I found some different foreign snacks from Asiana Market in the Deer Valley part of Phoenix Arizona. Here are Surati Cheddar Jalapeño flavored potato tubes. I found them in the India aisle but this snack is from Canada.
The front of the bag is marked suitable for vegetarians.
The ingredients are a mix of mostly natural and some chemical.
I open the bag and take a sniff.
It smells sort of cheesy and I do also smell chili powder.
I spill some out.
They are shaped sort of like French Fries but with. slightly hollow centers. They are dusted with seasonings.
I taste one.
It’s very spicy but it doesn’t burn with a natural cheesy flavor. It’s actually very tasty but the texture is unlike anything I ever tried before. It’s ultra light and airy. It’s so darn light and airy it would be easy to woof down this 3 1/2 ounce bag.
My husband went out to the supermarket to pick up one thing. He came home with a pack of Impossible Meat (vegetable based plant meat). I was really surprised because he isn’t into plant based meats. He is usually anti to them. I said why did you pick that up and he said it was on sale and you cooked Impossible burgers really well (not to brag but…I did….better than Impossible burgers I ate out). I happened to already have a bunch of those yellow guero chile peppers that they use in Mexican Foods so I thought I’d stuff them Tex Mex Style hoping that they would come out good and they came out FORKING DELICIOUS! I make various meatballs and meat loaves all the time so I had an idea on what I was doing. The big surprise to me was that the Impossible meat doesn’t need as much binder or liquid as the other real meats out there. The big secret for these stuffed peppers coming out great is that you have to make them. Let them cool and refrigerate them. When you reheat them the pepper is well cooked and the Impossible meat is just like real beef. You can’t tell the difference. Serving size is difficult to judge. All the different peppers out there come in all different sizes. I used 14 assorted peppers of different sizes and my little 12 ounce Impossible meat package gave us 6 meals.
Ingredients for around 6 portions
14 peppers -*******AMOUNT OF PEPPERS CAN DIFFER ******(You can use any pepper that you feel like stuffing that you like…I used mostly yellow chili peppers. Anaheim, bells, poblanos, milder jalapeños would be good too)
1 onion – (medium – small) diced
1 bell pepper (I used red) diced
I Tablespoon canola oil
2 Tablespoons garlic confit (I buy bags of garlic from Costco and roast up half the bag with olive oil and make garlic confit. but you can substitute fresh garlic cloves ground to paste…..you will need between 3-5 cloves depending on size and taste)
1/4 cup scallions – sliced thin
1/4 cup cilantro – chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon mild chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground achiote also called annatto (Asian and Mexican Markets sell this or buy on-line)
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle powder (Sprouts sells this or substitute around a teaspoon of chilies in adobo ((mince any chili)
2 eggs – lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon low sodium vegetable base (this is instead of salt but with more flavor)
12 oz Impossible Meat Package
1/3 cup masa flour
1/3 cup peas
oil for spraying.
Directions
Set oven to 350 degrees F and oil a baking sheet.
The rest is pretty easy.
In a fry pan on medium high heat add the canola oil. When the oil is hot add the bell pepper. Let it go around 5 minutes and then add the onion string occasionally. Lower heat to medium and cook till lightly caramelized. Take off heat. When room temperature add to your big mixing bowl.
In a big bowl mix together the onion, bell pepper, garlic, scallions, cilantro, pepper, cumin, oregano, chili powder, achiote/annatto, chipotle, eggs, vegetable base, IMPOSSIBLE meat, masa flour, peas and mix well.
Prep the peppers.
Before the peppers get stuffed you have to make a “T” shop slit at the top of the chili shaped peppers. You have to remove the core and membrane and seeds so you can fill them. Then pack in the filling the best you can.
These go the preheated 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes.
Then let cool on the counter.
Refrigerate over night. (they will have a better texture this way)
Reheat at 350 degrees F covered for 30 minutes to serve.
Maybe ten minutes before you take them out of the oven you might want to melt shredded pepper jack and cheddar cheese on them?
You also might want to top the peppers with fresh cilantro, scallions, pickled onions and a little chopped pickled jalapeños? ………..Maybe some sour cream?
Athens on Easy Street is a Greek Restaurant located in Carefree Arizona. At this time they are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They have indoor dining.
They also offer a dog friendly patio.
We decided to try a few things and I noticed that they offer many different dips that you don’t come across very often at most Greek Restaurants. We wanted to try the lentil dip but they were out of that so we went with the eggplant dip.
Our eggplant dip was extremely delicate with the seasonings. It tasted like just eggplant to me. The pita bread was very average. It taste like they buy the bread.
We had to try the saganak (flaming kasseri cheese).
Opa!
I don’t know why but our cheese taste burnt.
Now our dinners arrive.
I got the Athenian pressed herbed chicken. WOW! The chicken is really great! It’s very moist and very flavorful. This plate also came with really nice spinach and nicely flavored orzo topped with some feta cheese. I thought that the orzo was a nice touch since most Greek Restaurants just serve rice with platters.
My husband got the pork kabob platter.
The pork had great flavors in it but was slightly dry today. It came with Greek salad, orzo and tzatziki.
That was a little taste of Athens On Easy Street in Carefree AZ
Barrio Queen is an Arizona Chain of around a half dozen Southern Mexican Restaurants. The website list only Gilbert, Scottsdale and Phoenix but I also noticed locations in Queen Creek, Tempe, Glendale and possibly one coming soon to Avondale? James Beard Nominated Chef Silvana Salcido Esparza is no longer working for this group of restaurants but she did work for them until some time in 2014 and added her famous guacamole, cohinita pibil, chile en nogada and possibly other items to the menu. She also started up Barrio Queen with some of her closest employees.
I went to the Glendale location that is located in Arrowhead Town Center around 75th Avenue and Bell Road. This location is very busy. I arrived around four o’clock and was hoping to beat the crowd but didn’t. The whole front patio at the moment is being used for a waiting area for waiting for your table. At 4 o’clock they were on a twenty five minute wait so we grabbed some margaritas to pass the time.
front bar (currently the seating here is closed due to covid)
I have to say that the El Don Margarita with Don Julio Anejo Tequila, lime, agave and Grand Mariner is really great and very strong….I tried my husbands house margarita and it seems very flat after the El Don I’m enjoying.
Twenty five minutes goes by and we walk threw the restaurant on the way to get seated on the patio.
We walk by a gift shop.
Here’s part of one of the dining rooms.
Here’s another dining room.
Here is a second bar that is also an indoor/outdoor bar.
Here is half of the patio.
I noticed someone nearby getting the table side guacamole.
The first thing they do is start you off with complimentary chips and salsa.
Our chips arrived fresh and hot. We also got fresh lime and a crock of extra mild but flavorful salsa.
I order the pescado del Barrio (Mexican sea bass)
One side of my fish is over cooked and dry but the other side is good. My fish was topped with chopped onions some garlic and cilantro….It all kind of dry and I squirt it with lemon. The grilled zucchini is good. The Mexican style rice is very plain.. I notice that I didn’t get my hand made corn tortillas that I was looking forward to trying. Someone walks by who might be a manager and ask how things are? My husband quickly tells him that I didn’t get my tortillas. I guess before the man can say anything I say that I have enough food and don’t need the tortillas and then he leaves. It isn’t until I start getting into the plate that the dryness of the fish bothers me. I’m half crocked from the strong margarita and I forgot that the fish is suppose to be in a garlic cilantro white wine butter sauce. That means my server didn’t know (or maybe care?) that she served me a plate missing the tortillas and my fish missing the sauce. I guess that it isn’t her fault if she wasn’t trained to learn the menu on the food that she serves.
My husband was much luckier than me and got the Sonoran Style Carne Asada Entree.
His plate was much better. He got medium rare, tender and tasty arrachera (marinated and grilled skirt steak) onions, Oaxaca cheese stuffed Anaheim chile, a chorizo quesadilla, chorizo refried beans, Mexican style rice and flour tortillas.
And I got a dry fish.
That was my trip to Barrio Queen at Glendale AZ.
As a slight update someone from Barrio Queen contacted me and said that this isn’t how Barrio Queen does things…They also apologized for…(their words) “Dropping the ball a few times on my visit and not taking my concerns seriously when I was there when my concerns could have been fixed immediately. The General Manager said that he would like to email me a gift card so I would come back. He said that he was emailing me the gift card March 8th 2021 and wanted me to let him know when I was coming. As of yet I haven’t received the gift card.
