I had fresh basil that I had to use today so I’m thinking either basil oil or pesto…..I didn’t have many pine nuts or walnuts or hazelnuts today so I went with pistachios. I usually do one thing that most people don’t do that really makes a difference. I use a small amount of garlic but usually it’s whipped sweet roasted garlic. It never gets too strong tasting and is sweet and delicious. To make whipped sweet roasted garlic use a lot of garlic cloves. Pour a good amount of extra virgin olive oil on them. Put them in a covered pan at 350 or 375 degrees F for one hour and then blend.
Roasted & Whipped Sweet Garlic
It keeps for a while in the refrigerator but I freeze it since I make it in big batches. Back to the pesto….I didn’t measure exactly but it went something like this.
1 cup fresh basil leaves
4 oz parmesan rough chop
1/2 cup pistachios
1 tablespoon whipped sweet garlic
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 dried Calabrian piri piri dried pepper – crushed (you can substitute any pepper to taste)
Blend…This time I left the pesto slightly chunky so you can taste everything in it a little more.
I do note that this stays for a while but is best to use in a few days…..after a week or so the oil gets very thick and the basil has less fragrance. You can brighten it back up with a little more fresh basil and a little more olive oil.
African Kitchen is located in Phoenix Arizona not too far from the Metro Center Area. They offer mostly Liberian and other African Cuisine like Nigerian and Ghanaian. It’s a casual small restaurant. I noticed many people with a similar accents to the man serving us doing take out and dining here. Soft beverages and some unique soft beverages like ginger juice are offered. The atmosphere is loud. They have a TV on with a soccer game playing. The people dining here are into loud conversation while dining.
the whole inside
The menu is on the green board at the rear of the restaurant. They also have printed menus. There are many foods that are seldom found at any restaurants that I know of. They offer foods such as ahieke (a fermented kind of couscous), potato greens, torborgee soup (a spicy bitter Liberian stew of beans, palm oil, dried meat), chuck rice (Liberian green rice), egusi soup (Usually Nigerian or Ghanaian melon seed, bitter leaf, and meat soup).
menu
Ingredients are listed on the wall with the menu.
My husband was going to order the torborgee soup but was warned if you aren’t used to the ingredients in that soup it has very unpleasant effects on you that aren’t good to talk about while you are reading about food……….So he got the palaver sauce soup that comes with rice.
It’s a popular West African stew of beef, turkey, skin-on chicken ….It seems like it was prepared well but is very different from American Food or any food that I have tried before…..Besides the unfamiliar flavors and funk (maybe bitter leaf, palm oil, smoked dried fish, melon seeds)…..The amount of rice is enormous. The protein amounts really are very small in the two dishes that we tried. Maybe two – three ounces at the most.
I planed to order the chuck rice (green rice) with fish gravy but was told that they weren’t serving that today and made a quick switch……
I had the tilapia with dry rice and plantains. Again an enormous amount of rice. The rice fills the whole plate and is higher than it looks.
The fish is prepared reasonably well. The plantains are nicely fried. The rice is very unusual to me. It’s not dry like the name implies. It’s actually kind of slime-ee in an okra kind of way. It probably contains okra and little bits of fish and cubes of beef that are similar to lunch meat or hot dogs. This rice might be delicious for an acquired taste.
I did notice that everyone dining there had enormous plates of rice that they actually were finishing. It looks like that is how African people eat.
African Kitchen in Phoenix AZ sure seems like the real deal.
Chula Seafood is a high quality family owned seafood market, casual restaurant and bar with three locations in metro Phoenix Arizona and their original location in San Diego California. They offer sustainable sourced high quality seafood and prepared seafood. From San Diego they hand harpoon swordfish (Their specialty) and bring the best seafood of the pacific coast for us to enjoy.
The new location in North Scottsdale at Greyhawk has the most seating of the Arizona locations. They have a large patio and lots of indoor seating and bar seating.
You order at the counter.
The counter
If you are dining in then you get a number and seat yourself.
bar and main dining area
They seem to offer less fresh seafood than from the two other Arizona locations. This was the fresh seafood offered today at Greyhawk.
