Tag Archives: #foodies

Italian Butter Cookies based on Italian Recipe Cookbook Recipe

1 Reply

I came across www.ItalianRecipeBook.com and they offer a lot of interesting recipes to try. I came across their Italian Butter Cookie Recipe and it took me back to visiting neighborhood bakeries. As a child my family purchased baked goods from local bakeries. Old women that worked there would always offer me butter cookies that were delicious. This recipe was pretty good and I hardly changed a thing. I did cut the recipe in half and came out with 21 cookies instead of 40 cookies. I used vanilla extract instead of vanilla powder because I don’t have vanilla powder. I made the cookies the right size but for some reason the timing didn’t work out for me…………..Maybe my oven is to blame? Instead of 14 minutes these cookies took me 14 + 5 + 5 + 10 minutes…….but every time I opened the door this oven looses a lot of heat unlike my last oven so opening the door is time costly………….Maybe you won’t have the same problem? These are small but delicious cookies that aren’t too sweet. You might want to eat more than one? This makes around 10 (if you eat two cookies) or 20 servings if you only eat one cookie a serving. I’ll say 15 servings because sometimes you will only eat one cookie.

Ingredients for around 15 servings

4 ounce unsweetened butter – mostly melted

1/2 cup 10X sugar

1 egg

6 ounce flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Optional toppings such as jimmies, fancy sugars, chocolate chips. cherries, sesame seeds, or nuts

Directions

Mix together everything but the toppings in a medium-large bowl (butter, sugar, egg, flour, vanilla

This mixture goes in a pastry bag with a large star tip.

You make small swirls (20-21) on parchment lined sheet pan(s).

Top the swirls with your choice of toppings.

They go on the middle rack of the oven till lightly browned. (original recipe reads 14 minutes……I did 14 + 5 + 5 + 10……….?

In the end they came out DELICIOUS!

Italian Butter Cookies

A Special THANKS!!!!!!!! To www.ItalianRecipeCookBook.com so I could do what I got here!

The Forking Truth

Farm at Aliante Casino/Hotel N. Las Vegas NV – Very Average American Restaurant

Leave a reply

Farm is an American Restaurant located in Aliante Casino/Hotel in North Las Vegas Nevada. This restaurant offers breakfast, soups, salads, sandwiches, burgers, entrees, and specials.

Inside is a mix of booths, 1/2 booths, and traditional tables.

At times you see a busboy robot zooming by.

My husband tried the special of the month.

It was red beans and rice with andouille sausage, smoked ham, and a cornbread muffin that was very dry. He did say that the red beans and rice was good.

I tried the crispy chicken salad.

It’s a very average salad with cellulose coated shreds of cheese, romaine, a few vegetables, and Luke warm dried out fried chicken slices.

That was my trip to Farm at Aliante Casino/Hotel.

7300 N Aliante Pkwy N Las Vegas NV

702-692-7777

www.Aliante.BoydGaming.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Chinglish Cantonese Wine Bar Las Vegas NV*****NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS

Leave a reply

UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS*******Chinglish Cantonese Wine Bar is located in Las Vegas Nevada.

They offer Cantonese and Hong Kong Style Chinese Foods.

Inside is large and spacious.

With interesting decorations and kitchen action to view.

We started out by sharing the Poh Poh’s chicken and mushroom dumplings.

These dumpling are FORKING DELICIOUS and even the sauce is amazing……These might be the best dumplings ever!

For my main I tried the Kung Pao Chicken.

It’s not bad but flatter than what I’m used to………Usually it’s a balance of more tangy…with sweet and salty………

My husband tried the Mongolian Beef.

The beef is tender and it’s slightly spicy. Mellow on the flavors too.

We tried the macarons today.

Usually they are pistachio, coffee, and cherry. But today they had a problem with the pistachios so they gave us two cherries and a coffee. The macarons are very good with good flavor. The middles are a bit thick and rich but good. We both don’t care for coffee so we didn’t try it.

My advise is to certainly get the dumplings. It’s worth a trip just for them!

That was my trip to –

Chinglish Cantonese Wine Bar – 702-935-2088

*******UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS*******

8704 W Charleston Blvd Las Vegas NV

www.ChinglishWineBar.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

FEDERAL DONUTS & CHICKEN – NOW OPEN at Red Rock Casino Las Vegas NV – The “Hot & Fresh Cinnamon Brown Sugar Doughnut is to die for

Leave a reply

FEDERAL DONUTS & CHICKEN specializes in serving quality higher end doughnuts, marinated twice fried chicken, and coffee. This is a Philadelphia based franchise. Two of the five founders of this group are multi awards wining and multi James Bead Awards Wining Chef Michael Solomonov, and Steve Cook.