He sounded very sincere…? Did he forget? Or was this just talk?
I didn’t know that I like Nam Prik until recently. Nam Prik is a Thai Chili, Lime, Fish Sauce that is usually based with tamarind. I looked up on how to make the sauce. Mine is pretty basic but based with mango that goes really well with fish. Then I read another recipe where they marinated the fish and then used Nam Prik, I didn’t have the ingredients to do their marinate so I came up with something else that is also delicious. This recipe is only two servings.
Ingredients for two servings
2 meal sized white fish filets
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 cup shallots – sliced extra thin on a mandolin
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon anise seeds
1/2 teaspoon garlic confit
1/2 cup mango – puree
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic confit
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 hot red pepper – minced
1 1/2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1 lime – juice and zest (optional save some zest to sprinkle on top)
1 1/2 teaspoons fish sauce (preferably Red Boat Brand)
2 Tablespoons fresh mint – torn or chopped
2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro – torn or chopped
fresh crushed sea salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons olive oil to spray on pan and fish (guessing around 2 Tablespoons)
2 Tablespoons butter
Directions
Heat up the canola oil on medium high heat in a sauce pan. When the oil is hot add the shallots. Keep cooking till the shallots are caramelized. Take out heat and add the ginger, turmeric, anise and garlic confit. Mix well. Leave out on counter till cool. Get out the fish and lay them on big pieces of plastic wrap. When the marinade is cool you can pat the mixture evenly over the fish. Wrap the fish in the plastic wrap. Marinate in the refrigerater 4-5 hours.
While your fish is marinating make the Mango Nam Prik.
You need around 1/2 cup of pureed mango. That might be one-three mangos depending on their size. The pureed mango gets mixed in a small bowl with the garlic confit, ginger, hot pepper, vinegar, lime juice, some or all zest, and fish sauce.
Now it’s time to cook the fish. (you can do this in either fry pan or oven) I think a fresh fish is better in a fry pan but a fish from frozen comes out better in the oven.
Spray the fish and either fry pan or baking sheet with olive oil.
If you are doing it in the oven pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Put your fish on oiled baking sheet and top each fish with dabs of unsalted butter.
Your fish stays in the oven till cooked threw. Timing will differ. In my oven this took 15 minutes.
Serve the fish splashed with mango nam prik fresh mint and cilantro and salt and pepper to taste.
Shallot Anise Turmeric Marinated White Fish with Mango Nam Prik
I never would have thought up parsley pesto before. But I got gifted with a bunch of parsley so I did parsley pesto and man it’s a FORKING PLATE LICKER. Can’t judge how many servings too well because you will use a lot on pasta or only small amount as a spread. I’ll guesstimate around 8-4 servings.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
4 cups parley leaves (packed)
1 cup parmigiano reggiano – shredded
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic confit (when I buy bags of garlic I cut the heads across in half drizzle well with olive oil, cover, and roast at 350 around one hour, blend cloves and it is a delicious sweet mild garlic paste.)
I was gifted with LOTS of parsley. One of things I used the parsley for was this Chipotle Lime Chimichurri sauce. It came out delicious. You are suppose to use chimichurri for grilled meats but it is so good that you can use it on chips too! serving size will differ. I’m guessing that this makes at least 8 servings.
Ingredients for around 8 servings.
2 cups parsley leaves (don’t use stems they are bitter)
Fabio On Fire is an Italian Restaurant located in North Peoria Arizona. Fabio On Fire is also part mobile caterer that you can hire or might see at festivals and farmers markets. Fabio On Fire Italian Restaurant also offers Neapolitan Pizzas, home made pastas, and seasonal specials. They are also a bakery that offers amazing ciabatta pugliese bread, Italian cookies, pastries and more.
Fabio at the pizza oven
inside
Specials
side patio
front patio (this is a new addition)
The tastings start now. Below is the amazing complimentary bread and olive oil.
Once in a while you get treated with a deluxe basket of bread.
