Monthly Archives: August 2018

Dukkah Feta and Barberry Bread Recipe

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Dukkah Feta and Barberry Bread

I made Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi’s recipe for Dukkah. WOW! it’s really delicious!….You might be wondering what is Dukkah? Dukkah also spelled Duqqa and is an Egyptian blend of nuts, seeds and spices that are toasted and ground….but not to powder and not to paste…somewhere in-between. I only had Dukka a few times at FnB restaurant in Scottsdale and it might have been served on a vegetable?……. Or maybe not but I think that’s how I had it so I thought I’d make dukkah and put it on a vegetable too………..I read about 20 different recipes for dukkah and they differed so much that they didn’t even seem like the same thing. Some recipes were very short. Others were long. Most on the internet are pistachio based but I read the real thing is usually hazelnut based. I narrowed the recipes down to two that seemed like they’d be the best…..and went with the Y.O & S.T. recipe because they are award wining and this recipe was hazelnut based. After I made the Dukkah I didn’t want to put it on a vegetable because of the taste. It was delicious but it didn’t seem like it was for the vegetables I had around. The dukkah was very flavorful and very fragrant, sort of nutty, a little sweet and slightly spicy, maybe a little spice cookie-ish – peanut-ee like but yummier. My first thought was to bake it into cookies. I thought the dukkah would be great in either butter or peanut butter cookies but I didn’t want to eat cookies this week so I baked it up in bread so I can eat some and freeze some………guess I could have froze cookies too…oh well. I do also think the dukkah would be great to flavor chicken. I latter read that dukkah is suppose to be served with bread and oil……..You dunk your oiled bread in Dukkah to make it tastier……..I can see that now………This dukkah is quite delicious I don’t know if most other dukkahs are this good? You can purchase dukkah at the store these days or follow one of the more simple recipes for dukkah but your results will differ. The bread recipe is very easy. I just made a basic dough. Rolled it out. filled it and rolled it up like a jelly roll. Cut the jelly roll in half long ways. braided it around and in the oven it went on a quilon lined baking sheet.

Ingredients for around 14 servings

1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons or 1/4 oz)

1 1/2 Tablespoon sugar

1 1/2 cups potato water at 100-110 degrees F or water

4 cups bread flour

1/4 cup scant extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons course sea salt (you might need 3 teaspoons if you use water instead of potato water..)

1 cup bread flour – this is for kneading, letting the dough rest in and for flouring surfaces

2 oz sweet butter – room temperature

dukkah recipe – the whole thing – I will post the ingredients after the recipe at the end of the page if you want to make Dukkah based on Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi’s recipe

4 oz feta – the creamy, not so salty or too tangy type……or use goat cheese – crumbled

1 Tablespoon barberries – if you don’t have skip – nothing will be similar

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil for drizzling over the top of the bread

Directions

Set oven to 400 degrees F.

In a big bowl add the yeast, sugar and potato water and wait maybe 30 minutes for a foam to develop.

Now add 4 cups bread flour, 1/4 c olive oil, sea salt and mix well and make it into a ball. Add another cup of bread flour to let the ball rest in and knead some of that into the ball so it doesn’t feel sticky.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rest till doubled.

Punch down and knead a bit more. Flour surfaces. You can roll out the dough into a something like a 23 inch by 16 inch rectangle and spread the butter on it.

Top the butter with the dukkah, feta cheese and barberries.

Then roll it up like a jelly roll.

 

Split roll in half.

Braid and put ends together.

Drizzle with oil.

After 15 minutes  turn pan around so it browns evenly.

Bread might be done 10-15 minutes later for a total of around 25-30 minutes.

Dukkah Feta and Barberry Bread

Dig in!

Dukkah, Feta and Barberry Bread

Most people will enjoy this! Ummm it’s like a sophisticated Entenmann’s Cake.

