Author Archives: The Forking Truth

My 2nd Dinner at Confluence in Carefree AZ – Best Dinner I had so far in Phx 2018

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Confluence is a small casual upscale restaurant that serves elevated modern cuisine. There is seating inside,  bar seating and outside on the patio with mountain views.

This time they started us out with a fresh baked Tomato Roll and Chèvre Cheese.

The roll was hot fluffy and moist and flavored with sweet tomatoes. When I added the tangy melting chèvre it reminded me of cream of tomato soup.

An interesting starter of a Roasted Peach, Cocoa, Epoisses (French soft pungent cheese), mint, pecans and honey. Different flavors. The rich epoisses cheese is particularly delicious with the peach. Who knew?

My husband had a starter called the Herb Roasted Lobster Mushroom.

His starter was more complex. It was made of an herb roasted lobster mushroom, gnocchi, sopressata, tomato, garlic herb oil, chimichurri and developed pork broth.

For dinner I had the Monk Fish.

Monk fish is a more difficult unforgiving fish to prepare but this one was indeed tender and moist. Not only was the monk fish masterfully prepared the flavors on the plate were exciting  together. Somehow it’s like a wave of different flavors that harmonize…..There’s a mild delicious curry flavor and it marries with sweet butternut squash and picks up tang from the labne. You just want to keep digging in and tasting the different layers of flavors. Also get little sweet pops from the sugar snap peas. It’s a really spectacular plate!

My husband went with the Two Wash Ranch Guinea Hen.

It was a pan roasted moist breast, tender confit legs, caramelized figs, chanterelles and creamy rich full flavored parmesan risotto. What’s not to like here?

We were both full but couldn’t leave without dessert.

Insert angels singing here….

This mixed fruit granite was as light as……..the heavens.

The granite had the texture of fresh fallen snow and was wonderfully refreshing. It was as dazzling in taste as it looks. It’s not too sweet but little pops of different delicate light fruits in fruity snow, a little basil and just a small amount of short bread cookies for a little texture. I loved it!

If you read my reviews you know I just have to tell The Forking Truth.

Service was efficient as we got what we needed in a timely manner. The front of the house  owner just let us be and we were mostly left alone. (to be fair maybe that is because on my last visit I asked for a dish they wrote was a special on their Facebook page that they didn’t have because it didn’t come in…………) We poured our own wine. Nobody explained the food to us….I also did think it was odd that they sat us and the one only other table right next to us. A little space would have been nice because they did have the room and one woman at the only other table in the restaurant smack next to us wore very strong perfume that burned our eyes. However the food at Confluence was so innovative, superb and just down-right-Forking Phenomenal!

My third visit to Confluence and each visit was Worth a Fork! ……The food was actually more than a Fork…..A Whole Bunch OF FORKS!!!!!

Now this was the best dinner I had this year in Metro Phoenix.

Worth a bunch of Forks!

www.RestaurantConfluence.com

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

Here are plates from my past visits.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Tarbell’s The Tavern in Phoenix AZ – Worth a Fork!

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The Tavern in Phoenix Arizona is a casual high end tavern that offers the highest quality bar grub, the best wines and more. The Chef and Owner is the Famous to Arizona Chef Mark Tarbell. Not only is he a highly decorated chef he also is a Wine Expert, Skier, Pilot, Dancer and Musician. Chef Tarbell has been featured in numerous publications and TV shows that include the Talk and Food Network’s Iron Chef American where Chef Tarbell defeated an Iron Chef and Won the cooking battle. He has three businesses in central Phoenix in the Camelback Corridor. There is his high end restaurant Tarbell’s, his wine store called The Wine Store and his casual tavern called The Tavern.

The Tavern is comfortable man’s cave with a stylish woody interior, a guitar lined brick wall and a Rock and Roll Atmosphere. The recommended libation is made as clear as the crystal clear Wine Glasses that are set on the tables……incase you didn’t know Wine is highly recommended here. Some of the wines are phenomenal off the charts and there isn’t a fee to purchase a bottle next door and enjoy it in the tavern.

The guitars of well known Gods of rock and roll adorn the walls. It’s no surprise that classic rock fills the air here.

On this wall are guitars from Bob Weir, Billy Joel, Alice Cooper and Nils Lofgren….There are other guitars on other walls as well and also guitars in The Wine Store. Outstanding bottles of wine are art features and embellish the walls. It’s full of Champagne wishes and Caviar Dreams here baby………..

From most seats you can sneak a peek into The Wine Store.

Today I went with the Grilled Scottish Salmon Sandwich (listed under burgers).

I received a Nobel Bread Bun stuffed with the Best Piece of Salmon I had in a very long time. This salmon was so fresh tasting and just melted in my mouth like butter. The salmon also had a nice sear on it and was topped with a tomato jam that complimented the salmon very well. The sandwich contained two types of lettuce, fresh sliced seedless cucumbers and a dill laced creme fraiche sauce.

We also shared a plate of Thick “Frites St” Fries.

These Fries are REALLY GREAT! They are like no other. They had a thin shattering crisp exterior that was almost like potato chip encasing a fluffy moist interior that had a great potato taste. The portion of the fries is also very large…I’d say it’s about four portions. On the side is a tasty Sriracha Spiked Ketchup.

My husband enjoyed the Green Chile Pork Stew with Tomatilla Salsa, Cotija Cheese, Cilantro and Tortilla Chips.

But he enjoyed the Stew more with those really great fries than the Chips.

I really enjoyed my visit to The Tavern.

I have to say The Tavern is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

I don’t usually write prices but remember quality comes with a price.

I also NOTE prices are subject to CHANGE.

Grilled Scottish Salmon Sandwich $19.00

Fries $9.00

Pork Stew $!9.00

www.TarbellsTavern.com

The Forking Truth

 

 

 

Baked Breaded Poblano Peppers stuffed with Pepper Jack Cheese Potatoes Recipe

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Baked Breaded Poblano Pepper stuffed with Potato and Pepper Jack Cheese

These Stuffed Peppers are sort of inspired from the Chile Relleno. I wanted to do a lighter healthier Stuffed Pepper that wasn’t fried and wasn’t solid with cheese. As delicious as real Chile Rellenos are sometimes they can be like a Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza and can feel like an over dose of cheese. The potato cuts out a lot of the fat from all that cheese. This stuffed pepper has a baked whole wheat panko baked crust enhanced with masa for a sort of taco-ish flavor. I made them two different ways.  One was cooked down skinless tomatoes with a little onion, garlic, oregano  salt and pepper and for a different taste the other was covered with enchilada sauce. These Baked Breaded Roasted Poblano Peppers Stuffed with Pepper Jack Cheese Potatoes are very tasty……People will enjoy them! Depending on the size of your peppers you might have leftover potatoes. My poblanos were very small so I had leftover that I just rolled into balls and rolled the balls into the masa, eggs and panko and baked them off along with the stuffed peppers….it was like two treats in one.

Ingredients for about 8 servings

8 poblano peppers – roasted with skin, seeds and stem removed

2 lbs potatoes – peeled, cut in half, covered with cold water in a sauce pot

1/2 onion – peeled (to boil with potatoes)

1 banana pepper – cut in half (to boil with poatoes)

1 garlic clove (to boil with potatoes)

1 Tablespoon kosher salt (to boil with poatoes

8 oz pepper jack cheese – shredded

2 oz sweet butter – room temperature

1/4 cup scallions

1/4 cup cilantro

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

pinch oregano

fresh ground sea salt to taste

fresh ground black pepper to taste

1 egg – lightly beaten (for potato mixture)

1 cup masa (for batter bowl #1)

2 eggs beaten (for batter bowl #2)

1 Tablespoon dijon (for batter bowl #2)

splash water (for Batter bowl #2)

2 cups whole wheat panko bread crumbs (for batter bowl #3)

1/4 cup masa (for batter bowl #3)

Fresh ground sea salt to taste

fresh ground black pepper to taste

Non stick spay

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F

Spray baking sheet with non stick spray

Put your sauce pot with potatoes, onion, banana pepper, garlic, kosher salt and cold water to cover contents of pot on medium high heat. Cook until the potatoes are tender.

(about 20 minutes) Discard the garlic, onion and banana pepper. You might want to save the potato water for a sauce, soup or bread making or throw out if you are not using it for something else. After the potatoes are drained hand mash them till smooth with butter, cheese, scallions cilantro, white pepper, oregano, sea salt and black pepper to taste. After you are satisfied with the taste hand mix in one egg and set the mixture to the side.

Set up the breading station.

Bowl #1 is masa

Bowl #2 eggs, splash water, Tablespoon dijon

Bowl # ww panko, 1/4 c. masa, salt and pepper

Poblano pepper gets coated in bowl #1 with the masa, then get a coating of egg mixture and then gets panko coated. Repeat till all the peppers are coated.

Cut the end of a disposable pastry bag off.

Fill half way with potato mixture and fold end down over your hand.

Twist end so mixture doesn’t fall out.

Grab a pepper with your non dominate hand and hold it open so you can fill it.

Squeeze filling into pepper but leave enough room so you can seal pepper shut.

Fold down the ends.

Put the pepper on a sprayed baking sheet and repeat till all the peppers are stuffed and sealed.

They go in the oven for about 25 minutes.

Serve with either a cooked oregano laced tomato sauce or enchilada sauce.

Enjoy!

Baked Breaded Poblano Pepper stuffed with Potato and Cheese

Baked Breaded Roasted Poblano Peppers stuffed with Pepper Jack Cheese Potatoes

The Forking Truth

Mini Horseradish Laced Potato Waffles Recipe (Made in Dash Mini Grill)

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Mini Horseradish Laced Potato Waffles

I’m still playing around with the Dash MINI Waffle Grill even though it’s EXTREMELY hard to clean. It’s so small it’s next to impossible to get in all the tiny cracks to clean even with a Q-Tip.  My husband insist that it’s a disposable appliance. He hates it…maybe he is right?……. The Dash Mini Grill is only the size of a fast food burger and makes four inch side waffles….. There are no buttons or switches on the grill and you have to guess when your waffle is ready. It was cheap and doesn’t take up any room….I almost never crave a waffle so I thought it fit my style. The first thing  I made with the Dash Grill were waffles that came out great using the recipe that was included.  Today I thought I’d try Potato Waffles laced with Horseradish. I didn’t get the waffles crisp like I wanted but I think I can get the leftover ones crisp as I re-heat them. Maybe if you have a better grill you can get them crisper in your grill?…… This recipe made me 6 mini waffles. One waffle is one serving. Of course your grill will differ from mine so timing and portions might differ.

Ingredients for 6 servings

1 1/2 lbs brown skin potatoes

5 oz sweet onion – grated

2 Tablespoons prepared hot horseradish

1 L. egg – slightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon course sea salt

non stick spray – canola or vegetable

Optional – pinch of piment d’ espelette – to finish each waffle – So delicious, almost everything at Joel Robuchon’s L’Atelier’s Menu offerings are finished with it. You should buy it to prepare delicious food.

Optional Tablespoon of soured cream of your choice for finishing each waffle (creme fraiche, sour cream or French Style yogurt)

Optional – snipped green onion of choice for finishing cream (scallions, chives, but best are i’itois onions – delicious but hard to find, Crooked Skys Farms sells them.)

Directions.

Your grated onion goes in a large bowl.

Next you peel one potato then grate it into the onions.

Mix the onions with the potatoes because this will stop the potatoes from browning.

