I didn’t have any potatoes at home so I used a very small head of Cauliflower to make White Cheddar Horseradish Mashed Cauliflower. I also happen to get these horseradish granules that I wanted to try out and wow they taste great. I find that horseradish can be tricky to work with at times because it doesn’t keep at all. It doesn’t heat well. It doesn’t freeze well either. It doesn’t matter…. fresh or jarred it just loses it’s flavor or turns sweet. Anyways- it came out tasting right. You can use whatever kind of horseradish you have…but at the moment I’m liking the horseradish granules. This recipe makes around three servings.
Ingredients for around three servings
1 small head cauliflower (mine weighed only a pound) – Trimmed and cut into small florets
2 Tablespoons cream cheese ( preferably a quality brand like Arla that doesn’t contain stabilizes and preservatives)
4 oz white cheddar – shredded (I like the Costal Brand from Costco)
2 teaspoons horseradish granules (I bought from The Great American Spice Company) or use any kind of horseradish to taste
good pinch ground white pepper (I don’t think any salt is needed because Costal cheese is salty)
Directions
Get a pot of water on to boil and top it with a mesh strainer or steam basket. Add the cauliflower then cover loosely with foil. Steam until the cauliflower is fork tender. Empty the pot and add the cauliflower and cream cheese. Use a stick blender and blend till smooth. Add the cheese, horseradish and pepper and blend again till mixed well. Serve right away. It’s not necessary but a few fresh chives or a little bit of fresh dill will go well here.
Flint by Baltaire is an upscale wood fired contemporary mediterranean accented restaurant with great atmosphere, a big exhibition kitchen and an all weather indoor patio.
The indoor patio
The lunch menu is broken down into humus, dips and spreads, salads and vegetables, laffa flatbreads, pizzas, large plates and sides.
We started with a wood grilled artichoke ($14.00).
The artichoke was grilled nicely and salted perfect. It came with a delicious grilled lemon half and a little ramekin of tarragon aioli for dipping.
Our server suggested that we shared plates so we split a Flint laffa flatbread ($13) and a big plate of ora king salmon ($28).
You know the song dude looks like a lady? …well…..This flatbread looks more like a wrap.
It’s served with delicious harissa (a middle eastern condiment made of a roasted pepper base, warm spices, a little hot pepper and something like caraway and also a ramekin of tahini sauce. The laffa bread is nicely charred. My half (the bottom has some cabbage, a slice of egg, a red onion slice, some tahini and a shred of pulled chicken. Fresh greens adorn the plate.
The harissa is delicious on this but this really only appetizer sized. This was only two bites with a small shred of chicken. I think my husband’s half might have had more food in it but not much more. Honestly even if I was here by myself and ate the whole thing this still wouldn’t be much food.
Then we share the BIG PLATE of ora king salmon ($28)
We shared nicely cooked salmon with seasoned crisp skin, a grilled half lemon, a dab of almond-olive relish and maybe the best tasting broccolini I ever had. It was cooked to perfection and had a delicious wood cooked taste to it.
The big plate is not so big.
The food was good, service was good, the atmosphere is stunning but lunch seems to be for people with very small appetites.
Lunch was around $55.00 before tax and tip and we left hungry.
www.FlintByBalltaire.com
Every FORKING THING is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.
This recipe is inspired by the Bang Bang Broccoli that I enjoyed from The Larry Restaurant in Phoenix AZ. It was Forking Scrumptious….by far my favorite thing I ate there. I got the flavor and the texture nearly identical to what they served me. My broccoli even came out crisper. The Larry’s bang bang broccoli really didn’t seem fried to me and what I liked was the flavor and the really light almost coating…..that was like more of a dusting to hold flavors. I thought the “dusting” didn’t seem like panko or even regular flour. So I took a guess and used potato starch. I used a few things and added a small amount of ginger and garlic to the potato starch and the seasonings were bonito flakes and Asian rice seasoning. An Asian Rice seasoning called shiso meshi was used. The Larry served their bang bang broccoli with a sweet chili sauce but from what I read about other bang bang dishes it usually is a creamy chili sauce. I made a slightly creamy gochujang sauce with a slight amount of ketchup. Since I don’t really know what real…(if there is real?)…I didn’t call my dish bang bang. I also didn’t measure ingredients when I made this dish but my measurements are pretty close. This recipe might make four servings.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
1 small cauliflower – broken down into florets (needs to be wet from being washed)
2 broccoli stalks – florets removed (needs to be wet from being washed)
1/2 cup potato starch (possible that you might need slightly more)
1 teaspoons sesame oil
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon granulated ginger
canola non stick spray
Real oil spray Just a few squirts
heavy sprinkle of bonito flakes
heavy sprinkle of shiso meshi (Asian Rice Seasoning….but there are many different Asian Rice seasonings)
heavy sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds
Directions
Set oven to 400 degrees F and spray a baking sheet lightly with non stick canola oil.
