Monthly Archives: June 2021

Yotam Ottolenghi Inspired Spiced Cabbage with Ginger Crisp and Chili Oil Recipe

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Yotam Ottolenghi is a chef, restauranteur and multi award and James Beard awarding winning cook book author. When you come across one of his recipes you can surely learn something and or taste something incredible. I came across Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe for Soba Noodles with Ginger Broth and Crunchy Ginger. I read the recipe and I thought that sounds really good but don’t feel like soup or noodles today (It’s really toasty hot in Phoenix). I figured out how to do his recipe as a vegetable. So that is what this is…..and it came out really delicious! portion size is difficult to judge. I used one medium to small cabbage. For me that is around four side servings.

Ingredients for around 4 side servings

12 Tablespoons olive oil (split into 8 and 4 Tablespoons)

1 Tablespoon red chili flakes

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

60 grams peeled and grated ginger (around 6 Tablespoons)

2 shallots -peeled and fine chopped

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

1 Tablespoon white sesame seeds

1 Tablespoon black sesame seeds

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 cabbage (I used a medium/small one) Cut into 1 1/2-2inch pieces

1 heaping Tablespoon vegetable soup base

1 lime – just the fresh squeezed juice

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger

2 Tablespoons reserved chili oil

Directions

Make the chili oil. – Add 8 tablespoons of oil to a large skillet and heat over medium heat. Place the red chili flakes and the paprika in a small heatproof bowl. When the oil is hot but not smoking add the oil to the small heatproof bowl. Set this to the side to let the flavors infuse. (2 Tablespoons need to be reserved for making the cabbage)

Set oven to 450 degrees F.

Make the cabbage (or if you are taking your time it might be better for you to do the ginger crisp next so you aren’t doing two things at once). – In a large mixing bowl combine the soup base, lime juice, soy sauce, granulated garlic, powdered ginger and reserved chili oil. Mix well. Add the cabbage and mix well. Spread out on a sheet pan and roast in the oven till slightly charred. (ovens do differ but in my oven this took around 22 minutes. Remove from oven when done. Use a slotted spoon so the cabbage is dryer.

Make the ginger crisp. – Add 4 Tablespoons oil to the same skillet that you just used. Heat on medium high. Once hot turn the heat down to medium. Add the ginger and the shallots. Stir often till nicely browned and starting to crisp (10-15 minutes). Add the panko, sesame seeds, and salt. Cook around 6 minutes more till nicely toasted. Transfer to a bowl and set to the side.

Combine and serve. Cabbage gets topped with ginger crisp. Sprinkle with chili oil as desired.

Spiced Cabbage with Ginger Crisp and Chili Oil

ENJOY!

A Special THANKS to Yotam Ottolenghi for sharing his Forking Amazing recipe for Soba Noodles with Ginger Broth and Crunchy Ginger so I could come up with what I made.

The Forking Truth

A Taste of Bobby Q BBQ Restaurant in Phoenix AZ

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Bobby Q Restaurant is la BBQ restaurant located in Phoenix Arizona and also does have a location in Mesa and a smaller location in the Biltmore area of Phoenix. The original Phoenix location is very unique with mature plantings and very large old trees seldom seen in Phoenix. The old building has character and rustic charm of yesteryear. According to Opentable Bobby Q is one of the best 30 BBQ restaurants in the country.

Patio
bar area
inside looking in by hostess desk

The above dining room isn’t always used and a wall rolls down to close it off.

This place is enormous.

Oh and they sell some souvenirs.

They start you off with complimentary Johnny cakes and soft creamy butter and the rest is up to you.

We shared some of the Q Rolls appetizer.

They are pastry wrapped around the signature 16 hour BBQ beef brisket served with a BBQ sauce and a chipotle ranch dressing.

Each Q roll is very large and is PACKED with lots of tender smoky brisket.

Today my husband got a two meat plate of BBQ sausage and BBQ pork with BBQ beans and macaroni and cheese.

I got the Bob’s salad.

It’s a humble rotisserie chicken salad adorned with some apples, walnuts, cranberries and goat cheese tied together by dijon vinaigrette.

On a past visit I did try the salmon.

I remember that I thought that the salmon was better here from Bobby Q than the more expensive seafood chain restaurant nearby across the highway and it cost around $10. less at Bobby Q.

Once at lunch my husband had the three meat lunch plate.

I tried the BBQ chicken sandwich with peacan slaw as my side.

The apple pie here might be like something a neighbor or a relative might serve you.

They always send you off with bag of complimentary PIPING HOT thank Q doughnuts.

