Latin Inspired Red Lentils, Rainbow Chard, Dates and Almonds

I was inspired to create this dish after dining at Deseo Latin Restaurant in Scottsdale AZ. Deseo’s version was different but some of the flavors that stood out to me are in this dish. I did write about this dish before about three years ago but at the time didn’t actually post a recipe. Everyone who has tried this dish in my house said that it was very good and delicious! This is a very easy mostly one pot recipe.

Ingredients for about 6 servings.

1 lb red lentils – washed and inspected

1 bunch rainbow chard – cleaned – leaves torn off in pieces from stems and stems chopped

12 oz roasted tomatoes (or canned whole with puree is fine…over 12 oz works too)

1/2 sweet onion – chopped

3 garlic cloves – chopped fine

4 cups vegetable stock (or slightly more if you want it thinner)

17 dates – pit removed and chopped

1/2 cup almonds – skinless is preferred

4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (1/2 in the beginning with the onions and the other half with the almonds)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon Nora pepper ( you probably don’t have Nora Pepper and the second choice would be Aleppo pepper that is very similar…both are fruity pepper with very mild heat…Nora pepper is slightly smoky. If you don’t have either Nora or Aleppo pepper just add a pinch of paprika and a little bit of any pepper you like to taste)

7 oz manchego  cheese – shredded

Directions

Two Tablespoons of olive oil on medium high in a pot. In few minutes the onions will be transparent and then add rainbow chard stems. Keep it going another minute or two till chard stems are soft and then stir in garlic. Now stir in rainbow chard till wilted. (about a minute). Remove from pot and put to the side.

To pot on medium high heat add stock, tomatoes, black pepper,  lentils and bring to boil. Now reduce to simmer till lentils are soft. (about 1/2 hour or so)

Set oven to 300 degrees F.

During this time toast your almonds. On a sheet pan drizzle a Tablespoon of olive oil on the pan and add almonds. Drizzle another Tablespoon all over the almonds and put pan in oven till almonds got a butterscotch color. (Around 20 minutes)

Add remaining ingredients and almonds when they are done. Stir in cheese last.

Taste for seasoning adjustments and adjust if needed.

Latin Inspired Red Lentils, Rainbow Chard, Dates and Almonds

You will find this dish unique and delicious. Maybe the most delicious lentils you’ve ever tried!

#crowdpleaser

The Forking Truth

OMG Hatch Chile and Cheddar Mashed Potatoes

These are those OMG Mashed Potatoes with Hatch Chile and Cheddar Cheese. I had no idea that many people have trouble making mashed potatoes. This past Thanksgiving I saw on the news that the most looked up recipe on the internet in Phoenix AZ was mashed potatoes. Who Knew! I happen to have a few tricks for better tasting mashed potatoes. I infuse the boiling potatoes with garlic, onion and a hot pepper…(for this recipe I used a jalapeño) and sea salt. For Thanksgiving I do rice the potatoes but here I just hand mashed the potatoes, seasoned them perfect and added cheese and fire roasted Hatch Chile till it tasted perfect. The Hatch Chile is popular in the fall time here in the South West. People that live here where the New Mexican pepper Hatch Chile is sold stock up on them for year round cooking. I find that the flavor of them is just right now for all your cooking needs as the Hatch Chiles I purchased in the fall were incredibly fiery hot and now they are toned down and just delicious!

Ingredients for about 12 servings

3 lbs potatoes – peeled – big ones cut in half. ( I like reds but either potato is fine)

1/2 onion – skin removed and leave whole (just for boiling with potatoes)

3 garlic cloves – (just for boiling with potatoes)

1 jalapeno – cut in half longways – (just for boiling with potatoes)

1 Tablespoon course sea salt (for boiling with potatoes)

2 teaspoons course sea salt – (for seasoning the mashed potatoes)

4 oz unsalted butter

1/2 pint heavy cream

1 cup xtra sharp aged cheddar cheese – shredded – (white cheese will look better)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

5 oz Fire Roasted Hatch Chiles – stem, seeds, and most of skin removed. – chopped -(******NOTE the amount of Hatch Chile may differ depending on how the heat is or how fresh or how long the chiles were in the freezer and also by your taste…) THIS REALLY MATTERS…..because the heat can be 10x hotter sometimes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Directions

Add potatoes, onion, garlic, jalapeño and 1 Tablespoon of salt to your pot. Fill with water till the potatoes are covered well. Boil till fork tender. (about 10-15 minutes)

With a slotted spoon remove the potatoes to a colander and drain. Discard onion, garlic, jalapeño and water.