This is a small casual order-at-the-counter type of place. There are no seats here but only just around the corner is the food court with a good amount of seating. Here’s the menu-

We shared two of the sandwiches-

Buffalo chicken sandwich (Twice fried chicken breast with house made buffalo sauce and bread and butter pickles on a potato bun) Behind it are everything rooster sauce ,and chili garlic sauce, and Za’atar Fries.

South/West BBQ chicken sandwich (twice fried chicken breast with BBQ seasoning, pepper jack, peppadew slaw and potato bun)

Both sandwiches had moist tender chicken that was fried nicely with shattering crispy ends. I thought the buffalo sandwich had a lot more flavor going on with it. This (By-The-Way) was grand opening day and I’m not sure if things were running perfect or not yet…I think the SWBBQ chicken sandwich might have had something missing….It tasted like it needed something. I added some everything rooster sauce to it and it was much more delicious that way.

The chili-garlic sauce wasn’t the red Vietnamese style sauce that I was expecting. Instead it was an Asian-like Brown sauce that also was amazing. It tasted like really great Take Out Asian Food. (I will buy extra next time so I can have tasty take out style Asian food here…..It was much better than what I can get in this area)

The Za’atar fries were very good and seemed fresh made. They didn’t really need a sauce but I wished something like a tahini-feta sauce or a harissa something sauce came with them.

Then we sampled three doughnuts and brought the rest home.

We tried one of the fancy doughnuts called lemon bar.

Pomegranate mascarpone

“HOT & FRESH” Cinnamon brown Sugar

It’s hard to judge fairly because the fresh made to order “Hot & Fresh” cinnamon brown sugar blew the others away by a BUNCH……The others weren’t bad but can’t compare to the fresh made one that was so aromatic and just melted in the mouth. This doughnut was an AMAZING Doughnut. You won’t find one better anywhere.

Next time I’ll try a salad maybe with chili garlic sauce? Or tenders and a side salad with a few sauces? and a “Hot & Fresh” Cinnamon Brown Sugar Doughnut.

I don’t think I’ll be ever to leave Red Rock Casino without getting a “Hot & Fresh” Cinnamon Brown Sugar Doughnut from Federal Donuts & Chicken.

The “Hot & Fresh” Cinnamon Brown Sugar Doughnut is to die for- YUMmmmmmmm!

FEDERAL DONUTS & CHICKEN Newly Opened at Red Rock Casino

11011 W Charleston Blvd – 702-797-7759

www.FederalDonuts,com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Pate A Choux Recipe & Pastry Cream Recipes – Based on www.ItalianRecipeBook.com

Leave a reply

You can find some amazing recipes on www.ItalianRecipeBook.com . I found a recipe there for a pate a choux based pastry called Saint Joseph’s Pastry. It differs some than other recipes I tried but I thought their way of making the pate a choux was explained better. Some things about the recipe did differ from what I got………You also might want to double the pastry cream. I only wanted a small squirt in the center. you might want to split more open than what I did and might want to use more.

I got 24 pastries instead of twelve. I didn’t make them smaller either.

There are two hard things about making them….The original recipe says that this should look not like dough and look more like cream………It tells you to use 4 eggs and only part of the 5th egg if needed………..that is what I did….

I used about 4 1/2 eggs but about doing so I think the pastries would have looked better with 4 eggs.

I think I would have gotten more defined ridges on the pastries but there is another issue…….

IT’S FORKING HARD TO SQUEEZE THIS OUT OF THE PASTRY BAG. Not everyone out there will be able to sqeeze this stuff out with a pastry bag.

The other issue is the pastry cream. It’s good if you want it very thick and not flavored much as written……… but a suggestion of lemon or orange zest is suggested. The next day mine was too thick to use so I added splashes of cream, vanilla, and honey to it.

Ingredients for up to 24 pastries

285ml water

200 grams flour

4 oz sweet butter

4 eggs (up to a 1/2 egg more if you want your dough thinner)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 1/3 cup milk

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup corn starch

1 oz butter (I used sweet butter)

Splash cream (to thin if desired)

splash vanilla extract (to flavor if desired)

splash honey (to sweeten if desired)

Directions

In a sauce pot bring the water, butter, and salt to a boil. Then reduce to low heat. Add all the flour. Cook on low a few minutes. Take off heat and when the dough is cool add one egg at a time. Here’s the tricky part….You can add up to a 1/2 egg more but dough might get soft and not hold shape well.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Pipe 3 inch rings onto parchment paper leaving room for rings to expand.

Let this bake till it turns light brown (in my oven 30 minutes) and open the oven door but leave the oven on with the pastries….They need to get harder….They need 5-10 minutes more with the oven door opened.

Repeat until done with dough.

Make the pastry cream.

Mix milk, cream, yolks, sugar, honey, corn starch, and vanilla. Bring to boil and stir well with a whisk. Thin as needed.

Decorate however you want!

Pate A Choux Pastries (and mini stuffed potatoes)

I made the puffier ones like eclairs by dipping the top in melted chocolate chips and splitting in half adding pastry cream. Some I swirled a little chocolate its de creme in the center and topped with a cherry.

A SPECIAL THANKS!!!!!!!! To www.ItalianRecipeBook.com so I could come up with what I got here.

The Forking Truth

My FORKING Thoughts on Dunkin’ Chocolates Jelly Donut Candy – Just SWEET – Maybe POWDERED Doughnuts

Leave a reply

I noticed lately that there is a new trend of things that are not doughnuts that are “Doughnut Flavored.” I didn’t know until I purchased this candy that there are other Dunkin’ Chocolate Candies out there. I saw this one and I decided to give it a try even after reading the ingredients.

It’s made in Poland….

I open it up.

Darn! The one side is damaged and doesn’t come out so I take the other one.

My one dog thinks it smells good. The other dog is uninterested in it. I don’t give them any because this might be harmful to dogs.

I bite into it……It’s so sweet that it is almost hard to taste. I do taste raspberry and what seems like extra sweet white chocolate….I do not really get doughnut here………But I can imagine LOTS OF POWDERED SUGAR……..Maybe this can pass as POWDERED Jelly Doughnut?………I am undecided if I will eat the second one tomorrow……latter I threw the rest out.

Those were my FORKING thoughts on Dunkin’ Chocolates Jelly Donut.

Your FORKING Thoughts may indeed differ.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Pandora’s Burgers North Las Vegas NV

Leave a reply

Pandora’s Burgers is a small Soul Food Restaurant located in North Las Vegas Nevada. It’s not a fancy place. It’s very casual and you order and pay at the counter and someone runs out your order when it’s ready.

Some of the foods that you can order here are – Of course burgers, (The Pandora Burger is ground in house..not sure about the other burgers), wings, chicken fingers, hot links, BBQ ribs, fried turkey chop, stuffed turkey leg, fried gizzards, catfish, cajun shrimp, and also soul food Sunday goodies. Soft beverages are offered here.

My husband tried a Pastrami Cheese Burger with Fries.

The bun was grilled nicely and the flavors are good. This burger was cooked all the way well that is typical Southern Style. The fries are the soft style…….

I tried the Turkey Leg Off The Pitt with a side order of macaroni and cheese.

It’s good but not perfect. The turkey really is fall off the bone tender. The flavors are good but it isn’t juicy…….The ,macaroni and cheese also is Southern Style (meaning the pasta is very soft). I can taste that the macaroni and cheese was made with real cheeses and is also seasoned very nicely……I think it might have a dash of hot Chile oil in it.

The owners were very nice and engaging.

That was my trip to Pandora’s Burgers.

Pandora’s Burgers – 3131 W. Craig Rd North Las Vegas NV

702-636-9859

www.PandorasBurgers.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

District One – Vietnamese & Asian Las Vegas NV – They are Different – Stewed Not Shaking

Leave a reply

District One is a Vietnamese/Asian Bar and Restaurant located by an end of Chinatown in Las Vegas Nevada.

My husband started off by trying the pork belly buns.

They differ some than what he expected……It seems like the pork was stewed and is tasty but on the dry side.

I tried a shaking beef salad.

It’s also not what I expected. The beef usually is stir fried or wok-seared. This beef does taste marinated (like it should be) but also seems stewed instead seared.

Looks stewed……

The other problem with this salad is all the soup in the salad melting the greens.

This might be great for some but I didn’t enjoy.

The waiter highly recommended the shaking beef pho to my husband so that is what he tried.

He thought the flavors were ok but also didn’t care for the stewed type beef. We got this dish from many restaurants before and the beef was never stewed before.

This restaurant is different from other Vietnamese Restaurants. They do offer more seafood dishes like yellow tail tacos, yellow tail collar, fried whole fish, and lobster pho.

Different here…Shaking Beef is stewed and not shaking here.

District One – 3400 S Jones Blvd Las Vegas NV

702-413-6868

www.DistrictOneLV.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Al Solito Posto Las Vegas NV – Worth a Try!

Leave a reply

Al Solito Posto is a richly decorated high quality Italian Restaurant located in Tivoli Village in the Summerlin part of Las Vegas Nevada.

There is a large patio that wraps around the restaurant.

Inside is busy and energetic. There is plenty of seating in the restaurant and large bar but reservations are recommended.

Everyone starts off with fresh baked focaccia and roasted garlic with oil and dried herbs presented table side.

We started off with the fried squash blossoms stuffed with three cheeses and garnished with basil aioli and a lemon wedge.

They were shattering crisp and kinda fun to eat.

I heard that the Italian Chop Salad was very good. It’s packed with greens, roasted tomatoes, chick peas, meats, cheeses, and peperoncini.

For my main I tried the Scottish Salmon.

They don’t ask you your preference (medium-rare, medium, etc.) and the fish comes out well done…..BUT it’s the best well done salmon that I have tried anywhere. It’s as moist as a medium and taste as fresh as can be. It’s also nicely grilled with all the skin and all the bloodline removed. It comes with tomato braised lentils and roasted carrots.

My husband tried the Maasaldine Cacio E Pepe.

He thought it was perfect. Said, “This is REALLY GOOD!”

We gave the Chocolate Hazelnut Semi Freddo a try.

To me it’s more like a mildly flavored mousse topped with very hard crunchy sticky nuts.

I’ll try a different dessert next time.

Al Solito Posto is Worth a Try!

420 S Rampart Blvd Las Vegas Nevada

702-463-6781

www.AlSolito.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Tenderstem Broccoli with Peanut Gochujang Dressing Recipe – Yotam Ottolenghi Style

Leave a reply

The Sprouts Grocery in NORTH LAS VEGAS has some really great surprise sales. I walked in and they had BIG BAGS of two kinds of broccoli on sale for 99cents a bag. In case you don’t know Yotam Ottolenghi is a multi award wining and James Beard award wining chef, restauranteur, and cook book author. I figured that he would have a great tender stem broccoli recipe and he did on his website. I didn’t want to change anything in his recipe but I had to change a few things due to what I had around the house. So I made a few substitutions and left out one ingredient that I didn’t have. I also doubled the amount of brown sugar peanuts because I knew I would want more than a 1/4 cup. This came out different and delicious! It might be something that you might want to try? This made four generous side servings for me.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar – peanuts

2 teaspoons soy sauce – peanuts

2 teaspoons olive oil – peanuts

1/2 cup peanuts – peanuts

non stick spray – peanuts

1/2 cup peanut buttet – dressing

2 teaspoons gochujang – dressing

1 Tablespoon soy sauce – dressing

1 teaspoon dark brown sugar – dressing

1 lemon – just the juice

2 teaspoons – fresh grated ginger – dressing

2 garlic cloves , ground to paste – dressing

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

3 Tablespoons water

1 Tablespoon chives – to finish

1 pound broccoli (You can use whatever broccoli you want)

Salt to boil water

Directions

Set oven to 325 degrees F.

Get a small sheet tray ready and spray it with non stick spray.

In a small mixing bowl mix together the brown sugar, soy sauce, and oil. Then mix in the peanuts. Pour this out on your sprayed baking sheet in one layer and spread it out. This goes in the preheated oven for nine – ten minutes.

Put a pot of water on to boil and salt the water.

Mix up the dressing – in a small bowl mix together the peanut butter, gochujang, soy sauce, sugar, lemon juice, ginger, garlic, salt, and water. Put to the side.

When the peanuts come out of the oven they will be molten hot. You might want to break them up a little before they set and lump up together.

Boil the broccoli for three minutes. Drain the broccoli and either serve or if for latter put in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

Serve with peanuts and sauce either on the side or drizzled on and finish with chives.

Tenderstem Broccoli with Peanut Gochujang Dressing

A Special THANKS!!!!! To Yotam Ottolenghi for his Tenderstem Broccoli with Gochujang Dressing Recipe so I could come up with what I got here.

The Forking Truth