Author Archives: The Forking Truth

There are Musical Comedy Cooking Shows Out there!

Who knew that there are Musical Comedy Cooking Shows Out There? I like comedies and I like cooking shows so i thought it would be fun to see Cooking with the Calamari Sister’s at the Herberger Theater. This show was unlike any show I’ve ever seen before. Delphine and Carmela are suppose to be sisters (played by men) that have a fictional public cooking show. They joke, sing and dance their way through light attempts of preparing food and are naughty with improvisational audience participation. Delphine plays herself as a nun-like church goer and shuns several audience members for not attending church enough though out the show. Delphine is not feminine and talks with the male voice he has. Carmela plays herself as a tramp similar to the way cartoon Bugs Bunny does when he plays himself as a female. Carmela can pass as a female and does until he pops out a startling deep male voice once in a while. Then the illusion of female disappears and you remember he is a man.

They told stories a bit about Italian life with stereotypical Brooklyn Italian family members in the show. The sisters sing many Italian songs such as a racy version of Volare, Botcha Me, Mambo Italiano….and a “Cheesy” Pasta Tarantella Song that really was amazing. It was very fast paced and all rhymed naming maybe a hundred shapes of pasta while they were wildly dancing.

They didn’t actually cook. They prepared an Antipasto Salad with an audience member that they ridiculed. (but it was funny) The antipasto platter and a basket of rolls did get pasted around the audience.

Then they filled cannoli shells with another audience victim. The poor guy got to ware an apron that made him look naked.

They had a short quiz show on their show for three audience members.

Then the Pasta Song got belted out and it was great. I thought it was the highlight of the show. They then sung it again but even faster.

The actors-comedians- singers really were very talented. Hilarious fun and also kind of WEIRD.

For more information please visit www.CalamariSisters.com

Your Forking Opinion may or may not differ.

Sorry about the lack of pictures but photography was not permitted in the Theater.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to the New China Super Buffet in Phoenix AZ

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Ten years back it seemed there was a budget Asian Buffet on every corner. Today many of these places are a thing of the past. It’s very difficult to keep over a hundred items of food at the right temperature and stored correctly and often buffets suffer violations at health inspections. The New China Super Buffet in Phoenix AZ might be the cleanest buffet in all of Maricopa Country at this time. The New China Super Buffet over the past twelve months has earned a grade “A” health inspections. This is very unusual and very impressive for a restaurant that offers maybe over a hundred different pans of prepared foods so it seemed worthy of a try. The atmosphere is a little dated but seems clean. The dining room chairs are extra wide and are on wheels sort of like chairs from convalescent homes.

This is an inexpensive and very large buffet. I came for dinner on the weekend and the price was about $12.00 for all one wants to eat including beverages.

We weren’t greeted or felt welcome by the people at the hostess desk but were seated quickly in the dining room.

I take a walk around the buffet and this is what I see.

They offer a variety of sushi. I tried a few pieces and it’s it’s good for buffet style sushi.

This salmon is typical example of buffet salmon. Albumin formation is going on here from over cooking. I will pass on the salmon.

From this row I take chicken on a stick. The chicken is fresh and juicy but is very sweet with slight Asian flavors. They have Mexican Hot Sauce on the table as a condiment. I use some on the chicken to cut the sweet and make it a little spicy.

I did try a taste of the macaroni and cheese…It was very unusual looking. The pasta was florescent orange in color and then topped with a cheese sauce. I never saw florescent colored pasta before. It was slightly better than it looked.

Most of the food I tried came from this row. I tried mushroom chicken, spicy chicken and vegetables. They all seemed fresh and were prepared nicely but they all….. even the vegetables tasted exactly like the chicken on a stick. All sweet with slight Asian seasoning. It seemed like they have one universal sauce for the Asian Inspired Dishes. You can eat like a warrior here if you are a fan of the sweet slightly Asian Taste.

A few pans like the salmon contained over cooked meats. My husband tried the pork dish and he told me that the pork was very dry and tasted exactly like all the chicken dishes.

We shared an egg tart. It was the one thing I tried that I thought was delicious. It had a nice thin perfect crust and the filling was rich and smooth. It tasted cheesy and slightly sweet.

The New China Super Buffet offers many desserts, cookies, macaroons, cream filled puffs, iced cakes, peanut clusters, and four kinds of ice cream.