While your pot is hot melt the butter and add remaining spices. You can turn off or turn to low after butter is melted because the potatoes and the pot will remain hot and the rest goes by fast. Add the potatoes and mash with a hand masher. Add cream and mash more and then add cheese and mash more. Lastly add in the Hatch Chiles….(maybe not all at once so you can control the taste)

These Hatch Chile and Cheddar Cheese Mashed Potatoes are certainly a #Crowdpleaser (if you make the right call on how much hatch to add)

Hatch Chile and Cheddar Mashed Potatoes

The Forking Truth

Lemon Verbena Water Ice

I got these beautiful locally grown Pink Lemons and Lemon Verbena from the Farmers Market so I thought of Lemon Verbena Water Ice since it’s already heating up in sunny Phoenix Arizona. It’s easy to make and comes out delicious, light and refreshing.

Ingredients for about 6 servings

1 bunch of lemon verbena – chop very fine about 1/2 a teaspoon and leave the rest whole

1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice plus all of the zest from the lemon grated ( I used 4 bigger and very juicy lemons)

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup water

Directions

Bring the water and sugar to a boil with the lemon verbena (minus the 1/2 teaspoon of chopped)

Reduce to simmer and let it go about five minutes.

Turn off heat and let it sit till just warm.

Remove verbena branches and throw away the branches.

Pour sugar water in a freezable container. Add the lemon juice, zest, and 1/2 teaspoon of finely chopped lemon verbena.

Set in freezer. Fluff about six or seven hours latter with a spoon. Over the course of the next fourteen hours you need to fluff the ice mixture up about three more times. I thought the texture becomes most perfect on day two after one day of sitting.

Lemon Verbena Water Ice

Enjoy! It’s really delicious! It’s the most refreshing water ice I ever tried!

The Forking Truth

Reduced Fat Potato Green Pepper & Eggplant

This Chinese INSPIRED recipe is based on a Chinese Recipe vegetable recipe where all the vegetables are fried separately and then combined quickly in a stir fry. I tried this similar dish at Miu’s Cuisine that used to be in business in Tempe AZ. On Miu’s menu the dish was named #102 Triple Delicacy. All these years latter I keep remembering how delicious the combination of potatoes, eggplants and green bell peppers are. I do fry eggplants sometimes but I know that eggplants can absorb a great amount of oil so I opted to roast all the vegetables till I got them brown like fried. I then made the sauce and tossed them all together. The potatoes and bell pepper brown up very easy but the eggplant is a lot of work and would have been easier and much quicker to just fry. If you have a few hours you might want to give this recipe a try. After I whipped up this dish my husband ran into the kitchen and said the house smells like a Chinese Restaurant. What I came up with isn’t  Miu’s but it’s not oily  and does taste great!

Ingredients for about 4 servings

2 medium sized eggplants (I used regular eggplants) – peeled and cut into stir fry size pieces.

1 1/2 cups water

2 green bell peppers – core and stem removed – rough cut to bite size pieces

3 potatoes (I used 3 very large red potatoes) sliced about 1/4 in. thick big pieces cut in half

fresh ground sea salt ( a light sprinkle)

fresh ground black pepper ( a light sprinkle)

neutral non stick spray I used canola

2 Tablespoons toasted sesame seed oil

1 inch ginger – grated

4 garlic cloves – ground to paste

1 teaspoon asian chili sauce

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar

2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 Tablespoon corn starch

1 1/2 cups water

2 Tablespoons black vinegar

2 heads black garlic – peeled – cloves chopped.

1/2 cup scallions – chopped

Directions

set oven to 400 degrees F

Spray baking sheets with non stick spray.

The sheet with eggplant needs to be covered and water needs to be added to the pan about 1/2 way up the eggplant. This pan needs to be cooked covered for about an hour before it’s browned.

Put the eggplant, green pepper and potato sheet pans in the middle and lower racks of oven.

Check oven in 30 minutes. Green peppers are either done or close to done. Potatoes might need to be turned over to brown on other side for at least 15 minutes or so.

