Monthly Archives: April 2022

Parsnips two ways with Whipped Carrots Recipe

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This is tasty and easy to make but it takes a while to fry the parsnips crisp….I didn’t time it because you just have to keep an eye on it but it seemed to take forever to me. The crisp parsnips taste amazing. They are much more flavorful than any crisp potato. I also fried up the parsnip sticks so they came out like French fries. The carrots got done in 13 minutes in my microwave while the parsnips were still frying. This dish got seasoned with equal amounts of curry powder, cumin, and coriander. his makes around 4 side servings.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

canola oil – for frying

4 parsnips – peeled, woody center removed, one parsnip thin shaves from vegetable peeler, the rest fry shaped

6 carrots – peeled, small dice

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon curry

sea salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

optional some clipped chives or scallions

Directions

Put a pot of canola oil (around 3 inches) to heat at slightly higher than medium heat.

The peeled parsnips go in till golden and crisp.

While you are making the crisp parsnips. Parboil the French fry shaped parsnips. You can do in either stove top or microwave. Boil around 5 minutes stove top or pop in microwave with water for around 9 minutes and drain.

When the crisp parsnips are done drain on a draining rack or sheet pan with paper towels. Fry up the parsnips till slightly golden. While the parsnips are frying boil the carrots either stove top or in the microwave and add 1/2 teaspoon sea salt. I did mine in the microwave for 13 minutes and they were perfect. Then drain carrots and add 1/2 the seasoning to them (1/2 teaspoon cumin, coriander, curry) also add a few tablespoons of the parsnip oil to them and water to thin as you like. Add salt and pepper to taste while you are whipping them up.

Toss the parsnip fries in the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Top with the crisp parsnips. Sprinkle with chives or scallions if you like.

someone is fascinated
Parsnips two ways with whipped Carrots

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

My FORKING Thoughts on Van Leeuwen PIZZA Ice Cream

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I came across this container of Leeuwen PIZZA ice cream at my local Walmart Grocery Store. I kept looking at it thinking maybe I just needed bifocals and was seeing something incorrectly. Nope saw it correct it is pizza ice cream. Well I have to give it a try.

I taste the white ice cream. It’s wonderfully rich and smooth. It’s not vanilla but it is a slightly tangy/sweet rich taste. It is suppose to be mozzarella but it just taste creamy, only a slight maybe cream cheese to it and and rich to me. Then I taste a cookie crumb. It’s really sweet like a brown sugar cookie….Little bummed……..Then I taste what is suppose to be tomato jam……It’s not an obvious tomato taste……It’s kind of tangy. I’m not sure how to identify this taste. My tomato jam that I made had cumin, coriander, mustard, vinegar, and cloves in it. I guess it also was no longer a tomato taste.

A few days latter I try it again. I think the middle of the container has more added stuff to it.

I go back and taste it again. This time I got a slightly bigger crumb of cookie. I can faintly taste basil in it but it iseems different and for some odd reason is much softer now like cookie dough and maybe a little less sweet.

This ice cream seems high quality and is rich and creamy. But I don’t get a pizza flavor. I want it to taste like pizza….Even a cheap sweet frozen pizza taste…….

On the other hand this ice cream isn’t horrible either because it’s so rich and smooth and not horrible…….and I keep trying to taste pizza here. It’s really more of a mystery flavor…..Everything is kind of odd. The base ice cream is slightly tangy and can pass as a cream cheese or yogurt taste. The cookie/cookie dough bits are sweet and are too scant with a basil taste. I think the taste working the hardest not to be pizza is the pizza jam. It’s very tangy and lacks a fresh or sweet tomato taste. I think the tomato is the least successful part of this ice cream trying to pass as a pizza flavor. It can be pizza without cheese…It can be pizza without a traditional crust (think Chicago) but pizza must have a fresh tomato taste and hopefully a little fresh basil.

I would not recommend this pizza flavored ice cream if you want it to taste like pizza. (unless your carton was made different….My husband also didn’t get pizza here)

Most likely I will be trying another flavor of Van Leeuwen Ice Cream the next time I’m at Walmart Grocery. Some of the other flavors they had were-

Blueberry Shortcake, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Bourbon Cherry Jubilee (maybe), Planet Earth (? don’t like earthworms), Hot Honey (maybe), Royal Wedding Cake with Elderberries and Lemon (?)

We’ll see.

I do note that your opinion may indeed differ from my opinion on Leeuwen Limited Edition Pizza Ice Cream.

