Here’s a sampling in no partial order of recipes that would be FORKING GREAT for Thanksgiving. Up above is Milk Street’s version of Vivian Howard’s Sweet Fresh Corn Pudding. This is really incredible……….I really mean it!
Parmesan and Potato Mousse with Parmesan Crisps Potato Cannoli Potatoes Anna StyleDuchess Potatoes (The Special Occasion Potato)Sous Vide Turkey Breast
(By the way – I insist that you must brine your turkey…..or do what I do for Thanksgiving…CHEAT and buy an already brined turkey from Trader Joes either wet brined or kosher dry brined…It’s really worth it!) (Who has room to brine at Thanksgiving time?) I FORKING KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT….after all I did get paid to cook Thanksgiving for 500 people back in the day…..I did the turkeys, potatoes, sauce, and vegetables all by myself too…..This sous vide turkey is perfection……..nuff said.
Forking EZ Oven Fried Turkey Wings
So tasty it could be favorite part of the turkey.
Crispy Turkey SkinTurkey Stock
Turkey legs with thighs – I normally just stew them…….till they fall apart. Then I pull the meat.
This is a masterpiece….The turkey is glistening full of turkey juice…..I don’t mean to brag but this is masterfully incredible.
It really is this juicy cold.
Balsamic Cipollini Onion and Cranberry Gravy (this is cold in the picture)Acorn Squash with Cranberry Mango Habanero Sauce and Blue CheeseSpiced Custard Filled Acorn Squash with Maple Bourbon WalnutsCranberry Mango Habanero SauceCranberry Sauce with Hibiscus Moist Fresh Herb Turkey StuffingZippy but Delicious Corn Bread StuffingMushroom Chestnut and Fig Bread StuffingChanterelle Bread StuffingGochujang Roast Chicken with Kimchi Rice Stuffing and Crispy Skin (The same can be done with turkey)Brussels Sprouts Baba GanoushMomofuku STYLE Brussels Sprouts with Fish Sauce Vinaigrette and Shivhimi Togatashi Pop Corn Five-Spice Butternut Squash in Cheesy Custard Butternut Squash and Fondue Pie with Pickled Peppers Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Green Onions, Calabrian Chili, Figs with Reduced Balsamic Sweet Potato Ravioli with Beet Puree Kabocha Squash Cake with Chocolate Drizzle and ChestnutsOnion RollsFour Ingredient RollsButternut Squash Cinnamon RollsPurple Sweet Potato Blackberry Pie with Coconut/Almond Crust
Sweet potatoes are delicious and sweet already. I hate when people add a lot of sweetener to them like maple syrup, marshmallows, and brown sugar. I love those things but those things are for dessert and not a side dish in my opinion. ANYWAYS- I came up with just plan roasted with oil, salt, and pepper. Then I got the idea that cumin would taste good so I sprinkled some on. Then you have to add coriander…..Then I’m thinking Aleppo (a medium-ish almost mild pepper)….Then I thought I GOTTA use Urfa pepper…..(mildly smokey and raisin-like)…..I tasted it and TANGERINE JUST POPPED to me……So at the end I added tangerine zest and it came out FORKING DELICIOUS! Serving size is always difficult to determine. I don’t know if you want a small taste or a partial plate full……..My best guess is that this can possibly be 8-16 portions so I’ll say 8. I also note that I didn’t weigh my two sweet potatoes…..They were on the larger side so you might end up with a different amount of servings because of sweet potato size.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
2 Large sweet potatoes – cut into wedges (I quartered and cut each quarter in half)
about 1/4 cup – extra virgin olive oil to brush or spray all sides of sweet potatoes
fresh ground sea salt – to taste
fresh ground black pepper – to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
1/2 teaspoon Urfa biber pepper
6 tangerines – just the zest for the recipe to finish the dish – serve the peeled tangerines for dessert.
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Spray or brush sheet tray(s) with oil.
Place the sweet potato wedges on sheet tray(s)
Lightly spray the sweet potatoes with oil and lightly salt and pepper them.
Sprinkle the sweet potatoes with the remaining spices (cumin, coriander, Aleppo, and Urfa.
Put the sweet potatoes on the middle rack of your preheated 425 degree F oven till done and lightly browned. Timing may indeed differ……Mine took 40 minutes.
