Monthly Archives: January 2021

My First Visit To Copper Mule in North Scottsdale AZ

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The Copper Mule is an American casual restaurant and bar located in North Scottsdale Arizona.

They offer small plates for sharing, single pizzas, salads, sandwiches, street tacos (that come with chips and salsa), burgers, entrees, cocktails, wine and more. They have seating at the bar, table seating and patio seating that also is dog friendly.

We started with the Montauk fried blue cheese olives with sriracha ranch and lemon.

What’s not to like? Ours were fried to perfection. These are very VERY tasty. They are crisp with a meaty olive center that was filled with blue cheese. The sauce is tasty and the lemon just brightens it all up and is that just right touch here. I think that this is very detailed for what it is.

My husband had a pressed pork prosciutto Swiss cheese, dill pickle and mustard sandwich called the Havana. It comes with plantain chips but the nice server said that he could pick any side that he wanted and he went with tater barrels (tater tots).

The sandwich is really good! It has more prosciutto in it than expected. The serving of tater barrels is also very generous and they are fried to a crisp nice golden brown.

I went with the lemon dill salmon that comes with cheese ravioli and asparagus. It seems so wrong. I guess this is what you call a naughty combination……..

The salmon is prepared reasonably well and is seasoned with dill. It taste similar to most other $16.95 salmon entrees out from most places….(what that means is ……..a bit fresher than salmon from my local Fry’s, Safeway or Sprouts) I would call this neighborhood style restaurant fish…(not fish house style fish). The asparagus is freshly prepared…I was very surprised in a good way with the ravioli and cheese sauce. I figured for only $16.95 (subject to change) that the ravioli had to be from frozen…….Well I didn’t ask if the ravioli were frozen but they did taste fresh made (or might be really good purchased stuff?). The pasta seemed like just made and the inside was very fresh tasting with lots of creamy ricotta cheese. I’m so glad that the ravioli were without that filler that packaged ravioli usually taste like. The creamy cheese sauce was unexpected but was really delicious. It had that really rich American cheese kind of flavor. I could taste that this is mostly some sort of American type cheese. We enjoyed dipping the tots in it too. My husband sure didn’t mind eating two of my FOUR ravioli.

We were excited to splurge and try one of the desserts and went with the blueberry rum caramel bundt cake with ice cream. It was a nice light and fluffy cake that wasn’t too sweet embedded with some blueberries with a caramel drizzle. The ice cream seemed similar to Hagen Dazs Vanilla.

A nice sweet ending to a really nice casual meal out.

This visit was Worth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

www.CoppermuleAZ.com

Everything is subject to change these days.

The Forking Truth

Asian Dressed Beets with Pear Potatoes Black Garlic Ketchup and Thai Basil Recipe

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I’m always coming up with another way to do beets and this is what I’ve come up with for today. Beets are usually on sale and almost never go bad so I often have them in my refrigerator. I’m also growing fresh Thai Basil in my Areo Garden. I happened to be reading someone else’s recipe with Black Garlic Ketchup but it wasn’t anything like mine so I thought I could do a better black garlic ketchup. That is how I got the idea to do that and to add potatoes. I’m happy to say this recipe came out tasting great. My beets are always really great because I cook them different. I roast them with a mixture of sugar, vinegar and water so they are tasty and never too earthy. This makes around 4 smaller sized servings.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

1 lb beets – peeled (cut if you want or leave whole…if you cut they will get done quicker) (I left mine whole and mine took around 90 minutes)

1 potato peeled cut in any shape you like – (chips, fries, waffles)

salt to taste ( a very small amount to season potatoes)

pepper to taste ( a very small amount to season potatoes)

2 Tablespoons oil (I used canola)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 Tablespoons minced black garlic (ketchup)

1 teaspoon soy sauce (ketchup)

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar (ketchup)

2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar (ketchup)

3 oz tomato paste (ketchup)

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger (ketchup)

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons honey

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 lime – just the fresh squeezed juice

1 pear – cut in slices

1 handful fresh Thai Basil leaves

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Get out a roasting pan and add the beets, sugar, red wine vinegar, water and a pinch of sea salt. Put this in middle rack of oven. Your potatoes also go on an oiled baking sheet and put them on either middle rack and drizzle or spray the potatoes with some oil. The beets are done when they are fork tender and the potatoes are done when they are browned then season them with salt and pepper to taste. Timing will differ……depending on size, freshness and oven placement. Most will be done starting in 35 minutes or more.

In a sauce pan heat up the tomato paste well then add the soy sauce, sugar, rice wine vinegar and ginger till the sugar is dissolved. You might want to thin this down with some water and then add the black garlic. Take off heat.