The Forking Truth

Perilla Leaf Thai Style Treats with Tamarind Sauce Recipe

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A couple Thai restaurants in Phoenix offer this delicious Thai Treat called Miang Kham. It’s a minty type of leaf that not always but usually contains a combination of (sometimes shrimp), small whole pieces of lime, coconut, peanuts, shallots, hot chili (Thai or Birds eye), and ginger and also come with a tamarind based sauce. It might not sound as great as it really taste! It really is delicious and you should try it when you see it on a Thai Menu. Chada Thai AZ & Soi 4 Bangkok Eatery both are located in Scottsdale and both serve slightly different versions of this dish. I did an easy quick version of this dish. I think you can use almost any lighter protein if you want to add protein to this dish. Today I added some chicken breast. I think any fish would taste great here too! Portion size is difficult to judge because it depends on how much protein that you add and also on how many leaves that you want to eat. I’m guesstimating that this will make around the amount of stuffing and a light amount of sauce for around twenty leaves. I’ll guesstimate 4 servings. Also around here Perilla are easy to find at Asiana Market. They are not actual sesame leaves but are also called sesame leaves because of their appearance.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

4 Tablespoons cooking tamarind (nuuc me chua)

1/2 teaspoon galangal powder (sold at Asiana market)

1/4 teaspoon coconut extract

1/2 teaspoon ginger powder

2 Tablespoons date syrup (can substitute honey)

1 teaspoon Red Boat Fish sauce

1/2 lime – slice thin on mandolin and then cut into small pieces

1/2 cup toasted coconut chips

1/2 a small red onion – sliced thin and rough chopped

1/3 cup roasted salted peanuts – lightly crushed

1 Thai Chili pepper – fine chop (the smaller the better)

1 teaspoon crystallized ginger – fine chopped

optional protein

Directions

In a small mixing bowl combine the tamarind, galangal, extract, ginger, date syrup, and fish sauce. Mix well and set to the side.

In a small bowl combine the lime, coconut chips, onion, peanuts, Thai chili, ginger, and if you are using protein add that too in small pieces. This is what gets added to the leaves. I used mini bite size paper cupcake liners to hold the leaves. Serve sauce on the side and enjoy!

Perilla Leaf Thai Style Treats with Tamarind Sauce

ENJOY!!

The Forking Truth

Topnotch Island Flavor Kitchen – Phoenix AZ – Jamaican Food PLUS+

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Topnotch Island Flavor Kitchen is a casual Jamaican Restaurant located in Phoenix Arizona. They offer a lot of Jamaican dishes, cocktails and more that you don’t find all the time. It’s not a fancy place but looked sparkling clean on my visits.

inside

Besides soft beverages they offer beer, wine, and signature cocktails.

cucumber margarita and a rum punch (the rum punch is mighty strong)

They offer appetizers like jerk wings, codfish fritters with a tasty creamy Jamaican pepper spiked sauce, –

codfish fritters
Jamaican beef patty (this is unusually good)
1/2 order calaloo & cod stuffed pocket

Jamaican beef patties, Jamaican jerk chicken patties, calaloo (large green leaf from the amaranth family) & cod stuffed pockets, and jerk chicken kabobs.

They also serve some things that you would never expect like jerk chicken tacos, FLAMING (spicy not actually flaming) beef tacos, shrimp tacos, and a spicy chicken jerkadillo!

Not all but some of the entrees offered are- Jamaican jerk chicken (prepared expertly tender but we thought that this ran on the mild side for jerk the day we tried it), –

Jamaican jerk chicken

molasses rubbed jerk pork, braised oxtails, –

curry goat

curry goat, curry chicken (melt in your mouth tendered no bones), –

curry chicken

Island flavor shrimp fried rice, chicken fricassee,-

Island spices fried fish escovitch

Island spiced fried fish escovitch (the pickled onions make this dish pop!), brown stew snapper, ackee & salt fish (national dish of Jamaica), vegan chicken stir fry, and rasta pasta.

They offer sides like steamed vegetables, fried plantains, festival (slightly sweet cornmeal bread), bammy (cassava flat bread), potato salad, and breadfruit.

breadfruit

Children’s meals such as grilled cheese, chicken tenders, and hot dogs served with fries are offered.

Desserts are also available. They offer Jamaican fruit and rum cake, sweet potato pudding, tropical fruit cobbler pineapple upside down cake, mango lime cheesecake, chocolate cake, and a few ice creams.

Parking is easy because they are in a strip mall.