Take the potatoes and green peppers out when they look like this and give them a light hit of salt and pepper.

After an hour remove the cover on the eggplant and it should have brown water in the pan. The water is bitter and you need to dispose.

Now place the eggplant on the top rack and get it to brown slightly.

Flip them over and brown the other side.

Cover the vegetables and leave in a 200 degree oven till needed.

With a large fry pan on medium heat. In a small bowl combine 1 1/2 cups water and the corn starch. Mix well and put to the side. To the fry pan add the sesame oil. Once hot add ginger and garlic. then add chili sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sugar, black vinegar now mix the cornstarch water and add to pan stirring. The sauce should thicken slightly and smell very aromatic. Turn down heat to low and add black garlic. Stir well leave on low heat a few minutes. Stir in the the vegetables. Add scallions and serve.

Reduced Fat Potato Green Pepper & Eggplant with Black Garlic

The Forking Truth

Forking Delicious Hatch Chile Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and Cheese is pretty easy to prepare. I do some things different so I have a nice cheese sauce that doesn’t break. Some of the secrets to not breaking the sauce is to cook over medium – low heat most of the time. But it’s more about the ingredients. Most of the fat in the recipe should come from the cheese. You also have to use half or more mild cheese and slightly less than half xtra sharp cheese. This recipe contains delicious fired roasted Hatch Chile for a delicious kick! Don’t you dare use canned Hatch Chile……… because it will not taste similar. If you are in the Phoenix Area I do know that Fry’s and Walmart do sell frozen Hatch Chile. I haven’t tried them but they are recommended over canned.  I do note that you have to wing the amount of * Hatch Chile you add to the sauce because your peppers may not have the same heat and flavor as mine and your love of Hatch Chile may differ. I’m using these fire roasted Hatch Chile Peppers after they’ve been in my freezer since the fall and I think they are much more mellow now but still delicious. I note that when you make this kind of macaroni and cheese you add ONLY ABOUT HALF of the macaroni that you think you need because the pasta will drink up the sauce and the next day this will be very dry. I suggest to serve half a day latter or the next day after.

Ingredients for about 8 servings

2 cups cooked macaroni****** (or more) 2 cups is prefect if you are serving this latter or the next day because the pasta absorbs the liquid. Boil more if you are serving right away. – ( boil pasta for three minutes less than box suggest in salted water add the one Tablespoon of butter to the hot macaroni so it doesn’t stick)

1 1/2 cup xtra sharp aged cheddar cheese – shredded – packed really tight

1 1/2 cup Colby jack cheese  – shredded – packed really tight

4 oz fontina cheese – shredded

2 Tablespoons sweet butter – one Tablespoon for pasta so it doesn’t stick and the other for the cheese sauce

1/3 cup nonfat dry milk

1/3 cup flour

1 cup cold water

2 Tablespoons cayenne pepper sauce (Frank’s Red Hot is preferred)

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

1 lb *hatch chile peppers – fire roasted, seeds, stem and most of skin removed – chopped (* amount of hatch chile may differ depending on heat and your love for hatch chile)

2 tablespoons of i’itoi;s onions – green parts – chopped fine or you can substitute scallions – the i’itoi’s have a slightly shallot taste to them but are similar to scallions.

Directions

In a small mixing bowl combine dry milk and flour. Add water and mix well till the mixture is lump free.

In your sauce pot on medium high heat add the remaining one tablespoon butter and let it melt. After the butter is melted whip in the contents of the small bowl. Mix well and bring it to  bubble, let it bubble a little and then add the cheeses and TURN DOWN the heat to medium low. Stir and add in the hot sauce, paprika, cayenne and white pepper.

By this time turn the heat down again to low.

Now you add the hatch chile to your liking. I used around a pound that were very hot when I froze them. So you might want to start with a cup of chopped hatch and then taste and see what you think and add maybe a half cup more at a time till you think you have the hatch chile taste you like.

Shut the heat off and add the scallion or i’itoi’s onions and lastly add the macaroni. I prefer to let the macaroni set and to reheat latter.

Forking Delicious Hatch Chile Macaroni and Cheese

Comes out Forking Delicious! I didn’t get to eat much of this one. My husband kept running back for more and was bummed when it was gone.

The Forking Truth