Monthly Archives: November 2019

Leeks Stuffed with Apples and Onions with Carrots in Apple Cider Veloute – Inspired by The French Cooking Academy

I found some beautiful leeks and wanted to do something special with them so I searched the web and found an interesting video from The French Cooking Academy called Leeks two ways and one was in Apple Cider Veloute. I watched the video and I thought it seemed pretty easy and it also sounded tasty. The French Chef would be mad at me for changing up his recipe a bit but he did give me the idea for this dish so I have to give a special THANK YOU to The French Cooking Academy. I do note that the sauce will thicken when cold so for a reheat you will have to thin it down some with more apple cider and or heavy cream if you prefer.

Ingredients for around three servings

2 Leeks – greens removed, root removed, tough layer removed, split but not all the threw and cleaned – Bundle up with string so they don’t fall apart.

1 Tablespoon salt

1 lb carrots – peeled if not organic or if desired. Cut them to a similar shape as the leeks.

2 Tablespoons canola oil

small red onion – sliced paper thin

1 apple – slice paper thin

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (plus more for re-heats)

2 Tablespoons cream cheese (must be a better brand like Arla that doesn’t have stabilizers or preservatives) (of course the real recipe uses heavy cream to your liking. I don’t usually have heavy cream in the house and that is why I used cream cheese for the creamy factor. (plus the 2 Tablespoons is much less fattening than a cup of heavy cream).

1 lemon (just the fresh squeezed juice)

pinch ground white pepper

fresh nutmeg – just a few grates

Directions

Slow boil the bundle of leeks with a good amount of salt till they are soft. At least 5 minutes. Remove leeks and let them cool to room temperature and set to the side.

Boil your carrots for about two minutes. Sauté carrots with canola oil till they brown some and set to the side.

Add apples and onions to pan and cook till onions have a slight brown color and set to side.

Clean fry pan and on medium high add the butter. Add the flour and whisk till smooth and bubbles. You want to cook the flour. Slowly add the apple cider and whisk. Let sauce cook till bubbles and reduce to simmer. Add white pepper and nutmeg.

Squeeze fresh lemon juice on all the vegetables and serve with sauce right away. You can stuff the leek with the onions and apple if you like.

Leeks with Onions Appleand Carrots in Apple Cider Veloute

A Special THANKS to The French Cooking Academy for inspiring me.

My Forking Thoughts on Lay’s Roasted Chicken Wing Chips

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I came across these Chinese Made Lay’s Potato Chips at one of the Asian Markets so I picked them up to try. The ingredients look safe to eat and I don’t think that there is any actual chicken in the chips.

I was surprised to see Sichuan Pepper as one of the ingredients.

Here is what the back of the bag looks like.

I open up the bag and take a sniff.

This bag isn’t too full.

It smells odd………something like instant soup.

I pour out some chips to try.

They have a powdery exterior and big deep ridges.

I taste one.

It does have a sort of roasted chicken kind of flavor but it is too sweet. It’s more sweet and salty. The chips in the picture are not spicy……But….If I taste a crumb from the bottom of the bag it taste different has more flavor and is spicy. The bottom of bag crumbs are more spicy and soupy tasting and the chips towards the top are milder with a more roasted chicken flavor. These are one of the few chips that make my hand smell. My hands smell like instant soup.

1/2 a Fork…Worth a try! You might like or love them…You might also think they suck!

The Chinese Lay’s Hot Pot Flavor and the cucumber flavors were much more interesting and maybe better than this roasted chicken wing flavor to me. I recommend trying those flavors before the roasted chicken wing flavor. It certainly isn’t bad…..but I wouldn’t try this one again.

Your opinion and experience may indeed differ.

