Author Archives: The Forking Truth

North African Style Spicy Carrot, Beet and Chickpea Side Dish Recipe

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Some of the most delicious vegetable dishes I’ve tasted were North African or Moroccan dishes so I used those flavors and came up with this dish. This dish is a BOMB of flavors so it’s not for everyone but it really is delicious. It’s spicy, sweet, salty, sour with fresh herbs that brighten it up. I think it would FORKING GREAT with some grilled chicken and maybe a little plain white rice or couscous for one of those bowl meals.

Ingredients for about 7 servings

1 lb carrots – peeled and in slices

2 beets – roasted – peeled – cut in cubes

1/4 cup golden raisins

1 – 15.5 oz canned reduced sodium garbanzo beans – rinsed three times – drained

6 pimento stuffed green olives – sliced

1 Tablespoon course sea salt (or to taste…)

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

5 garlic cloves – ground to paste or microplane

2 Tablespoons tomato paste

2 Tablespoons Aleppo pepper

8 Tablespoons water

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon hot paprika

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 bay leaf

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 Tablespoon date syrup (I used local McClendons Brand)

2 Tablespoons parley leaves – chopped

2 Tablespoons cilantro leaves (some fine stems ok) – chopped

2 Tablespoons mint leaves – chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a baking dish add the carrots, raisins, chick peas, bay leaf and olives and set to the side.

Peel beets and wrap in foil with a little water. (place on a lined baking sheet or pan because they might leak) ((Also you can’t cook gold beets this way because they react with foil. You boil gold beets)) Roast till done (about an hour or more depending on size and freshness)

In small mixing bowl add salt, oil, garlic, tomato paste, Aleppo pepper, water, all the paprikas, coriander, cumin, vinegar and date syrup. Mix well and pour over carrot/chick pea mixture. Cover with lid or foil. Cook till carrots are soft. Timing will differ depending on pan, oven and size and age of carrots. Mine were done in 75 minutes. Mix in the beets and fresh chopped herbs before serving.

North African Style Spicy Carrots Beets and Chick Peas Side Dish

It really is delicious! if you can take some heat and bold flavors you will enjoy this.

The Forking Truth

Sapiens Paleo Kitchen Scottsdale AZ is Worth a Fork! It doesn’t matter if you are into Paleo to dine here.

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Sapiens Paleo Kitchen is a small French Style, Paleo, gluten free, B.Y.O.B, restaurant located in Scottsdale Arizona. They offer healthy quality Paleo inspired French Cuisine by the experienced French trained master chef Aurore de Beauduy. Paleo is healthy cuisine designed to choose foods for your best health. Many foods such as grains, most dairy sugar, and more are avoided. This is a SMALL restaurant and the whole dining room is pictured above. Reservations are necessary.

The tables are small and are somewhat spaced close together.

It seems like you get more space when you gaze at the Mountain View threw the front window.

We started out with a paleo bread platter ($10.00…subject to change) and the balsamic braised brussels sprouts ($5.00….subject to change).

We received an assortment of thin toasted breads and chunks of bread, smoky tomato jam, artichoke tapenade. Some bread thins were herbed and some contained fruit. The chunk bread seemed richer and all the dips were tasty. Balsamic braised Brussels sprouts had a nice tender crisp texture. The portions ran larger than from a typical French Restaurant.

For dinner I had the branzino special ($31.95….subject to change).

This branzino is seasoned just so and just melts in my mouth. I don’t recall having a branzino that was prepared or tasted this well before. There is also this delicious parsnip puree here and hericot verts, large capers, frilly lettuce, persimmon and a sweet tomato.

My husband went with the rabbit stew in a dijon mustard sauce with potatoes and onions. ($28.00….subject to change).

He said it was really great and just right for him. He also mentioned that for me it might run a little high on salt..

We decided to share the daily made les chocolates ($10.00…..subject to change).

At first taste you know that you are eating high quality chocolate. I sort of wish I had a big box of this to take home. It’s really Forking Good! Some chocolates have fruit, some have nuts and one is filled with coconut. This is a generously sized plate and we shared it with two other people at our table.

High quality, reasonably priced, masterfully prepared food that is healthy.

