrant soaked fritters were in one pan called Gulab Jamun. I skipped over the second pan and did try some of the carrot halwa that’s basically carrot pudding seasoned with cardamon and cashews.

It felt like a trip to India but with much better traffic and my trip only cost $13.99.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

Salmon it’s what I might order for dinner

Over the past year I ate a forking lot of salmon out because often that’s the only forking fish choice in a restaurant.

I live in Arizona and in the area I live in is very hard to come across fresh tasting fish. So it’s actually a FORKING TREAT to eat fish out for me.

I don’t know if it’s forking just me but I find that meat fills me up much more than fish or chicken and just sits in my stomach and then I don’t have room for bread or dessert that I forking might enjoy when I go out to eat.

I’m also NOT a FAN of, and FORKING hate dry or chewy meats and I am very rarely served dry and chewy fish. The down side of often ordering fish is…. there are times when I’m served fish that isn’t fresh tasting and sometimes the fish is over cooked. Fortunately that only happens once in a forking while.

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At any forking restaurant for dinner I usually DON’T order chicken because I eat chicken at home often and usually prepare it well.

Some chicken I prepared

Some chicken I prepared

 

Forking more often than not I usually get served dry tasteless chicken. So ordering chicken out is usually a forking waste for me.

Taco Haus Scottsdale AZ (wow that was really bad)

Taco Haus Scottsdale AZ (wow that was really FORKING Bad)

 

The exception is a lunch out where I might order forking grilled chicken to top a salad.

In the area where I live it’s very rare that I can buy fresh fish and usually leave what I see to salmon else. (excuse the forking pun and this forking photo)

Think these are snappers?

Think these are snappers? Sorry don’t have a forking salmon photo!

At very good restaurants I ate salmon.

Bouchon Napa CA

Bouchon Napa CA

Also at Forking not nearly as good places I ate salmon.

La Torretta Scottsdale AZ Salmon Alla Francesca

La Torretta Scottsdale AZ Salmon Alla Francesca

And all the salmon I had in-between. I do note these photos are in no particular forking order.

Arriv Fountain Hills AZ

Arrivederci Fountain Hills AZ

The Pink Pony Scottsdale AZ

The Pink Pony Scottsdale AZ

Cindy's Napa CA

Cindy’s Napa CA

BBQ Salmon Salad Rhythm & Wine Scottsdale AZ

BBQ Salmon Salad Rhythm & Wine Scottsdale AZ (this was excellent salmon)

Broiled Salmon with Spaghetti Squash and Pasta in lemon-caper butter $13

Cucina Tagliani Glendale AZ

This is what absolutely perfectly prepared good quality salmon looks like.

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Salmon it’s what I might order for forking dinner!

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

 

EAT at the Boulders for some of the most Breathtaking Views in the metro Phoenix Area

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Once you pass threw the entrance of the Boulders you take a fairy long but scenic tour.

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You should plan your forking visit during daylight hours to view the beauty of this resort.

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They even have a gorgeous duck pond.

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Many quail live here too.

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We were coming up on the big boulder, the really GIANT Big Forking Boulder.

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I couldn’t photo the water feature but water was flowing down the crack. (looks a little like a forking butt doesn’t it? but it’s a pretty butt)

The most beautiful resort I’ve seen in the Metro Phoenix area.

Several Restaurants can be found at the Boulders. We decided to pop into The Grill at the Boulders. They do have a lovely dining room that overlooks the golf course but only one waitress was on and we didn’t want to make her forking run from the bar to the other end of the building so we sat in the bar area that has a view of the forking golf shop.

I saw New York Pastrami on the menu so I had to ask if it really was New York Pastrami or just New York Style. I was told New York Style and ordered it because it was house made.  After a little while I received it.

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I liked that the meat wasn’t too fatty and also not too lean. It was very unique in flavor with an unusual spice in it that I think might have been cloves. The meat was delicious, flavorful, and moist. The sandwich was layered with a very small amount of fresh crispy but average coleslaw and was held together with some sort of grained pumpernickel bread. The fries were hot, fresh and lightly salted but slightly disappointing because they seemed like fast food kind of fries. I also thought house made pickle might come with this sandwich because it cost around $15.00.

My husband tried the BBQ Brisket grilled Cheese.

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Both sandwiches came with an enormous amount of fries. The brisket inside was very moist and flavorful. The bread was grilled nicely and quality cheddar cheese was used but for some reason this sandwich seemed more like a brisket sandwich with cheese other than the grilled cheese with brisket that we thought it would be. Also priced at around $15.00.

We found the service to be friendly and efficient.

The Grill at the Boulders and the Palo Verde Restaurant at the Boulders in beautiful Cave Creek AZ both participate in the Scottsdale preferred savings card and if you have one you can get one meal for free.

Eat at the Boulders for some of the most Beautiful Views in the Metro Phoenix Area.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth