Monthly Archives: April 2023

Yotam Ottolenghi Style Rose Harissa Recipe

Leave a reply

I’ve heard of rose harissa but never have actually tasted rose harissa before. Then I came across a recipe for cabbage with rose harissa. The funny thing about finding that cabbage with made with rose harissa recipe was that it is by Ixta Belfrage who is a cook and cook book author and has worked for Yotam Ottolenghi in his Test Kitchen. The Cabbage with rose harissa in the ingredients for the recipe doesn’t have a rose harissa recipe to it. I guess you can purchase jarred rose harissa or find a recipe and make it yourself. I found Yotam Ottolenghi’s Master Class Recipe for Rose Harissa on www.Masterclass.com . I had the majority of the ingredients that this recipe needs but I had to make a few minor changes or substitutions. Rose petals was the only ingredient that I omitted. To my surprise Rose Harissa taste very different from regular harissa. You do taste rose in the background but it isn’t gross. The peppers are much more bold in rose harissa than from regular harissa. Regular harissa has a nice roasted pepper flavor enhanced with warm spices and some heat. Rose Harissa is deeper flavored and sort of smoky but also with a little heat.Serving size is difficult to determine. I don’t know if you want a small amount to spread on part of a pita or if you want enough to cover a kabab or a steak. This made enough to fill a small bowl. I’ll guesstimate around 8 servings.

Ingredients for around 8 servings

2 oz dried guajillo chilies

1 oz chili powder (I used mild)

5 garlic cloves

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 Tablespoon coriander seeds

1 1/2 teaspoons caraway seeds

1 Tablespoon tomato paste

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon paprika

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1 Tablespoon rose water – divided

4 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

4 oz extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon sea salt (I used my homemade smoked pecan sea salt)

Directions

In a hot pan toast the chilies and garlic till charred. Put the chilies in a heat proof bowl.

Cover the chilies with boiling water. Let them soak 30 minutes. If you have a blender chop up the chilies after the 30 minute soak and blend. If you don’t have a blender you can scrape out the insides. You should discard the stem, core, and seeds. Set to the side.

Add the cumin, coriander, and caraway seeds to a hot pan and toast till fragrant. Either blend or use a mortar to the seeds when cool. Blend or pound the seeds with the chilies, garlic, tomato paste, paprikas, and sugar.

Add the lemon juice, half of rosewater, vinegar, oil, and salt. Add rest of rose water.

To preserve this you can add another 4 Tablespoons of oil if desired.

Rose Harrisa

ENJOY!!!!

A Special THANKS!!!! To Yotam Ottolenghi and Master Class so I could come up with what I got here!

The Forking Truth

NEW WeiRD DIFFerenT Limited and Special Edition Foods Out There April 2023

Leave a reply

There is always something new, weird, different, limited, or special edition in the wonderful world of food. We never know WTFork we will come across when we shop for food.

Up above is –

LIMITED EDITION – Cap’n Crunch’s 60TH Birthday – Birthday cake flavor Crunch. On one hand it is very nice that good old Cap’n Crunch is 60. After all ……..birthdays are good for your health. The more that you have the longer you live! On the other hand Those colorful artificially flavored cereal balls look nothing like birthday cake. They just look like balls to make you fart a 60 year old birthday rainbow.

LIMITED EDITION – Kellogg’s Peeps – Artificially flavored marshmallow flavored cereal with marshmallows…..Boy oh boy….How good does THAT sound? I wouldn’t utter a peep.

NEW – Kellogg’s Krave – Double Chocolate Brownie Batter. WOW! That sure doesn’t sound nutritious for breakfast. Maybe it’s dessert cereal? Or maybe something worst. Looks like a diarrhea splat on the front of the box.

NEW – Post Fruity Pebbles Crunched in rock star shaped? Fruity Pebbles is a rice based cereal. This NEW version is a corn and oat based cereal with added coloring and natural and artificial flavors. Looks like you are going to poop fireworks from this one.

NEW – Post Cocoa Pebbles Crunch’d – Sweetened naturally and artificially chocolate flavored corn and oat cereal with real cacao that is rockstar shaped. I wonder who eats this? I think that the Flintstones are even older than me. I wonder if they are older than Cap’n Crunch?……I just looked them up! The Flintstones ARE REALLY FORKING OLD. They are Sr. Citizens. (62years old!) Oh Boy! Yabba Dabba OY VEY!

LIMITED EDITION – General Mills Lucky Charms with marshmallows and leprechaun trap on back of box. I guess they made the box into a toy or a trap? Maybe you can catch mice with the trap if you find that you are out of leprechauns?

NEW and maybe Limited Edition? – General Mills Reeses’s Puffs Minis – They looks like little pebbles to me. Looks like lots of them can fit into your bowl…..

LIMITED EDITION – General Mills Cinammji Toast Crunch? I think that this is the same old Cinnamon Crunch with faces painted on them. That is sort of creepy. A bowl of faces looking at you while you eat.

DIFFERENT – Total Cluster Fudge Chick’s Mix Original – Glazed cereal, pretzels, peanuts, chocolate candies. (ICK!)

DIFFERENT – Peeps marshmallow flavored pop ups lollypops…It’s different!

DIFFERENT and maybe WEIRD – Bob Ross happy little tree mints. What wood? Bob Ross Say?

DIFFERENT and also WEIRD – Galerie – Edible Grass in Strawberry and Green Apple……Edible Grass? in Strawberry? and Green Apple?

World Market sells some foreign KitKats

DIFFERENT – Nestle KitKats from Japan in Chestnut flavor….SOUNDS delicious but those KitKats are a 50/50 chance…..?

DIFFERENT – Nestle KitKats in chocolate orange flavor…That one also sounds really good?????????

WEIRD – Nestle KitKats in BISCUIT flavored…..LOL Biscuit flavored…I don’t know about that one.

LIMITED EDITION – Peeps chick shaped marshmallows in Kettle Corn flavored….????? A little corny but maybe worth a cluck?

LIMITED EDITION – Peeps Pepsi Cola…….???? WTF Artificially flavored marshmallow soda…..Someone MUST HAVE BEEN ON DRUGS to think of and approve this…..There is no other explanation.

LIMITED EDITION – Froot Loops Naturally flavored jelly beans……might be good?

NEW – Haagen Dazs Butter Cookie Cones in Vanilia and Strawberry. OK …I guess that the ice cream isn’t fattening enough so they have to add a butter cookie cone.

NEW – Haagen Dazs Coffee and I accidentally photoed vanilla again….Sorry I noticed that this also comes in chocolate.

DIFFERENT – Montana Mex Tomato Ketchup. Now that is different.

And there is usually something Oreo……

Nabisco – naturally and artificially flavored Birthday Cake Flavored cream with sprinkles cookies. They’ll make anything to get you to fart a rainbow.

Well that was the new, weird, different, limited and special edition foods out there for April 2023. Who knows WTFork we’ll come across next time.

The Forking Truth

Dining Out With DOGS in Metro Phoenix AZ – April 2023 – Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery, Culver’s

Leave a reply

Dining out with dogs is just a “Fluff” story about taking my dogs out to eat. It all sort of started with my dog Louie. He was elderly and was diagnosed with aggressive cancer. His diagnosis was 3-to maybe 6 months. He couldn’t do a lot but always enjoyed going out to eat so I took him out to eat as often as I could. Instead of the 3-6 months Louie made it another 17 months. Today I take my current dogs out to eat when I can.

There are many things to know about dining out with dogs. You need to find a dog friendly restaurant. (not all of them are even if they have patios) Here in Phoenix weather can be an issue. 90 degrees and above is dangerous for dogs because they aren’t as heat tolerant as people. Also the food and drink that you consume can cause illness or even be TOXIC to your dog. (you need to check with your veterinarian for lists of safe foods and foods to avoid) Once you do find the right spot to dine out with dog(s) you must keep your dog(s) close to you. Dogs shouldn’t sit on restaurant furniture or eat off of restaurant plates.

A regular stop for us is Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix. They are a Pho-Free Vietnamese eatery that specializes in serving around a dozen different Banh Mi baguette sandwiches. Some of their other offerings are rice plates, noodle salad bowls, and curry chicken.

Today I got a chicken banh mi and my husband got a shaken beef banh mi.

The sandwiches are very large and for me they are two meals if I do take out but here I share a lot with the dogs. I eat 1/2 and pull out the meat from the other half for the dogs.

We always enjoy going to Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery

2340 W Bell Rd PHX AZ

602-843-3637

www.BanhMiBistroAZ.com

It’s starting to turn HOT in Phoenix. Culver’s is a casual burger chain that opens at 10:00 before it’s too hot to dine out with dogs so we have to take them there. Culver’s is better than most other similar chains because the beef and chicken are never from frozen. They also offer daily made custard, chicken sandwiches and tenders, fish sandwiches and entrees, a kids menu and more.

We got the dogs a double butter burger with cheese.

he burger is moist and nicely caramelized. I remove the bread. and give them about a third of the burger. Over the next two days they will have the rest as treats.

He looks so funny looking up at the burger.

She sure has her eyes on that burger.

They enjoyed Culver’s!

8330 W Deer Valley Rd Peoria AZ – 623-792-8957

www.Culvers.com

“Well it’s FORKING HOT already in Phoenix AZ so that’s all Folks!” “We hope you enjoyed Dining Out With DOGS in Metro Phoenix and we hope to see you soon!”

The Forking Truth
In Memory of Louie 5-5-2001 – 3-3-2017

Alzohour Market and Restaurant – The Most Unique Restaurant in Metro Phoenix AZ – Worth a Fork!

Leave a reply

Alzohour Market and Restaurant is a Moroccan/Middle Eastern Halal Restaurant, market, grocery, and Islamic clothing store in Metro Phoenix Arizona. It’s not a fancy place and alcohol is not served here.

One woman named Zhor runs and serves and prepares all the food herself. She also runs the market and clothing store. Somehow (I have no idea how) she makes her own pastry and even yogurt too for the greatest tzatziki anywhere.

Due to all the hard work she does service is at Zhor’s pace……..So PREPARE for that………. It’s like visiting a foreign land.

You might want to start off with falafels.

Or maybe something hard to find like kashke Bademjam.

It’s meaty eggplant with garlic and walnuts….that gets embellished with vegetables and fresh herbs. You eat it with flatbread. It’s like a vegetarian eggplant fajita.

Another stand out starter are the stuffed grape leaves.

I promise you that these grape leaves are the most delicious ones out there!

Another MUST GET is the Moroccan Tea.

It’s the most delicious tea we ever had anywhere.

The most famous dish here is the painstakingly made B’Stilla.

It’s Zhou’s hand made phyllo dough with chicken, cinnamon, almonds, and dusted with powdered sugar. It’s sweet and rich and also a very large generous portion.

My personal favorite entree is the fish tagine.

It comes out bubbling hot and the fish is always mild tasting and tender moist. Moroccan spices, lemon and olive are the flavors going on here. This comes with rice.

My husband’s favorite entree is the mix grill.

You get a chicken kabob, a shish kafta, gyro meat, rice and whatever vegetables Zhor is serving today.

Some of the other offerings are –

Lamb couscous

(to go) Chicken Tagine

(to go) Chicken Kabob

Kebssa (Kabsah) Saudi Rice Dish with chicken

Chicken couscous

Frekah with chicken.

So far the best tasting baklava I’ve tried is the baklava from Alzohour. It’s not as sweet as it looks.

Sometimes there is a dessert special.

Stuffed baklava

Maybe my favorite dessert here is the kunafa.

This is made fresh to order and comes out HOT! It’s noodle pastry stuffed with cheese and topped with pistachios (I was too full and had to order to go!)

The hand painting inside was done by Zhor herself.

Alzohour Market and Restaurant is the most unique restaurant in Metro Phoenix Arizona and is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

Alzohour Market and Restaurant

7814 N 27th Ave PHX AZ – 602-433-5191

www.Alzohour-Market.Business.site

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

NakedQ BBQ – Glendale AZ – The Turkey is FANTABULOUS – Worth a Fork!

Leave a reply

NakedQ BBQ is a small casual barbecue restaurant that serves dry rubbed barbecued meats. You can add whatever sauces you like but the meats come out “Naked.” NakedQ BBQ is in three locations in metro Phoenix Arizona. The original located is in north Phoenix in the Deer Valley Area. They also are in Scottsdale, and the newest location is in Glendale by the State Farm Stadium in Westgate.

Just like the original location the Glendale location is small and casual. You order at the counter, get your platter, pay, grab drinks, and sauces, and seat yourself.

All the BBQ is good….don’t get me wrong but the turkey really stands out. It’s nicely flavored and smoked just right. It’s always moist and tender so well that it seems like it was prepared from a sous vide oven.

Below is a caesar salad with turkey.

For some people this is a very large salad with a large portion of tender amazing moist turkey breast. (I got two meals out of this and it was only…ONLY $9…….I expect that price to change)

Pro-Tip – The caesar dressing is bit mild……I make it pop by adding a little drizzle of NakedQ’s mustard sauce…..Now you got a tasty meal.

My husband usually gets the two meat plates that comes with two sides.

He got BBQ brisket, pork, beans, and vinegar slaw. He said that the corn bread ran more moist than from the Phoenix location.

Once in a while like a few times a year they have smoked corned beef as.a special. I only had it twice so far.

Below is the first time we had the smoked corned beef.

OMGosh! These were incredible. If a food critic was here and tasted them that person would call these sandwiches among the best in the valley…..Tried them a year latter….discovered that they make two different versions of this sandwich. Up above is the fatty and usually I don’t do fatty but fatty here is better. The second version I had was the lean and it didn’t melt in your mouth like the fatty here……..If you ever happened to catch the smoked corned beef you must ask for the fatty.

The second smoked corned beef……*This was the lean*

Below are a few photos of NakedQ BBQ food from the North Phoenix Location.

Turkey Garden salad

2 meat plate – brisket, pulled pork, with added jalapeño hot links, sides bbq beans and Mac ‘n’ cheese

to go – 2 meat plate – pulled pork, jalapeño hot links, Mac ‘n’ cheese

to go – 2 meat plate – chicken & brisket, vegetable, slaw

1 meat pulled pork, beans, mac’n’ cheese

1 meat plate bbq turkey slaw & vegetable

Side of jalapeño hot links

Everything is good but the turkey is fantabulous!

Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

NakedQ BBQ – 9405 W Glendale Ave Glendale AZ 623-230-2199

www.NakedQ.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Soy Sauce Eggs with Yuzu Dijon Mayonnaise Recipe & Ichimi Togarashi

2 Replies

By accident I came up with an amazing finish to soy sauce eggs. I came across a recipe by the amazing Momofuku for Soy Sauce Eggs. I have made ramen eggs before and these are similar…BUT I had to make changes due to the ingredients I had that did differ. Long story short…these eggs came out tasting more like soy sauce eggs….and that is ok because that is what they are but I do prefer the taste of ramen eggs…so I added a few layers of flavors that make these eggs FORKING DELICIOUS.

Ingredients for 6 servings

6 large eggs

water to boil eggs

1/2 cup water

1 Tablespoon molasses

2 Tablespoons sherry vinegar

1/2 cup soy sauce

ichimi togarashi – to taste

2 Tablespoons mayonaise

2 Tablespoons yuzu marmalade

1 heaping Tablespoon dijon mustard (or to taste because every brand does taste different I used Amora Dijon)

optional cilantro leaf or sliced scallions to finish

Directions

Put on a pot of water to boil. You need enough water to cover the eggs. Lower eggs carefully in the boiling water. They will need 6 1/2 minutes to 7 minutes to get jammy.

You need an Ice bath for the eggs. In a large bowl fill it halfway with ice and add some water. Let the eggs rest in there around 30 minutes.

While the eggs are cooling off…….In a small mixing bowl mix together the 1/2 cup water, molasses, sherry vinegar, and soy sauce. Set to the side.

In a small bowl mix together the mayonnaise, yuzu marmalade, and dijon. This gets set in the refrigerator because you won’t need this for four hours.

By now the eggs are chilled and you can peel them. Put the eggs in a Ziplock gallon bag and pour in the soy sauce mixture. Squeeze out air from the bag and refrigerate for four hours. You should turn the bag occasionally.

When ready to serve cut the eggs in half. Sprinkle a little bit of ichimi togarashi, add a little yuzu dijon mayonnaise and a cilantro leaf or sliced scallions.

Soy Sauce Eggs with Yuzu Dijon Mayonnaise and Ichimi Togarashi
Soy Sauce Eggs with Ichimi Togarashi & Yuzu Dijon Mayo

I think everyone will enjoy these eggs. I do Thank Momofuku for inspiring me to come up with this!

The Forking Truth

My FORKING Thoughts on Reese’s Crunchy Peanut Bars

2 Replies

I was out grocery shopping today and I noticed many NEW Reese’s products. Most were mixes for cakes, cookies, brownies, and pancakes. Then across from hair products were Reeses Crunchy Peanut Bars. I never saw them before and wanted to give them a try. I get my bar home and open it up.

WOW! It’s much larger and heavier than I was expecting.

How many servings is this?

3 or 4 looks about right. I cut mine into 4 servings. Each one is around Reese’s Cup Sized.

They are unique and different and maybe not like anything else out there. They really are packed with peanuts encased in a sweet peanut flavored sand and are lightly coated with something chocolatey. To me they seem slightly sweeter than my familiar Reese’s cups but still a little salty like a Reese’s Cup. They really are packed with peanuts. These bars seem less chocolatey than a Reese’s cup but are still good.

The taste of these Crunchy Bars really isn’t bad……I just wish they came in sensible sizing. like in patties, cups, or break off bars.

Those were my FORKING Thoughts on Reese’s Crunchy Peanut Bars. I do note that YOUR Forking thoughts may indeed differ.

The Forking Truth

No Recipe Italian Chile Crisp Turkey Breast with Onion Tomato Chestnut & Fig Sauce Dinner Idea

Leave a reply

Turkey Breast is very easy to prepare. Let me back track……I start off with whole turkeys that I buy from Trader Joes in November and freeze the turkey in parts for latter use. I buy turkeys from Trader Joes because they sell brined and dry brined (kosher) turkeys. Who has all that room to bother brining turkeys…….Anyways…….A brined turkey (either wet or dry brined) always comes out a billion times better than from a turkey that wasn’t brined. These turkeys always come out very flavorful and juicy moist. They are the closest to a foolproof turkey for everyone.

So I have a split boneless breast that was rubbed with my Italian Chili Crisp (recipe on site or you can buy this these days). I put some canola oil in my fry pan on medium high heat. The split turkey breast goes skin side down for 10 minutes with a sheet of aluminum foil loosely covering pan. After 10 minutes turn the turkey breast over and cook the other side. Add the loose foil again. After about ten more minutes the turkey breast will be down or next to done. If you pound it then I’m pretty sure it will be done) (It might need 1-2 minutes more you can check with a thermometer. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture the turkey needs to be 165 degree F to be safe to consume.

It should come out at least like this without pounding on both sides.

When you pound it the turkey cooks up faster.

Let it cool off on a cooling rack with a pan underneath or a baking sheet.

Don’t clean out your fry pan because you will add stuff to it.

Add two sliced onions and cook about 20 minutes on medium heat stirring occasionally. Later you add a pack of dried figs and a pack of chestnuts both lightly chopped. (the fig and chestnut packs were around 3oz each)

The figs with chestnuts only need a few minutes.

Then I added maybe two Tablespoons of tomato paste. Cooked that out a couple minutes and then added maybe a cup of water.

Italian Chili Crisp Turkey with Onion Tomato Chestnut and Fig Sauce

ENJOY!!!

The Forking Truth

A Little “SKINNY” on PA’LA – 24th St Phoenix AZ

Leave a reply

PA’LA is a high quality casual Italian, Mediterranean, and global type restaurant that prepares most of the foods served from a wood burning oven. They have two locations in Phoenix Arizona. One location is downtown and the other might be considered close to downtown. PA’LA might be considered a sort of tapas restaurant? They offer seasonal changing menus always offering organic produce, native grains, seafood and are local as much as possible.

The original location that is close to downtown is a very cozy restaurant.

When the weather is nice you will want to sit outside.

A few of the offerings you might find are things like-

white anchovies with crackers

Artichokes with Italian crackers

Navarro Bowl – skate, 5 grains, beets, cannelloni beans

Wood roasted fish Navarro bowl

Tuscan style whole grain open sandwich

“The sandwich” grass fed beef, poblano pepper, spinach, chimayo Chile powder

The sandwiches always taste amazing and are very high quality…..but sometimes they are very “skinny.”

Here’s the Hot Italian (Arcadia meat market sausage, arugula, pickled red peppers on their wood fired bread)

The lox sandwich is even “skinnier.” (lox, ricotta, capers, arugula, fennel, pickled red onions)

The really is very good and certainly is high quality but sometimes it is skinny so you can load up on the tapas appetizers and house made desserts.

PA’LA – 2107 N 24th St PHX AZ – 602-795-9500

www.PALAKitchen.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Food Stock 2023 – P83 Peoria AZ Sports Complex

Leave a reply

Food Stock is a Food Truck Gathering Event. This year 2023 over 50 food trucks were expected. Some are participating to offer $3.00 samples. This event took place 4-10pm Saturday April 15th at the Peoria Sports Complex in P83 in Peoria Arizona. Besides food trucks they also offer a full bar, bounce houses, a splash pad, play ground, and face painting. Admission for adults was $5.00 and children 12 and under was free. They also are suppose to have live music and FREE parking too!

According to www.AllEvents.in these are the food trucks that are expected to show up.

I planned to make Red Ginger my #1 destination but the Red Ginger Food Truck was no where to be found…..Bah that was my real reason for attending. …….Anyways…….. I’m familiar with a bunch of the food trucks and I had really great experiences at some of them.

It’s nice and sunny today. I think it’s close to 90 degrees F. There are a few areas for shaded seating. They also have a few bars set up.

Bottles of purified water cost $6.00 today.

The tacos from Good Eats Only Mexican Kitchen were downright amazing the first time we had them so we gave them a try here.

Today we tried a chicken taco and a carne asada taco.

Still good……but a little dry today. The hand made tortillas are very good.

We enjoyed the most amazing sandwich from Bro Bro’s BBQ so today we gave them a try.

My husband tried a $3. sausage sample.

And we shared a brisket plate with jalapeño Cole slaw and potato salad.

Still good but not incredible like last time…..From my experiences none of the BBQ places are ever perfectly consistent. The slaw is very crisp and fresh but a little on the bland side and lacks jalapeño. On the other hand the potato salad taste like the type Costco sells but is topped with lots of seasoning and heat.

I thought I remembered hearing positive things about the next food truck. Our last food truck to try was Lili’s Tacos.

We tried a chicken and a beef taco.

These tacos were topped with lots of fresh herbs and came with lemon and HOT pickled carrots. Both taco meats have a texture that is between chopped and ground. I think the chicken meat is a little flat. Green salsa is on the flat side. Really don’t like the red sauce at all…..It’s very HOT and taste like you’re licking the spice out of a spice jar. (taste like cayenne & paprika…LOTS of paprika)

That was Foodstock 2023.

www.AllEvents.com

Food Stock – 16101 N 83rd Avenue Peoria AZ

www.AllEvents.in

www.GetLocalArizonaEvents.com

The Forking Truth