Top with tangerine zest and serve.
Spiced Sweet Potatoes with Tangerine Zest
This was pretty easy to prepare and also happened to come out FORKING DELICIOUS!!! It’s a really GREAT Alternate to adding lots of sweets to sweet potatoes.
Nora’s Cuisine is an award wining Italian Restaurant located in Las Vegas Nevada (a short distance from the Las Vegas Strip). They offer dinner every night and lunch is served Monday-Friday. They are a little different than most places because they offer a long menu of many dishes to pick from. This is also a very large restaurant with multiple dining areas, a bar, and patio dining.
Bread service is an optional $1. per person. You might get plain or garlic toast. We got garlic toast.
My husband started to with a bowl of pasta faggioli.
I tried the Scottish salmon with arugula and tomato.
The fish is seasoned well and was prepared reasonably well. The arugula was bright and bitter in a good way and seemed extra fresh. The red tomato wedge was delicious. It was marinated and sweet and flavorful. The two lighter wedges tasted raw…
My husband enjoyed the falcita lunch. (rope sausage, house salad with aged provolone)
We managed to save room to try a dessert and went for the almond cake.
It was made with ricotta and almond flour and was topped with vanilla sauce. It was very good but tasted more like a slice of lemon cake.
Lunch at Nora’s Cuisine is Worth a Try!
Nora’s Cuisine 5780 W Flamingo Rd Las Vegas NV – 702-873-8990
Louie Louie The Restaurant in Las. Vegas Nevada serves sushi, unique sushi rolls, and hibachi. This is a full service restaurant and bar.
We started out by sharing a salmon tostada.
The salmon is very fresh and it’s topped with pico, avocado and herbs. Under is a creamy sauce that is bright and very lime-ee.
We shared one of the Louie Louie Specialty rolls called the Ozzy Roll. (tuna, salmon, avocado, wasabi tobico ((also spelled tobiko flying fish roe)), black tobico, masago ((capelin roe)))
This was an amazing roll bursting with all kinds of delicious flavors! It’s so detailed.
Teeny tiny lemon wedges with little tiny crisp things. It’s popping with all kinds of flavors and some heat too!
We also shared a filet mignon and chicken hibachi.
It came out sizzling like a fajita.
The vegetables were zucchini, carrots, onions, and broccoli. You dip them in the creamy sauce (basically a sriracha mayo) and you dip the meats in a ginger-ee type sauce. This also comes with steamed rice but you do have the option to upgrade to fried rice or noodles. Today the beef came out better than the chicken.
Worth a Try!
Louie Louie The Restaurant – 4408 N Rancho Dr Las Vegas NV – 702-483-5744
This recipe isn’t exactly Yotam Ottolenghi’s but is based on his recipe that he did for crushed butternut squash with walnut salsa topped with roasted pork belly. I happened to have a butternut squash and there are many great chefs with great recipes on the internet but I haven’t found anyone else yet that makes so many incredible vegetable recipes as Multi Award and James Beard Award Wining Chef, Restauranteur, and Cook Book Author Yotam Ottolenghi. So I looked up another butternut squash recipe and this is what I came up with. Oh and by-the-way it came out incredibly delicious as expected. READ THIS>>>>>>YOU NEED A REALLY GOOD VEGETABLE PEELER TO PEEL A BUTTERNUT SQUASH> So don’t get mad at me if you can’t peel your squash. Serving size is always difficult to determine. I don’t know if you want a small side serving or a larger serving. Plus all the squashes out there are different sizes too! The one I made came out to be around 6 servings.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
One butternut squash – peeled, cut in half longways, seeds and membranes removed
2 Tablespoons yuzu juice (ok to substitute lime juice)
1 Tablespoon mirin
2 teaspoons tarragon
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
sea salt – to taste
ground black pepper – to taste
Non stick spray
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Spray a sheet pan(s) with non stick spray
Get the squash started
The squash has been cut longways in half.
Place the squash in preheated 425 degree F oven for 15 minutes so it’s easier to hasselback. When it’s cool enough to handle use wooden spoons or chopsticks around squash so you don’t cut all the way through.
In a small mixing bowl mix together the olive oil, butter, and miso and brush this on the squash. Lightly sprinkle the squash with sea salt and black pepper to taste.