Topnotch Island Flavor Kitchen offers so many Jamaican dishes that you can’t find at most places so it can be considered a Jamaican Destination restaurant and is Worth a Try especially for foodies!

That was a little taste of Topnotch Island Flavor Kitchen in Phoenix AZ.

www.TopnotchIslandFlavorKitchen.net

16816 N Cave Creek Rd Phoenix AZ

602-283-5600

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

The Stillery – Happy Valley North Phoenix AZ – A Nashville Institution in Phoenix

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The Stillery in Nashville is famous for live country music, drinks, and bar food. It’s only been open a few days and is already a packed house early in the evening.

Not all but most of the tables inside and out are high tops. I usually have trouble with high tops but these are easier than others that I have tried because they are light chairs that are easy to move with a step in just the right place.

They have brought in a very good singer from Nashville.

It is almost COLD on the patio in 97 degrees F. These are the strongest misters that I have ever felt.

I decided to try a drink off of the cocktail menu.

smoking mule and a mixed drink

I tried the mason jar smoking mule on the left. It’s a mixture of Fossil Creek Whiskey, ginger beer, amaretto, and lime. It’s not for me but might be great for others.

We tried the sriracha devil eggs (with crispy prosciutto, parmesan, chives).

The chives didn’t really make it to the eggs but they were tasty.

For my main I tried the hot chicken sandwich (crispy chicken, spicy sauce, fried pickle, lettuce, tomato, blue cheese spread) with a side salad.

I do have to say that the bun is grilled nicely. To be honest my first two bites were disappointing because I ate the part of the sandwich that didn’t have any sauce. Then I tried the other side and it tasted like what a hot chicken sandwich is suppose to taste like cayenne, paprika, garlic, pepper…….. in medium hot (when you order the hot-hot…….regular hot chicken here is no heat) This chicken today is slightly over cooked and is a little dry today…..The top bun soaked up some of the hot sauce is also tasty. I like that they gave me a large fresh salad but the dressing is a bit bland. I had the blue cheese spread on the side and it is also on the bland side.

My husband was going to order a burger but the burgers are smaller here and they only cook them medium-well so he tried the Mac and cheese with added hot chicken tenders in hot-hot.

The tenders seem like pre-cooked. They are very dried out and almost cold.

The macaroni and cheese is very unique. It’s thick creamy and rich. It taste like cheese mixed with something that taste similar to cream cheese. It might be the house made gournay cheese? If you like cream cheese then you might like it. My husband hates cream cheese so he was very unhappy.

This trip wasn’t the best. I would still consider trying it again and order different things that I might like more.

The singer was very good.

www.TheStillery.com

2501 W Happy Valley Rd PHX 623-248-6595

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Calabrian Chile Brown Butter Pasta and Creamy Leeks Recipe

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I was reading a recipe about Turkish Stuffed Pasta that was served over yogurt leeks. They made a green Chile butter for the Turkish pasta….So I thought that a Calabrian Chile Brown Butter would taste good on any pasta. I made my own ricotta gnocchi…you can make any pasta that you desire. I don’t have a pasta recipe with this one but I do have ricotta gnocchi recipes on my blog so you can find them if you want. I didn’t think that yogurt leeks would be very appetizing so I made up a creamy version that taste delicious. The recipe might need some adjustments to the leeks because I thought mine were unusually small inside….This makes only enough brown butter and leeks for only around two portions. You might get more if your leeks are bigger than what I had.

Ingredients for around two servings

2 ounces unsalted butter

1 dried Calabrian chile – crumbled

pinch dried mint

2 leeks – cleaned, dark greens removed, sliced thin

2 garlic cloves – ground to paste

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1 Tablespoon flour

4 Tablespoons white wine

1 ounce cream cheese (or a splash of heavy cream)

1/4 cup vegetable stock

sea salt to taste

black pepper to taste

Directions

Heat the butter on medium heat till it turns brown. Strain it and add the crumbled Calabrian pepper and a pinch of dried mint. Set to the side.

The leeks take 15-20 minutes to prepare. Have you pasta done accordingly.

Make your leeks – Melt butter on medium/low and add the leeks. Cover pot and let them go around ten minutes. Add garlic and cook another two minutes. Stir in flour cook one more minute. Add wine and cook till the wine has evaporated. Then stir in cream cheese and vegetable stock. Stir till smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning (add salt and or pepper)

Plate the leeks. Toss the pasta in the Calabrian Chile Brown Butter. Top on top of the leeks.