Get a gallon zip lock bag and put all the broccoli and cauliflower florets in there. Add the oils and soy sauce and shake it up well till it looks like every thing is distributed evenly. Next dump in the potato starch, granulated garlic and ginger. Shake it well till it looks coated as much as possible.
You can pick the pieces out and spread on baking sheet(s)
The cauliflower and broccoli do need a few squirts of a LIGHT spray of oil so the potato starch can brown…
Now they go in your pre heated 400 degree F oven till sort of brown….(timing will differ) In my oven on the middle rack this took 45 minutes.
When you pull out immediately sprinkle with bonito flakes, shiso meshi (or Asian rice seasoning)
and toasted sesame seeds if your rice seasoning doesn’t already have them added. You need to taste to see if you need salt or pepper…It all depends on your rice seasoning.
Forking Amazing Baked Asian Seasoned Broccoli and Cauliflower Bites
It would be easy to serve this with sriracha mayo. But it’s so delicious you don’t really need a dipping sauce.
Dining out with DOGS is just a “Fluff” story about taking my dogs out to eat. it all sort of started when my dog LOUIE came down with aggressive cancer. He enjoyed going out to eat so I took him out as often as I could. Instead off his 3-6 month prognosis Louie made it another 17 months. Today my current dogs enjoy going out to eat.
There are many things to know before you dine out with dogs. Not all restaurants with patios are dog friendly. You should dine at certified dog friendly patios. They have official signs and certificates. If you don’t see a sign or a certificate you need to call the restaurant and ask if it’s ok to dine with your dog(s) on the patio the day of your visit. I also suggest to dine at off times. The restaurant needs your money more on off times and it’s ALWAYS BEST to avoid other diners and their dogs. Not everyone shares your love of dogs and some people are allergic to dogs. It’s also best to avoid other dogs because dogs often like to bark at each other and you might be asked to leave.
There are more rules. Dogs are NOT to sit on restaurant furniture or eat off of restaurant plates. Dogs must be by your side at all times. Other things to know are that most food and drink that you consume is potentially harmful and even TOXIC to your dog. You MUST get a list of dog safe and dog avoid foods from your veterinarian. Usually a small amount of lean sauce free meat is a safe bet for your dog. You should be responsible and also bring a water dish for your dog. You also need to be aware that your dog is not as heat tolerant as you. Just like people all dogs do have a different tolerance for heat. For most young healthy dogs can only tolerate up to 90 degrees but ONLY IN SHADE. Ninety degrees and up is too hot for dogs. Hopefully you can judge the temperature for your dog. When there is any doubt it’s better to leave your dog home.
Here is where I let my blog go to the dogs and they can tell you about their dining experiences themselves.
“We are on our way to Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in Phoenix.” ” It’s a PHO-FREE Vietnamese Eatery that specializes in serving Banh mi baguette sandwiches.” ” They also offer many of your Vietnamese favorites but they don’t serve PHO.”
“Our female human companion had the curry chicken with rice today.”
“She laps the sauce off for us and we get to help her eat lots of chicken.”
“Our male human companion had the pork rice plate.”
“The pork is always tender and delicious here but our male human companion isn’t as generous with handing out the meat.”
“We always Forking enjoy ourselves at Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery.”
www.BanhMiBistroAZ.com
“We are on our way to Culver’s in Phoenix.” Culver’s is a national group of quick casual restaurants.” “They are famous for their signature never-from-frozen -butter burgers, hand battered Icelandic Cod and daily made frozen custard.”
“Our folks had a sheet of coupons with them and we got our own double cheese butter burger!”
“We also got to try some of the hand battered Icelandic Cod.”
“We did alright at Culver’s!”
www.Culvers.com
“WOO Hoo!” “We are on our way to Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in Glendale.” “They serve Italian Foods and Pizza and have a nice covered patio.”
“Today we tried some of their delicious house made bread with a little soft butter to start out with.”