Put the squash halves in non stick sprays baking sheets and paint on the miso butter. Give it a light sprinkle of salt and pepper.
Cover with non stick sprayed foil. Continue cooking till fork tender…Timeing will differ….depending on oven, freshness and size of squash……This will take another 45-60 minutes.
Make the Apple Walnut Salsa while the squash is cooking.
In a small mixing bowl combine apple, walnuts, vinegar, yuzu or lime juice, mirin, tarragon olive oil, salt and pepper.
When the squash is done. Serve it with the apple and walnut salsa.
ENJOY!!!!
Hasselback Miso Butter Butternut Squash with Apple Walnut Salsa
A Special THANKS!!!! To Yotam Ottolenghi for his FORKING AMAZING Recipe so I could come up with what I got here!
Dining Out with DOGS is just a “Fluff” story about taking my dogs out to eat. It started back with my late dog Louie. He always LOVED going out to eat. When he was elderly and was diagnosed with aggressive cancer I took him out as often as I could to eat. Instead of his 3-6 month life expectancy Louie made it another 17 months. Today I take my current dogs out to eat when I can and when the weather is right.
We took the dogs to Those Guys Pies in North Las Vegas. The popular dishes here are pizzas and cheesesteaks. This restaurant is very dog friendly. They even have a craft dog biscuit vending machine inside that offers FOUR flavors of dog biscuits.
Last time my dogs tried the beef biscuits. This time they tried the chicken biscuits.
One of the nice workers there ran a dog bowl of water over to my dogs.
The dogs were very happy tasting some of my husband’s cheesesteak. (my husband was happy eating it too)
The dogs were also happy to help me eat my lakeside salad with added chicken.
The dogs always enjoy dining at Those Guys Pies in North Las Vegas NV.
Those Guys Pies 1327 S Simmons St North Las Vegas NV – 702-483-4404
www.ThoseGuysPies.com
The Forking TruthIn Memory of Louie 5-5-2001 – 3-3-2017
Echo & Rig is a butcher shop and steakhouse located in the Summerlin part of Las Vegas in Tivoli Village.
Some of the meats they sell.
You walk up the stairs or use an elevator to get to the dining room.
Even at lunch time they start you off with bread and soft butter.
We started out by sharing the fried spinach salad (red onion, cauliflower, broccoli, chile-lime vinaigrette)
I think it’s very good. The broccoli and cauliflower were slightly cooked so they aren’t hard and raw. The spinach magically isn’t oily. It’s very similar to what several of the Thai restaurants offer here without the tempura coating.
I tried the signature house ground burger (chuck, short rib, brisket) with bib lettuce, heirloom tomato, red onion, aioli, and kennebec fries (I asked for medium…..to me it’s closer to medium-rare- rare on end but still good)
It’s very juicy and really is a very flavorful burger. The fries are good but slightly over-done today…….Still a great value for $17 (subject to change). It might be among the best burgers in Vegas……
My husband tried the crispy porchetta sandwich that comes with garlic chips.
I heard that flavors were good but today this ran a little dry….more dry than what he likes.
Lunch at Echo & Rig is Worth a Try!
Echo & Rig – 440 South Rampart Blvd Las Vegas NV – 702-489-3525
Sinful Subs is a very unique casual sandwich shop located in Las Vegas Nevada. This restaurant is by celebrity chef Vic Vegas who has been on multiple TV Shows but is most famous for being on Bar Rescue.
This casual sandwich shop has a gritty New York Theme to it. Many of the menu items have CRAZY Names like a turkey club is named, “Club to the Head.” An Italian type sandwich is called, “Knuckle Sandwich.” They also offer some snack-at-tizers like meatloaf fried in crispy wonton wrappers and served with mashed potatoes and gravy. The weekend only breakfast called, “Walk Of Shame” is three layers of French toast layered with eggs, sausage, bacon, ham, American AND Cream Cheese, and a hash brown with powdered sugar and maple syrup.
