Bistro Jeanty is a charming multi award winning Michelin Star French Bistro located in Yountville California. t’s decorated with all kinds of knit knacks and old kitchen pots, pan, knives, old ceramics and other stuff. It’s busy inside.
inside decoration
Outside they also offer patio dining accented with lots of shrubbery. The menu offers classic French Dishes.You can find dishes like country pate with cornichons, duck liver mousse, escargot, quiche, coq au vin, croque madame, and filet au poivre. They also offer specials and here were what they were offering tonight.
Tonight we added truffle butter to the complimentary bread basket.
On our second visit this week we did start with the famous tomato soup in house made puff pastry.
(it’s delicious you must try it)
On a previous visit we did start with the truffled deviled eggs.
On our first night we got our favorites again.
Sole Meunière – pétrole sole with mashed potatoes in lemon butter sauce.
Dynasty Chinese American Restaurant has recently opened in Cave Creek Arizona. They serve mostly Chinese-American favorites but they also offer other unique dishes like crispy Brussels sprouts, truffled filet mignon, and black truffle fried rice.
They are newly opened and on the day of my visit they are without a sign….The previous restaurant in that spot was J Chen and you see that very clearly where the sign was removed.
We walked in and were greeted ad seated quickly.
We started out by sharing the crispy Brussels sprouts.
The Brussels sprouts were crispy and tasty. They seemed like they were free of oil. They also gave us a very large portion and we sure didn’t mind taking some home for latter.
I was going to order the black truffle fried rice. I was told that they didn’t have truffles today but would have some tomorrow. I was thinking about ordering the sizzling sea bass but I didn’t know if they would do fish well so I thought for my first try here I’d try the Szechwan garlic chicken.
The chicken is masterfully moist (yeah!) vegetables are tender crisp. It has a nice heat to it. This is a very large portion….It is flavorful but it does run sweet.
My husband tried the kung pao with chicken, beef, and shrimp.
All the proteins are tender and moist. It is flavorful, a bit spicy, and it also runs sweet.
Went back for a second visit.
Started with the vegetable rolls.
They are expertly fried and are ever so slightly garlicky….
This time we got the black truffle fried rice with added chicken.
It does have a nice black truffle aroma….It’s really different. Most of the rice is steamed but some of the rice is crunchy and there’s soft fluffy egg. The chicken is very moist and tender. It’s subtle with truffle taste….I smell it more than I taste it until I hit a cluster of truffle dust. It’s also a little peppery. It’s really different…Never had a fried rice like this before.
We also shared the black pepper filet mignon. It comes out on a sizzling hot bubbling skillet. The filet is mixed with tender crisp red bell peppers and onions.
The filet is tender like butter. Honestly you can cut it with your fork. The sauce is slightly garlicky but you taste more black pepper like you should.
They have a sign now.
Dynasty Chinese Restaurant – Newly Opened in Cave Creek
This recipe is sort of a spin off of Food & Wine Magazine’s recipe Sweet Potato Gyoza with Beet Puree. I wanted to make my own pasta instead of buying gyoza wrappers. I also needed to change a few things. But I did the beet puree almost the same. This recipe made me 22 half moon ravioli. Serving size is difficult to judge…It depends if you only want a couple of ravioli or a whole plate of ravioli. I’ll guesstimate this to be 4 servings for the majority of people.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
2 eggs – pasta
3 egg yolks + 1 egg white – (the egg white is for sealing the ravioli) – pasta
1 cup ap flour + a few tablespoons + a sprinkle for rolling (different brands are ground different you might need up to 1/3 cup more than one cup)- pasta
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil – pasta
2 pinches sea salt – pasta
8 oz beets -peel, cut in half or thirds depending on size -beet puree
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter – beet puree
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar – beet puree
2 Tablespoons cooking water from beets – beet puree
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest – beet puree
1 lb sweet potato – peeled, sliced 1 – 1-1/2 inch disk -filling
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter – melted – filling
2 Tablespoons hazelnut butter (I made mine in a spice grinder) – filling
1 teaspoon sumac – filling
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander – filling
1/2 teaspoon ground sea salt – filling
1.4 teaspoon ground black pepper – filling
2 Tablespoons scallions – sliced thin for finishing
2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves – chopped or torn for finishing
Directions
Set oven to 400 F.