The Forking Truth

I used Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi’s Recipe for Dukkah…..I didn’t mean to but I changed their recipe JUST SLIGHTLY due to what I found in my kitchen. This is how I made their recipe. If you use the Dukkah to bake with like I did then I wouldn’t bother toasting everything or the Dukkah might get burnt. I think baking it is enough.

1/2 cup hazelnuts

2 Tablespoons sunflower seeds

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon cumin (not in Y.T. & S.T. recipe)

1 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (instead of the cumin the recipe should be 1 Tablespoon of cumin seeds but I couldn’t find them at first so I did a teaspoon cumin and later when I found my cumin seeds I just added 1/2 of what the recipe to make up for the cumin I added)

1 Tablespoon green peppercorn or substitute white peppercorn (I used white)

3 Tablespoons coriander seeds

1 1/2 Tablespoon sesame seeds

1/2 teaspoon nigela seeds (I know I have them but couldn’t find so I used caraway seeds)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

Basically everything gets toasted and then gets ground up till course. ENJOY!

 

Strawberry Salsa Recipe

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Strawberry Salsa

La Santisima Mexican Restaurant in Glendale AZ offers a very large Salsa Bar and one of the salsas they offer is Strawberry so I thought I can do Strawberry Salsa too. With all the great deals we had on strawberries lately and the humid weather we’ve been having strawberry salsa seems just right for this time of year.

Ingredients for about 6 servings

1 lb strawberries – green leaves removed, strawberries chopped

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 red bell pepper – roasted, skin, stem and seeds removed and then chopped

1/4 cup sweet onion – chopped

1 clove garlic – grated

1 lime – the zest and the fresh squeezed juice

1 pickled jalapeno – preferably my recipe or from a farmers market (jarred from store are nasty)

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon mild chili powder

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

.3 oz fresh cilantro chopped (about a 1/3 of a bunch or loose 1/4 cup)

.3 oz fresh mint chopped (just leaves no stems) (about a 1/3 of a bunch or a loose quarter cup)

optional – 3 chitepin chiles – hard to find but worth seeking if you like spicy because they are very delicious tiny peppers with flavor. If you don’t use these peppers you might want use another pepper or more jalapeno.

Directions

Strawberries, sugar and salt go in a medium/large bowl. Mix the bowl contents up and let them sit about 20 minutes. The sugar and salt pull out lots of juice from the strawberries. After the strawberries get really juicy you want to blend half of the mixture so your salsa will have a better texture. Now add the remaining ingredients bell pepper, onion, garlic, lime juice, lime zest, jalapeño, vinegar, cumin, chili powder, black pepper, cilantro, mint, optional chitepin chili peppers. Taste and adjust salt, pepper and chilies to your liking.

Strawberry Salsa

Strawberry Salsa

Strawberry Salsa

Goes really well with melted pepper jack cheese on a chip.

The Forking Truth

 

My First Taste at Casa Corazon in Phoenix AZ was Worth a Fork!

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Casa Corazon is a casual Mexican Restaurant located in Phoenix AZ. There are many other other Mexican Restaurants along this road so I was expecting that this newly opened Mexican Restaurant would be special and it is! They have two entrances and one is slightly awkward. You can use the front door but the side door might be closer to the lot that you parked in. You might find that you walked into the kitchen. Then someone greets you and tells you to pick a table in the dining room.

The dining room is very open and airy with lots of natural light coming in from the large windows. There’s exposed brick, attractive wooden ceilings, a couple of interesting frescos and clean new crisp furniture.

They started us out with a colorful dish of complimentary hot tortilla chips and a bacon-ee bean dip. We were instructed to visit the Sala Bar and help ourselves so we did!

Plenty of salsas….what to pick?

I went with Pineapple, Chipotle and Jalapeño.

I really liked the Pineapple…..It was full of Pineapple and Chilies Flavors. The Chipotle tasted the I way I expected a smokey Chipotle Salsa would taste so it was good too. The Jalapeño was creamy and super mild…….It was the mildest of the salsas…..but it was good just super mild.