I tried what they call TV dinner. (medium sized sandwiches come in medium & large)
I think a better name for this is a Thanksgiving? This is surprisingly pretty good……The bread is better than from several other sandwich shops I’ve been to. The turkey is called roasted turkey breast but it seems like the better turkey lunch meat? It’s very flavorful…..I think the turkey was heated up in turkey stock? Stuffing A-OK. Mashed potatoes are A-OK I confess that I didn’t try the turkey gravy…..I can tell by looking at it that it came from a jar or a can so I passed on that but all together everything was tasty. Even the corn was nice and flavorful. The cranberry sauce is a similar quality to the gravy. Overall a surprisingly pretty good! This is also filling. I’m a pretty good eater and ate the corn and half the sandwich so I got another half for another time. At the time of my visit this sandwich doesn’t cost much more than fast food and is much better than anything fast food….(only $9.49 subject to change)
My husband tried the chicken parm that is called Italian Chick-en Vegas (large)
It’s made with hand breaded chicken fingers, a rich tomato sauce and lots of melty mozzarella cheese. ($11.99 subject to change)
Sinful Subs is Worth a Try!
Sinful Subs 5135 South Fort Apache Rd Las Vegas NV – 702-998-2555
Milpa Mexican Cafe is located in Las Vegas Nevada.They are a small but high quality Mexican Cafe. High quality heirloom corn from Mexico is used in the house made stone ground mass and tortillas. They offer all day breakfast and brunch, 9 kinds of vegetable, grain, and taco bowls, tacos, sides, coffees, Oaxacan hot chocolates, a few cocktails, beer, soft beverages, and more!
It’s casual. Your order at the counter, pay, and grab a number and seat yourself. They run the food to you when it’s ready.
Between us we tried all the tacos and a side of arbol potatoes. All of the tacos were very good but I did favor some over others.
Chicken Adobo Tacos – Citrus ans Adobo marinated grilled chicken, cabbage, cilantro, pickled onions, radish, salsa verde. These had a delicious char taste on the chicken.
One is the fish taco (maui maui) not sure what is next to it because many of the tacos look the same here. The taco next to it might be the Cauliflower Tinga? – Tinga marinated roasted cauliflower, cabbage, cilantro, pickled onions, radish, salsa verde………I thought this one had the most delicious flavors! I could go for one right now!
Not positive but I think this was the beef barbacoa. The barbacoa is very jiggly here with lots of fat. The flavor is good. My husband liked this one more than the asada but I liked the asada better.
I didn’t try the Birria Queso Taco (braised beef) with cheese and this ULTRA POWERFUL salsa Arbol sauce……..This one ain’t for tenderfoots. The most powerful sauce ever to be paired with birria.
Grilled Steak…..(maybe not your favorite but this one was my favorite of the beef tacos) caramelized steak and onions, guacamole, salsa macha, (I’m not much of a beef person but this one was one of the most delicious to me) and Mushroom Carnitas onions, avocado, salsa verde, salsa guajillo, cilantro
I think this was the shrimp taco – Lime & Garlic Shrimp, cabbage, cilantro, pickled onions, radish, salsa verde
I came across this recipe for triple chocolate cookies somewhere. I had to make some changes to the recipe because it didn’t turn into a dough as written…..(Misprint?)….Then I made a few changes to improve the flavor.
Ingredients for around 38 cookies
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon course sea salt
8 oz sweet butter melted
1+1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 eggs – slightly beaten
2 teaspoons pure vanilia
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups 62% dark chocolate chunks or chips
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips
non stick spray
12 oz bag semisweet chocolate chips or chopped (for drizzling) ((YOU DON’T Need whole bag ……I used maybe slightly more than half)
sea salt flakes – for finishing
Directions
Preheat ocen to 375 F.
Spray a few sheet pans with non stick spray.
In a large mixing bowl mix everything except the chips and non stick spray (flour, baking soda, salt, butter, sugar, cocoa, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon) Then mix in the chips.
Scoop of the dough in meatball size (around 1 + 1/2 ounces each) and space them on your sprayed sheet trays.
Use the middle two racks and put them in for 10 minutes and after 10 minutes switch the pans on the racks and depending on your oven and size of cookies they will need about 5-10 minutes more. You can kinda tell when they are done by gently feeling the top of cookie. If it feels raw then it is raw.
By now the cookies are out of the oven cooling…..You finish with a chocolate drizzle and a very light pinch of sea salt flakes. To do the drizzle microwave or boil water in a sauce pan till very hot or almost boiling. Put about a cup of chips in a smaller bowl and let them melt as they sit….Drizzle the cookies with a spoon or fork and do a very light sprinkle of sea salt flakes.