Put the sweet potato slices in a pan and add about 1.2 cup of water and cover the pan with foil. Do the same with the beets. Timing might differ some. In my oven on the middle racks the beets took 90 minutes and the sweet potatoes took 60 minutes. Take them out of the oven when you can piece them with a fork.
Make the pasta dough.
In a medium sized bowl mix up the two eggs with the three egg yolks, oil, and salt. Mix well. Add the cup of flour and mix well. I suggest to have up to 1/3 cup of flour on the side. Each brand of flour is ground different so it is impossible to give an exact measurement. Today I needed to add about half of the 1/3 cup of flour that I had on the side. You knead the dough and you can tell it’s right with it doesn’t stick to your hands. Wrap the dough up in plastic wrap and leave out till you are ready to roll it out. (You will need a little more flour for rolling.
Mash the sweet potatoes with the butter, hazelnut butter, sumac, coriander, salt and black pepper. Set to the side.
Blend the beets with butter, rice vinegar, beet water, and lemon zest. Set to the side.
Roll out the pasta dough around 20 x 15 inches.
I used a three inch cookie cutter and painted the edges with egg white. (I also didn’t re-roll the pasta scraps. You can re-roll the scraps but the dough will be tough…Instead it’s a better idea to just hand cut the scraps into strips and make something like a macaroni and cheese….
Anyway…back to ravioli
Then I used my smallest scooper and scooped out the filling.
I think it is easiest to start in the middle……and just pinch your way down on each side.
Have a pot of salted water boiling.
Boil up your ravioli. They don’t need too long maybe up to two minutes. If you aren’t eating them all now you might want to give them a spray of oil so they don’t stick together.
Serve with beet puree and top with cilantro and scallions. (I had some leftover squash puree so I added that for a pop of color.
Sweet Potato Ravioli with Beet Puree
A Special THANKS!!! To Food & Wine Magazine for inspiring me to come up with what I did here.
I am kinda obsessed with better quality ice creams. I live in Phoenix were it is ice cream weather most of the time and by bad luck don’t have quality ice cream parlors nearby. I have to travel a crazy forty minutes for a decent ice cream shop. Most of the ice cream sold at local supermarket isn’t so great. It’s just a part of life gong out for ice cream in warm or hot weather once in a while….ANYWAYS….I came across this Leeuwen Sicilian Pistachio French Ice Cream at my local Sprouts Grocery. This flavor of Leeuwen is a small batch flavor and is only made up from six ingredients.
I open it up.
It’s green from all the special Etna Mountain Sicilian Pistachios and it’s thick and rich from cream and egg yolks. It taste just like pistachios……We stopped at about one third down but it would be easy to keep eating more.
Leeuwen Sicilian Pistachio French Ice Cream is FORKING GOOD…and is worth eating.
Anyone that likes pistachios and doesn’t mind a completely smooth ice cream should be pleased with the flavor.
I had half a cabbage head and potatoes that I had to use up so this is what I came up with today. I made the kimchi and then I thought that it made sense to add the potatoes “Peruvian Potato Salad Style (partly mashed in)” so they’d just soak up all the yumminess from the well seasoned kimchi. That made the potato salad healthy style. This whole batch of kimchi potato salad only has one tablespoon of sugar and one teaspoon of sesame oil. Also the potato ratio is far less because it is a lot of cabbage too. Serving size is difficult to judge because I don’t know if you want a small side serving or a dish full. Based on the amount of potatoes in this I’d guesstimate this to be eight servings.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
2 lbs potatoes. – peeled, cut into large cubes ( I cut each potato into 6 big chunks 1/3 and half the third)
2 Tablespoons sea salt (to boil the potatoes)
1/2 cabbage medium/small – shred thin on mandolin
1 red bell pepper – shred thin on mandolin, rough chop slightly
4 radish – shred
1/2 cup scallions – sliced thin
1 Asian pear – peeled and shred (you can substitute an apple)
2 Tablespoons gochugaru (This needs to be kept in your freezer or it goes moldy….closest substitute is Aleppo pepper)
3 Tablespoons sriracha – (I like Shark Brand..It’s very smooth)
2 garlic cloves – ground to paste
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon sugar
4 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1. teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 Tablespoons fish sauce (I use Red Boat Brand)
Directions
The peeled potatoes go in a pot with water covering them well. Add sea salt to boil the potatoes. Boil until very soft. (around 15-20 minutes…maybe a little longer if your potatoes are very large)
In a big bowl combine the cabbage, bell pepper, radish, scallions, Asian pear, gochugaru, sriracha, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, rice vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, and fish sauce. This mixture needs to sit and marinate it’s self for about an hour on the counter. When the potatoes are soft you can drain them and stir them into the cabbage mixture. You need to brake them slightly but you don’t want to completely mash them either…you want them nice and lumpy but slightly mashed and creamy for your salad. Liquid will come out of the salad. Mix it a few times gently so you don’t break the potatoes too much. This needs to get refrigerated. You can serve cold, room temperature, or warmed up.
When a new buffet opens up it is usually as great as it is going be so I like to check them out as they open when one pops up in the area. This particular one recently opened. It’s open everyday for lunch and dinner. They offer over a hundred dishes to choose from.
They have a small koi pond inside. It’s set up like the zoo. You can feed the fish for a dollar.
It looks very nice inside.
We pay on our way in and then get seated. And now we are off to try things.
We usually start with the sushi. They didn’t look the best so I only picked one to try. For some odd reason the fish felt hard and crunchy on the ends…..(ick!) …….Today it’s better not to eat the sushi.
Moving on…..
The food looks ok for buffet food.
They have all kinds of chicken dishes, a few beef dishes, a little shellfish. They have soups, lots of desserts and much more. It looks like everything is labeled today.
I took Sichuan chicken, chicken on a stick, one piece of orange chicken, mushrooms, green beans, flounder, and some noodles.
Oh my…….none of the chicken I took is chewable….The orange chicken is hard as a golf ball……The mushrooms and noodles have an unpalatable taste…..it’s so horrible it’s too painful to eat. ………It FORKING doesn’t even taste like food!*********When I get to the flounder.it is edible but is unseasoned and unflavored….Only the green beans are good….. (I was thinking that they must have purchased the green beans….I didn’t think they taste like they could have came from this place.)
My husband took different things with the same results….All the chicken, beef, and shrimp dishes were un-chewable. Everything we tried with the exception of the green beans tasted terrible….so terrible that I can’t even describe….so bad the food is just painful…..to eat.
We decide that we must try the Mongolian grill….It just has to be better……
I make a plate with chicken and my husband makes a plate with beef….
The beef came out hard and chewy.The chicken came out moist but the flavors are unpalatable…….ICK! I can’t eat this!
We left.
My husband left hungry and wanted to eat someplace else.
I felt kinda sick to my stomach and didn’t want to eat anything.
Maybe if you try this place as soon as they open for lunch there is a possibility that the meats might not be so leathery, hard and dried out. If you don’t mind leathery chewy dry meats and don’t care how food taste then maybe you might be alright here.
Based on just one visit I do NOT recommend Las Vegas Seafood Buffet in Phoenix AZ.
The Forking Truth is that Sometimes a Buffet isn’t your Best Choice when you go out to eat.