That was a little taste of Bobby Q in Phoenix AZ.

www.BobbyQ.net

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Sazon Spiced Acorn Squash with Cilantro Chimichurri Recipe

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Here is DELICIOUS Sazon Spiced Acorn Squash with Cilantro Chimichurri. You can buy Sazon (General Spanish and or Mexican Seasoning Salt) but here we mix our own because we already have the spices. These flavors annatto, garlic, cumin, and coriander are delicious on acorn squash and the cilantro chimichurri just elevates it even more. Acorn squash do differ greatly in size. The one squash I used was large for an acorn squash. For me it makes 4 smaller side servings.

Ingredients for around 4 side servings

1 large acorn squash – washed well, cut in half (stem to tip) seeds and seed membranes removed and then cut into one inch slices

1/2 teaspoon mild chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ground annatto

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon coriander

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 Tablespoons canola oil

1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 1/2 oz cilantro leaves and fine stems – chopped

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

5 garlic cloves – ground to paste

1 small-medium onion (around 6 oz) chopped

2 small hot peppers – chopped (I used chili de arbols)

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon sea salt

optional – 2oz roasted salted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) for finishing

optional pickled red onions for serving

Directions

Set oven to 475 F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper

In a small mixing bowl combine the chili powder, annatto, granulated garlic, cumin, coriander, black pepper, salt, canola oil, and apple cider vinegar. Set squash slices in a single layer on parchment lined baking sheet. Paint the contents of the small bowl on the squash on both sides. Use up the whole mixture. Put the squash pan on an upper middle rack for 15 minutes. Flip the squash pieces over and cook another 15 minutes or until squash looks slightly charred.

While the squash is cooking make the cilantro chimichurri.

Blend together the cilantro, oregano, garlic, onion, hot peppers, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.

SERVE squash with the chimichurri. Add optional roasted salted pepitas and pickled red onions if desired.

Sazon Spiced Acorn Squash with Cilantro Chimichurri

This delicious and everyone will enjoy!

The Forking Truth

Anaheim Romesco Sauce Recipe

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I got the idea in my head that romesco sauce made with roasted Anaheim peppers would be delicious and it is. Romesco sauce is a Spanish sauce that often is used on fish. It is usually made from roasted red peppers, tomatoes, almonds, sometimes thicken with bread and a few other ingredients. It’s a delicious easy sauce to make. Servings are difficult to judge because I don’t know if you are using only a little or a lot. This makes a good 4 servings.

Ingredients for around 4 servings.

6 small roasted Anaheim peppers – peeled, stems removed, seeds removed, chopped (my 6 small peppers were 200ml in my measuring cup)

3 garlic cloves – fine chopped

1/4 cup roasted salted almonds

1 Tablespoon sherry vinegar

1 lemon – the fresh squeezed juice

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

sea salt – to taste

ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Blend.

Anaheim Romesco Sauce
Anaheim Romesco Sauce

I used it with smoked paprika roasted cauliflower, pickled onions and crisp apples.

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

Taco Boys Phoenix AZ – Worth a Fork!

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Taco Boys is located in south Phoenix Arizona. They serve tacos al carbon. That translates to meat over fire. It’s actually mesquite charcoal fire.

Here is part of the actual grill inside Taco Boys

They keep bags of the mesquite charcoal under the counter that you order at.

They offer carne asada, pollo (chicken), tripe, cabeza (beef cheek), pastor (pork), barbacoa (beef). You pick well packed street sized tacos in either four or corn tortillas. They also offer vampiros (grilled crispy with cheese), burros, and quesadillas.

This isn’t a fancy place but you come for the food. You can see that they don’t have a cocktail bar here. Beverages offered are sodas, horchata (Mexican rice/milk cinnamon), beers, micheladas (Mexican beer cocktails), and bottled water.

Most of the seating is indoors but a few outside tables are on the side of the building by the parking lot.

A few tables are also to the left side of the front door.

It can get busy in a second here.

You order and try to find a table. They ask you to pay when you are done.

While you are waiting you can make a plate of toppings and sauces for your tacos.

Our order is ready.

Between us we tried all the tacos except for tripe. Everything is good and nothing lacks flavor or is dry so that is a win!

Here are the beef tacos that they offer.

Upper left is barbacoa. It’s flavored nicely and is tender and very succulent. It’s something like a stewed beef cube…

Upper right is the cabeza (beef cheek) This one is very tender with nice developed flavor.

Lower beef taco is the carne asada. It’s tender enough and does have a nice mesquite flavor to it. It is a very good taco.

The flour tortilla tacos are grilled to sort of crispy.

The corn tortilla tacos are best suited for the saucy meats and double shelled like in Mexico.