In a small mixing bowl add the soy sauce, honey, red wine vinegar, and sesame oil. (This gets poured on the beets when out of the oven.

Cut up a pear and squeeze lime juice on it.

Put it all together. You can’t see in picture but I stood the potatoes cup in tiny hills of the black garlic ketchup. Arrange anyway you like and add fresh Thai Basil leaves.

You might want to add a few pea sprouts, chives and sesame seeds to jazz it up.

Asian Dressed Beets with Pear, Potatoes, Black Garlic Ketchup and Thai Basil

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

Recipe Idea – Jalapeños Stuffed with Vivian Howard’s Sweet Corn Pudding Soufflé and topped with Fried Leeks -SINFULLY DELICIOUS!

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This is a no recipe – recipe idea I had. I made the FORKING AWESOME Vivian Howard’s Sweet Corn Pudding Soufflé (recipe is here on this site from only a few days ago). The only problem with soufflé is that you should only make what you can eat because the leftovers fall. I cut the recipe in half and still had leftovers that I froze. The leftovers taste amazing. Just take them from the freezer. WEAR GLOVES….and eye goggles and a mask to avoid painful jalapeño mishaps. Cut off enough to fill a jalapeño (after you remove the core).

These are the raw jalapeños stuffed with Vivian Howards frozen corn pudding soufflé

Just throw them in the oven at 400 degrees F until it looks cooked up (around 30-40) Top with fried leeks if you like.

Jalapeños stuffed with Vivian Howard’s Sweet Corn Pudding Soufflé and topped with Fried Leeks

It’s DELICIOUS! SINFULLY DELICIOUS!

The Forking Truth

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Recipe

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I was gifted with 6 pounds of Tomatillos and around 50 jalapeños and a bunch of other produce. It seemed logical to make tomatillo salsa. I’ve made it a variety of ways over the the years (I made it stove top, I’ve made it gravy style and I made it as a fresh raw salsa). This time I’m charring up most of the ingredients for a different taste. This makes around 10 cups of salsa. The vinegar in the salsa will make it stay fresh for at least 2 weeks. I guessing that this will make around 20 servings.

Ingredients for around 20 servings

6 pounds tomatillos – peeled, washed and quartered

24 jalapeños – remove stem and core and then rough chop (wear gloves, a mask and onion goggles)

4 large onions – chopped ( I used sweet onions but it is traditional to use white onions)

2 small heads of garlic- break down the cloves, don’t bother peeling because you roast them and peel later

1/2 oz epazote leaves – chopped

2.5 oz cilantro leaves and only the tender stems

2 limes (just the fresh squeezed juice)

2 teaspoons sea salt

optional – 5 chiltepin – crushed (or to taste)…you salsa will taste even better if you use chiltepin….but you have to find them first.

1 cup white vinegar

optional – some water to thin some

Directions

Turn on your broiler.

The tomatillos, jalapeños, onions, and garlic all go on baking sheets and go under the broiler till charred.

This get blended with the epazote, cilantro, lime juice, salt and vinegar and if you are using chiltepin.

Now serve.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

It’s DELICIOUS! Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

My Trip To Seoul BBQ & Sushi Phoenix AZ – Take Out is a GREAT VALUE and is Worth a Fork!

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Seoul BBQ & Sushi is located in Phoenix Arizona. They serve a variety of Korean and Asian foods. Seoul BBQ & Sushi is well known for serving Korean BBQ. They also offer Korean and Japanese appetizers, noodle dishes, hot pots, house specials, stews, sushi, all-you-can-eat dinners and more.

They do have a patio but it is not in use.

Inside is a long bar and several dinning rooms.

Today we just did take out. We took out a bibimbap (Korean mixed rice dish with egg, vegetables, beef and a chili paste called gochujang and a spicy dak bulgogi (marinated bbq chicken).

They gave us a complimentary vegetable pancake and 16 side dishes called banchan!!!!!!

Here’s a better look at the pancake.

WOW it’s mighty tasty, stuffed with veggies and is very generous in size.

Here’s a better look at the side dishes.

We got eggplant salad, fish cakes, sweet peanuts, cucumber salad, potato salad and potato noodles. All are tasty.

Here the bibimbap. Below it is rice for the other entree.

You are suppose to mix the rice, beef, egg, vegetables with kimchi (fermented cabbage) and the gochujang (chili sauce). It’s delicious!

Here’s the spicy dak bulgogi (marinated bbq chicken).