The Pacific Seafood Buffet is two locations again. They have one location in Chandler Arizona and One again in Glendale just two miles away from their old location that was torn down and will become a Cheddar’s Restaurant. The buffet is open everyday even holidays for lunch and dinner. They offer over a hundred different things to choose from.
Maybe you want to start with common sushi.
Or maybe you want some sashimi? Oh take both!
They have lots of fried tasty things. My favorite here are the little sesame balls stuffed with sweet bean paste.
They have dumplings, steamed buns and stuffed leaves and more! DIDN’T I TELL YOU THAT ALMOST NOTHING IS MARKED? Everything (almost) is a surprise. I took one of each steamed bun…Both I never had before. One was filled with sweet egg custard. The purple one was filled with sweet white bean paste. I saw a few different kinds of chicken feet here today and they added pizza as we were leaving.
They do offer several shellfish dishes. I took some mild whitefish with ginger scallions and a dish that I never had at a buffet before…The sweet and spicy mild fried white fish….It might have been the best dish I tried today. The other best dish I tried were the mushrooms….They were baby brown mushrooms that were really good. I also like the baby bok choy. They were smaller than what I usually find and were tasty and slightly still tender crisp.
That mackerel in the upper right was my least favorite today. I couldn’t stomach it.
The green beans were good. Next to it was a tofu stir fry. On the other side was some sort of stir fried tilapia that looked like chicken…..My husband tried it…….It was not great but edible.
Don’t remember what was in the pans below.
The desserts………..nothing too exciting. Fill up before you get here.
And the frozen desserts.
That was a little taste of the Pacific Buffet in Glendale AZ. It’s not high end but The FORKING Truth is that it is better than some places.
I had a lot of zucchini to use up so I was looking for zucchini recipes. The most interesting one that I found today was one by Great British Chefs called Harissa Hasselback Courgette Recipe with Dukkah. I liked the idea of the recipe but changed many things. The zucchini white bean dip I did not exact but from memory of a Michael Solomonov recipe of Brussels sprouts that I thought made sense….I also flavored it with his recipe for zhoug sauce since I have a jar of it that I made. The dukkah recipe from G.B.C. tasted ok but I thought it was missing something….. I happen to have Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe for dukkah and I added the ingredients that he put in his and it tasted much better. I also didn’t use purchased harissa and have my own recipe for it so I used mine. So this recipe is a mash up of Great British Chefs, Michael Solomonov, Yotam Ottolenghi, AND ME! I had enough zucchini for a party. You might want to cut this recipe down in half or a quarter depending on your needs. I had 4 pounds of zucchini to use. It’s at least 8 servings.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
4 lbs zucchini
6 Tablespoons harissa – preferably home made (2 CLEANED UP roasted red bell peppers chopped, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon caraway, 2 Tablespoons e.v.o.o., 3 garlic, 1-3 hot peppers-chopped, 2 Tablespoons tomato paste, juice of 1 lemon, 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar, s&p to taste Blend)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (leaves and only the tender stems) for finishing
Directions
Set oven to 400 degrees F.
In a bowl (med-large bowl) combine the harissa, olive oil, and lemon juice and set to the side.
Hasselback 3 pounds of the zucchinii using either chop sticks or a wooden spoon next to the vegetable so that you don’t cut threw. You can pick up the zucchini and fan it open and dip it into the harissa to coat it.
After the zucchini get coated with the harissa the zucchini go on sheet pans.
They stay in till they look slightly caramelized. About 40 minutes..The other pound gets sliced up and drizzle a small amount of olive oil on it. Also give it a small amount of salt and pepper. This also goes in the oven with the rest of the zucchini.
While the zucchini is cooking make the dukkah. Combine hazelnuts, sesame seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, sea salt, black pepper, paprika, and oregano. Mix and put to the side.
The sliced zucchini is done when it gets charred.
The last thing to make is the zucchini white bean dip. Blend but leave chunky the charred zucchini slices, beans, tahini, lemon juice, zhoug, yogurt. Add salt and pepper to taste.