We were surprised that the Mexican Style beans are spicy and very soupy today. They lack whole beans today. They might have chorizo in them.

Everything we tried was good so that means……

Taco Boys are Worth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

www.AZTacoBoys.com

Every THING is subject to change…….at any time.

The Forking Truth

Superstition Downtown Meadery & Restaurant in Phoenix AZ is Worth a Fork!

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Superstition Meadery is a award wining producer of ancient honey wine called mead. The original location is in Prescott Arizona and they have a location in downtown Phoenix Arizona. The Phoenix location also offers chef crafted food parings of sharing boards, small plates and large plates. Parking is easy because they have their own parking lot.

They have the fanciest bike racks that I have ever seen.

When the weather is nice you can bring your furry best friend or friends on the patio.

The patio is much larger than the view I got. It goes down the whole side of the building.

Inside it looks like this.

At the end of the bar are big bottles of mead and maybe some ciders.

I’m not sure if I ever had mead before…..

We decided to share the flight of 12 for $24. (subject to change)

My favorite was the one called lemonade in retrograde. It was bright, refreshing and had a nice lemon zing and wasn’t too sweet. My least favorite was the one called Tahitian Honeymoon made with Tahitian Vanilla bean mead aged in oak…..

There were many sharing boards, small plates and large plates to pick from.

We started out by sharing the piri piri chicken small plate and the warm cannellini bean salad.

The piri piri chicken is spicy chicken breast covered with crushed peanuts and served with some sliced grilled baguette bread.

The warm cannellini bean salad is made up of beans, farro, spinach, Thai basil, and wood roasted onion dressing.

Our main was the gorgonzola & herbed butter skirt steak. Today it came with wood roasted shitshito peppers, radicchio (Italian chicory), mushrooms and arugula.

I thought we were done but the desert of the day sounded too interesting to turn down.

It was blondies with chocolate nibs with Marion berry mead sauce, caramel and whipped cream.

I thought we were done.

But I was wrong again.

They gave us complimentary cookies with the bill.

Everything was delicious and detailed nicely. Service was very attentive and helpful.

Superstition Downtown Meadery & Restaurant is –

Worth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

www.SuperstitionMeadery.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Broccoli 3 Ways with Confit Egg, Onion Jam, Blue Cheese, Crispy Cabbage and Tempura Radish Recipe based on Chef Ivan Tisdall-Downs Recipe for Broccoli Stalk with confit egg and blue cheese recipe

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This is an outstanding recipe that I found in the internet by chef Ivan Tisdall-Downs for Broccoli Stalk with Confit Egg and Blue Cheese Recipe. This recipe has a lot of steps to it but nothing is too hard to do. I did change only a few things but maybe not enough to take any credit for this recipe. I wanted my broccoli cooked instead of raw so that was one change. I thought the broccoli puree needed chives so I added that. Instead of making blue cheese dressing I just added blue cheese because the creamy extra rich broccoli puree was enough richness for me. I also didn’t have kale so I substituted cabbage and crisped it up in the microwave but I do have to admit that when you use kale like YOU SHOULD that the kale crisp will turn out tastier than my microwaved crisp cabbage. Still even with the slight changes I made this is an exceptional recipe that taste FORKING AMAZING. I do note that this recipe is A LOT OF WORK for only 4 servings…..You make this recipe when you want to make something very special. This recipe is in metric. One thing that isn’t very clear when you read the recipe is how much broccoli to use. I used two very large heads of broccoli for the whole recipe.

Ingredients for 4 servings

4 egg yolks – confit eggs

250ml neutral oil – confit eggs

500g onions – finely sliced – onion jam

75g demerara sugar – onion jam

75ml cider vinegar – onion jam

50ml water – onion jam

1 dash vegetable oil – onion jam

285g broccoli washed and fine chopped – broccoli puree

200ml heavy cream – broccoli puree

100ml whole milk – broccoli puree

77g unsalted butter – broccoli puree

1g baking soda – broccoli puree

1 pinch sea salt – broccoli puree

2 Tablespoons chives – fine chopped – broccoli puree

115g blue cheese crumbled

1 bunch of kale (I used a small head of cabbage that I microwaved the leaves crisp but I do note that crispy kale chips would indeed be better)

1 Tbsp neutral oil – kale chips

1Tbsp sugar – kale chips

1 Tbsp salt – kale chips

180g flour (this batter recipe made maybe twice as much as I needed) tempura radish

1 Tablespoon baking powder – tempura radish

250ml ice water – tempura radish

1 pinch sea salt – tempura radish

12 radishes – tempura radish

neutral oil for frying – tempura radish

2 broccoli stalks only – broccoli stalks

1 teaspoon honey – broccoli stalks

10ml apple cider vinegar – broccoli stalks

1 knob butter – broccoli stalks

sea salt to taste – broccoli stalks

remaining broccoli cut in manageable pieces for eating

Directions

Make the confit eggs. Set sous vide to 63C and carefully add yolks to a small dish and cover the yolks with oil for around an hour. If you don’t have a sous vide you will slightly over cook the eggs in the oven. Confit eggs on the oven should be done at around 150 degrees F for around 30 minutes…Good LucK.