Repeat one potato at a time till done.

There will be a lot of liquid in the bowl…….You need to gather up the contents of the bowl and place in a clean dish clothe and squeeze all the liquid you can out.

Throw out the liquid and dry your bowl. Put the potato mixture back in the bowl.

To the bowl add horseradish, pepper, salt and egg. Mix.

AT THIS POINT LIQUID WILL CONTINUE to run out of the mixture…don’t fear!

Score the potato mixture in 6…..(or you can do more if you want to make them even smaller.

Spray the grill with non stick spray and plug it in……When it’s hot open the grill.

Here’s the hardest part.

Grab about one sixth or less of the mixture and make a pattie shape like you are making a burger……then squeeze with your hands to get the liquid out. You might want to squeeze a few times. Then put the pattie in the waffle grill and close the lid down tight.

In my Dash Mini Grill the potato waffle was cooked and lightly browned in 5 minutes.

I note the waffles I made weren’t as crisp as I wanted but they do taste great!

You should serve the Horseradish Laced Potato Waffles with some sort of soured cream (sour cream, creme fraiche or French Style yogurt) and some sort of snipped green onion. (i’itois will knock your socks off!)

The next day I re-heated one in the oven. I put it a rack at 350 degrees F. In 15 minutes it was crispy.

From refrigerated to a rack in a 350 degree oven 15 minutes

Mini Horseradish Laced Potato Waffles

They taste great…!

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Ghost Ranch Modern Southwest Cuisine Restaurant in Tempe AZ

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Ghost Ranch Restaurant is a full service restaurant located in Tempe Arizona just past the Ikea and serves Modern Southwest Foods. The decor is bright and rich in Southwest style. There’s big glass garage doors all around that let in lots of bright light during the day. There’s terra-cotta hanging fixtures, naugahyde covered chairs, large roomy tables, a wooden ceiling and a lively looking colorful bar in the center of the restaurant.

We started with the Chips, Salsa and Guacamole Appetizer.

We received two kinds of chips that seemed free of grease and were lightly salted. The guacamole was very fresh tasting, chunky and nicely seasoned. It was difficult for me to eat the green salsa because it was acidic tasting past my comfort zone…..However the red salsa was delicious and taste like it was made with dried chile pods.

I was torn between a few dishes and my server steered me to the Steamed Chile Relleno. He said the other dishes weren’t as special and the Chile Relleno involved more technique.

I received two (impossible to find) Chimayo Chile peppers. Stuffed with Mushroom Duxells (reduced mushrooms, stems, onions, butter). The Chile Peppers rest on a bed of chile enhanced goat cheese sauce and were adorned with raw leek salad. The flavors were spot on with a nice warm gentle yummy heat. All the flavors were harmonious. I was impressed how they got the chile so dry……usually roasted chile peppers keep leaking liquid forever. The chile held the duxelles in like a blanket. I LOVED the dish but you know me if you read my reviews…..I have to tell The Forking Truth………The one thing that should change about this dish would be the leek salad…..flavor-wise it was delicious but it was so tough it was almost impossible to eat….maybe either fried  leeks or a different vegetable would work better.

My husband had the Chile Colorado Braised Pork Chimayo Chile.

It’s a make your own Taco Plate with hand made tortillas on the side.

He said he enjoyed every thing and every thing was well seasoned. He also said his plate was a little short on  pico for his tacos and he wished the tortillas were warmed slightly.

We decided to try the Burnt Banana for dessert.