Cabbage Salad with Balsamic Roasted Strawberries Apples and Almond Dukkah Recipe based on Food & Wine Red Cabbage Salad with Baked Cherries and Almond Dukkah

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I came across the Food and Wine recipe called Red Cabbage with baked cherries and almond dukkah recipe. I thought it sounded delicious to me but I didn’t have cherries. I had strawberries so I made some changes as I was following the recipe. Like balsamic goes better with strawberries than sherry. I also changed the vinaigrette to make it tastier. I used Food and Wine’s almond dukkah recipe but left out the maple syrup because everything is sweet enough and I don’t think maple syrup belongs anyway. Made several other changes and reduced the recipes to make 4 servings instead of 8 or more servings.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

1/4 of small red cabbage – finely shredded on a mandolin

12 strawberries – sliced in half

1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon date syrup

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar (dressing)

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (dressing)

1 Tablespoon dijon (dressing)

1 Tablespoon date syrup (dressing)

1 apple – sliced thin

1 orange – just the fresh squeezed juice goes on apple slices

1/4 cup almonds – lightly crush

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 Tablespoon toasted salted sunflower seeds

1 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds

1/4 teaspoon paprika

Directions

Heat oven to 300 degrees F.

Place strawberry halves on a baking sheet.

In a small mixing bowl combine the 1 Tablespoon balsamic with 1 Tablespoon olive oil, 1 Tablespoon date syrup and 1/4 teaspoons of salt and pepper. Mix well. Pour over strawberries. Put pan of strawberries in a pre-heated 300 degree F oven for 15 minutes. When done let them rest on the counter.

Shred up the cabbage if you haven’t already. Slice up apple. Put in a bowl and squeeze the fresh orange juice on it and set to the side.

Make dressing

In a small bowl add 2 Tablespoons balsamic, 1 Tablespoon olive oil, 1 Tablespoon dijon, and one Tablespoon date syrup and mix well. By this time your strawberries are cool and there is reduced juice and other liquids that you should add to the dressing and mix well.

Make dukkah.

Almonds and fennel seeds go in the preheated 300 degree oven till fragrant around 8 minutes. Cumin seeds go on a sheet and in oven for around 1 minute (just to heat up). All this gets crushed up some together. Add the sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and paprika.

In a large bowl mixed the cabbage, apples and strawberries together. Serve with dressing when ready to eat and top with dukkah.

Cabbage Salad with Balsamic Roasted Strawberries, Apples and Almond Dukkah

Tasty and Pretty! A Special Thank You to Food and Wine Magazine for your Red Cabbage Salad with Baked Cherries Apples and Almond Dukkah Recipe. Without that I would not have thought up this.

Vic and Ola’s Tavola Italiana in Scottsdale AZ – Newly Opened

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Vic and Ola’s Tavola Italiana is a small restaurant in North Scottsdale (DC Ranch) that serves Italian Style Food.

Pictured above are most of the indoor tables.

Reservations are necessary for a table indoors or on the patio.

If seating is available at the small bar you can sit there without a reservation.

We arrived very early and they were already very busy. We didn’t have a reservation so we sat at the bar on the indoor side because they were the only available seats to us. It’s a loud atmosphere. Not from music but everyone’s chatter.

Fleming’s Steakhouse is next door.

We started out by sharing the Happy Hour Roman Style Artichoke (Carciofi Ripieni ($8.50).

The all edible artichoke was dressed with bread crumbs, pecorino cheese, garlic, raisins and pine nuts. It was the tastiest artichoke that I had in recent memory.

We also shared the cacio e pepe (spaghetti, black pepper and pecorino) ($16.00) (it was accidentally served with the dinners)

The pasta was prepared to perfection. The dominate flavor was butter….I thought the pepper and cheese should be kicked up a notch for balance….

For my main I had the branzino ($28.00).

It was listed under large plates and yes it truly is a large plate and brought half home. The pan seared branzino was moist and flaky. On the side was tasty farro, butternut squash, red pepper, pumpkin seeds, figs and fine shreds of bitter radicchio. This plate was for the most part very good. It did arrive almost cold but the pasta and my husbands meal arrived piping hot so I didn’t complain. ( I don’t send things back….especially if it’s not an open kitchen….that sort of thing gets some cooks very upset and I’ve seen too many of them lose it. I also I didn’t want my husband’s meal to sit and get cold.)

My husbands main was the veal osso bucco ($36.00).

It wasn’t tough….but it wasn’t the most tender or most flavorful osso bocco. Overall it was OK. The spinach on the side was very good. The risotto was slightly under done and not very creamy or developed with flavors. But I do note that you almost will never get a great risotto out anywhere. I think the only great risotto I’ve ever had out was from Binkley’s.

The Roman Artichoke was Great! The Branzino was very good but the kitchen timing was off.

At the time of this posting (November 2019) Vic and Ola’s is a newly opened restaurant and may or may not be still working things out.

www.VicandOlas.com

Fe La Cubana Glendale AZ – Limited Selection but FORKING DELICIOUS! – Worth a Fork!

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Fe La Cubana is a small hole-in-the-wall casual Cuban Cafeteria style restaurant located in a rougher area of Glendale. The GPS gets a little screwy here and brings you to the newer side of the shopping center….Fe La Cubana is located behind where the GPS sends you.

I note that this is NOT A FANCY PLACE…and the Latin Music is a little loud. Remember that you are only here to try the food.

This is basically the whole dining room.

You step in and you will see a menu on the wall but I’m not certain if the menu is used.

There is also a pizza menu on the wall but I don’t think they make pizzas here?

The owner wearing a Fe La Cubana Shirt smiles but doesn’t speak English. A youthful looking girl that might be his daughter speaks some English.

We see her here behind the buffet pans and ask what they are serving today.

There are about seven different offerings today three were beef and four were pork. She said that you could have what you pick with either white rice or black beans.

I went with Ropa Vieja with rice.

It’s not much to look at but it taste FORKING GREAT! OMG! It’s delicious! It’s so tender and so flavorful. It’s juicy tender tasty perfection! WOW what a great surprise.

My husband also gets Ropa Vieja but adds on an oxtail and a pota je de garbanzo (pork chick pea soup).

Oxtails are too succulent for me but I did try the sauce from the oxtail. WOW! a BOMBSHELL of flavors with some acidity, brininess and a small amount of gentle heat. It’s incredibly developed with flavors. IT FORKING SCRUMPTIOUS! Crazy CRAZY crazy good!

I heard that the soup is just as great!

Limited selection but – WOW really great food.

When you are ready to pay you wait by the register. We didn’t get a receipt so I don’t know what the individual pricing was but the total for 2 ropa viejas, 1 oxtail, 1 soup and a bottled water came to a total of $32.00.

Parking is easy because there is a lot but you might not be coming from far because there isn’t a restroom.

I haven’t found a website for Fe La Cubana but they are on Facebook.

Fe La Cubana is Worth a Fork!

REALLY FORKING DELICIOUS FOOD!

Stuffed Baby Eggplants with Indian Inspired Spicy Onions and Tomatoes Recipe

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I got these baby eggplants and had many different ideas about how to prepare them. Do I go Italian with anchovies, fried peppers, pine nuts and a basil sauce? Do I go Mediterranean with tahini sauce, feta, sesame seeds, dates and parsley? I did an Asian eggplant recently that was very good with miso, peanuts and crisp enoki mushrooms. So today I went slightly Indian because this is different.

Ingredients for about 4 servings

1 lb baby eggplants – split in half and score

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil – to drizzle over eggplants

1 lemon – split in half face down on pan with eggplants and use the fresh juice after roasted to sprinkle on eggplants.

sea salt – fresh crushed to taste on eggplants

black pepper – fresh ground to taste on eggplant

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (to cook vegetables with)

8 oz ripe sweet tomatoes chopped

1 large sweet onion – minced

1 serrano pepper – sliced paper thin or mince

2 1/2 Tablespoons – ginger grated

1 1/2 Tablespoon roasted garlic grated (I had some frozen in my freezer…it’s more mellow and more sweet than regular garlic you can roast some or use fresh but I’m guessing that you might use slightly less fresh garlic)