Make the onion jam. Put a sauce pan on medium heat. Add oil and when it’s hot add the onions and cook till soft and golden. Add sugar and cook till sugar turns to caramel and then deglaze with the vinegar. Add water and cook till jam consistency.

Make broccoli puree. Melt butter in the pan and add the milk and cream. Take off heat and add the baking soda. This mixture with the broccoli gets blended till as smooth as possible. Add chives and blend some more. Add seasoning to taste.

Set your oven to 400 degrees F or 200C. Make the kale chips. Spread leaves on baking sheet and drizzle with oil. Set another tray on the top of the kale and cook it for 5 minutes. Then season with the salt and sugar. (I note that I didn’t do this step and just microwaved cabbage leaves in a lightly non stick sprayed microwavable safe bowl for 5 minutes on one side. Blotted leaves dry and turned them over and around another 5 minutes and they were crispy…They do burn easy and I did accidentally burn some)

Peel the broccoli stalks. Slice in half long ways and boil for 8 minutes (I added sea salt and cut in chunks) Then shook in ice water.

Either set up a fryer with oil to 180C or a pot on the stove with neutral oil for frying at around medium heat. Make batter. Flour, pinch salt and ice water till smooth. Batter up those radishes and fry till golden. Drain on cooling rack…Or pan lined with paper towels. Season with salt.

Get a sauce pan with a knob of butter and cook till butter turns brown on medium high heat. Add the broccoli stalks and cook till caramelized. Add the honey cook around 2 minutes and deglaze with vinegar.

While you are doing the broccoli stalks blanch broccoli crown tops in salted water till tender crisp (around 3 minutes and then shock in ice water. Season with salt and pepper.

Put this all together and sprinkle with blue cheese.

Broccoli Three Ways with Confit Egg, Onion Jam, Blue Cheese, Crispy Cabbage and Tempura Radish

When I served this with dinner mine looked more like this.

This REALLY IS a FORKING AWSOME RECIPE!

A SPECIAL THANKS!!!!!!! To Chef Ivan Tisdall-Downs for his FORKING AMAZING Recipe so I could make this.

The Forking Truth

Spicy HOT Delicious Indian Style Red Sauce Recipe – DIFFERENT but based on a Milk Street Magazine Recipe

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I came across a recipe for a Maharashtra Indian Style chicken recipe from Milk Street Magazine that I want to try sometime. I read that this type of Indian style is always very deeply flavored. I had plenty of grilled and sous vide meats prepared and only had boring cauliflower around so I figured out on how to convert this recipe for cauliflower. I didn’t make it with the creamy yogurt that this dish should contain…Instead I changed it up a little more and put jack cheese and the sauce on my roasted cauliflower and it was MIGHTY FORKING TASTY and DELICIOUS. This comes out very hot but not too hot if you eat at South Indian Restaurants. My husband said that this taste just like it came from a very good Indian Restaurant. I think this sauce makes around 6 servings. I used it on cauliflower at least 4 times and on grilled chicken twice….maybe I used it more I forget? I wanted to write down how I made it before I forget how the heck I made it.

Ingredients for 6 (or more) servings

1 – 14 oz can Italian diced tomatoes

1 large onion fine chopped

1 Tablespoon canola oil

8 cloves garlic – fine chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (fresh is better but I didn’t have any)

1 1/2 Tablespoons paprika

1 1/2 Tablespoons cayenne pepper (We thought that this was delicious but you might want to use less)

1 teaspoon sea salt

3 Tablespoons cumin seeds (you need a spice grinder to grind them but these don’t go in to the end)

1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves (some tender stems ok)

Directions

In a sauce pot and medium high heat add the oil. When hot add the onions and cook until clear. Now add the tomatoes. Stir occasionally. Now add garlic, ginger, paprika, cayenne, and salt. Bring to simmer. Cook until you are satisfied with the way the tomatoes taste.Before you are finished add the ground cumin seeds. Finish your dish with fresh cilantro leaves.

Sorry I didn’t get a better picture for you.

Spicy HOT Delicious Indian Style Red Sauce

This is pretty simple but very delicious. Would be a great for Indian pizza too!

A special THANKS to Milk Street Magazine for this inspiration.

The Forking Truth

Slighter LIGHTER Healthier Quick EASY Miso Hollandaise Sauce Recipe

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Hollandaise sauce is delicious but it is basically mostly melted butter and egg yolks made into an emulsified sauce. Often this sauce is served with asparagus, fish, eggs, and steaks. I got the idea to do Miso Hollandaise Sauce for my bok choy today but I don’t want to use mostly just melted butter and just egg yolks because that is too unhealthy to enjoy at home. For my research on something slightly lighter I read a healthy style hollandaise recipe from someone else who used buttermilk and corn starch to cut the amount of egg yolks and butter……..That might be a very good recipe but I started to think why don’t I just use the egg white instead of buttermilk and corn starch. After all egg whites are a very healthy lean food. I just don’t see a reason NOT to use the egg whites. Somehow I guessed the flavors perfect but I had to make this recipe twice. First time around I did the recipe in a sauce pan and I accidentally over cooked the sauce slightly (still useable but not nice enough to photo so I tried again). The second time I just microwaved the butter ….Then I added the hot butter to my beaten whole egg, blended them together with my stick blender, and microwaved that for 30 seconds. Then I blended it again with the miso. Added the rest and I was done. It was almost instant and came out perfect. The serving size is hard to give you because I don’t know how much that you want to use. This recipe is for one very large portion (like enough to drown a sandwich) or what I really think is two proper sized portions ( like two dollops). (for my taste it didn’t need salt because my miso was salty enough but you might want salt) I also need to note that I used a stick blender. It might be hazardous to prepare this with a regular blender because it the hot liquids that you are messing with.

Ingredients for two servings

1 1/2 oz unsalted butter

1 1/2 oz white miso

1 whole egg

pinch ground white pepper

small dab garlic confit or a very small or 1/2 a garlic clove ground to paste (I usually make garlic confit when I buy bags of garlic because it taste so much better for sauces and certain things….To make garlic confit take garlic heads and cut across and drizzle well with olive oil and cover and place in a 350 degree F oven till soft and roasted (around an hour) pop out the cloves when cool enough to handle and blend till smooth. It keeps for a very long time refrigerated)

1/2 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

optional finish with chives or scallions

Directions

Melt the butter in a microwaveable dish (mine took 30 seconds).

In a small microwavable dish add egg and beat it. Now add the hot melted butter and blend. This blend of egg and butter are not cooked yet. This goes in the microwave another 30 seconds and gets blended till smooth.

The miso, garlic, white pepper. some chives if using…rest of chives will look nice on the top.

Add fresh squeezed lemon juice and blend that in.

SERVE!

Slightly Lighter Healthier Easy QUICK Miso Hollandaise Sauce

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

A Little Taste of The Miracle Mile Delicatessen in Phoenix AZ

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The Miracle Mile Delicatessen is located in Phoenix Arizona. This is a cafeteria style deli that is family owned and ran since 1949. The well known dishes here are hot pastrami, corned beef, beef brisket, stuffed cabbage, and turkey dinners. Lesser known dishes are the baked cod with puffy cheese and the honey dijon veggie wrap of avocado. peppers, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, crispy onion strings with honey dijon dressing in a spinach tortilla. You order while walking threw the line, pay and seat yourself indoors or outdoors.

corned beef and pastrami

Here are the sides that you can pick for your sandwich. There’s fresh fruit, apple sauce, carrot and raisin salad, Cole slaw, macaroni salad, potato salad, Not sure but I think the one on the end looks like pasta salad.

They also offer desserts. The bread pudding is made in house.

main dining area
What would Bernie get here?

We shared a pastrami sandwich and a corned beef sandwich on marble rye bread.

pastrami sandwich
corned beef sandwich

The sandwiches come with very good pickles.

They both are Arizona style sandwiches. Well we are in Arizona so that is what I should expect……….The bread and taste of the meats does differ from East Coast Style. (east coast bread is crusty and usually thin and toasted while AZ rye bread is soft, thick and cold) (east coast pastrami taste smoked and has a peppery rub…we don’t taste much of that here) (east coast corned beef is seasoned more than AZ corned beef) Everything was fresh tasting and the restaurant seemed clean. Plates were cleared quickly.

Parking is easy because they have their own parking lot. Service is speedy because you go threw the line quickly, you pay and seat yourself.

That was a Little Taste of The Miracle Mile Delicatessen in Phoenix AZ.

www.MiracleMile deli.com

The Forking Truth