My Taco Platter Arrives.

I receive three single shell extremely fresh made tacos that are all generously stuffed. Up top is chicken, middle of the plate is arrachera (marinated skirt steak) and a grilled marlin taco. They gave us a yellow citrus to enhance the tacos….. lemon….or yellow lime (they have yellow limes in Mexico). The chicken taco needs a dab of salsa so I add Pineapple salsa to the chicken taco. It works…that is kind of fun. Where else can you eat a Pineapple Salsa Chicken Taco?  The next one I try is the Skirt Steak……I try some before I sauce it. WOW! This one is flavorful and very tender…….It’s much more flavorful than the chicken taco was. This one doesn’t really need salsa but I added a small amount of Chipotle salsa to it. I saved the Marlin Taco for last……Good thing because the Marlin Taco was the most flavorful and spiciest of the tacos…..It was really good! The Marlin Taco differed from the other tacos and was grilled. The fish was also grilled and was a little smoky. They grilled the fish till juicy along with seasoning and spicy peppers. It was yummy-licious! My plate also came with rice and beans. The rice tasted like it was fresh made and seemed buttery. It was also studded with a few vegetables. The Black Beans tasted just made and were sweet and creamy the way beans are when you cook them from dried.

My husband had an Enchilada Plate of Chicken, Cheese and Beef.

If the sauce looks a little bright and red to you that might be because you are looking at Corazon BEET and Chile Sauce and also red and green traditional sauces. I was too busy with my plate to try the enchiladas but I heard they were very good.

Our waitress was so cheerful and helpful. We both thought she must be an owner but she wasn’t. She was a  really great server!

That was my First Taste at Casa Corazon.

I’d say Casa Corazon is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

www.CasaCorazonRestaurant.com

Every Thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

Levant Inspired Shishito Peppers Recipe

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Levant Inspired Shishito Peppers Recipe

I gave my husband some of Shishito peppers to try. He said they are REALLY DELICIOUS but I don’t know what I’m tasting. That is what I expect that most people would say when they try these peppers. I think almost everybody would love the flavors but they might not be able to figure out what they are tasting. I used a lot of uncommon ingredients that most people wouldn’t have in their pantry. Zahtar, Aleppo pepper, Sesame Seeds, Sumac, Cumin and Urfa Pepper these seasonings are amazing together. I tasted a lot of this kind of food at FnB restaurant in Scottsdale over the years so I developed a taste for this kind of food and sought out to find these seasoning and especially Urfa Pepper. They might sound spicy but they actually are more flavorful than spicy. I’ve found all these seasonings at the Asiana Market that is in or near to Deer Valley. Also added a few fresh herbs and creamy mild style feta cheese and that’s what makes this dish  irresistible!

Ingredients for about 4 servings

6 oz shishito peppers

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon urfa pepper

1 Tablespoon zahtar

1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

1 teaspoon sumac

1/4 teaspoon cumin

fresh ground sea salt to taste

fresh ground black pepper to taste

3 oz creamy style sheep’s milk feta cheese – crumbled

1 Tablespoon fresh cilantro – chopped

1/2 Tablespoon fresh mint – chopped

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium-large bowl add peppers, olive oil, urfa pepper, zahtar, Aleppo pepper, sesame seeds, sumac, cumin, salt and pepper and mix well.

Place evenly on a baking sheet and place in oven till peppers start to char and burst. About 15 minutes depending on size of peppers.

Evenly apply feta cheese and then fresh herbs.

ENJOY!