“Then we mostly got to eat white meat chicken that we enjoy!”
“We got to sample a tiny amount of fine Italian lunch meat and some fine Italian Cheese too!”
“We love going to Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante!”
www.BottegaRistorante.com
“WHOO HOO!” “We are on our way to CHZBURGR in north Glendale
“CHZBURGR is a casual limited menu burger restaurant located in north Glendale.”
“Our folks got us our own plain, no onion, chzburgr.”
“Our folks had a hot dog that had potato salad, Calabrian chili, pickle chips, mustard and crispy onions on it.” “Someone also had a double chzburgr today but he had all the normal stuff it comes with.”
“Our other human companion had the breaded chicken thigh sandwich that is mayo, pickles, honey mustard, leaf lettuce with added Calabrian Chili on a nicely toasted eggy bun.” “She also had sweet potato waffle fries that they call gaufrette here.”
“Here’s OUR CHZBURGR!”
“MAN OH MAN did we FORKING ENJOY ourselves at CHZBURGR!”
“no website but they are on Facebook”
“Well that was Dining Out With Dogs in Metro Phoenix for October 2019.” “We hope that you enjoyed and we hope to see you next month.” (“Big Woman needs a nap after eating”…”Please excuse her”)
The Forking TruthIn Memory of Louie 5-5-2001 – 3-3-2017
The 2019 Dish It Out Food Festival on High Street in Phoenix benefitted the Boys and Girls Clubs of Phoenix. General Admission tickets ran around $70.00 and VIP Tickets ran around $200.00. Twenty nine general admission restaurants participated and another seven VIP restaurants participated. There were twenty two beer vendors. There also were twenty four general admission wine and spirit spots and another ten VIP wine and spirit stops.
Below are some of the Highlights from Dish It Out.
First taste was chicken gyro with hot sauce from The Halal Guys.
Paul Martin’s American Grill served Short Ribs over Mashed Potatoes and a Chocolate Mousse Brownie Dessert.
Got a fancy beef plate from Orange Sky.
From Orange Sky
Meritage Urban Tavern put out a spectacular pork dish and eye popping chocolate truffles.
These were AMAZBALLS!
The Filet from Flemings was like butter in the mouth. They served it with Chipotle Macaroni and Cheese.
Chinobandito was there serving chicken in little crispy pork skin bowls with spicy sauce.
Chinobandito
They offered a few different salads from the Chop Shop.
Like I always say that every THING is subject to change and it usually does. Famous 48 sure improved the recipe for their Nashville Hot Chicken. It’s a whole lot milder now but the chicken is completely different from what they served me in their original restaurant. This chicken was plump and moist with a nice texture. This was delicious!
New Dish from the Tryst Cafe made with Jackfruit.
Someone served very cold Cheese Burgers…….
Benihana served Fried Rice
Tried some wine from Orin Swift. Liked The Pinot.
Tried a Chicken Skewer from Toro Latin Grill.
The Salmon from Ocean Prime was AMAZING!
Wanted to finish things up with Cabernet from Trefethen but they ran out around 6pm so I settled for Trefethen Chardonay.
That was my night at Dish It Out.
www.DishItOutAZ.org
Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.
Pizzicata is an Italian Restaurant located in Carefree Arizona located in the Spanish Village. They serve appetizers, salads, soups, house made pastas and Pinsa Romano (a healthier alternative to pizza). The Pinsa compared to pizza is 48% less sugar and 85% less fat according to Pizzicata’s website. It’s made from wheat, soy, rice and sourdough with high hydration and long proofing.
I’ve come here twice and on my first visit they had to suddenly close because they ran out of food so a couple weeks latter I thought I’d try them again. On my second visit they were open but the menu differed slightly than what I read on their website.
Website menuActual Saturday Lunch Menu
It was a really nice day so we sat on the patio.
But inside it looks like this.
We decided to share a Caesar salad ($12.00) and a Margherita Pinsa Romano ($14.00). They arrived at the same time.
We start with some caesar.
The romaine is fresh and crisp and the croutons are seasoned nicely. The dressing is thick and rich and laced with anchovy and grated cheese. It’s a bit light on the salt and pepper but you can adjust to your liking.
Here’s a closer look at the pinsa.
It’s topped with a nice melty mozzarella. The sauce is slightly seasoned and has a little pucker to it. The crust is very different. It has the texture of fine sandpaper from a sprinkling of something like semolina. The crust is crispy and chewy. It kind of reminds me of a toasted English muffin bottom. I ate three or four pieces and it didn’t seem heavy at all in my stomach.
We had room to try a pistachio gelato so we did ($10.00).
The flavor is good but the texture is a bit icy. I asked if they make it and the waiter told me no but it’s made locally.
That was my trip to Pizzicata in Carefree AZ.
www.PizzicataUSA.com
Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.
I was doing a lot of research on Huitlacoche recipes so I would understand the ingredient better. One recipe that was well received by Eater.com was the Rick Bayless Huitlacoche Taco Recipe. Not only did I read the recipe I also watched the video and learned more. Chef Bayless made an approachable version of the Mexican Huitlacoche taco. Flavors like Huitlacoche are strong and epazote is pungent. For your first time tasting these ingredients you might find them more enjoyable on the mellow side. Rick Bayless made these flavors more mellow by adding mushrooms to calm down the Huitlacoche flavor and also giving you a slide on the amount of epazote to use. He also made a point of pointing out that in Mexico the mushrooms wouldn’t be added and the epazote would go in on the heavy end. I followed the Chef Bayless recipe but I doubled the amount of Huitlacoche and used the top amount for epazote so it would be closer to the real thing. I was out of taco shells so I thought a masa crepe would be a nice light alternative and I think it is. This recipe make about 5 servings.
1/2 cup oyster mushrooms – cut off core and broken down a bit
6 oz Huitlacoche (I used frozen, chef Bayless recipe calls for canned…in video he gets fresh when in season but likes the bottled version)
2 Tablespoons fresh epazote – chopped
non stick canola spray
2 eggs – slightly beaten
1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon water
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter – melted
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup maseca (instant masa)
1/4 teaspoon course sea salt
4 oz mozzerella/cheddar cheese – shredded
Directions
Get a fry with the oil on medium high heat and then add the onion, tomato, mushrooms and garlic. Cook till onions are slightly brown and then turn down the heat to medium and add the poblano and Huitlacoche. Cook a few minutes and shut off heat and then add the epazote. Salt to taste.
Make crepe batter. In a small mixing bowl add the eggs, water, butter, flour, maseca and salt and mix well.
I use a regular fry pan so I also use non stick spray. Spray a regular fry pan with non stick on medium high heat. Pur about three tablespoons of batter in the pan. It cooks up pretty fast like in a minute. Flip it and set to the side. Keep going till you are out of batter.
Fill each crepe with Huitlacoche filling and distribute the shredded cheese into each crepe. Eat now or reheat in pan or oven.
Rick Bayless Huitlacoche Oyster Mushroom Taco Filling in Masa Crepes
Yummy! A Special THANKS to Chef Rick Bayless for sharing his recipe and knowledge about Huitlacoche Tacos.
I love cooking eye roast. The only bad part is trimming the eye roast but once your done that the rest is incredibly easy. You need at least a 4 pound piece of eye roast. I use two of them or I cut a whole around 8 pound eye roast in half. Mix up my secret paste recipe. rub it all over the eye roast. Pop it in a pre-heated 500 degree oven for 15 minutes. Shut off the heat and leave it in the oven for 2 hours….Don’t open door. You will have a really great roast beef.
Ingredients for around 20 servings
8 pound eye roast with all the fat trimmed off or two 4 pound pieces with all fat and silver skin trimmed off.
1/3 cup canola oil
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup kosher salt
1 Tablespoon and two and a half teaspoons ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
2 Tablespoons granulated garlic
2 Tablespoons smoked paprika
big pinch ground cloves
Directions
Set oven to 500 degrees F
In a small mixing bowl combine the oil, Worcestershire, salt, black pepper, white pepper, Aleppo pepper, garlic, paprika and cloves. Mix well and rub it all over the eye roasts.
This goes in a pre-heated 500 degree F oven on the middle rack. After 15 minutes shut the oven off but don’t open the door for TWO HOURS.
After two hours I let it rest and it can be served but I use this for roast beef so I chill it over night to get it cold so I can slice it better.
YOU MIGHT WANT TO SAVE THE DRIPPINGS…….They can easily be made into a delicious gravy or soup. If you are doing that add 4 large onions sliced very thing for gravy or rough chopped for soup and add two bay leaves and a few cups of water and maybe some wine. Bring this to boil and then simmer it for like 5 hours and it comes out amazing. You might need to add more liquid.
