Tag Archives: #recipe

Ottolenghi Style Sesame, Date, & Banana Cupcakes Recipe

This recipe is delicious and really different. It is based on Yotam Ottolenghi’s Recipe for Sesame Date Banana Cake. One of the biggest things I changed was that I used my already frozen bananas because I freeze bananas when they are ripe and on sale and they are more delicious and much sweeter that way. Often I take frozen sweet banana and just whip them up for a sweet no added sugar frozen treat. I changed the recipe only slightly and made it easier to prepare. This will make around 23 cupcakes but I recommend to double the frosting recipe if you want frosting on all the cupcakes. I just froze my leftover unfrosted cupcakes for another time.

This makes about 23 servings

2 oz tahini

3 oz orange juice

10 dates chopped (pits removed)

1 cup sliced bananas (mine were from frozen)

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

4 oz sweet butter cut into small chunks

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 + 1/3 cup flour

2 + 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 big pinch sea salt

non stick spray

Tahini Cream Cheese Frosting (double if you want enough for all the cupcakes)

4 oz cream cheese

4 oz ricotta cheese

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

2 Tablespoons tahini

12-22 sweetened banana chips

Date syrup for finishing

Directions

Preheat oven to 320F or 320 Convention.

Spray cupcake pan(s) with non stick spray

In a large mixing bowl add the 2oz tahini, orange juice, dates, frozen bananas, sesame seeds, butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well with a fork.

Fill sprayed cupcake tin half way.

Place in preheated oven until done. In my oven this took 20 minutes but your oven may differ some.

Make the frosting. I used a potato masher and mashed together the cream cheese, ricotta, brown sugar, and tahini till smooth and set to the side. Don’t top the cupcakes until they are cool.

Top the cupcakes when cool.

Drizzle with date syrup.

Finish with a banana chip.

Sesame Date Banana Cupcakes

A Special THANKS!!!!! To Yotam Ottolenghi for yet another FORKING AMAZING RECIPE so I could get what I got here.

The Forking Truth

***Update Cook’s Country Potato Cheddar Pierogi Recipe

One of the all-time-BEST recipes I ever came across was the Cook’s Country Cheddar Pierogi Recipe. (Published on here but slightly different I think the only difference was that I fried mine). Usually Pierogi are served like ravioli (just boiled) and the next day get served fried but I think pierogi are always tastier fried.

My ****UPDATE**** is that I just learned by accident that the pierogi come out even better if the filling is chilled hard. When the filling is fresh made it is too soft to shape and stuff well…..

I had chilled cheddar potato filling that I made for stuffed potatoes and I thought the leftover I’d make into pierogi. That is how I figured it out.

That is my update to Cook’s Country Potato Cheddar Pierogi Recipe.

The Forking Truth

Spaghetti Cupcakes Recipe

They had a pasta sale at my local Smith’s Grocery. Pasta was only $1.00 a box so why the Fork not? This is pretty easy to prepare. You will get around 10-20 servings depending on if your serving size is one or two. I think some people will eat one and at least half the people out there will eat two so I’ll say 15 servings.

Ingredients for around 15 servings

1 lb spaghetti

2 cups spaghetti sauce

1 egg – beaten

1 cup ricotta

1/2 cup parmesan – grated – plus extra for serving

2 oz cream cheese – room temperature

1 egg

1 cup spaghetti sauce

sea salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

non stick spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F and spray two cupcake pans with non stick spray.

Boil spaghetti 2 minutes less than box suggests.

Drain spaghetti and mix with 2 cups sauce and beaten egg.

Fill about 21 cups from the cupcake pans with the spaghetti.

In a medium bowl mix together the ricotta, parm, cream cheese, egg, salt and pepper and set to the side.

Next they get topped with the cup of sauce.

Next use a spoon or a small scoop and top each with some cheese mixture.

About 20 minutes on the middle or lower rack and they are done.

Spaghetti Cupcakes

Serve with extra grated parmesan, hot red pepper, and if you have them some fresh basil.

ENJOY!!!!

The Forking Truth

Baked Salmon Mousse Balls with Mandarin Ginger Sauce – Slightly Jean George Vongerichten Inspired

I had a can of salmon and got the idea to make salmon balls. I also got some inspiration from a Jean George Vongetichten I read. It is a very different recipe (Crab Balls with Grapefruit Salad) but it still gave me interesting delicious ideas that I had to try. This recipe makes around 28 balls and 2 cups of sauce. So that means about 28 cocktail servings or around 5 meal servings. I don’t mean to brag but they really came out FORKING AMAZING! Much more delicious than a lot of food I eat out. I think most people will make this recipe for a meal so I will say 5 servings.

Ingredients for around 5 servings

1 Tablespoon butter

1/4 cup onion – grated

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (mine was separated so I poured the watery liquid out and used the thickened coconut milk) *****NOTE you might need slightly less if your coconut milk is not as thick****

1 – 14.75 oz. can salmon – remove skin and bones and crumble the fish

1 cup panko

2 eggs

1 teaspoon Aleppo red pepper

sea salt – to taste

2 Tablespoons white sesame seeds

2 Tablespoons black sesame seeds

non stick spray

4 oz unsalted butter

6 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons yuzu (or substitute lemon) juice

2 Tablespoons ginger – fresh grated

4 mandarins – skin removed – chopped

1 Thai Chile – chopped

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a couple baking sheets with non stick spray and set them to the side.

Sauté the onions with butter till lightly brown and take off the heat and put to the side.

In a large bowl combine the corn starch, coconut milk, salmon, salt, pepper, panko, eggs, and the cooked onions. Mix well and set to the side. (Below is to show you how thick my coconut milk was and a picture of the can it came from)

In a shallow pan add the sesame seeds.

Use a small scooper and make meatball sized balls and roll them in the sesame seeds and add each finished ball to a nonstick sprayed pan leaving a little room around each one.

They go in the preheated 350 F oven for about 15 minutes.

While they are in the oven you can whip up the sauce.

Melt butter in a pan on medium high heat with the sugar.

Blend the yuzu (or lemon) juice, ginger, mandarins, Thai Chile, soy sauce, together. Then add the sweetened butter and mix well.

Baked Salmon Mousse Balls with Mandarin Ginger Sauce

ENJOY!!!!

The Forking Truth

Onion Galette Recipe

I saw an Onion Galette on the internet and that inspired me to come up with this recipe. The one I saw on the internet I didn’t agree with how they did the crust or the filling so I did it my way. This makes 6 up to 12 serving if you want cocktail sized portions.

Ingredients for around 6 portions

2 cups flour – dough

1/2 cup canola oil – dough

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar – dough

1 teaspoon course sea salt – dough

1/3 cup – water – dough

1/2 teaspoon baking powder – dough

2 egg whites – dough (*note you will use a yolk or two to glaze the dough)

5 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1 large onion – sliced thin

12 scallions – diagonal cut thin

Fresh ground black pepper to taste

2 Tablespoons dijon

1 cup parmesan cheese grated

1-2 egg yolks

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

The onion slices need to be cooked till brown. You can do this on the stove top on medium/high heat or just toss the onions and butter in a pan in your oven.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, oil, vinegar, salt, water, baking powder, and egg whites with a fork until it’s a ball of dough.

The dough gets rolled out to fill sheet as best as you can. (I use plastic wrap and it doesn’t stick to pin that way). You also make cuts around the edge for folding latter.

Put a thin coating of dijon on the dough.

Add about 1/2 cup of grated parmesan.

By now your caramelized onions should be done. Mix them with the scallions and they go on next.

The rest of the parmesan goes on now and you top that with fresh ground black pepper.

Fold up dough ends.

Brush dough ends with egg yolks.

This goes in a 375 F preheated oven on middle rack till done. In my oven this took 45 minutes but ovens do differ so timing may differ.

Let cool at least 30 minutes before serving.

Onion Galette

ENJOY!!!!!

The Forking Truth

Parmesan Pistachio Crostini Recipe

These Parmesan Pistachio Crostini are basically savory biscotti. We will call them crostini because it is easier to know how they taste when you call them crostini. This recipe makes 20-22 crostini so if one is a serving then you will get around 20 servings. But if you eat two then you will get 10 servings. I made mine pretty small so I will say 10 servings.

Ingredients for around 10 servings

4 oz parmesan cheese – shredded

6 oz bread flour

1 oz polenta

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 eggs

1+1/2 oz greek yogurt

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 oz pistachios

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line sheet pan(s) with silicon mat(s)

Mix together the ingredients (cheese, flour, polenta, baking powder, salt, eggs, yogurt, oil, pistachios.