This was a plate of cold sliced bananas, with a little crumble, caramel, pop corn and creamy ice cream. I don’t know why this dessert is called Burnt Banana..?

www.GhostRanchAZ.com

Every THING is subject to change and YOUR experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

Dukkah Feta and Barberry Bread Recipe

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Dukkah Feta and Barberry Bread

I made Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi’s recipe for Dukkah. WOW! it’s really delicious!….You might be wondering what is Dukkah? Dukkah also spelled Duqqa and is an Egyptian blend of nuts, seeds and spices that are toasted and ground….but not to powder and not to paste…somewhere in-between. I only had Dukka a few times at FnB restaurant in Scottsdale and it might have been served on a vegetable?……. Or maybe not but I think that’s how I had it so I thought I’d make dukkah and put it on a vegetable too………..I read about 20 different recipes for dukkah and they differed so much that they didn’t even seem like the same thing. Some recipes were very short. Others were long. Most on the internet are pistachio based but I read the real thing is usually hazelnut based. I narrowed the recipes down to two that seemed like they’d be the best…..and went with the Y.O & S.T. recipe because they are award wining and this recipe was hazelnut based. After I made the Dukkah I didn’t want to put it on a vegetable because of the taste. It was delicious but it didn’t seem like it was for the vegetables I had around. The dukkah was very flavorful and very fragrant, sort of nutty, a little sweet and slightly spicy, maybe a little spice cookie-ish – peanut-ee like but yummier. My first thought was to bake it into cookies. I thought the dukkah would be great in either butter or peanut butter cookies but I didn’t want to eat cookies this week so I baked it up in bread so I can eat some and freeze some………guess I could have froze cookies too…oh well. I do also think the dukkah would be great to flavor chicken. I latter read that dukkah is suppose to be served with bread and oil……..You dunk your oiled bread in Dukkah to make it tastier……..I can see that now………This dukkah is quite delicious I don’t know if most other dukkahs are this good? You can purchase dukkah at the store these days or follow one of the more simple recipes for dukkah but your results will differ. The bread recipe is very easy. I just made a basic dough. Rolled it out. filled it and rolled it up like a jelly roll. Cut the jelly roll in half long ways. braided it around and in the oven it went on a quilon lined baking sheet.

Ingredients for around 14 servings

1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons or 1/4 oz)

1 1/2 Tablespoon sugar

1 1/2 cups potato water at 100-110 degrees F or water

4 cups bread flour

1/4 cup scant extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons course sea salt (you might need 3 teaspoons if you use water instead of potato water..)

1 cup bread flour – this is for kneading, letting the dough rest in and for flouring surfaces

2 oz sweet butter – room temperature

dukkah recipe – the whole thing – I will post the ingredients after the recipe at the end of the page if you want to make Dukkah based on Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi’s recipe

4 oz feta – the creamy, not so salty or too tangy type……or use goat cheese – crumbled

1 Tablespoon barberries – if you don’t have skip – nothing will be similar

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil for drizzling over the top of the bread

Directions

Set oven to 400 degrees F.

In a big bowl add the yeast, sugar and potato water and wait maybe 30 minutes for a foam to develop.

Now add 4 cups bread flour, 1/4 c olive oil, sea salt and mix well and make it into a ball. Add another cup of bread flour to let the ball rest in and knead some of that into the ball so it doesn’t feel sticky.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rest till doubled.

Punch down and knead a bit more. Flour surfaces. You can roll out the dough into a something like a 23 inch by 16 inch rectangle and spread the butter on it.

Top the butter with the dukkah, feta cheese and barberries.

Then roll it up like a jelly roll.

 

Split roll in half.

Braid and put ends together.

Drizzle with oil.

After 15 minutes  turn pan around so it browns evenly.

Bread might be done 10-15 minutes later for a total of around 25-30 minutes.

Dukkah Feta and Barberry Bread

Dig in!

Dukkah, Feta and Barberry Bread

Most people will enjoy this! Ummm it’s like a sophisticated Entenmann’s Cake.

The Forking Truth

I used Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi’s Recipe for Dukkah…..I didn’t mean to but I changed their recipe JUST SLIGHTLY due to what I found in my kitchen. This is how I made their recipe. If you use the Dukkah to bake with like I did then I wouldn’t bother toasting everything or the Dukkah might get burnt. I think baking it is enough.