Levant Inspired Shishito Peppers Recipe

The Forking Truth

South West Style Cheesy Potato Casserole Recipe

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South West Style Cheesy Potato Casserole

I always have access to a lot of South West Ingredients since I live in Phoenix Arizona. So today I made a South West Style Cheesy Potato Casserole.  This is another one that’s hard for me to photo. This photo doesn’t show how good it really is. It was too hot to photo when I made it and I didn’t want to photo it completely cold but I couldn’t wait for it to set…so I got it when it was cooling off. This casserole is a little spicy but really delicious. My husband said it smelled so good he had to eat a plate full of it before it set. He kept saying this is really good. This IS REALLY GOOD….REALLY GOOD..I think 98% of the adult population would love to eat this. One of my tricks to making something really cheesy is to use the very minimum of butter and fat in a dish like this. Now this is not because I’m trying to make diet food in any way…….the reason I cut way back on butter and use fat free milk is because too much fat in a dish like this will make the sauce break so I only used one ounce of butter and non fat milk so I could use more delicious cheese. Should you have leftovers this freezes perfectly.

Ingredients for about 16 portions.

2 1/2 cups non fat milk

1/4 cup corn starch

1 oz unsalted butter

9 oz sharp cheddar cheese – shredded

5 oz pepper jack cheese – shredded

4 oz cheese – shredded – (I always throw in whatever ends of left over cheese I have..this time was some camembert that had little flavor)

1 1/2 Tablespoons cayenne hot sauce – preferably Franks Red Hot

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

2 eggs – lightly beaten

1 large sweet onion – sliced very thin on a mandolin and then chopped roughly (you want small pieces but it doesn’t need to be minced but you can mince if you want to)

1 Tablespoon course sea salt – to season potatoes

1 teaspoon ground black pepper – to season potatoes

3 lbs potatoes (brown)

1/4 cup scallions – sliced thin

1 jalapeno – roasted or fried and chopped well

1 tomato – diced – roasted or fried

non stick spray

1 cup parmesan cheese – shredded (for topping)

1 cup panko  bread crumbs – for topping

pinch ground white pepper – for topping

pinch cayenne pepper – for topping

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Use a half pan or large baking dish and spray with non stick spray. You need foil to cover the pan and you need to spray the bottom of the foil that sits against the food.

Put a sauce pot on medium heat and melt the butter.  In a pitcher mix the milk and cornstarch together. Mix till incorporated. When the butter is melted add the milk/corn starch mixture. You need to whisk this till the mixture is very thick and it must boil or your sauce will fail. Once the mixture is thick and IT DID BOIL turn the heat down to low and add all the shredded cheese and stir. Once almost all the cheese is melted you can shut off the heat. and take pan off burner. To the cheese sauce you need to add the cayenne sauce, paprika, cayenne and white pepper. Mix well and set to the side.

In a very large bowl add the onions. Peel potatoes one at a time and slice them up thin on a mandolin ONE AT A TIME. You need to mix each potato one at a time with the onions because the onions will keep the potatoes from browning. Repeat peeling and slicing the potatoes and mixing each potato threw the onions until you are out of potatoes. Add the sea salt and black pepper to season the potatoes and mix well. To the potato bowl add the scallions, jalapeño and tomato and mix well.

By now your cheese sauce shouldn’t be too hot. Whisk in your lightly beaten eggs.

Now pour the cheese mixture into your potato bowl……if your bowl isn’t big enough you might need to use a second bowl.

Mix well but careful not to break the potatoes and pour into sprayed pan.

In a small bowl mix the panko with the parmesan cheese and pinches of cayenne and ground white pepper. Then spread the crumb mixture over the top of the potatoes evenly.

This needs to be covered with foil and you need to add non stick spray to the bottom of the foil so it doesn’t stick.

Then the pan goes in the 350 degree F oven for at about 90 minutes or until center potatoes are tender. At 75 minutes you need to remove the foil cover so it can brown. A total of about 90 minutes.

After 90 minutes in my oven with the top foil removed at 75 minutes the casserole looked like this.

This is HOT with MOLTEN HOT CHEESE! Even after one hour it is still MOLTEN HOT. Leave on the counter at least an hour and one half. Refrigerate over night (just like lasagna) to set.

South West Style Cheesy Potato Casserole

This is FORKING GREAT!