Make the dough into two logs and refrigerate at least one hour.

Each log goes on a silicon mat lined baking sheet.

They go into the pre-heated 350F oven till lightly browned – 25-45 minutes (ovens do differ) Leave them out until they are cool and then you slice.

Turn down your oven to 300F and the crostini go back in the oven till just slightly brown on each side and also until the crostini is very crisp. 15-35 minutes on BOTH sides.

Parmesan Pistachio Crostini

Enjoy!!!!!!!

The Forking Truth

Surprise Cake Recipe

I was thinking coffee cake…..Then I was thinking about a few really great tasting wedges of apple pie I made with a crumbly walnut topping (that is on my site) and sort of combined them into a cake. The addition of the two pie wedges is THE SURPRISE! That’s how I came up with the SURPRISE cake…….I bet I can come up with many more variations….I got BUNCHES of ideas in my head. …………Serving size is always hard to tell because I don’t know if you want a smaller taste (12 servings) or a full size piece (more like 9 servings). I like my servings on the smaller side so for me this is 12 servings but I will say 9 servings so nobody feels short changed.

Ingredients for at least 9 servings

4 oz unsalted butter – soft

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon sea salt (if you have pink Himalayan use that)

1/2 cup heaping – Greek yogurt

1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract

4 oz unsalted butter – melted

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

2 smaller wedges of frozen apple walnut crumb pie – cut up in small blocks

non stick spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Spray a 9 in pan (I used a square pan) with non stick spray

In a large bowl combine the soft butter, white sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, yogurt, and vanilla and mix well with a fork and set to the side.

In a medium bowl combine the melted butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar.

Use HALF the batter and place it evenly into the bottom of your non stick sprayed pan. Then add the apple pie crumbles as evenly as you can. Pour and spread HALF of the medium bowls syrup on to the top.

On top of that add the remaining half of batter and spread as evenly as possible.

Next do a layer of pie pieces.

Add the walnuts to the remaining syrup and mix well. Spread this mixture over the top as evenly as you can.

In my oven this took 45 minutes. Yours might slightly more or less.

It’s done when it looks like this.

Walnut Apple Coffee Cake Surprise

It’s moist and delicious! You don’t need ice cream or whipped cream. It’s also not too sweet.

Walnut Apple Coffee Cake Surprise

ENJOY!!!

The Forking Truth

Cocktail Rye Rolls Recipe

I got the idea to make some tuna and smoked trout mousse, pickled onions, and cocktail rye rolls so that is what I made.

I made my rye mini loaf recipe but instead of 8 mini loafs I got 30 cocktail sized rye bread AND 8 small rolls.

Anyways –

This recipe makes around 16 servings

Ingredients

2 cup + 2 Tablespoons bread flour

1 cup + 2 Tablespoons dark rye flour

2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar – separated

1 Tablespoon course sea salt

1 pack (2 1/4 teaspoons) dry active yeast

2 Tablespoons caraway seeds + extra for sprinkling the tops

1 1/2 cup 110 degree water

1/4 cup canola oil

semolina to coat bottom of rolls

1 egg white – to brush rolls with

sea salt flakes – light pinch to finish rolls

Directions

Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Add the yeast and one tablespoon of brown sugar to the water. Mix and cover with plastic wrap.

In your stand mixer bowl with a dough hook add the flours, sugar, salt, caraway seeds, oil, and water as soon as it looks foamy on the top.

Mix slow to get all the ingredients together and once mixed turn up to medium speed and let mix for ten minutes.

Either leave dough in bowl or remove dough and add to a bowl.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and leave it on the counter for four hours for the flavors to develop.

Preheat oven to 425 F

I used about 1/2 the dough for cocktail sized breads.

I rolled the dough around soft pretzel size and broke off pieces about the size of the first joint of my thumb.

The balls get rolled and before you place them on the parchment paper you dip the bottoms in semolina.

Leave the rolls sit on the counter about hour so they can puff up a bit.

Brush the tops twice with egg whites.

Make two decorate slices in the tops if desired.

Sprinkle the tops with caraway seeds and sea salt flakes

In my oven the cocktail sized breads took 10 minutes

The softball sized rolls took 15 minutes.

Cocktail Sized Rye Rolls

ENJOY!!!!

The Forking Truth

Butternut Squash, Sweet Potato, and Cheesy Custard Blintz with Orange Rayu Sauce Recipe Idea Based on Yotam Ottolenghi Recipe Butternut Squash in Cheesy Custard with Orange Rayu Recipe

Incase you don’t know Yotam Ottolenghi is a James Beard and Multi Award wining chef, restauranteur, and cookbook author. Somehow he comes up with the most interesting unique amazing recipes ever. I did a variation of his Butternut Squash in Cheesy Custard before.

Five-Spice Butternut Squash in Cheesy Custard

This time I added sweet potato, used different cheeses, made crepes, and made the rayu sauce.

Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato in Cheesy Custard Blintzes with Orange Rayu

Used a nonstick pan to fry blintzes. You will get 9-11 crepes. For the filling feel welcome to cut the recipe in half. I got about double the filling I needed….I used 1/2 and froze the other half.

Crepes

4 eggs

1 cup water

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter – melted + MORE BUTTER TO FRY BLINTZES

2 Tablespoons Greek yogurt

couple drops vanilla extract

1 cup flour

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Filling

6 oz vegetable stock

8 oz heavy cream

2 garlic cloves – ground to paste

2 teaspoons corn starch

2 teaspoons white miso

3 oz Swiss Cheese – shredded

3 oz Gouda Cheese – shredded

about 2 lbs butternut squash (large dice) (I precooked mine with around 2 Tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper and a sprinkle of turbinado sugar.

about 1 pound sweet potatoes (large dice) (I precooked mine with a small amount of oil and salt and pepper.

non stick spray.

This all gets mixed together and goes in a sprayed baking dish in a preheated 400 degree F oven.

Orange Rayu

2 ounces olive oil

2 scallions cut in thin slices

1/2 Tablespoon fresh grated ginger

3 garlic cloves – ground to paste

1/2 teaspoon ground Aleppo

1 Tablespoon white sesame seeds

1 teaspoon black sesame seeds

1 large orange – fresh squeezed juice and all the zest

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

Heat all the ingredients up in a sauce pan for a few minutes on medium heat.

Assemble

Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato in Cheesy Custard Blintzes with Orange Rayu

A special THANKS!!!! To Yotam Ottolenghi for an amazing recipe that keeps giving and giving!

The Forking Truth

Focaccia Di Recco Recipe based on Food & Wine Magazine’s Recipe

Focaccia Di Recco is a cheese stuffed cracker type bread from North Italy. I became familiar with this tasty treat from Pomo Pizzeria in Scottsdale Arizona.

Pomo’s Focaccia di Recco

It was so darn tasty and different I had to try to make one myself.

The first attempt was Ciao Italia Mary Ann Esposito’s Recipe.

It came out much thicker and softer than from Pomo……….But since then I learned a new trick to get my dough thinner so maybe I can do better?

I tried Food & Wine Magazine’s recipe.

The methods and the recipe did differ some. I got a thin crust this time that was crisper but the center wasn’t quite crisp enough……..I’m thinking if I made two smaller focaccias then maybe I can get a better crisp…….Or maybe just by re-heating it I can get that perfect crisp all the way through?

Ingredients for around 6 servings

1 3/4 cup bread flour

1/2 cup + 1 1/2 Tablespoons water

8 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil divided into 1/4 cup and the rest for brushing top

1 + 1/4 teaspoon sea salt divided into 1 teaspoon for the dough and the rest for the top

6 oz cheese torn or cut into almost one inch flat chunks (stracchino, crescenza, or caciocavallo cheese)

non stick spray

Directions

Use a stand mixer and add the flour, water, 1/4 cup oil, 1 teaspoon salt. Use a dough hook and mix on medium high speed for 8 minutes.

Make two even dough balls and wrap them in plastic wrap. Let them rest on the counter for three hours.

Roll one dough ball out (use flour as needed) sandwiched between parchment and plastic wrap.

This goes on a pan that is safe at 550 degrees F that was sprayed with non stick spray. Peel the plastic wrap off and flop dough on pan. Add cheese in small pieces.

Repeat second dough ball. It goes on top of the cheese topped dough.

Spray or brush with olive oil.

Sprinkle with sea salt.

Prick with a thin chip stick or skewer.

This goes in a preheated 550 F oven for 12-15 minutes.

I was told that this is too good to share with others.

Focaccia Di Recco

A Special THANKS!!!!! To Food & Wine Magazine so I could do what I got here!

ENJOY!!!

The Forking Truth