Calabrian Chile Brown Butter Pasta and Creamy Leeks

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

*EXTRA* Some More Foods I Made

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I can’t write about everything that I cook or I won’t have time to cook lol! Up above are brined oven fried crispy juicy turkey wings. I do them a few times a year and they are insanely delicious. I wrote about them a few times on my blog already but this is my favorite photo of them.

Recently I made beef shanks braising with bay leaves, tomatoes lots of vegetables and seasoning. I wrote about how I did osso buco a few months ago. This one was pretty much the same but was cut into thicker slices so I braised them for 5 hours. I also blended up the vegetables this time and made a celery leaf gremolata for it.

osso buco

Instead of the usual polenta or risotto that normally goes with osso buco I made sunchoke gratin.

It taste amazing and I learned a new trick about softening the sunchokes in cream…..That recipe that I followed added that cream back into the dish….I knew it wouldn’t work out…..but I did it anyway because I trusted the source. It was too much liquid ( and maybe too much fat) that broke my sauce…(could be a misprint….or maybe something was left out?) So with some of the remaining sunchoke gratin I made mackerel cakes with that sunchoke gratin.

These were easy to do and came out great! I first marinated 2 mackerel steaks in curry oil and fried them for around 5 minutes on each side. Cleaned up the skin and bones. Broke them down into chunks. Mixed them up with some of the sunchoke gratin, two eggs, a small amount of. panko and some dried fruit. Baked them off and they are pretty darn good! Actually really great! Topped the mackerel cakes with honey mustard.

Had a really nice filet mignon out at. dinner. Could only eat. half. The other half made two lunches.

I broiled off some baby bell peppers. After they cooled I cleaned them out and stuffed them with thinly sliced filet tossed with morita salsa, some pickled onions, scallions and some got cheese.

Made another eye roast….(last was in November).

The hardest part is to trim off all the fat and silver skin.

Then it always comes out perfect and delicious.

These were a few of the other things I made.

The Forking Truth

Mediterranean Spiced Cucumber & Butterbean Salad Recipe

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We used to have a Mediterranean/Israeli Restaurant in Phoenix Arizona called Zabari Mediterranean Grill. It was there I tasted an amazing salad that I never heard of before called Matbucha (a slightly spicy cold cooked tomato and roasted pepper salad). My gosh it was one of the most delicious things that I never knew that I liked. So I studied every recipe that I could find for Matbucha, made a chart of every ingredient that every recipe had in Matbucha and picked the ingredients that I wanted to use and the amounts that I thought were correct and tried to make a salad similar tasting to the Zabari’s Matbucha. I think I did it right because it came out amazing…..like I can sell it amazing…..Anyways today I made an even better batch of Matbucha (I got the textures better and the flavor even better) I started to think that since these flavors are so great that I can make a completely different salad with the same flavors and I did! I had around 5 cucumbers that I had to use….added onions and celery and then I was thinking chick peas but went with butterbeans because butterbeans have a more melt in your mouth texture that I thought would be better. Anyway it’s a winner. This will make around 4 servings. Feel free to add a few small sweet tomatoes if you have any…I would have added a few if I had some.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

5 cucumbers – peeled and seeds removed and sliced

1 large onion – sliced very thin and lightly rough chopped

2 stalks celery – small dice

1 – 15 oz can butterbeans drained and rinsed three times

11/2 – teaspoons sea salt (or to taste)

3 garlic cloves – ground to paste

1 Tablespoon Aleppo pepper

1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/4 teaspoon hot paprika

1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

big splash (I didn’t measure but think it was about a 1/3 of a cup of rice wine vinegar)

ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Everything above goes in a large mixing bowl. Mix and season to taste!

Mediterranean Spiced Cucumber & Butterbean Salad

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

Liz Modern Asian Restaurant Scottsdale AZ – Hong Kong Style Food & Asian BBQ

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Liz Modern Asian Restaurant is located in Scottsdale Arizona in The Scottsdale Quarter. This is a small full service restaurant that offers appetizers like steamed buns, won ton soup, pear and grain salad, Hong Kong Style foods like fried rice, noodle dishes, cashew chicken and vegetables, They also offer Asian barbecue like char siu chicken and char siu pork, roast pork, pork belly, and Asian bbq brisket. They offer craft natural sodas, wine and beer.

I was going to try the citrus hibiscus orange soda but they were out of that one today.

Inside is small and very plain.

inside

They have three outside tables so we sat at one of them since it was still nice outside.

We started out with brisket egg rolls.