You’re Welcome.

The Forking Truth

2nd Taste at Geordie’s in The Wrigley Mansion in Phoenix AZ

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The Wrigley Mansion was built by the Chewing Gum Mogul of Wrigley’s Gum William Wrigley Jr. and eventually was purchased by Geordie Hormel of Hormel’s Food Products that are……MANY many pork products and canned pork called Spam, LOTS of other meat products, Skippy Peanut Products, Chi-Chi’s Products, Wholly Guacamole, Herdez Products and many more!. The Mansion is a private club. But for a small fee $5.00 (that’s donated to charity……currently a dog charity…. you can be a member for a day and take a tour and or dine. Other reasonable options are offered. On my visit the front is under construction and it’s safer to enter from the valet entrance. I should add that the front has (or used to have) the longest trail of steep steps I ever walked. You had to be in excellent shape to do the front steps. Or at least it used to be that way….It looks like they are putting in new steps so it might be better after the construction is done. The valet side also has steps. I don’t know if this building is handicapped friendly.

When you enter you check in at the desk.

You can sign up for a tour, you are also free to roam around yourself and check out the charming decor or you can go straight off to dine. I forgot to photo the really cool antique operator’s switch board that is by the detailed carved entrance door.

But I took a photo in the Ladies Room….It’s just adorable! You have to see!

Then we went off to dine.

Walking threw to the Dining Room.

Here we are!

The dining room is very formal with big blue velvety high back chairs, set tables with linen and big windows with views of Phoenix.

Here’s my view from my seat.

They started us off with small thin slices of baguette and butter.

I started with Corn Gazpacho.

The chilled soup is refreshing and has a nice vinegar-ree tomato-like cucumber taste. Oddly I don’t taste corn. My husband doesn’t taste corn either……. The corn kernels in the center are tasteless…..However the soup does taste like gazpacho and is good, light and refreshing………it just lacks a corn taste that I was expecting.

Any who

The Smoked Salmon from Christopher’s was SUPERB and I hoped that since Chef Christopher is the Executive Chef at Wrigley Mansion that it might be similar here so I had to order it.

The Wrigley Smoked Salmon is colorful and pretty enough to be a picture. I think I might paint it and hang it on my wall……Brightly colored flowers, herbs, frilly greenery and oil enhance the fish. Tiny squid ink croutons, dabs of creme fraiche and caviar complete the plate. It’s not a bad plate in any way……..but …you know me if you read my reviews……………It’s not my intention to knock the Smoked Salmon plate from The Wrigley Mansion………but……….The Forking Truth is that even with the caviar it doesn’t compare to the Smoked Salmon from Christopher’s (pictured below). I just have to get out how spectacular Christopher’s plate was so you can understand the difference.

The fish seemed like a different quality. Christopher’s Smoked Salmon was cut with expert execution of a surgeon and was sliced paper thin. The Fish was silky and melted in my mouth. The rest of the plate was out of this world too.

Wrigley Mansion

To be fair I do need to note some pieces of fish were better than others. The Wrigley Smoked Salmon had several thicker smaller cuts placed together. This fish wasn’t so silky and was slightly leathery. It also was saltier and not as sweet tasting. ………….. Christopher’s was extraordinary and Wrigley was just good.

My husband went with the Spam Cubano Sandwich.

This sandwich is filled with roasted pork, lightly grilled Spam (a Hormel Product) whole grain mustard and a thin spread of mayonnaise (not listed on the menu) The sandwich arrived  pressed panini style and came with pickles and a Spam Can ( a cute nod to the Hormel Ownership) filled with mixed fries. I hear that this was a very good sandwich despite the thin spread of mayonnaise it contained. Both of us weren’t expecting the Cubano to be so generous in size.

I had room so I helped with a side of Summer Truffle Macaroni and Cheese.

It was creamy cheesy and satisfying. What arrived was Cellentani Pasta that’s prepared perfect in a creamy cheesy parmesan tasting sauce with a little bread crumb crunch on the top. Neither of us tasted the truffles but that is a good thing because that means they didn’t use artificial truffle aroma. For a $10.00 side you can not expect to taste real truffle as they are very expensive. Two ounces of fresh summer truffles cost $95.00 from Marky’s.

The Mousse Tower that Christoper is Famous for is on the menu and should still be divine at The Wrigley. But I didn’t go with that today.

The Famous Chocolate Mousse Tower from Christopher’s

My favorite dessert was the Lemon Tart from Christopher’s. It always has the perfect amount of lemon tart flavor combined with the perfect sweetness with a velvet mouth feel. The frozen ices in pastry shells were amazing too! Christopher’s was one of the few restaurants where the desserts were special and were just as amazing as the food.

So I made sure I saved room for it and tried the Lemon Tart from The Wrigley Mansion.

The Lemon Tart from the Wrigley is not as detailed, might differ slightly and does have a thicker crust. However it still does have a good lemon tart to sweet flavor.

Here was my first taste from Geordie’s at The Wrigley Mansion.

Polenta from the Wrigley Mansion

The Dinner I had at Wrigley Mansion from years ago

I remember the asparagus was loaded with salt and that smear of artichoke had flavors I don’t want to go back too.  I will also never forget the polenta tower.

The Polenta Tower was very strange, very stiff and Forking looked like it was on Viagra.

I was afraid to return to dine here again until I heard about Chef Christopher’s arrival this year.

My second visit was very improved in service and food from my first visit. Some things were better than other things but that is how it goes at nearly any restaurant.

The help were all very friendly and very professional.

I enjoyed the company, atmosphere and the professional service.

 

 

www.WrigleyMansion.com

The Forking Truth is that Every Thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Italian Style Baked Mashed Potato Fries Recipe

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Italian Style Baked Mashed Potato Fries

These Italian Style Baked Fries are Forking Delicious!  To start out with the Potatoes are extra great because they were boiled with a hot banana pepper and an onion to season them to get super yummy. Then they get  mashed with a small amount of butter, a little seasoning and a cup of grated parmesan cheese. The potato mixture gets squirted out with a pastry bag and then after around thirty minutes in the oven they are done! I didn’t measure out the dipping sauce I made but it’s extra delicious with these fries too! All that’s in it are some home made tomato sauce, some Bomba Calabrese and a lighter canola mayonnaise. It’s delicious and even my husband loves it and he almost NEVER LOVES any creamy sauce….I haven’t found Bomba Calabrese at any store so I mailed away for it….Bomba Calabrese is a delicious spicy condiment. If you are a fan of spicy I recommend that you mail away for some. This recipe make around 72 fries…..That’s about 8 servings based on two pounds of potatoes but it’s totally likely you will have way less than 8 servings because people are going to woof these down. I know after I served my husband a plate of them he ran back for more…everyone will run back for more.

Ingredients for about 8 servings

2 lbs poatoes – pealed – cut in half

cold water to cover the poatoes

1 Tablespoon kosher salt

1 banana pepper – cut diagonal long ways (I buy them at the Asiana Market……these peppers turn any potato that you boil amazing)

1/2 large sweet onion

5 oz parmesan cheese – shredded

2 oz sweet butter

1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

pinch ground white pepper

a few grates fresh nutmeg

optional a little fresh ground sea salt and pepper to taste – for finishing

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Cover three baking sheets with Quilon Coated paper or parchment paper and set to the side.

In a large sauce pot add the potatoes, kosher salt, banana pepper and onion. Cover with cold water. Bring to a medium high boil and boil till the potatoes are fork tender. (usually around 20 minutes). When the potatoes are done discard the onion and banana pepper. You need to drain the potatoes. ****You might want to save the liquid for a soup or a sauce because it’s very flavorful***but you don’t need it for this recipe so you can toss it if you want.

The drained potatoes get mashed with parmesan cheese, butter, black pepper, rosemary, oregano, basil, white pepper and nutmeg. Hand mash till mixture is lump free. (I didn’t add salt because the potato mixture is salty enough from boiling and more likely from all the cheese)

Add a large star tip to your pastry bag and start squirting out some fries on to the quilon covered baking sheets. The fries come out a little better if you shake your hand slightly while piping.

Keep going till your done.

Put the sheets of fries in the oven.

In about 15 minutes the top rack will be browning so switch it with the bottom rack and check the fries in another 15 minutes.

After 30 minutes I thought the bottom rack needed another 5 minutes but the two other racks I switched around again and they needed about ten minutes more. But my oven doesn’t cook evenly so you might not have the same issue.

I pulled the fries out when they all looked like this.

Let them cool a few minutes and then you can remove them easily with a spatula.

“Oh God they smell Forking so good!” “I’m so hungry for them!”

Italian Style Baked Mashed Potato Fries

I think everyone will love these fries. The fries have a nice light fluffy center. They have crisp edges, an appetizing aroma and have a really tasty flavor from the parmesan cheese and seasonings. Also everyone will love the sauce. Again I didn’t measure the sauce but it’s only made from home made tomato sauce, bomba calabrese and a small amount of canola mayonnaise.

This one is Forking GOOD!

The Forking Truth

My Forking Thoughts on Kroger Nashville Style HOT CHICKEN Potato Chips

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We are all excited about Nashville Hot Chicken anything here so these Nashville Style HOT CHICKEN Potato chips sound mighty intriguing. I look at the bag and the ingredients. I believe these chips to be vegetarian. They are marked kosher and I don’t see any ingredient that seems like meat.

I open the bag and smell the chips.

They do have an unusual odor. Maybe something like a fryer filled with old grease and paprika.

Take a closer look at the chips.

Smaller sized chips. some are folded. Dusty on the surface. Very crisp and shattering hard.

I taste one…..Taste like spicy BBQ……with lots of paprika….with a little sweet but not too much.

These chips lack chicken flavor and have too much paprika…..I should taste mostly LOTS of cayenne, chicken and dill pickle.

Not a bad chip at all but doesn’t taste like Nashville Style Hot Chicken.

This is subjective and I note that your taste or opinion may differ.

The Forking Truth

Hatch Chile Blueberry Corn Salsa Recipe

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Hatch Chile Blueberry Corn Salsa

This time of year all the markets have corn and blueberries on sale. I thought instead of something sweet I wanted to do something savory. OMG……This came FORKING AMAZING. I know I make pretty good salsas….but this Hatch Chile Blueberry Corn Salsa got flavors and textures that will blow most salsas away……It just pops!……..I brought some over for my husband to taste….he said at first before he tasted it…..”oh I was expecting something better”…….then he taste it. He said, this is surprisingly VERY GOOD!…It really FORKING is!

Ingredients for about 4 servings

1 cup blueberries

1 cup corn kernels -that you just cooked fresh (not frozen or canned corn)

1/2 fire roasted hatch chile – chopped fine (or to taste you might need more or less but start with a half because they are usually super hot)

1/2 cup sweet onion – chopped well

1 garlic clove – ( I used a bigger one) – shredded

1 lime – just the fresh squeezed juice

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro – chopped

2 Tablespoons scallions – sliced thin

fresh crushed sea salt to taste

fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl together. Adjust the Hatch Chile to your liking. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Hatch Chile Blueberry Corn Salsa

Something different that’s Forking Tasty!

The Forking Truth

 

 

2nd Taste at Szechuan Cuisine in Glendale AZ – Spicier & even Better – with updates******

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Szechuan Cuisine Restaurant is a casual restaurant in Glendale that serves a mix of American/Chinese Favorites and Szechuan Cuisine. They offer two menus but many items offered are on both menus…..BUT THEY ARE NOT THE SAME…….when you order Kung Pao off the regular menu it’s Americanized…….and when you order it off the White Menu it’s Szechuan……Just Chicken and lots of heat………This is  not a fancy restaurant but it’s certified clean with a grade “A” health inspection at this time August 2018.