SERVE! Put the dip under or on the side of the zucchini. Top with dukkah and fresh cilantro.
Harissa Hasselback Zucchini with Dukkah and Zucchini White Bean Dip
It’s FORKING Delicious!
Harissa Hasselback Zucchini with Dukkah & Zucchini White Bean Dip
Van Leeuwen French Ice Cream is a high quality rich smooth ice cream sold at my local Sprouts Store and Walmarts everywhere. It’s different and is made with a lot of eggs that make it richer. It’s not completely natural but seems to have far less chemicals in it than many of the other brands out there. This is the third flavor of Van Leeuwen Ice Cream that I have tried. The Limited Edition Pizza flavor was ok but didn’t really taste like pizza……..The chocolate hazelnut mini bars were really great (They are worth getting fat for)…..and now I’m Trying Bourbon Cherries Jubilee.
I open it up. It looks ok.
It a really nice creamy rich consistency.
I taste some……….It’s weird……..It almost taste like yogurt. I can taste bourbon but the cherries are sour…..YUK!
What’s in this?
I think that I don’t like the lemon juice, citric acid, and the magic acid…I mean malic acid.
I put the ice cream away and bravely try a little more a few days later.
It is slightly better further down (The vanilla swirl is very good) but not worth getting fat on so I throw it out. Should have bought one of the other flavors…BAH!
Those were my FORKING Thoughts on Limited Edition Van Leeuwen Bourbon Cherries Jubilee….I note that YOUR Forking Thoughts may indeed differ.
I read about a different method for crispy breaded eggplant that I had to try to believe. The award winning celebrity chef and food author chef Selin Kiazim said that for the crispiest eggplant to peel and roast it first before basic panko breading and to fry in ghee (clarified butter). Today I didn’t follow her recipe but I did sure try her method and it gave me the greatest results. Shattering crisp eggplant that isn’t soggy or oily at all. The inside is only creamy and meaty. This is the best eggplant that I have ever fried. I had to try it to believe it. *********A word of warning…To pull this off you will need a very good vegetable peeler. Not like one you buy from Walmart or the grocery store. You need a heavy duty vegetable peeler. I got mine from a home show. This thing can peel a butternut squash.
First the eggplant gets peeled and partially sliced…..(leave connected at stem) because the breading slides off of the skin sometimes.
Then do your basic flour, eggs, panko crumbs. Make sure that each bin is seasoned along the way.
I rubbed a small amount of non-stick spray on the bottom of my baking sheet…..Nothing else…no salt or added oil. This goes in a 400 degree F oven until the eggplant is soft……Timing can differ greatly……really TINY eggplants might only need 20 minutes and if you have a REALLY BIG eggplant it can take maybe up to an hour. I think for the best results you will want to use smaller eggplants that are a little sweeter.
After the eggplants were roasted I let them cool till I could handle them and dredged them in the flour mixture.
My trick for the eggs is to add a spoonful of Amore French Mustard….It’s mild but delicious and very smooth and does a great job to season the eggs and it also makes any breading stick better. Last is a coating of seasoned panko (I used whole wheat panko).
Then on just slightly over medium heat you fry up the eggplant in butter. It fries up pretty fast. Men were smaller eggplants and only took around 2-3 minutes a side.
A cooling rack is the correct way to let the eggplants cool.
I’ll be honest and admit that I didn’t use my coloring rack today and used paper towels on sheet pan and this still worked out perfect.
Then you get these adorable eggplants that might look like this.
FORKING Crispy Breaded Eggplant
What you do with your eggplant is up to you.
Today I reheated mine with a mixture of cheeses, tomato sauce on top of the cheese and fresh basil. Still CRISP not soggy anywhere and meaty not soggy eggplant.
A special THANKS!!!!!! to Chef Selin Kiazim for this eggplant method. This makes GREAT Crispy Eggplant!