The brisket egg roll was fresh fried to order. It came out light and crispy with a side of sweet and sour sauce. They also offered us chili sauce and really tasty Chinese mustard. I didn’t get a true taste of the Asian BBQ Brisket here that I thought I would. I know that because it isn’t on the menu but they suggested for my husband to get a sampler plate and the brisket there was from a tastier batch.

Not on the menu….Sampler plate

He got all kinds of Asian BBQ. char siu chicken, char siu pork, roast pork, pork belly, Asian bbq brisket, vegetable of the day (green beans, mushrooms, onions), and rice. His favorites were the pork dishes.

I got the char siu chicken.

char siu chicken

They served me white meat chicken that was very tender and developed with Asian flavors and it was drizzled with a brown sweet sauce that taste similar to hoisin sauce. The meat was studded with today’s vegetable (green beans, mushrooms, onions) and came with a big portion of white rice. This lunch plate is very large and for me this is two meals (and I’m not the smallest eater) but for some people it’s just one meal.

When I ordered I didn’t know that they also had this dish prepared more Asian bbq style with dark meat chicken. They told me so far most of their customers don’t eat dark meat chicken. They assumed that I didn’t eat dark meat chicken so I wasn’t asked when I ordered. Near the end of my meal they did offer to give me a plate of dark meat chicken…That was terribly nice but I declined only because I had way more food that I can eat still left.

We recommend the bbq pork dishes and to ask if they have the dark meat char siu chicken.

That was a little taste of Liz Modern Asian Restaurant located in Scottsdale AZ

15323 N Scottsdale Rd Scottsdale AZ – 480-292-7689

www.LizModernAsianRestaurant.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

A Taste of La Piazza Al Forno Glendale AZ – Worth a Fork!

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La Piazza Al Forno is an Italian full service Restaurant and pizzeria located in historic Old Town Glendale Arizona. This restaurant specializes in serving certified Neapolitan pizzas. They also offer Roman Style pizza and on weekends have New York special pizzas. Their crust is uniquely tender and thin and blistered. Also the mozzarella here is hand made in house and is more flavorful with a silkier texture than from most other pizzerias. Although the pizzas are the main attraction La Piazza Al Forno is also famous for being on a few Food Network TV Shows with Host celebrity chef Guy Fieri.

This restaurant has won numerous awards.

Many awards and the Certificate are hung by the entrance

Here’s the inside. (at an off time….)

Sometimes we will sit on the patio.

Depending on your seat you might have a view of Old Town Glendale or what looks like a painting by a master featuring pizza that is fit for a queen.

Below are some of the foods that we have tried here. Often we start out with a house salad because we usually order pizza here. ( a few photos are doubles to show how pizza may differ)

Italian Stallion – San Marzano Tomatoes D.O.P., house made mozzarella, sausage, pepperoni, prosciutto di parma, sopreeesata

Margherita D.O.C. – San Marzanno Tomatoes D.O.P., house made mozzarella, basil, garlic, Sicilian oregano, e.v.o.o.

Margherita D.O.C. – San Marzano Tomatoes D.O.P., house made mozzarella, basil, garlic, Sicilian oregano, e.v.o.o.

Bianco – house made mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan, basil, garlic, Sicilian oregano, e.v.o.o. and added Calabrian chiles

Bianco – house made mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan, basil, garlic, Sicilian oregano, e.v.o.o. and added Calabrian peppers. (This looks and taste very different from the one above it)

Dolce davola – San Marzano tomatoes D.O.C. , house made mozzarella, soppressata, Calabrian chili, honey, e.v.o.o.
Salvatore Pizza- San Marzano tomatoes D.o.p., house made mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil, prosciutto di parma, arugula

take out – funghi – house made mozzarella, fontina, parmesan, mushrooms, rosemary, e.v.o.o.

take out – Salvatore – San Marzano Tomatomatoes D.O.P., house made mozzarella, e.v.o.o., prosciutto di parma, arugula

take out – Roman Style Margherita – tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil

take out – spaghetti alla puttanesca & Mediterranean – house made pesto, house made mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes and feta

Calzone
another calzone

baked spaghetti pie special

Tomato E Mozzerella – vine ripened tomatoes, house made mozzarella, arugula, e.v.o.o., house baked bread

House Made Cheese Cake (topping was limited special)

Chocolate Cannoli

That was a TASTE of La Piazza Al Forno in Glendale AZ.

Worth A Fork!

www.LaPiazzaFamiglia.com

www.OrderLaPiazzaAlFornoMenu.com

5803 W Glendale Ave Glendale AZ

623-847-3301

Everything these days is subject to change.

The Forking Truth