Forking Easiest Best Roast Beef Ever! People do talk when they eat this and keep saying this is really Forking Good Roast Beef over and over again.
The Larry is a casual restaurant located past downtown Phoenix in the warehouse district in a warehouse. You order at the counter, pay, grab your name tent and seat yourself. They offer seating on an officially dog friendly patio.
Or you can sit inside in at the bar or someplace else in the open airy warehouse.
The Larry offers breakfast, a variety of sandwiches that include a vegetarian burger, pizzas, salads, sides, soup, cocktails, wine, beer and more.
We seat ourselves and someone runs us napkins and silverware.
My photo doesn’t show how mirror reflective and crystal clean the silverware appears to be……
Soon we are off to share several things.
We start out with what they call the inside outside grilled cheese sandwich with an upgraded side of bang bang broccoli instead of the Larry Fries ($8.00 + $3.50 subject to change)
We start with the fried bang bang broccoli that is topped with bonito flakes and Asian Seasoning and come with sweet chili sauce. The Broccoli is delicious and amazing….It has such a great meat like texture and doesn’t seem too heavy or too oily. It’s just right! It’s so good that it doesn’t need the sauce…really REALLY yummy! I could eat them all day long.
The inside outside grilled cheese is made with double cheddar and fontina cheese. For me this sandwich is too greasy, taste sort of like burnt cheese and lacks a gooey cheese center. Sorry but if I tell The Forking Truth I can’t stomach this one…..But what is not great to me is magnificent to my dogs and they thought it was tail wagging great!
The other sandwich we shared was the KFC Korean Fried chicken sandwich upgraded to hash brown fries instead of Larry Fries ($12.00 + $3.50 subject to change).
The hash brown fries had a really delicious potato flavor to them…….They had a mashed potato texture inside that might have been over mixed because they seemed sort of gluey. The KFC Korean Fried Chicken sandwich is an inspiration and lacks the crisp crackly seasoned crunch and the sweet and spicy flavors that real Korean Fried Chicken has. I liked that the sandwich was served on a house made bread that was the perfect size for the sandwich. There were also pickles that seemed like house made. The sandwich gets an A-OK……Could be a little more tender, juicy and more flavorful. It was A-OK.
That was my trip to The Larry in Phoenix.
www.TheLarryPHX.com
Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.
Persepshen (per’sepSH(e)n) is a farm to table type of restaurant that opened in Phoenix Arizona. They locally source as much as possible, serve organic and do whole animal cooking. Everything is made in-house by scratch. It’s a small restaurant that offers a large menu with lots of variety. The menu is broken down into snacks, small plates, big plates, real big plates, kiddos, sweet treats and just a bite treats. They offer local beers and liquors and also offer wines and Italian sodas.
Near the main dining room it looks like this. (nonstop people walking by)
From my seat it looks like this.
It might be a sort of a chic rustic sort of atmosphere.
The bar.
The kitchen.
The menu was pretty darn massive with a lot of variety for a small restaurant.
We arrive and my husband is starving so he tries a “just a pig stick” with hatch chili while we are deciding ($3.00).
It arrives wrapped up and here it is unwrapped. It’s made in house from the whole animal. I keep hearing….”this is really good!”………..”this is REALLY good!”
Our server was very knowledgeable on the menu and gave many suggestions.
We finally decide and here the plates come.
Our first plate is the melon ($13.00)
It’s a nice light refreshing starter with house made pickled peppers, mint, honey, goat cheese, black peppered cashews, micro greens and of course melon. (this could also be a nice light dessert)
Our next plate is the wood roasted carrots ($9.00)
They arrive in a hot skillet on a slice of tree. The carrots are wood grilled and are tossed in bbq sauce with pickled sweet peppers and are also topped with crispy onions. This plate ran on the sweet side. Maybe too much bbq sauce.
Our main plate was the wood grilled sirloin steak ($22.00).
It was prepared medium-medium/rare. It had a nice sear with a well seasoned exterior and a fresh tasting tender delicious interior.
The steak was covered with lots of young grilled black eyed peas. They had a nice wood grill flavor to them and sort of were similar to green beans. Tostones and chimichuri completed the plate.
The sweet ending was a yuzu laced slice of pound cake embellished with poppy seeds, blueberry jam, creme fraiche and candied basil leaves.
I’d say that Persepshen was Worth a Fork!
Worth a Fork!
I haven’t found a website for Persepshen but they are on Facebook.
Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.