The food I tried last week was pretty darn interesting, especially the Casserole Style Chicken.

Casserole Style Chicken

This food was way better than other Chinese Food I tried in Glendale and so many other dishes were calling my name so I had to come back and try some other things.

We started with an unusual dish called Pork Juicy Dumplings.

This is a hard to find dish that even people in New York are looking for.

You don’t just eat the dumplings.

You give them a little dip in the ginger/soy sauce.

Then you bite a little hole in the top and suck out the soup.

Now you can eat them.

The dumpling wrapper is very delicate so I recommend diving in there before the soup leaks out.

We shared two dishes and one was Water Boil Style Fish. The owner Paul was very hesitant  about me ordering this dish. He didn’t know if I knew what it was. I assured him that I was familiar with water boil and told him a few places I tried water boil at. He felt very relieved when I mentioned Szechwan Palace because he told me that he opened Szechwan Palace and also the other Chinese Restaurant at the Cultural Center but left to open Szechuan Cuisine when the Cultural Center got sold.

This dish was a big jolt of fire and very mouth numbing. The heat becomes fun and isn’t painful. For some reason it makes you happy when you eat it. The fish was very tender and this dish also contained bean sprouts and cabbage.

The dish that we both enjoyed most on this visit was another “New to us Dish we never had before”……It was the Spicy Chicken Noodle. This dish has no description on the menu…I thought it might be a soup but it was more than that.

This dish contains tender chunks of chicken leg meat on the bone, potatoes, peppers and noodles in an aromatic spicy and mouth numbing sauce. This dish had much more going on with it than the Water Boil Dish. Don’t get the wrong idea….The Water Boil was good but this dish was Special….It was a Magical Bowl of Yumminess!!!!! They didn’t make this dish as fiery as the Water Boil but it had more flavors and sensations going on.  We both thought it was delicious….Everything tasted different…when I got to the onions for some reason they tasted extra sweet to me. We were told that you need to wait to eat the noodles last….so we did. If you wait maybe 20 minutes to eat the noodles they pick up all these great extra flavors……This dish was really Forking Good!…….Maybe the best Szechuan Dish we tried so far….

Last week we tried-

Grandma Salad

Chongqing Spicy Fish

Casserole Style Chicken

We know the owner a little better now and his name is Paul. He told us that he opened Szechuan Palace and another restaurant in the Cultural Center called Beijing House. He said he left and opened this restaurant when the Cultural Center got sold. Now that Paul knows us he said that he wants to order for us when we come back………This is sort of Deja vu…….The former restaurant owner of Lucky’s King Wah Hong Kong Cantonese Restaurant used to do that too…………..

I think it’s really GREAT that Szechuan Cuisine is in Glendale AZ!

This visit was even better! Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

3rd and 4th visits did differ……

For my third visit the owner wanted to pick for me and my my husband. I thought he’d pick out special plates for us…

We received.

Americanized Jalapeño Chicken and Duck that was on the dry side…..oh well. I guess he meant well. The plates weren’t horrible but not great enough to recommend.

For our 4th visit we tried Sour Spicy Cabbage Salad and Kung Pao of the Authentic Chinese White Menu.

The Sour Spicy Cabbage Salad was good and was made with some Szechwan Peppercorns. The Kung Pao was on the mild side in a thick sweet sauce and was made without Szechwan peppercorns. I was displeased that I got an Americanized Kung Pao Chicken..that is not what I ordered but nobody checked on us so I didn’t say anything…..

Seems like communication is a problem here………

I didn’t find a website or Facebook page for Szechuan Cuisine so you just have to visit them at 5158 W.Olive Ave. in Glendale AZ -7 days a week Lunch and Dinner.

EVERY THING is subject to change and YOUR experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth