The Smoked food festival was held Sunday October 17th 2021 at Ocotillo restaurant, coffee bar, cocktail lounge, wine bar, and park near downtown Phoenix Arizona.
The event was hosted by Arizona Foodie Diana Brandt. This festival is called Smoked because it features smoked food, smoked drinks and more!
Here are random pictures from Smoked 2021.
That was just a taste of Smoked Food Festival hosted by Arizona Foodie at Ocotillo in Phoenix AZ.
This recipe is an original that is a combination of reading about ramen tostadas from The Samurai Gourmet from Australia and from enjoying sushi tacos from the restaurant Headquarters Grill Bar Sushi in Peoria Arizona. Somehow I came up with something delicious. It was tasting all the seaweed in the sushi tacos that influenced how I made the toatadas. Then I started thing about ramen…..The tastiest part of a bowl of ramen can be the egg so that is what I did. I was thinking that sometimes you add that gochujang to enhance the ramen so I thought that kind of taste would be great on the vegetables I used (radish and pea sprouts). I don’t mean to brag but this came out really great.Serving size is difficult to judge. They do taste great but are small. I can see some people would eat only one while others would eat two or three. I’ll say six portions because they are small and two is one egg a person. You need to make the ramen eggs the day before so they have time to marinate and get all delicious.
Ingredients for around 6 portions
6 eggs
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup mirin
1/3 cup water
1 3oz package of ramen noodles (don’t use flavor packet for this recipe)
water to boil ramen noodles (reserve six tablespoons)
1 egg – lightly beaten
6 Tablespoons reserved water from boiling the ramen noodles
! Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon sweet butter – melted
4 Tablespoons flour
4 .18oz packages roasted seaweed – crumbled
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon gochujang (or more or less each brand taste different. I recommend the tastier brands from the Asian Market)
2 teaspoons honey
Directions
Make the ramen eggs.
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add eggs carefully. Turn down the heat till water is barely boiling and time them for 7 minutes. Add eggs to an ice bath. In a quart ziplock bag add the soy sauce, mirin, and water. Peel eggs and add them to zip lock bag. Squeeze out all the air that you can and refrigerate the eggs over night.
Make the ramen tostadas.
In either a pot or a microwaveable dish you need to boil water and cook the ramen noodles for three minutes. You can let it sit while you do other stuff.
In a small bowl combine the egg, reserved water, butter, flour, seaweed, sesame oil, and baking powder. Mix well. Drain the ramen noodles and add them in and mix well.
Set the oven to 325 F.
Prepare a couple sheet pans with parchment paper.
Get a small scooper or use a spoon and try to make 12 even balls of dough with a good amount of room around them.
Then flatten them out…
Put them in the oven on the middle and lower racks for 20 minutes. Then flip them over and do 20 minutes again. Keep repeating till they look like this. Mine took I think an hour 20 minutes.
While you are cooking up the ramen tostadas you have time to prepare the vegetables (Your…choice I did a few radishes that I shredded up, scallions and pea sprouts…but you can just use lettuce or cabbage or other greens) You also have time to make vinaigrette.
In a small dish mix up the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, gochujang, and honey.
If you are serving all at once you can dress the vegetables. If not keep the vinaigrette on the side so it doesn’t get soggy. I sprinkled eggs with some togatashi.
This is FORKING DELICIOUS!
It’s fall so it’s Halloween time. Since I was born I always noticed Halloween treats for kids and people. Only the past few years I noticed Halloween treats for dogs. Here is what I’ve come across. I found it amusing. Maybe you will find some of it amusing too!
This bag is from Thrills & Chills Collection – Groans and bones that are in apple cinnamon flavor
These are assorted dog treats that look like frosted cookies. Starting on the left looks like cross bones, pumpkin, ghost, Frankenstein, skull
Thrills & Chills Creepy cupcakes in a mummy, Frankenstien and a pumpkin face
Blue Buffalo – Boo Bites in tasty chicken recipe
LIMITED EDITION – Greenies dental treats in pumpkin spice flavor
LIMITED EDITION – Greenies dental treats in Scaryberry blueberry flavor
Bocce’s Bakery – Bananas & Scream Banana & Pumpkin recipe
Bocce’s Bakery – Campfire S’mores – Peanut Butter, Carob & Vanilla (I think this can also be Christmas)
Bocce’s Bakery – Pumpk’n Spice – Pumpkin, PB & Cinnamon
Bocce’s Bakery – Nutty Mummies – PB & Banana recipe
Well that was Halloween Foods for Dogs 2021.
Happy HOWLOWEEN!
My other dog doesn’t do dress up.
Chef Davashankar Sharma is a multi award wining famous chef from England. He is also known for London’s best curry award and best Indian restaurant. He is also worked for several Michelin guild restaurants. When you find a recipe from him on the web it is worth doing. I have to say that this recipe is spicy and really delicious. It filled my house with aromatics that smelled amazing. I never tasted any dish like this one from any Indian restaurant that I’ve been to. This recipe Jodhpuri Tawa Chicken translates to frypan cooked chicken from (Jodhpuri now known as Rajasthan) India (North West India). I rounded the recipe some and placed the chicken over cabbage spiced like the potatoes that are suggested. The one thing about the recipe seemed like maybe a misprint to me……but I’m not sure……The amount of potatoes for four people only is about 8 ounces so that is only two ounces a person…..I don’t know if there is a minor misprint in the original recipe or not….I’m thinking that 8 ounces of potatoes is too little a serving for four people…….I used a whole small head of cabbage but I slow roasted it in the oven with the same spices in the recipe and this was a good amount of seasoning too…………for that so I am rounding up the amount of potatoes (or cabbage) to use because everyone wants more than two ounces of potatoes. This recipe makes around 4 servings. I do note that I doubled the amount of potatoes but didn’t double the amount of spices……I think it is plenty of spice use but you might disagree and want to bump up the spice for the potatoes.
1 1/2 lb chicken breast – (I cut mine into 4….and lightly pounded mine thin) do that or cut into 8 without pounding
4 Tablespoons sunflower oil (I substituted canola oil) (for chicken)
1 head of garlic – peeled – rough chopped (for chicken)
8 green chillies (I used serranos) – stems removed, rough chopped (for chicken)
3 bunches cilantro (leaves and tender stems) – rough chopped (for chicken)
4 Tablespoons tamarind puree (for chicken)
sea salt to taste (for chicken)
2 large ripe tomatoes (for tomato chutney)
1 Tablespoon oil (sunflower is suggested) (for tomato chutney)
1 teaspoon ginger – fine chopped (for tomato chutney)
1 teaspoon green chili – fine chopped (for tomato chutney)
1 teaspoon red chili powder (for tomato chutney)
1 teaspoon turmeric powder (for tomato chutney)
1 Tablespoon sugar (for tomato chutney)
1 teaspoon Kasundi mustard sauce (I substituted my home made beer mustard) (for tomato chutney)
1 pinch sea salt (for tomato chutney)
1 pound potato peeled and diced (original recipe says to use 200g potato…I used a whole small cabbage (rough chop) that I roasted slow with the same exact seasoning) (the vegetable)
1 teaspoon turmeric powder (the vegetable)
1 teaspoon ginger – fine chop (the vegetable)
1 teaspoon green chili – fine chop (the vegetable)
1 dash sunflower oil (I substituted canola oil) (the vegetable)
1 teaspoon cumin seed (the vegetable)
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter (the vegetable)
1 Tablespoon fresh cilantro (leaves and fine stems) finely chopped (the vegetable)
sea salt to taste (the vegetable)
Directions
Put the garlic, chillies, cilantro, tamarind, and salt into a blender and blend till smooth. Rub the marinade all over the chicken and marinate for at least an hour.
Make tomato chutney. Bring a small pan of water to boil. Blanch tomatoes two minutes, then drain. Cool and rough chop.
Heat oil in a sauce pot on medium heat and add ginger and chilli. Cook one minute, then add red chili powder, turmeric and a pinch of salt and cook another minute. Add chopped tomatoes and turn down the heat to low and gently simmer for 6-8 minutes until the mixture thickens. Add sugar and mustard. Taste for seasonings and set to the side.
For the potato mash. Bring a medium pan of water to boil and add the turmeric and ginger and a big pinch of salt and boil the potatoes until soft (around 15 minutes).
Heat a small splash of oil on a small pan and add the cumin seeds till they sizzle and remove from heat.
Mash the potatoes with butter, cilantro, and fried cumin seeds until smooth and keep warm.
Heat up a fry pan on medium heat with a good splash of oil. Add the chicken when the oil is hot. Fry chicken around 3-4 minutes a side or until cooked threw.
Serve chicken topped with chutney over the potato mash (or cabbage if you made cabbage like me)
A Special THANKS to Chef Davashankar Sharma for this FORKING Amazing recipe.
Bonita’s is a small casual Mexican Restaurant located in Glendale Arizona. They are open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They offer a varied menu of breakfast burros, combos that include rice and beans (priced $7.50-$11. subject to change), assorted appetizers like miniature chimis, soups, all kinds of different tacos (street sized priced at only $1.50 subject to change), burros, birria ramen, children’s menu, desserts, limited alcohol, and more!
Bonita’s is on the end of a strip mall.
There are two menus to order from. One is on the side wall.
They also have a menu on the wall behind the counter that you order from and pay at.
You get a beverage or order a margarita, pick a table to sit at and they run your food to you when it is ready.
Today we ordered street sized tacos of carne asada, pollo asada (chicken), carnitas (pork), adobada (pork) and a birria taco (beef).
Everything was at least good. Today we liked the carnitas, adobada, and the birria tacos best of the tacos we tried on this day.
Mexican style rice and refried beans.
The other stand out was the Birria Ramen. We actually liked this better than the birria taco because it seemed more flavorful than the taco….We think the cheese mellowed the flavors in the taco.
You should know that birria is a spicy Mexican stew that is painstakingly made and is considered to be a special dish. Often Birria is served at special occasions and holidays….This is really flavorful and delicious…The beef is infused with flavors and is falling apart tender…This is really good. The noodles are just ramen style…I do note that I don’t know if other Mexican Restaurants take the birria ramen further with the noodles or add a marinated egg but this is pretty cool for North Phoenix.
Gotta go back and try fish tacos, chili relleno and maybe fried ice cream next time.
Went back!
This time tried a fish taco.
The tortilla is warm and the fish is extra crispy and this does have good flavors with the chipotle cream sauce.
Tried a chili relleno.
The chili relleno is not a beauty here but was made with a fresh poblano pepper and is stuffed with melty mild white cheese. The relleno is very lightly battered and you do have the choice of red or green sauce.
My husband had a carnitas fajita burrito. He said the carnitas wasn’t as fatty today but was still good. The guacamole is nice fresh and chunky like it should be.
It sure didn’t cost much to have dinner here. Our two tacos, relleno, burrito and two margaritas were only around $35.
On both visits service was efficient and welcoming.
The dishes that we are most likely to come back for (so far) are –
birria ramen, carnitas, adobada, fish tacos, chili relleno, guacamole, and $5.00 margaritas
Bonita’s is worth a try if you find yourself in the area. It sure doesn’t cost much to dine here either.
WWW.BonitasPHX.com
Everything is subject to change.
Taberna De Arcadia opened this pass June (2021) in the Arcadia part of Phoenix Arizona. They offer seasonal menus where the menu seems like a mix of BBQ, Tex Mex, and New American.
The word taberna sounds a lot like tavern but actually is an ancient Rome term for shop.
When you walk in it is a mix of fancy and a little rustic.
Then you either get seated on the patio with traditional picnic benches that have padded seats.
The patio wraps around with traditional tables.
Or you can dine inside at a high top, the bar, or one of the booths.
It looks like all the tables inside except for the round top to the left are high tops. The booths are one step up and are good for most people but might be troublesome for the elderly or those who had recent operations.
The appetizer menu today had things on it like salmon aguchile, cauliflower ceviche, smoked pork taquitos,
smoked brisket jumbo flautas, and
T.H.C Taberna Hot Chicken with biscuits, honey butter, and house hot sauce. (the chicken legs are smoked and then fried)
The cauliflower ceviche is fresh and light……unless you eat too many chips. It’s almost like eating salsa. It’s like cauliflower salsa.
They offered detailed sounding salads with add on options like smoked turkey, smoked chicken, and grilled salmon.
The salad is full of fresh herbs like mint and basil that go well with the citrus. The turkey is gently smoked but could be more moist today.
They offer a variety of street sized tacos. I do note that these tacos are actually street sized and are very small tacos.
I tried the hot smoked salmon taco with sumac aioli, fennel slaw, pink peppercorns.
I also tried the spicy turkey taco that came with broccoli slaw, cranberry hot sauce, and crispy sweet potato chips.
I thought that the hot smoked salmon taco was much more flavorful and more spicy than the spicy turkey taco……….The turkey in the turkey taco seemed good and was seasoned…but somehow all together this taco didn’t turn out spicy..or as flavorful as the hot smoked salmon taco…..?????
I know my husband had a bbq chicken, pulled pork and a mushroom tacos. I didn’t taste them but I remember he said that he enjoyed the chicken one the most.
Besides tacos they also had a meat plate section on the menu. You can get a half pound of meat with tortillas, pickled onions, cucumber, and salsa. The selection of meats were prime brisket, half chicken, pork shoulder, turkey breast, and beef rib.
We were interested in the plate section. They had things like duck enchiladas, smoked grilled pork chop, sweet potato gnocchi with brisket, grilled salmon, and a surf and turf.
The duck confit enchiladas are in a sharp tomatillo green chile sauce that balances well with the creamy white bean puree.
The pimento mac ‘n’ cheese is a bit light with pimento but is so darn cheesy who cares. It’s rich and delicious and OH SO CHEESY!
On our visits we noticed that the majority of people were eating sandwiches. They offer sandwiches like salmon, pulled chicken. pulled pork, and brisket. They also offer desserts and have plenty of sides on the menu.
That was a GOOD Taste of Taberna De Arcadia in Phoenix AZ.
www.TabernaDeArcadia.com
Everything is subject to change.
Most people have never had a sformato before so most people will not know what it is. A sformato is something that is like a mix of flan, soufflé, and quiche but without a crust. Most people say that it is Italian Flan. It is usually considered to be a side dish but can be a very light meal. It can be sweet or savory. It’s can be a lot of vegetables held together by cheese and eggs or sometimes a batter. I read somewhere (I forgot where) that sformato are usually never offered in Italian restaurants outside of Italy. In my research the majority of recipes that I came across for Sformato were mostly for spinach and cheese. I had a cauliflower to use so I made a sformato with cauliflower. I will be honest and admit that I did break the sformato getting it out of the pan. But then I put it together and it is fine. Most people don’t decorate their sformato like the way I did. Sformato get some herbs or a light sauce with them. I added some red sauce, pesto, cherry pepper slices, basil leaves and a few pine nuts. This sformato is considered to be a side dish so it makes 6-8 servings. Often sformato are cooked in individual serving pans…..(now I know why)…..I think the sformato will be less likely to break if you bake them in cup cake pans.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
1 medium cauliflower – cut into florets
water or vegetable stock (to boil cauliflower) (optional add parm cheese rinds if you have them)
2 cloves garlic (just for boiling the cauliflower)
2 Tablespoons vegetable base (for if you are using water…DON’T USE if using vegetable stock)
1 cup parmesan cheese – shredded
4 eggs – lightly beaten
15 oz ricotta cheese – drained
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground fresh nutmeg
1 lemon (just the zest)
non stick spray
semolina for dusting the pan (around two tablespoons)
Directions
Bring a sauce pot of either water with soup base or vegetable stock to a boil. Add garlic cloves and cauliflower. Add cheese rinds if you happen to have any around. Boil the cauliflower till very tender. Remove the garlic and cheese rinds. The cauliflower needs around 15 minutes) then drain (you might want to save liquid for making a soup). Blend up the cauliflower and put to the side. In a large mixing bowl mix together the parmesan, eggs, ricotta, pepper, nutmeg, and zest. Now add the cauliflower a little bit at a time till incorporated.
Set oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray whatever pans that you are using with non stock spray.
Dust the pans with semolina.
Pour in the cauliflower mixture. Get the mixture level by banging the pan on the counter gently.
Place on the middle rack of the preheated 350 degree F oven till done. Timing will differ depending on what pan you are using. I used a bundt pan and mine took 35 minutes. If you do cup cake sized I am guessing that it will take much less time maybe as soon as 15 minutes.
The sformato should be eaten either room temperature or warmed up. I think that it is easiest to make the day before. Cut what ever portions that you need and reheat to serve.
You can dress up the sformato a bit if you like. I added my pesto, tomato sauce, fresh basil, cherry peppers and pine nuts. I think most people only dress with a few herbs and olive oil.
Enjoy!
Today is just a “Fluff” story about cooking eye roast with dogs in the kitchen. My October 2020 recipe called Forking Great Eye Roast with Magical Delicious Rub is one of my best eye roast recipes. It’s the one I did here.
The worst part of doing an eye roast is removing all the fat and silver skin. I admit that I am not the best at trimming but am good enough to get it done.
But the dogs are always interested with the eye roast from here on.
It takes me around 20 minutes to clean up the eye roast and big piles of slobber are by my larger dog.
The eye roast gets rubbed with oil and Worcestershire sauce and lots of spices.
I have to walk around lots of dog feet and avoid the slobber that I can slip on.
The roast is in the oven and my large dog feels the need to guard the oven.
The roast comes out and someone is smiling.
Soon I am able to cut it to see how it came out. It came out perfect like it always does.
I get smiles from the large dog too!
I get a similar look from my husband too. Then he volunteers to hand slice it. He does really well I don’t slice as well.
That was my “Fluff” story of cooking eye roast with dogs.
I came across a Food & Wine Magazine recipe for Endives in Schmaltz with Peanuts recipe. I have some endives that I just picked up and I have saved chicken fat in my freezer that I save from stewed chicken that I make. So my chicken fat is a little different than schmaltz but is similar. I didn’t have fresh mint so I used some dry mint with fresh basil and chives. I had a little bit of trouble with the recipe probably because I didn’t weigh my endive. My endives got fork tender and were starting to fall apart while I was frying so I couldn’t leave the endives long enough in the pan to evaporate the liquid…..So I did things a little different to make it work. I still fried the endives till soft and finished them under the broiler to char. I’m thinking that maybe the recipe didn’t work for me because I didn’t weigh my endives so I am guessing that my endives were too small so the 5 Tablespoons of schmaltz were too much to use……..I used 5 endives instead of the 4 so I didn’t worry about weighing them but I should have weighed them…We can both learn by my mistake. When ever a recipe also gives a weigh then that means you need to weigh it.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
4 heads Belgian endive halved longways (about 1 pound)
fresh crushed sea salt to taste
up to 5 Tablespoons schmaltz, saved chicken fat, or sweet butter divided into 2 & 3 Tablespoons
2 Tablespoons water
2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lime juice + lime wedges for serving
chopped roasted salted peanuts for serving guessing I used about 1/2 cup…could go lighter.
2 Tablespoons fresh mint – chopped (I didn’t have fresh mint so I used around 1 1/2 teaspoons of dried mint)
2 Tablespoons fresh basil – chopped or torn
2 Tablespoons fresh chives or scallions – chopped
Directions
Sprinkle cut sides of endive with sea salt to taste. Heat 2 Tablespoons of fat in a large skillet on medium high. Add endives and cook cut side down around 2 1/2 minutes. Flip endives over add the two tablespoons water and the lime juice. Cover pan and cook about two more minutes or until the endives are fork tender.
Remove lid. Add the rest of the fat and bast the endives with the fat. Until they brown…about another three minutes….Mine were starting to fall apart and didn’t brown too much so I pulled mine out and broiled them a few minutes.
Serve endives on a platter and finish them with peanuts, mint, chives, and basil. Serve with lime wedges.
A Special THANKS! to Food & Wine Magazine so that I could come up with this dish!
Haldi Indian Cuisine recently opened a second location in north Glendale Arizona in Arrowhead. The original Surprise Location was awarded by Phoenix Magazine for BEST IN THE VALLEY for Indian Food. Haldi Indian Cuisine offers North and South Indian dishes. They also offer beer, wine, sodas, tea, coffee, mango lassi, basic cocktails and more.
Today we tried vegetable samosas.
They came with tamarind and cilantro sauce. Very tasty. Anyone would like them.
We also shared spicy chicken curry and vindaloo chicken (also spicy). They came with a bowl of fluffy basmati rice studded with cumin seed.
We ordered #4 out of 5 for heat spiciness. It was hot but not as hot as #4 from other places that we have been. ……We had lots of rice and tasty sauces left over so we took them home. .(OMGosh..the next day these not so hot with heat #4’s turned into #5’s and grew with lots of heat almost too much heat…WOW)……….The sauces both were very fragrant, delicious and were made with lots of exotic spices. The white meat chicken in both could have been more moist.
Haldi Indian Cuisine has recently opened in North Glendale AZ
www.HaldiAZ.com
Everything is subject to change.