It’s delicious and so tender. The chicken is full of flavors. The sauce is spicy but not too spicy and has sweetness to it. The rice is also nicely seasoned. I think they accidentally gave us extra food here. Even half is a very large portion.

The take out we just did was a great value and Wroth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

Here are some previous dishes we tried from Seoul BBQ & Sushi.

www.SeoulPHX.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Pizzeria Bianco Town and Country Phoenix AZ – Is still Worth a Fork

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Pizzeria Bianco is nationally well known for pizza. The owner is the James Beard Award winning chef Chris Bianco. Pizzeria Bianco has earned a positive recognition from various celebrities, Food Network TV, various magazines and by food critics.

I most often go to the Town and Country location in Phoenix.

The atmosphere looks like it’s been here forever. I’ve heard that many of the paintings inside where done by the chef’s father.

There is another dining room behind this one.

Today we will sit on the patio.

They start us up with shattering crisp bread and high quality olive oil.

We share the market salad.

It’s made of radicchio lettuce, sliced Asian pears, gorgonzola cheese and pecans. It’s very balanced. The bold cheese, the nuts and the sweet pears counter the bitter radicchio just so.

My husband had the pappardelle with bolognese sauce.

I had the chicken cacciatore with risotto.

Everything was flavored nicely and the chicken is cooked to perfection but The FORKING Truth is that the risotto is dry and not creamy. I know that it is very rare to get correctly made risotto out so we let this go.

Here are some of the previous dishes we had here.

chicken salad platter
meatball sandwich
nutmeg & chocolate Italian ice
Swiss Chard Lasagna
Market Salad
Arancini
Grilled Mortadella Sandwich
Pasta E Fagioli

I’ve had many of the pizzas but as of today I still haven’t had a pizza from this location. I want to include the famous pizza so here is a page I saved from a 2012 Food & Wine Magazine.

Food & Wine Magazine

Pizzeria Bianco is still Worth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

www.PizzeriaBianco.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Low Fat Za’atar Potato Salad with Pickled Red Onions Artichokes Olives and Feta Cheese Recipe

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Za’atar is something delicious that you might not be familiar with. The spices in za’atar that I use are oregano, sumac (sort of lemon-like), cumin, sesame seeds, salt and pepper. These flavors also taste amazing on bread with olive oil. The recipe is low-fat because I made the pickled onions and they were an extra tasty batch that I just threw over the potatoes……They were pretty good just that way…Then I just added the artichokes, olives and feta cheese……..My idea of serving might differ from your idea of serving size. To me this make 6 small servings.

Ingredients for around 6 servings

1 red onion – sliced extra thin on a mandolin

1 cup white vinegar

1 Tablespoon kosher salt

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

2 sprigs fresh thyme

1 1/2 lb potatoes – cut into chunks (I used small purple potatoes that were all different sizes….some I cut in half, some quartered, some got cut up more than that)

1 Tablespoon salt (to boil with)

optional – I – Hungarian pepper – cut in half (Hungarian peppers give a nice flavor to boiling potatoes…I just use the pepper to boil the potatoes with and then throw them out…I buy them at Asiana Market and keep a few in my freezer)

1 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

1 Tablespoon za’atar

1/2 cup artichokes – jarred marinated – rough cut

6 olives – cut across in slices

2 oz feta cheese – crumbled

1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves – chopped

2 teaspoons urfa pepper (or to taste)

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or to taste)

Directions

You need to make the pickled onions about 4 hours before you make the potato salad or make the onions the day before.

The sliced onion goes in a small tub or bowl. Put a sauce pot on medium high and add the vinegar, salt, sugar, bay leaf, black pepper, mustard seed and thyme sprigs. Bring this to a boil. Reduce to simmer…Let it simmer about 5 minutes and pour over onions. Leave the onions sit out until they get to be around room temperature (remove bay leaf and thyme sprigs) and then put them in the refrigerator for around 4 hours or more….till you are ready to complete the potato salad.

When you are ready-

Medium boil the potatoes with salt (and optional Hungarian pepper if using) till fork tender (around 15 minutes).

Drain potatoes. Throw out Hungarian pepper (if used). Put potatoes back in pot. Add za’atar and the container of pickled onions. Mix carefully without breaking the potatoes. Let this sit out around 30 minutes for the liquid and flavors to absorb into the potatoes.

Then add the artichokes and olives. Squeeze the lemon juice on to it.

Top with feta cheese, parsley, urfa pepper, drizzle with olive oil. (if it needs salt or pepper for your taste add that too!)

Low Fat Za’atar Blue Potato Salad with pickled Red Onions, Artichokes, Olives and Feta Cheese

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth