I got these Great Baby Zucchini with attached Blossoms at the Pinnacle Peak Farmer’s Market. I thought I should stuff the blossoms so I did. Some things you do have to fry but if I can avoid frying I avoid frying because I prefer my empty fat calories from Cheese, Ice Cream, Chocolate, Bread and Alcohol..(usually wine)…….Often….. Often..or VERY OFTEN…. Fried from the oven can actually taste better than foods that are actually fried. My Oven Fried Turkey Wings and Oven Fried French Fries can actually compete with the real thing….How many times has something fried that you ate leaves grease in your mouth?  Doesn’t something fried taste like fish sometimes?  Often something fried just taste like old grease. … Well any who….I’ve come up with an unique breading recipe that actually does come out like a fried crispy coating. Two secrets are to this recipe. One I add Dijon Mustard to the egg because it makes the coating stick together great and it adds a nice flavor. The other secret is that I use Whole Wheat Panko. It works like magic for a crisp baked coating. I note that you will have a little extra Flour, Egg and Panko left over. But I think it will be too difficult to work with less. I used the leftover to make 8 small baked onion rings.

Ingredients for about 2 servings

6 baby zucchini with blossoms attached

2 oz. feta cheese – (it must be the fresh style that’s creamy mild and less salt style with-out tang) – or substitute goat cheese

1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon course sea salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

2 L eggs – beaten

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 cup whole wheat panko

non stick spray – canola or vegetable

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

If you haven’t done so already wash off and carefully blot dry the zucchini.

You need to slit each blossom and remove the small inside with your fingers. Just pull the little thing out.

Get your 2 oz. block of feta and cut into 6 pieces. Put the biggest piece into the biggest flower. Try to wrap the flower around the cheese as best as you can. The flower wraps around the cheese pretty easy.

Get out three bowls. In one bowl add the flour, paprika, cayenne, course sea salt and black pepper and mix.

In the second bowl add the two beaten eggs and the dijon mustard. Mix well.

In the third bowl goes the whole wheat panko.

Get out a baking sheet and line it with Quilon or parchment paper.

Start by dipping the largest blossom into the flour. Make sure the blossom is coated all over with flower.

Then take the flour coated blossom into the egg mixture and coat the blossom well with egg.

Now the egg coated blossom goes into the panko mixture and make sure the blossom is well coated with panko.

Rest each stuffed blossom with zucchini on a lined sheet tray. LIGHTLY spray the zucchini with non stick spray.

They go in a 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes and then after 30 minutes carefully turn them over and the zucchini only need about 15 minutes more on the other side.

Lightly add fresh ground sea salt and black pepper to the non breaded part of the zucchini when you remove them from the oven.

You might want small sides of marinara sauce for dipping.

Fun appetizer or side dish.

 

 

 

This is nothing like a traditional sweet potato pie. I purchased some purple sweet potatoes. The purple sweet potatoes have a different flavor than orange sweet potatoes. They are slightly perfume-ee with maybe a berry note. I think they also seem a little starchier than an orange sweet potato. The Blackberry seems to lighten up the heavy potato and the flavor and color inspired this pie. The crust is Forking AMAZING! It’s very special and unique. It’s very flavorful. It’s has savory and sweet with yummy pops from the sea salt crystals with a really great texture. It was made with coconut flour, almond flour and olive oil. This pie feels almost like Cheesecake in the mouth. If seeds from blackberries bother you then you need to  push the blackberries threw a strainer if you are making this pie. Now this is a very unique pie! You aren’t going to find anything like this anywhere.

Ingredients for about 8 servings

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup almond flour

4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon cold water

2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon course sea salt

non stick spray

15 oz purple sweet potatoes – already cooked peeled and sliced

8oz blackberries – mash them all pour 1/2 into potato filling the other half gets mixed with 2 Tablespoons sugar and gets set to the side in a small bowl.

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 L eggs – slightly beaten

14 oz sweetened condensed milk

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

pinch white pepper

pinch course sea salt

a few grates fresh nutmeg

Directions

Set oven at 350 degrees

Spray a pie pan with non stick spray (My pan is a very shallow bakery pie pan. (I think it’s a normal size pan…across the bottom is 8 inches but with the flat ends it’s about 11 inches….You can use a slightly different size but the timing might be slightly off)

Your small bowl with 4 oz of mashed blackberries and sugar is set to the side.

In a medium bowl hand mix the these ingredients one at a time, flour, coconut flour, almond flour, olive oil, water, 2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt. Hand pat the mixture in the pie pan. Then piece all over with a fork. Put in the oven till it’s lightly cooked that will be 4-5 minutes. Pull out and set to the side.

In a large bowl slice up the potatoes and then mash the potatoes (the slicing breaks them down so they mash better).  Hand mash in the remaining ingredients one at a time till done and the mixture is smooth. Pour a layer into pie shell then a small layer of the blackberries and go back and forth until done.  Place in the oven for about 30 minutes.

It’s delicious and very different! You will be surprised!

 

I never saw or heard of Roselle before and saw them at the Pinnacle Peak Farmers Market and purchased a small bag of them. I found out the Roselle is a wild relative of the Hibiscus Flower. While researching the Roselle I came across a lot of websites claiming the roselle flower has many health benefits. According to Wikipedia the Roselle decreases blood pressure by 7.5/3.5 units. (whatever that means) One website claimed it helps to reverse the effects of diabetes. According to www.Airytea.com the Roselle is very high in vitamins and minerals and cures almost any infliction that you can think of….of course I don’t know if any of this has any truth to it. I read that most people just make beverages from the Roselle flowers (but other parts of the plant are also eaten) so I boiled the Roselle to keep the liquid. I thought they taste sort of like a floral kind of cranberry taste so I just added it to cranberry sauce and I thought lime and a hint of cayenne would be good in the sauce and it is.

Ingredients for about 10 servings

12 oz cranberries  – soak and rinse them a few times

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups Roselle liquid – Bring to boil about 2 1/2 cups of water with 10 Roselle Flowers reduce to simmer about 40 minutes – toss out Roselle keep all the liquid. (if you have more than 1 1/2 cups use it and decrease the water)

1 cup water

1 lime – the fresh squeezed juice and all of the zest

pinch course sea salt

pinch cayenne pepper

Directions

Pot a sauce pot on medium high heat and add the Roselle liquid, water, sugar and salt. Bring to boil. Add cranberries, lime juice and cayenne. Reduce to medium heat and stir occasionally. You need to cook it until all the cranberries pop. When the cranberries are popped turn it down a little. You might want to cover it loosely with foil so it doesn’t splatter on your stove. Let it reduce to desired consistency. Lastly add the lime zest. Take off heat and refrigerate. Cranberry sauce also freezes well.

Cranberry sauce that is a little different. It’s not too sweet. It a little floral with a nice texture. It taste good. It might even be super healthy and cure all your ailments. Who The Fork Knows.

 

 

 

I was watching Rachel Ray (a cooking variety and lifestyle TV show). I heard her saying that a  favorite restaurant in Philadelphia for her was Zahav ( a multi award wining restaurant with a multi award wining James Beard wining Chef who is also the 2017 James Beard outstanding chef). Rachel Ray also named a list of about a half dozen celebrity Chefs including Amanda Freitag stating that Zahav was also their favorite restaurant in Philadelphia. WOW that really spoke to me because I happened to have dined at Zahav and also had the most amazing experience   there…..Then on the TV Screen was Chef Michael Solomanov from Zahav via some sort of TV Cam. He was only on TV for what seemed like 30 seconds and in that short time he whipped up Brussels Sprouts Baba Ganoush. It happened so fast I’m not sure I remembered everything but I think I did. I happened to have a Brussels Sprouts stalk in my refrigerator SO I HAD TO TRY! This recipe didn’t have any measurements given so I just had to wing because that’s the way I saw it done on TV. It’s pretty darn delicious! Maybe even FORKING AMAZING! You might want to give this a try! I cooked up all my brussels Sprouts and made about FOUR servings of the Brussels Sprout Baba Ganoush. This recipe is my interpretation of what I saw Chef Michael Solomonov do on the Rachel Ray TV Show.

Ingredients

Brussels Sprouts – I used one stalk

Canola oil for frying (I covered the pan well with oil)

1 lemon (just the fresh squeezed juice

1/3 cup tahini (only purchase tahini that you can pour or it’s too old to eat) ((I like the one that comes in a glass bottle that they sell at Walmart)

1/4 teaspoon cumin

2 oz roasted garlic (whipped or mashed very well) ( half heads of garlic and drizzle them with olive oil and roast in a 350 degree F oven about an hour)

1 cup (packed tight) of the dark charred Brussels Sprouts

water to thin to your desired consistency

fresh ground sea salt to taste

fresh ground black pepper to taste

8 Tablespoons creamy mild not tangy feta cheese (for finishing – 2 Tablespoons a serving)

4 Tablespoons toasted hazelnuts slightly crushed (for finishing – 1 Tablespoon a serving)

2 Tablespoons parsley chopped (for finishing)

4 Tablespoons harissa (condiment for finishing) (preferably a fresh made kind and not from a jar or can)

4 Tablespoons tahini  (condiment for finishing)

2 cups of fried Brussels Sprouts – about 1/2 cup portions for each serving

Directions

The brussels sprouts get cut in half.

Put a large fry pan on medium heat with a good amount of oil. (about 350 degrees F)

When the oil is hot use tongs and fry the Brussels Sprouts till browned (about 6-7 minutes) each brussels sprout is a different size. Some you have to turn over and brown the other side.

It’s a good idea to use a screen for less oil splats. You WANT about a cup of the brussels sprouts to get VERY DARK.

It’s just like when you make eggplant baba ganoush. You need it charred for flavor. The char also turns the sprouts sweet. The darkest Brussels Sprouts you use for the Brussels Sprouts Baba Ganoush. It’s best to get a paper towel under the fried sprouts and then hit then with fresh crushed sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.

Now pack a cup real tight of the sprout that are the most charred. (the darkest ones)

Fine chop the sprouts and put them in a medium sized bowl. (Chef Solomonov said Baba Ganoush should always be chunky)

Add fresh squeezed lemon juice, 1/3 cup tahini, 1/4 teaspoon cumin, 2 oz roasted garlic (whipped or mashed very well). Add water till it get to your desired consistency. It should look similar to this. Add fresh crushed sea salt and black pepper to taste.

Now you build it like a sundae.

On the bottom is a layer of the Brussels Sprouts Baba Ganoush. Use about a quarter of the mixture for a serving.

Top each serving with at least a 1/2 cup of brussels sprouts.

Top the brussels sprouts with about 2 Tablespoons of feta cheese.

Next about 1 Tablespoon of toasted hazelnuts.

finish with a small amount of parsley, a little harissa and a little tahini.

It’s really delicious! All the different flavors and textures go together well. It a Forking Great Brussels Sprouts Dish…Glad I caught Chef Solomonov on the Rachel Ray Show doing this dish!