Today we shared the hatch chile tuna melt (spiced Oaxaca cheese, hatch chile, Noble bread and chimichurri) with an upgraded side of Caesar salad.
and the tuna confit sandwich (albacore confit, greens, house made giardinia, smoked paprika aioli, avocado on toasted Noble bread with an upgraded side of potato macaroni.
We both like the taste of the tuna confit sandwich more than the tuna melt today. It just taste better…….more clean tasting and delicious today. Here’s what this sandwich looked liked from the Phoenix location.
confit tuna sandwich with side salad
Here’s what the tuna confit sandwich looked like from the uptown Phoenix location.
tuna confit sandwich with Moroccan Carrot salad
Below are a few plates from other Chula Seafood Restaurants that we’ve tried so you can get an idea of what kinds of food you might be able to try (not all but most are specials).
Fish sandwich with potato macaroni saladFriday Hawaiian Lunch Plate Specialoysterslocally made bagel with cream cheese and house smoked loxin house smoked fish plateokonomiyaki fries specialbulgogi tuna burger – specialkale salad with salmon to go – halibut collar for two specialto go – hatch chili tuna melt, chopped salad with salmon, spam macaroni saladto go – bbq fish collar special
Chula Seafood Greyhawk Scottsdale AZ – Newly Opened
Over a year ago I did something like this before but this one is slightly different. Somehow poppy seeds, black garlic mixed with kalamata olives can be magical together with the right ingredients and taste great on vegetables. I simply roasted the vegetables with a light spray of oil and salt and pepper and took them out of the oven when done. The rest mixes up in minutes. Serving size is always difficult to judge. I got 6 side servings out of this. You might get less if your side servings are bigger.
Servings for around 6 servings
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (2 Tablespoons lightly sprayed on vegetables and 1 Tablespoon reserved for condiment)
1 small cauliflower – cut into florets
1 red onion – cut into slices
8oz spinach
4 1/2 oz good quality Feta Cheese cut into small cubes (I like the Israeli Feta from Trader Joes and my 2nd favorite is the Greek Feta from Costco)
1 Tablespoon urfa pepper (this is to coat the feta cheese)
2 Tablespoons poppy seeds – put threw a spice grinder
7oz kalamata olives – pits removed – chopped
1 + 1/2 Tablespoons black garlic
1 Tablespoon date syrup (you can substitute honey but you can easily find date syrup at Walmart)
1 Tablespoon white vinegar
sea salt – to taste
ground black pepper – to taste
optional 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, parsley, or scallions to finish
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
On sheet tray(s) spread out the cauliflower florets on one side and the onions on the other side incase they don’t get done at the same time. Spray them lightly with olive oil. Season them lightly with a little salt and pepper to taste. Put them in the middle rack of the oven and take them out when lightly charred. Mine took 20 minutes but timing may differ due to the way ovens work and the size and age of the vegetables.
In a small bowl mix the feta cubes with the urfa pepper. Keep to the side until ready to use.
In another pan add the spinach. Sprinkle lightly with oil and season lightly with salt and pepper. Cover pan and put this in 5 minutes before you want to serve on the lower rack while the other vegetables are cooking. I like mine like 1/2 cooked. You can do longer if you want or do them on the stove top.
Assemble and serve. I put the spinach on the bottom mixed the onions and cauliflower together. Spooned on condiment. Then added the peppered feta and topped that with cilantro.
Roasted Vegetables with Poppy Seed Black Garlic Kalamata Olive Condiment and Urfa Peppered Feta Cheese
This went FORKING GREAT with the Moroccan Style Turkey Meatballs with harissa that I just made.
Moroccan Style Turkey Meatballs with Harissa Vinaigrette Roasted Vegetables with Poppy Seed Black Garlic Kalamata Olive Condiment and Urfa Peppered Feta Cheese
Chilli King Chinese Food is located in Glendale Arizona not too far from Old Town Glendale. They offer American Chinese Foods, Hot Pots, some other dishes that you don’t find everywhere like scrambled eggs with tomato and Yangzhou fried rice (shrimp, sausage, pork, eggs, peas, carrots, scallions). The foods we tried so far were all flavorful. They also offer the ultra spicy foods. Portions are large and prices are low………The only downside is that service is usually poor when you do take out. They have their young son run the restaurant. He does a good job at taking orders and payments but there are issues with take out. …..Usually you need to wait about 40 minutes for your order to be done even if you prepay your order. They don’t start making your order until you show up. We waited around 45 minutes every time we did take out. My husband tried to speak to an adult about this but couldn’t because of the language barrier with the chef. On our first visit the boy’s mother helped with service. This restaurant is mainly open for take out. They do have four small tables inside that you can dine at if you wish. Soft beverages are offered here.
They offer the usual appetizers like –
spring rolls
crispy chicken dumplings.
On the menu they offer-
Szechuan beef (tender beef flavorful and spicy)
spicy chicken (tender chicken, very flavorful….this one was REALLY very hot spicy…this was one of the Ultra Spicies)
coconut curry chicken with steamed vegetables (flavorful and tender chicken)
They offer sides such as chow mien, fried rice, steamed rice, and steamed vegetables
Above are chow mien and fried rice
This dish is very different to us….
shredded potatoes in red spicy oil….
They are kind of funky and spicy…………..texture is weird ……maybe slightly raw………really different…not sure if I like or not?…………too different for me.
Now for more Ultra Spicy!
MY favorite dish here (so far) is next.
Spicy boil chicken with greens and sprouts….The chicken is so tender and moist and this spicy (really good spicy with Szechuan peppercorns is magically delicious)
Here’s the what they call instant boil hot pot (they say it’s an authentic Chinese Soup)
sausage (we think they are hot dogs?), beef, chicken, potato, tofu, cabbage, mushrooms, steamed rice) Spicy and flavorful. Proteins are very moist and tender.
Oh and did I mention that portions run extra large?
The food is very good and a good value…Service….well ….usually isn’t the best.
I happened to have one cucumber that I had to use up and in my inbox on my computer a recipe came in from the New York Post from Yotam Ottolenghi called Grilled Cucumbers with Tomato-Cardamon Dressing & Mozzarella. Incase you didn’t know Yotam Ottolenghi is a multi award wining chef, restauranteur, and cookbook author. He is one of the most gifted chefs anywhere. If he puts out a recipe it is always worth trying. I wanted to do his recipe but I had to do several different substitutions due to what I had around the house. There was only one thing from the original recipe I wanted to change. I didn’t want to leave whole cardamom shells in the food…Maybe it does infuse better flavor….but I just don’t like cardamom shells in my food. The only problem that I had is that I couldn’t get grill marks to stay on the cucumbers. I did have nice medium light brown grill marks but somehow they disappeared. Maybe instead of a grill pan that I used maybe you can get grill marks to stay on from an outdoor grill.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
8 oz cheery tomatoes
7 Tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves – peeled, sliced thin
1 teaspoon white miso
3 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon cardamom seeds – crushed
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 heaping teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon lime juice
optional – 1 Tablespoon date syrup (I thought my tomatoes weren’t sweet enough so I added a Tablespoon of date syrup. If you tomatoes are sweet don’t add the date syrup)
1 cucumber – peeled, cut long ways, remove seeds, cut in half, cut each half longways in 6 pieces
1/2 a very small head of cabbage – remove core, cut in 3 or 4 slices
1 Tablespoon olive oil (this is for spraying or sprinkling on the cucumber and cabbage)
sea salt – to taste
ground black pepper – to taste
4 1/2 oz cheese – I used caciotta cheese but buffalo mozzarella is recommended – torn
2 Tablespoon fresh cilantro – chopped
Directions
In a large fry pan on medium high heat add the tomatoes, oil, garlic, miso, bay leaves. cardamom, paprika, cayenne, sea salt. Stir. Leave on heat until it bubbles.
Turn down to medium low. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Taste and decide if you need to add the date syrup (or honey). Stir in the lime juice and set to the side.
Use either your outdoor grill or a grill pan in a 420 degree F oven.
Lightly spray or sprinkle the cabbage and cucumbers with oil. Season them lightly with salt and pepper. Lightly grill the cucumbers. You don’t want mushy cucumbers so they can only take around 2 minutes at the most. My cabbage was perfect in 15 minutes on the grill pan in a 420 f oven. Timing can differ.
Transfer the vegetables to your tomato pan. Top with torn cheese and the cilantro and serve. This dish can be served warm or room temperature.
Fly Bye is a casual order at the counter and take out restaurant located in North Phoenix Arizona in Desert Ridge and is soon to be in three locations in Metro Phoenix. This restaurant is one of eleven Fox Restaurant Concept Group restaurants that are in at least fourteen states. On the menu at Fly Bye are snacks like mozzarella sticks and crispy Brussels sprouts. They also offer chicken tenders, chicken wings, salads, a few hoagies, hand stretched pizzas, and Detroit Style pizzas. Bottles and cans of soft beverages, beer, and wine are available.
Beverages and utensil area
This is a small place but they do have a some tables inside and a few tables outside.
You order and pay at the counter.
Then you pick up your beverage from the beverage refrigerator and get your napkins, silverware and plates yourself. When your order is ready someone runs your food to you.
We ordered far more food than we could eat in one visit just to try as much as we could.
We started with the roasted buffalo cauliflower bowl.
This is a bowl of fried cauliflower, avocado seasoned with za’atar, tomato, arugula, cucumbers, onions, and creamy feta dressing is in the bottom of the bowl. It’s not bad but neither of taste any buffalo…maybe it was left off? The za’atar is good but it’s only on the avocado….? I wonder why they don’t add harissa here…It could pop with a little harissa.
Next we tried three chicken tenders. They come with a few crinkle fries, ketchup and your choice of sauce. I picked Nashville Hot sauce.
This was my favorite plate here today. The breading has a good texture and seems free of oil. It’s also a lot lighter than they look. Without sauce they do taste under seasoned. But the chicken inside is incredibly moist. I think that the Nashville Hot sauce is very good…..It’s so full of flavors and a little heat. Now I wish I had a pickle…..The crinkle fries are better than I expected them to be and are very fluffy inside and are seasoned nicely.
They offer hand stretched pizza in regular and large sizes and Detroit Style pizzas in regular and large sized. We ordered two pizzas to try and started with the classic cheese regular sized Detroit Style.
The pizza does have nice crispy edges but lacks that cheesy corner. The crust is MUCH lighter and fluffier than any other Detroit style pizza that I have tried. It taste just like Wonder Bread to me……The tomato is a rich tomato taste and the cheese is nicely melted.
We also tried a regular sized hand stretched Lebanese Mom Pizza.
This pizza is made of marinated tomatoes, roasted garlic, spinach, za’atar, and feta yogurt.
The crust also has that Wonder Bread Taste and it is stretched very thin so it’s not too heavy. It’s not a hard crisp bottom and is more like a party pizza bottom. The marinated tomatoes taste about the same as the regular tomato sauce today. You get the feta flavor from the feta yogurt. A little bit of za’atar was used to slightly season it………. It’s up to you to add salt, or a pepper.
That was a little taste of Fly Bye in Phoenix AZ
21001 N Tatum Blvd PHX AZ (next to Albertson’s at Desert Ridge Mall)
Chick A Dee is a small Thai Restaurant that serves a limited menu of mostly chicken and rice dishes in Phoenix Arizona. The chicken and rice dish (khaow sun kai) is a traditional comfort food dish that you would find being served on the streets in Thailand. Some of the things that you can get are……..steamed white meat chicken, steamed dark meat chicken, half white – half dark chicken, crispy fried chicken, a combo of fried and white meat, all with mild ginger garlic steamed rice, clear chicken soup, and a sauce. One plate is offered as a salad and they also offer a faux chicken served with purple rice that is vegan. They also offer a few sides. Some of the sides are chicken nuggets called “cluckets,”potstickers, wings, and fried bananas with coconut ice cream. Thai beverages and regular soft beverages are served here.
It’s very casual. You order and pay at the counter. You pick up your tray of food when it’s ready.
inside
While you’re waiting you can read the story about their food.
insidethe story
The food is ready in reasonable time and share a variety of what they offer.
Cluckets (spicy chicken nuggets), soup, half and half (white & dark meat chicken and rice and a black sweet Thai Iced tea)crispy chicken, soup, potstickers, sweet black sauce, black sweet tea Thai Style
The cluckets (chicken nuggets) are very unique.
Cluckets
They are some sort of formed chicken with a coating that is dusted with a little sugar, flavors and HEAT. They are tasty but are NOT for children….or whimps.
Potstickers are fried and crisp to perfection but are not the main attraction here.
crispy chicken
Crispy chicken taste exactly the way it looks. It has a nice crisp coating without any unusual seasonings….We tried the sweet black sauce and it was something very unusual to us and was far too sweet for us. The other sauces they offer are sweet chili, sweet & sour and Thai Traditional (That I liked).
For me the main dig was the dish called half and half (steamed white meat chicken and steamed dark meat chicken with mild ginger garlic rice, cucumbers, Thai traditional sauce and a black sweet Thai style iced tea.
The chicken was steamed but comes out the same as poached. It’s fresh tender and moist. You eat it with the clear soup. I think that the Thai Traditional sauce gives it all the flavors that it needs. My husband isn’t a fan of ginger so the sauce was too gingery for him. But I thought that it was just right.
This recipe was an inspiration from Food & Wine Magazine. I came across Roasted Broccoli Steaks with Tomato Butter and Tapenade by chef Greg Vernick. I looked at the photo, read the recipe. While I was cooking I thought another onion would benefit the recipe. I cut the amount of stock to add but my sauce still came out too loose so I added a Tablespoon of tomato paste to make it right. I didn’t like the idea of adding tapenade so I added olives instead. And lastly instead of toasted crumbs I thought crushed Taralli crackers would be tastier. ANYWAYS****It came out FORKING DELICIOUS. Chef Greg Vernick’s recipe in Food & Wine Magazine gave me the inspiration to come up with what I got here. This recipe makes around 4 servings.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
sea salt – to taste (I used my home made lightly pecan smoked sea salt)
fresh ground black pepper – to taste
3 medium-small broccoli heads – cut in thirds threw the head like steaks
10 oz plum tomatoes – quarter
2 small red onions – cut in wedges
4 oz vegetable stock
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter – cut in small cubes
Optional – 1 Tablespoon tomato paste (if sauce is too loose)
4-6 olives – remove pits, slice or cut off of the pits ( I used cured black olives)
5 taralli crackers crushed
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F with a grill pan on the middle rack. Let this heat up at least 10 minutes.
In a large mixing bowl add the broccoli, tomatoes, and onions. Add the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste (around 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon pepper. Mix and arrange in a single layer on the grill pan. Turn everything over after 10 minutes and mostly everything will be done in another 10 or 15 minutes.
The tomatoes get blended with 1/2 of the onions (this should be done with a stick blender or you have to wait for this to cool with a regular blender) Slowly blend in the cubes of butter. If this is too loose add the tomato paste. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (I used around 1/2 teaspoon H.M. smoked sea salt and around 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.)
Arrange the plates
Put tomato butter on bottom of plate. Then add broccoli and onions, add olives and crushed taralli. I also added some cherry peppers stuffed with cheese.
Roasted Broccoli and Onions with Tomato Butter and Crushed Taralli Crackers
A SPECIAL THANKS!!!!! To Food & Wine Magazine and Chef Greg Vernick for an amazing recipe to inspire what I’ve done here.
Smoked salt is very expensive no matter where you shop. I thought since we are smoking up a storm today that we should also try to do smoked salt.
Today we are smoking eggs, a brisket, corn, and sea salt today but I’m just talking about the salt here.
Our smoker doesn’t have any settings for heat. I think it smokes at around 160 degrees F. We left it in till we ran out of pecan wood (around 3 hours). I could have left it in longer for a stronger smoke taste but 3 hours the taste is there and I think is enough. The salt smells so good! Give it a try!