The rest is up to you.
antipasto (small size)
bufalo ricotta and caponata special
mushroom ravioli special
lasagna
pappardelle al salmone special ( I need to note that the tomatoes taste farm fresh)
orecchiette
pear salad
strawberry and gorgonzola salad
gnocchi with pesto
veal tortellino special
spinach ravioli in walnut sauce special
eggplant parmesan special
short rib ravioli special
wood fired lamb special
sausage ravioli special
the buffalo cheese pizza (bufalina)
sausage and mushroom pizza (salciccia e fungi)
halibut special, meatballs and little ear pasta (orecchiette) (vegetables used are all fancy)
Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante is an Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria located in North Glendale Arizona (Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide). This spot has been homes to Italian restaurants for over a decade. Over ten years back this spot was home to Tutti Santi. Around spring of 2015 this was Pomo Pizzeria and Toscana Osterio. Then around spring of 2017 it became the Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante that it is today. They offer Neapolitan Pizzas, Hand made pastas, Italian Foods, Brunch Foods, Seasonal Specials and MORE!
The patio is in a park-like setting and is equipped with shades, misters and heaters. Recently the patio has been extended.
I’m always looking for new ways to do beets. I came across Gordon Ramsey’s recipe for Beets Wellington. I didn’t have most of the ingredients that he used so I made up my own way to do it including the pastry…(and my pastry came out extra delicious too!). This recipe make about 6 portions.
Ingredients for around 6 portions
1 cup flour + more for dusting – pastry
1/4 teaspoon sea salt – pastry
1/4 teaspoon baking powder – pastry
8 Tablespoons sweet butter cut into pats – a colder than room temperature – pastry
1/4 cup cream cheese – pastry
1 lb beets – trimmed and peeled (I had three beets)
2 cups red wine vinegar
1 cup red wine
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 oz. scant star anise
1 Tablespoon mustard seeds
1 Tablespoon sweet better – duxcelle
10 oz mushrooms – chopped small – duxcelle
1 small leeks – trimmed – sliced extra thin on a mandolin – small chopped – duxcelle (If desired reserve around a Tablespoon of leeks for finishing pastry)
3 rice paper wrappers (you need one wrapper for each beet)
I Tablespoon everything bagel seasoning – for sprinkling on the pastry.
1 beaten egg yolk
non stick spray
Make the pastry.
Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Use an extra large fork or pastry masher to hand cut up the butter pats in the flour mixture till the butter is around the size of peas. Stir in the cream cheese and give it a few kneads. Dust the dough with flour and roll it out and fold it into thirds. Leave this chill in the refrigerator until ready to use. Cover with plastic wrap.
Braise the beets.
Beets go in a sauce pot with vinegar, wine, water, sugar, star anise, and mustard seeds. Give it a stir and bring to boil and then reduce to simmer and continue simmering until beets are fork tender. (You will need to add more water to the pot as the water goes down) Depending on the size and freshness of your beets timing will differ……could be less than 30 minutes and could be more. When beets are done remove them from the braising liquid. Set beets to the side and cover with plastic wrap.
Make Duxcelle
Melt butter in a sauce pan on medium high heat. Add the mushrooms and leeks and cook till slightly brown. Lower heat to medium low and add salt and pepper. Cook till all the liquid is evaporated. Add thyme and smoked mushroom powder (if using). Blend and set to the side.
Wrap beets with duxcelle and rice paper.
Rice paper gets pliable when you set it in a bath of warm water for a second. Take the rice paper out and spread it with 1/3 of the duxcelle (or 1/4 if you have four beets). Place beet in the middle and wrap. Repeat for each beet.
Get baking sheet(s) ready for the beets. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and spray paper with non stick spray and set to the side.
Set oven to 400 degrees F and have a middle rack ready for your pans.
You pastry gets cut in thirds. One third for each beet. Wrap each beet with pastry the best you can and place on sprayed parchment lined baking sheet.
Paint each pastry with egg yolk
Sprinkle each pastry with everything bagel seasoning
If desired sprinkle each pastry with some leeks
Place sheet pan in pre-heated 400 degree F oven till pastry is golden brown and looks done. Timing will differ. Mine were done in around 30 minutes.
Wine Braised Beets Mushroom Leek Duxelles in Pastry