1 teaspoon garm masala

1/2 teaspoon fennel seed

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon ground mustard

1/2 teaspoon course sea salt

2 Tablespoons roasted cashews – slightly crushed

1/4 cup sprouts ( I used radish sprouts)

2 teaspoons fresh cilantro leaves

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Scored half baby eggplants go on baking sheet with scored sides up. The two lemon halves go on same baking sheet cut side down. Sprinkle the eggplants with oil. Timing will differ due to different sizes of eggplants. Mine were done in 45 minutes. You want the eggplants all the way cooked and with slightly charred ends. Sprinkle with roasted lemon juice and lightly season with salt and pepper.

While the eggplants are cooking you should make the seasoned onions and tomatoes.

Put a sauce pot on medium high heat with the tablespoon of olive oil. When hot add the onions and tomatoes and cook till onions are transparent. Next add all the remaining ingredients (serrano pepper, ginger, garlic, garm masala, fennel seed, turmeric, ground mustard and sea salt) Reduce to simmer and let it go about ten minutes.

Top baby eggplants with onion/tomato mixture, some sprouts, a few slightly crushed cashews and a cilantro leaf.

Stuffed Baby Eggplants with Indian Inspired Spicy Onions and Tomatoes

Tasty, Flavorful and Different!

My Forking Thoughts on Lay’s Numb and Spicy Hot Pot Flavor Potato Chips

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I came across the Numb and Spicy Hot Pot of Lay’s Potato Chips at the Mekong International and Asian Market in Mesa Arizona. I thought that I had to give this interesting flavor of potato chips a try.

The bag looks like this on the back. It’s all in Chinese with a sticker of the ingredients in English.

Here are the ingredients.

It seems safe to eat so I open the bag and take a whiff.

It smells sort of liquorish with other aromas that remind me of fried Chinese Food.

The chips have ridges with a powdery coating. If you look closely you can see little dark specks.

Ok now I taste one….It is hot and spicy. I get mostly spicy hot at first but not too hot. I get spicy, salty and some sweet. It kinda taste like spicy Asian Fish soup. It’s not too fishy but is reminds me of fish essence…that is spicy and is mixed with flavors that are Asian Style. There is an allspice taste. The heat and flavors pass and the allspice builds……… It’s pretty darn good…..If it had less allspice it would be really great!

Those were My Forking Thought on the Lay’s Numb and Spicy Hot Pot Flavor Potato Chips.

Taste is subjective and your experience and package of chips may indeed differ.

Individual Turkey Bomba Calabrese Meatloafs Recipe

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This recipe makes around 19 individual flavorful moist meatloafs (meatloaves is also correct spelling). You can freeze the meatloafs, thaw over night in the refrigerator and heat when you need them. I used Coluccio Brand Bomba Calabrese condiment. It is an inconsistent product and does differ in the amount of heat but it is more flavorful than another brand I tried. This brand of Bomba Calabrese contains artichokes, mushrooms, eggplants, white wine, oregano HOT PEPPERS and other things. It’s full of flavors and great to add to things. I think it’s great to help add flavors to a turkey meatloaf. It just laces the meatloaf slightly with these flavors and didn’t make them spicy just flavorful. You should add to taste.

Ingredients for around 19 servings

3 lb ground turkey (I buy the 3lb package from Sprouts)

2 garlic cloves – microplane or ground to paste

1/2 large sweet onion – mince (I fine slice it and chop till minced)

1 celery rib – mince

2 teaspoons of Bomba Calabrese – preferably Coluccio Brand – or to taste because your taste and your jar might run different than mine.

3 Tablespoons vegetable soup base – (preferably reduced sodium better than bouillon vegetable soup base) this is instead of salt and it adds more flavors.

1 Tablespoon ground black pepper

1/2 cup parsley

1 Tablespoon dried thyme

6 eggs – beaten

8 oz whole wheat panko bread crumbs

non stick canola spray

Directions

Pre-heat oven at 350 degrees F.