1/2 cup hazelnuts

2 Tablespoons sunflower seeds

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon cumin (not in Y.T. & S.T. recipe)

1 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (instead of the cumin the recipe should be 1 Tablespoon of cumin seeds but I couldn’t find them at first so I did a teaspoon cumin and later when I found my cumin seeds I just added 1/2 of what the recipe to make up for the cumin I added)

1 Tablespoon green peppercorn or substitute white peppercorn (I used white)

3 Tablespoons coriander seeds

1 1/2 Tablespoon sesame seeds

1/2 teaspoon nigela seeds (I know I have them but couldn’t find so I used caraway seeds)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

Basically everything gets toasted and then gets ground up till course. ENJOY!

 

Strawberry Salsa Recipe

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Strawberry Salsa

La Santisima Mexican Restaurant in Glendale AZ offers a very large Salsa Bar and one of the salsas they offer is Strawberry so I thought I can do Strawberry Salsa too. With all the great deals we had on strawberries lately and the humid weather we’ve been having strawberry salsa seems just right for this time of year.

Ingredients for about 6 servings

1 lb strawberries – green leaves removed, strawberries chopped

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 red bell pepper – roasted, skin, stem and seeds removed and then chopped

1/4 cup sweet onion – chopped

1 clove garlic – grated

1 lime – the zest and the fresh squeezed juice

1 pickled jalapeno – preferably my recipe or from a farmers market (jarred from store are nasty)

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon mild chili powder

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

.3 oz fresh cilantro chopped (about a 1/3 of a bunch or loose 1/4 cup)

.3 oz fresh mint chopped (just leaves no stems) (about a 1/3 of a bunch or a loose quarter cup)

optional – 3 chitepin chiles – hard to find but worth seeking if you like spicy because they are very delicious tiny peppers with flavor. If you don’t use these peppers you might want use another pepper or more jalapeno.

Directions

Strawberries, sugar and salt go in a medium/large bowl. Mix the bowl contents up and let them sit about 20 minutes. The sugar and salt pull out lots of juice from the strawberries. After the strawberries get really juicy you want to blend half of the mixture so your salsa will have a better texture. Now add the remaining ingredients bell pepper, onion, garlic, lime juice, lime zest, jalapeño, vinegar, cumin, chili powder, black pepper, cilantro, mint, optional chitepin chili peppers. Taste and adjust salt, pepper and chilies to your liking.

Strawberry Salsa

Strawberry Salsa

Strawberry Salsa

Goes really well with melted pepper jack cheese on a chip.

The Forking Truth

 

My First Taste at Casa Corazon in Phoenix AZ was Worth a Fork!

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Casa Corazon is a casual Mexican Restaurant located in Phoenix AZ. There are many other other Mexican Restaurants along this road so I was expecting that this newly opened Mexican Restaurant would be special and it is! They have two entrances and one is slightly awkward. You can use the front door but the side door might be closer to the lot that you parked in. You might find that you walked into the kitchen. Then someone greets you and tells you to pick a table in the dining room.

The dining room is very open and airy with lots of natural light coming in from the large windows. There’s exposed brick, attractive wooden ceilings, a couple of interesting frescos and clean new crisp furniture.

They started us out with a colorful dish of complimentary hot tortilla chips and a bacon-ee bean dip. We were instructed to visit the Sala Bar and help ourselves so we did!

Plenty of salsas….what to pick?

I went with Pineapple, Chipotle and Jalapeño.

I really liked the Pineapple…..It was full of Pineapple and Chilies Flavors. The Chipotle tasted the I way I expected a smokey Chipotle Salsa would taste so it was good too. The Jalapeño was creamy and super mild…….It was the mildest of the salsas…..but it was good just super mild.

My Taco Platter Arrives.

I receive three single shell extremely fresh made tacos that are all generously stuffed. Up top is chicken, middle of the plate is arrachera (marinated skirt steak) and a grilled marlin taco. They gave us a yellow citrus to enhance the tacos….. lemon….or yellow lime (they have yellow limes in Mexico). The chicken taco needs a dab of salsa so I add Pineapple salsa to the chicken taco. It works…that is kind of fun. Where else can you eat a Pineapple Salsa Chicken Taco?  The next one I try is the Skirt Steak……I try some before I sauce it. WOW! This one is flavorful and very tender…….It’s much more flavorful than the chicken taco was. This one doesn’t really need salsa but I added a small amount of Chipotle salsa to it. I saved the Marlin Taco for last……Good thing because the Marlin Taco was the most flavorful and spiciest of the tacos…..It was really good! The Marlin Taco differed from the other tacos and was grilled. The fish was also grilled and was a little smoky. They grilled the fish till juicy along with seasoning and spicy peppers. It was yummy-licious! My plate also came with rice and beans. The rice tasted like it was fresh made and seemed buttery. It was also studded with a few vegetables. The Black Beans tasted just made and were sweet and creamy the way beans are when you cook them from dried.

My husband had an Enchilada Plate of Chicken, Cheese and Beef.

If the sauce looks a little bright and red to you that might be because you are looking at Corazon BEET and Chile Sauce and also red and green traditional sauces. I was too busy with my plate to try the enchiladas but I heard they were very good.

Our waitress was so cheerful and helpful. We both thought she must be an owner but she wasn’t. She was a  really great server!

That was my First Taste at Casa Corazon.

I’d say Casa Corazon is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

www.CasaCorazonRestaurant.com

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

The Forking Truth

Levant Inspired Shishito Peppers Recipe

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Levant Inspired Shishito Peppers Recipe

I gave my husband some of Shishito peppers to try. He said they are REALLY DELICIOUS but I don’t know what I’m tasting. That is what I expect that most people would say when they try these peppers. I think almost everybody would love the flavors but they might not be able to figure out what they are tasting. I used a lot of uncommon ingredients that most people wouldn’t have in their pantry. Zahtar, Aleppo pepper, Sesame Seeds, Sumac, Cumin and Urfa Pepper these seasonings are amazing together. I tasted a lot of this kind of food at FnB restaurant in Scottsdale over the years so I developed a taste for this kind of food and sought out to find these seasoning and especially Urfa Pepper. They might sound spicy but they actually are more flavorful than spicy. I’ve found all these seasonings at the Asiana Market that is in or near to Deer Valley. Also added a few fresh herbs and creamy mild style feta cheese and that’s what makes this dish  irresistible!

Ingredients for about 4 servings

6 oz shishito peppers

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon urfa pepper

1 Tablespoon zahtar

1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

1 teaspoon sumac

1/4 teaspoon cumin

fresh ground sea salt to taste

fresh ground black pepper to taste

3 oz creamy style sheep’s milk feta cheese – crumbled

1 Tablespoon fresh cilantro – chopped

1/2 Tablespoon fresh mint – chopped

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium-large bowl add peppers, olive oil, urfa pepper, zahtar, Aleppo pepper, sesame seeds, sumac, cumin, salt and pepper and mix well.

Place evenly on a baking sheet and place in oven till peppers start to char and burst. About 15 minutes depending on size of peppers.

Evenly apply feta cheese and then fresh herbs.

ENJOY!

Levant Inspired Shishito Peppers Recipe

The Forking Truth

South West Style Cheesy Potato Casserole Recipe

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South West Style Cheesy Potato Casserole

I always have access to a lot of South West Ingredients since I live in Phoenix Arizona. So today I made a South West Style Cheesy Potato Casserole.  This is another one that’s hard for me to photo. This photo doesn’t show how good it really is. It was too hot to photo when I made it and I didn’t want to photo it completely cold but I couldn’t wait for it to set…so I got it when it was cooling off. This casserole is a little spicy but really delicious. My husband said it smelled so good he had to eat a plate full of it before it set. He kept saying this is really good. This IS REALLY GOOD….REALLY GOOD..I think 98% of the adult population would love to eat this. One of my tricks to making something really cheesy is to use the very minimum of butter and fat in a dish like this. Now this is not because I’m trying to make diet food in any way…….the reason I cut way back on butter and use fat free milk is because too much fat in a dish like this will make the sauce break so I only used one ounce of butter and non fat milk so I could use more delicious cheese. Should you have leftovers this freezes perfectly.

Ingredients for about 16 portions.

2 1/2 cups non fat milk

1/4 cup corn starch

1 oz unsalted butter

9 oz sharp cheddar cheese – shredded

5 oz pepper jack cheese – shredded

4 oz cheese – shredded – (I always throw in whatever ends of left over cheese I have..this time was some camembert that had little flavor)

1 1/2 Tablespoons cayenne hot sauce – preferably Franks Red Hot

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

2 eggs – lightly beaten

1 large sweet onion – sliced very thin on a mandolin and then chopped roughly (you want small pieces but it doesn’t need to be minced but you can mince if you want to)

1 Tablespoon course sea salt – to season potatoes

1 teaspoon ground black pepper – to season potatoes

3 lbs potatoes (brown)

1/4 cup scallions – sliced thin

1 jalapeno – roasted or fried and chopped well

1 tomato – diced – roasted or fried

non stick spray

1 cup parmesan cheese – shredded (for topping)

1 cup panko  bread crumbs – for topping

pinch ground white pepper – for topping

pinch cayenne pepper – for topping

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Use a half pan or large baking dish and spray with non stick spray. You need foil to cover the pan and you need to spray the bottom of the foil that sits against the food.

Put a sauce pot on medium heat and melt the butter.  In a pitcher mix the milk and cornstarch together. Mix till incorporated. When the butter is melted add the milk/corn starch mixture. You need to whisk this till the mixture is very thick and it must boil or your sauce will fail. Once the mixture is thick and IT DID BOIL turn the heat down to low and add all the shredded cheese and stir. Once almost all the cheese is melted you can shut off the heat. and take pan off burner. To the cheese sauce you need to add the cayenne sauce, paprika, cayenne and white pepper. Mix well and set to the side.

In a very large bowl add the onions. Peel potatoes one at a time and slice them up thin on a mandolin ONE AT A TIME. You need to mix each potato one at a time with the onions because the onions will keep the potatoes from browning. Repeat peeling and slicing the potatoes and mixing each potato threw the onions until you are out of potatoes. Add the sea salt and black pepper to season the potatoes and mix well. To the potato bowl add the scallions, jalapeño and tomato and mix well.

By now your cheese sauce shouldn’t be too hot. Whisk in your lightly beaten eggs.

Now pour the cheese mixture into your potato bowl……if your bowl isn’t big enough you might need to use a second bowl.

Mix well but careful not to break the potatoes and pour into sprayed pan.

In a small bowl mix the panko with the parmesan cheese and pinches of cayenne and ground white pepper. Then spread the crumb mixture over the top of the potatoes evenly.

This needs to be covered with foil and you need to add non stick spray to the bottom of the foil so it doesn’t stick.

Then the pan goes in the 350 degree F oven for at about 90 minutes or until center potatoes are tender. At 75 minutes you need to remove the foil cover so it can brown. A total of about 90 minutes.

After 90 minutes in my oven with the top foil removed at 75 minutes the casserole looked like this.

This is HOT with MOLTEN HOT CHEESE! Even after one hour it is still MOLTEN HOT. Leave on the counter at least an hour and one half. Refrigerate over night (just like lasagna) to set.

South West Style Cheesy Potato Casserole

This is FORKING GREAT!

You’re Welcome.

The Forking Truth