Sapiens Paleo Kitchen in Scottsdale AZ is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

www.SapiensKitchen.com

Every thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

Huitlacoche Stuffed Eggs with Pickled Onions Recipe

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For this recipe you have to make two of my other recipes for the eggs to come out the same way. Your eggs will come out tasting very different with substitutions. The other recipes are Forking Awesome Pickled Cascabella pepper recipe and Forking Awesome Tomatillo with Pickled Cascabella Pepper Salsa Recipe. I used frozen Huitlacoche (not canned or bottled) for this recipe. Another thing I should mention is that I made a pound of pickled onions that should last about a month. Use the extra pickled onions on sandwiches, on top of tacos, steaks, burgers, sandwiches or in salads. I note that the Cascabella pepper is an especially delicious pepper and when you pickle it and or make salsas with it that most of the work making something delicious is done.

Recipe makes 6 servings and extra pickled onions

Ingredients

1 lb red onion – sliced thin on mandolin

1 cup white vinegar

1 Tablespoon kosher salt

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/4 teaspoon ground thyme

6 hard boiled eggs – peeled and cut in half (either way I don’t care) yolks and white separated

3 oz Huitlacoche (2 oz for egg mixture and reserve about 1 oz or twelve small pieces to top each egg)

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

pinch course sea salt

pinch ground coriander

pinch chili powder

pinch ground annatto (also called achiote)

pinch ground oregano

pinch ground cumin

1 Tablespoon cascabella pepper brine

1 Tablespoon tomatillo pickled cascabella salsa

1 oz queso fresco

pinch course sea salt

pinch Aleppo pepper

pinch smoked paprika

pinch oregano

pinch chili powder

pinch ground annatto also called achiote

1 teaspoon fresh parsley – chopped

1 teaspoon fresh cilantro – chopped

1 teaspoon fresh mint – chopped

1 teaspoon fresh epazote – chopped

Directions

Make the pickled onions. Put the onions in a sterilized jar or tub. In a sauce pot bring to boil the vinegar, salt, sugar, bay leaf, pepper, mustard seeds and thyme. After it boils make sure the salt and sugar has dissolved…..It probably did already. Then you pour the liquid over the onions and set to the side. When it gets to room temperature then you can refrigerate.

In a small fry pan melt the butter on medium heat. Add the Huitlacoche and a pinches of salt, coriander, chili powder, annatto, oregano, and cumin. By now you should lower the heat slightly more around medium low and add the brine. DON’T CLEAN PAN…..You need it for seasoning the egg whites….SET EMPTY PAN TO THE SIDE. This mixture now gets blended with the queso Fresca and the tomatillo salsa. It would be best to blend in a small container with a stick blender.

Add to the used pan with all the remaining pinches of seasoning- salt, Aleppo pepper, smoked paprika, oregano, chili powder and ground annatto. Put the egg white in the pan on cut side and then turn them over and side them around the pan so they get all seasoned up.

Fill the eggs with either a spoon or a pastry bag. Add a few strings of pickled onions to them. Top each mound of egg with a small piece of huitilacoche Top the eggs with some chopped herbs.

Huitlacoche Stuffed Eggs with Pickled Onions

Different unique and delicious!

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Hand Cut Burgers & Chophouse in Scottsdale AZ

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Hand Cut Burgers and Chophouse is located in Scottsdale by The Scottsdale Fashion Mall. This is a full service restaurant with a bar that offers appetizers, sandwiches, salads, burgers, steaks, other dinners and more.

They offer high top tables, booths and bar seating. Three turntables are by the front of the restaurant for music. Sports are playing on big screen televisions.

From most seats you can view the open kitchen and the cold prep area.

Today we came for lunch and I went with a Chop Salad with added salmon ($10.00 + $7.00 subject to change and it it did just change……….just a few days ago they updated the menu and the chopped salad now does indeed differ some but is the same in price).

I received a plate of fresh greens, corn kernels, blueberries, goat cheese, pine nuts with blueberry balsamic dressing. All is OK here. (****NOTE the menu has changed slightly as of October 1st 2019)

My husband got the Steak Salad ($15.00 subject to change) (this one is still the same on the menu)

Here was fresh greens, sliced flank steak, blue cheese, garlic croutons, tomato, avocado with balsamic vinaigrette. All is ok here too.

Both salads were made with fresh greens and were made with a generous amount of delicious cheese.

That was my trip to Hand Cut Burgers and Chophouse in Scottsdale.

www.HandCutChophouse.com

Hand Cut Burgers and Chophouse is of the Riot Hospitality Group of restaurants that include Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row, El Hefe, Farm and Craft and Riot House.

Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

Forking Awesome Raw Tomatillo With Pickled Cascabella Salsa Recipe

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I enjoyed food at the Barrio Gran Reserva that was made with cascabella peppers and it was like from another planet ULTRA delicious! So I found my own cascabella peppers. They were so hot I couldn’t eat them so I pickled them. The cascabella peppers are small mostly yellow peppers with a lot of heat but also a lot of amazing flavor. I discovered that when I pickled them a lot of the heat and flavor comes out and flavors the brine so I’m left with delicious pickled peppers that are brought down to a manageable jalapeño hot and a brine that is so delicious you should drink it in something. If you are a fan of Mexican or Southwest Style Food you should find the cascabella pepper and pickle them the way I did. This recipe is simple but delicious. You don’t need to do much with that bomb of deliciousness from the cascabella peppers and the brine. It does a lot of the work for you.

Ingredients for around 12 servings

3 lbs tomatillos – husk removed – washed very well – cut in quarters

1 large sweet onion – chopped

6 garlic cloves – ground to paste or microplane

1 Tablespoon course sea salt

1 Tablespoon (slightly heaping or to taste) pickled cacabella peppers – fine chopped – preferably wwwTheForkingTruth.com recipe called Forking Awesome Pickled Cascabella Pepper Recipe)

1/2 cup cascabella pepper brine

1/2 cup cilantro leaves and some fine stems – rough chopped

Directions

Blend to desired smoothness. Taste and decide if you want to add more fine chopped cascabella pepper.

Serve.

Will stay fresh for a week or so.

Forking Awesome Tomatillo Salsa with Pickled Cascabella Pepper

Old Town Taste – Tempe AZ – Szechuan and Non-Spicy Chinese Food – Worth a Fork!

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Old Town Taste is located in Tempe Arizona. This is a Chinese Restaurant that offers Szechuan and non-spicy authentic style Chinese Food. The atmosphere is neat and clean and during the day lots of bright light comes in threw the glass front exterior.

There is wallpaper around the restaurant that illustrates an “Old Town.” It looks like it could be an old town anywhere but it’s probably suppose to be an old town in China. A place where you can get Chinese Food the way it’s been made since long ago.

They offer all kinds of different dishes here. A few of the dishes offered are peanuts in vinegar, spicy sour shredded potatoes, sauté garlic lettuce, fried egg with tomatoes, braised beef with mint, bacon with wide green beans. They offer dishes you might be familiar with or just sound familiar with like kung pao chicken, braised meatballs in brown sauce, braised duck in cooking beer iron wok stewed organic chicken and fried cumin lamb. They also offer dishes like red oil intestine noodles, garlic flavored chicken gristle, steamed duck heads with spicy sauce, Chen’s sour spicy lamb spine and Szechuan Style blood curd.

We shared two dishes…the fried eggplant, bell pepper and potato dish ($12.99 and the Szechuan Style spicy fish ($15.99).

We started with the eggplant dish.

This is a lighter dish. It’s mostly eggplant with a small amount of green bell pepper and a little bit of potatoes. It’s a mild dish in a light garlic soy kind of sauce. That turned out to be a great choice to cool us down from the Szechuan Style Spicy Fish.

It’s spicy and delicious! The mild white fish was fried with a crispy coating that seems free of oil. It’s very spicy, nose running spicy but doesn’t hurt. The Szechuan peppers numb your mouth so you can enjoy the heat. There also is garlic and other seasonings and crispy fried green beans. This dish is really GREAT!

That was my first trip to Old Town Taste in Tempe. Can’t wait to try other dishes!

Old Town Taste is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

I have not found a website page for Old Town Taste but they are on Facebook.

1845 E Broadway Rd Tempe

480-702-7101

closed Mondays

Open for lunch hours Tue-Sun 11:30-2:45

Dinner hours are Tue-Sun 5pm-9:30

Every thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

J&G Steakhouse at The Phoenician in Scottsdale AZ – Worth a Fork!

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J&G Steakhouse is an upscale restaurant located in the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale Arizona. The Steakhouse menu offers much variety with slight Asian Accents done by French techniques. The menu is also offers a few dishes of the namesake celebrity chef Jean-George Vongerichten. At this time the current executive chef is French Trained Jacques Qualin who has worked with chef Jean-George Vongerichten.

The restaurant overlooks the beautiful resort grounds and golf course.

The seating is sort of set up orchestra style with different levels so everyone can have a view.

On this visit it happened to be restaurant week and J&G Steakhouse offered an ultra amazing detailed generous three course menu for $44.00 a person.

They start everyone out with hot fresh slightly salted Parker House Rolls and butter…..I’ve been here before so I knew we had to order the black truffle cheese fritters ($11.00 subject to change).

Six TINY marble sized balls of pure JOY! So easy to woof down…….One person could easily eat all of them.

They just taste SOOOooooooooooOOOOOOh FORKING GREAT! Yummy delicious comte cheese black truffles that actually taste like black truffles and this ultra thin crisp miracle shell that holds in so much treasure. These are just SO FORKING GREAT!

We both went with the restaurant week menu.

My first dish was the smoked salmon toast.

WOW! It stunning! Sliced smoked silky salmon, salmon roe, borage flowers, dill, shaved cucumber, creamy spread and toasted quality bread and the most amazing delicious micro herbs and sprouts. Take a closer look.

This was so detailed…the flavors in the micro herbs were OUT OF BOUNDS and were so FRESH……I forgot to ask if they grow them there because that’s what they tasted like.

My husband started with the longevity noodles.

This was a generous bowl of noodles with three grilled wild shrimp in a ginger broth with pea shoots , herbs and chili.

For my main I had the slowly cooked arctic char.

The arctic char was so creamy and mild it almost was like custard. I rarely eat the skin but it was delicious here and was seasoned to perfection. The green in the middle of the plate is wood sorrel and wood sorrel emulsion…..It’s sort of like green borscht on the plate and adds a nice interest between the fish and the rest of the plate. The other side of the plate are perfectly cooked chanterelles (what a treat like $50 a pound at AJ’s and always in bad shape). The little slices aren’t potatoes but are pan fried slices of lighter more vegetal kohlrabi. This was really a stunning dinner….This dinner alone was worth $44.00 that restaurant week cost.

My husband had the grilled PRIME sirloin cap.

This plate also came with roasted Japanese Eggplant, chimichurri sauce, wine sauce, fresh herbs and Fresno-garlic marmalade. Stunning plate with strong bold flavors.

Then we shared TWO desserts.

One was a poached pear covering amaretto ganache in a hazelnut frangipane with some sort of white chocolate puffs.

The other was a molten chocolate lava cake with caramel ice cream and a crunchy sweet laced edible snow flake.

By the way…This was FORKING GREAT!

J&G Steakhouse at The Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale AZ was Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork! Worth driving across town for!

www.JGSteakhouseScottsdale.com

Every thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

Fat Free Creamy Polenta with Crispy Mushrooms Recipe

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When you prepare polenta correctly it will come out very creamy and will have a rich feeling. You don’t have to add fat or cheese to it. It really easy to prepare crispy mushrooms in the oven. You just toss them with a few things and they go in a 300 degree F oven for about the same amount of time it takes you to prepare the polenta (40 minutes). I was roasting beets at the same time so I just added a few slices. I topped it with some fresh crushed sea salt, black pepper, part of a dried Calabrian pepper, fresh basil and a couple leaves of sage that I fried in the oven.

Ingredients for around 6 servings

4 1/2 cups water

3/4 teaspoon course sea salt

1 cup polenta (not instant)

5 oz oyster mushroom (any type of cluster mushroom) – cleaned however you prefer to clean them and broken down

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1 garlic clove – ground to paste or microplane

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

scant 1 oz. shredded parmigiano reggiano (weigh .08 oz)

fresh crushed sea salt to taste

fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Set oven to 300 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium mixing bowl add the rosemary, garlic, oil, cheese and give it a good mix then mix in the mushrooms and get them all coated with everything. Next spread the mushrooms out in a single layer with a little room around each mushroom piece. They go in a pre=heated 300 degree F oven till crispy. Timing will differ due to size of mushrooms. Usually 30 – 40 minutes for me.

While your mushrooms are in the oven make the polenta.

Add the water and salt to a pot and bring it to a boil and then slowly add the polenta and keep stirring. Slowly lower the heat and keep stirring. When it seems thick you can put the heat on your lowest setting. You don’t have to stand there for 40 minutes stirring but the more your stir the creamier your polenta will be. You can loosely cover the pot with foil and get up to stir about every five – ten minutes till done. (about 40 minutes)

Serve. Top with mushrooms. Add fresh ground sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. You can get a little fancier if you want with crispy sage and some fresh torn basil. A little high quality olive oil too if you like.

Fat Free Creamy Polenta Topped With Crispy Mushrooms

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

Asian Style Lettuce Wraps with Miso Tahini Sauce

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I got the idea to do a lettuce wrap and got this new canned wild yellow fin tuna to try out. My husband isn’t a fan of Asian peanut dressings so I thought tehini might be even better with fish because it’s made from sesame seeds and I had this one Tablespoon of miso left so this is what I came up with. I think the fried enoki mushrooms sort of elevate the dish. I wasn’t too impressed with the canned wild yellowtail…..use whatever fish you feel like.

Ingredients for around 2 servings

6 large butter lettuce leaves

1/2 cup pea sprouts

1 carrot – shredded

2 radishes – sliced thin

2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro just leaves some tender stems

1 Tablespoon fresh parsley leaves

1 Tablespoon mint leaves

2 Tabllespoons scallions – sliced thin

3.5 oz enoki mushrooms

Your favorite medium spicy red pepper to taste (I used piment d’ espelette but Korean pepper, togarashi or cayenne would also work well)

paprika a small amount to taste

2 oz unsalted butter

1/2 cup cornstarch (you will waste some…you can try to use less)

1 Tablespoon reduced sodium miso (I used all natural Marukome Brand from Asiana Market

1 orange – just the fresh squeezed juice

1 Tablespoon tahini – (Sadat brand is usually pretty good)

1 teaspoon reduced sodium tamari (you can substitute low sodium soy but it will have less flavors)

1 Tablespoon sriracha – (I used Shark Brand that is very smooth and sort of sweet)

1 garlic clove – ground to paste or microplane

1/4 teaspoon granulated ginger

5 oz of cooked fish

Directions

In a small mixing bowl combine miso, orange juice, tahini, tamari, sriracha, garlic and ginger and mix well. Set to the side.

Either wipe down the mushrooms with a damp rag or rinse them and shake off the wetness. Roll them around in the cornstarch.

Get a small fry pan on medium to slightly medium/high heat with the butter. As soon as the butter is almost melted start frying up the mushrooms and fry them on both sides. They fry up pretty fast and let them drain on a paper towel lined pan. Sprinkle the mushroom with some red pepper and a little paprika.

Either put the lettuce wraps together and serve or let everyone make their own. Remember to serve with the dressing.

Asian Style Lettuce Wraps with Miso Tahini Sauce

Tasty and light everyone will ENJOY!

The Forking Truth

Bamboo Cafe Glendale AZ – Asian Food – Different and Double Sized Portions and Low Prices

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The Bamboo Cafe is located on the boarders of Glendale and is across the street from the Peoria boarder and Phoenix but actually is listed as Glendale on the Upper West Side. This is a small Asian Restaurant that serves a mix of Chinese Take Out Foods and OTHER foods. When you walk in you see a cluttered hostess desk that blocks the view of the restaurant and doubles as a storage and pick up area. A waiter just tells you to seat yourself.

We start with cucumber salad. ($3.00 subject to change)

We received a large portion of seed free cucumbers and carrot slices in a sweetened vinaigrette. The carrots were crisp but the cucumbers might have seen better days.

For my main I got the yellow curry chicken. ($9.50 subject to change)

I receive an extremely large plate of food. I got a lot of bamboo and onion slices, very tender sliced chicken breast, falling apart over cooked potatoes and soggy French fries. For what it’s worth the sauce is actually delicious and even has fresh Thai Basil and fresh lemongrass in it. There is even some heat here…….

My husband had the blackened shrimp and chicken. ($12.50 subject to change)

The chicken and shrimp are tender. There’s lots of nicely prepared green beans, carrots and onions. This one doesn’t taste Asian at all.

Both plates came with an enormous bowl of fresh steamy fluffy rice.

You are not going to drive across town to dine here but if you’re in the neighborhood you might want to give Bamboo Cafe a try.

If you are in the area then you might want to give them a try. Large portions, tender chicken, low prices and a little different.

I haven’t found a website for Bamboo Cafe

I also haven’t found a Facebook page.

Every THING is subject to change and your experience may indeed differ.

The Forking Truth