Spray sheet pans with non stick spray and set to the side.

You add all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix till everything is mixed well. It’s easier to do all the vegetables, spices and mix with eggs till well mixed. Next I mixed in the turkey and last was the crumbs. I did this all with a fork but you can do it however you like.

Next weigh them out into 4oz portions and shape them in individual meatloafs on the sprayed sheet pans with about an inch space around each meatloaf.

Cook till cooked threw. Mine were done in 20 minutes.

Today I whipped up a simple basic sauce for them.

I used ketchup but it was Kensington Brand that is twice as expensive but is also twice as good as Heinz. Frank’s Red Hot, Worcestershire, a dash of liquid smoke. On a good day I’ll add those flavors to slow roasted peeled tomatoes.

It came out Forking Delicious!

Individual Turkey Bamba Calabrese Meatloafs

The Farm Kitchen in Phoenix Arizona – Nice Back Yard Patio Atmosphere

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The Farm Kitchen is located in Phoenix Arizona at The Farm at South Mountain. It is actually home to three restaurants a breakfast cafe called Morning Glory Cafe, The Farm Kitchen (lunch) and for Fine Dinner Dining Quiessence. For the Morning Glory Cafe and The Farm Kitchen you are suppose to park across the street but The Farm Kitchen is just steps away.

The Farm Kitchen serves mostly cold sandwiches and salads. They also have some local goods and fresh baked cookies for sale.

The menu is posted outside so you can order right away at the counter and pick up a beverage or help yourself to complimentary water outside.

Then you pick a table.

You pick up your order at the pick up window when your number is called.

If you ordered a salad it will arrive packaged and with a chilled metal bowl for mixing.

I tried the pecan turkey Waldorf ($12.95). It was made with moist flavorful turkey breast, organic greens, grapes, really crisp celery, apples, carrots, pecans and creamy jalapeño dressing.

My husband tried the Italian sandwich ($12.95).

This sandwich was made of thickly sliced soppresata, mortadella and salami. It also was dressed with olive relish, greens, pepperoncini, Italian dressing and was on a rustic baguette.

Everything was good……in a nice lush atmosphere. It was like sitting out in someone’s back yard. Could be a nice lunch destination before or after the zoo or botanical garden or just because.

www.TheFarmatSouthMountain.com

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

azcentral Wine + Food experience November 3rd 2019

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The azcentral Wine + Food experience was held November 2nd and November 3rd in 2019. This event was held in Salt River Stadium Complex in Pima-Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale Arizona. General Admission pre-sale tickets ran around $50.00 and VIP admission ran around $120.00. Date of event tickets ran $65.00 and $140.00. VIP were entitled to one hour early admission and higher end wines. The headlining demo was by Antoni Porowski (food and wine expert of the reboot Queer Eye TV Show). This attracted a very large crowd that was already there and there was no way I could get in to see that one.

Today we made it a little early and got rounded up in a rope tied area like cattle.

I didn’t try everything but I tried a lot. Some of the same food venders were here a second day and served the same food so most of those I skipped.

Nothing Bundt Cakes gave out samples while we were waiting.

First stop was Bella Gusto Urban Pizzeria.

They made TASTY Wild Mushroom Arancini and Salted Caramel Panacottas.

One of the tastiest bites of the day came from Chino bandido.

It was a puffed wheat crisp cracker stuffed with jerk chicken with slightly sweet sauce and a more savory spicy sauce. It really was tasty! They also offered snickerdoodle cookies.

Sweet Republic offered a few desserts but the one I took was this toasted fig/hojicha ice cream cake cone with chocolate shell. Whatever it was it really did taste great!

My picture from Frashers Steakhouse/Mrs Chicken came out blurry but they were serving pulled pork and butter cake.

Next we went on the Bourbon Steak.

They served some sort of raw beef plate and Bourbon Mud Pies.