Our server was efficient at serving beverages and clearing plates but also made us feel slightly unwelcome by rolling her eyes and laughing slightly when she served my husband a refill.

Besides dining in…..New China Super Buffet offers a menu of Take Out Chinese Food and Take Out Buffet Food.

1/2 a Fork….better than some of the other Budget Asian Buffets I’ve been too ……Nothing was too oily or too salty…………. grade “A” by Maricopa county for the past twelve months…..downside was that most of the Asian Inspired entrees tasted the same.

The Forking Truth is that everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

For more information on New China Super Buffet in Phoenix AZ you will have to visit them or give them a call at 602-424-1660

The Forking Truth

Baked Popper Style Risotto Balls Recipe

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Baked Popper Style Risotto Ball

If you make risotto then you know risotto doesn’t reheat so well and you might want to make some sort of risotto balls out of the leftover. I wanted to do something different so I thought of some sort of Italian inspired “Popper.” A “Popper” is usually a spicy pepper stuffed with cheese. I thought the perfect pepper to use would be those spicy and sweet cherry peppers. I added about a 1/2 slice of sharp provolone to each pepper, added an egg to my risotto and rolled them in seasoned whole wheat panko and they came out delicious! This one is a crowd pleaser I doubt you will have any leftovers after you make these. You can use this recipe with my Risotto with Black Truffle recipe (but you don’t need the truffles here) or another person’s recipe should work….but no guarantees.

Ingredients for about 8 servings

2 cups leftover risotto

1 XL egg

8 sweet/hot jared cherry peppers

4 slices sharp provolone cheese

1 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs – unseasoned

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon basil

non stick spray

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.

Mix a slightly beaten egg into your risotto and put to the side.

Shake the liquid off the cherry peppers and stuff them with provolone cheese.

In a small bowl combine the crumbs and seasoning and set to the side.

Take about a quarter cup of risotto and encase the stuffed cherry pepper. You roll it in your hands like you are making a meatball. The mixture will be soft.

Repeat till you are out of stuffed peppers and risotto. If you can get more out this …do so.

Now start rolling the balls in the crumbs. I found it easiest to keep lifting the ball and dropping it in and roll it at the same time.

Put the balls on the oil sprayed pan in the oven for 20 minutes or until they seem cooked.

Let the balls cool a few minutes and serve with tomato sauce.

Baked Popper Risotto Ball

Everyone will Forking Love them!

The Forking Truth

My Forking Thoughts on Reese’s Clusters

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I’m a BIG Fan of Reese’s Peanut-butter cups so when I saw this new to me variety of Reese’s I thought I’d give them a try because I haven’t met a Reese’s I didn’t like…….at the time. On the package the clusters are described as Creamy Peanut-butter, caramel, peanuts and pecans wrapped in milk chocolate. That sounds forking delicious doesn’t it and they come in a cute fun looking Holiday package.

I open up one of the individual wrapped candies and I notice that it is a very small size for a Reese. Actually it’s the perfect size. Not too little and just enough for a sweet. It smells good…sort of like an original Reese’s Cup. I decide to take my first bite.

Ohhhh it’s sweeter than a Reese.

It’s doesn’t have that signature Reese’s Peanut-butter taste at first bite. It’s more like the center of a candy bar filled with nougat and caramel mixed with a little lumpy Reese’s Filling. The chocolate almost taste slightly darker than the milk chocolate from a Reese’s cup……maybe because of the different flavors….?…..I was expecting a cluster of nuts since this candy is called Reese’s Cluster but the inside is only sort of lumpy and not like a cluster……

Eating it I thought that this candy might not contain actual nuts..but when I looked at it I was wrong…..It does contain a few broken pieces of nuts that are stale and very soft and some sort of .mixed lump object…….that I don’t know what it is but I think are lumps of flour with nut dust…..The Reese’s cluster leaves a weird chemical aftertaste in my mouth.

I did eat a second candy to confirm my thoughts. I found that if I ate the candy much slower with tiny bites I could taste more flavors and in some parts of the candy I did get that Reese’s Peanut-butter taste but it became overpowered by the other flavors for the majority of the time laced with a weird chemical aftertaste.

For a Reese’s Lover like me The Clusters are a disappointment.

But on the other hand my husband who is in the 1% of the world that doesn’t like Reese’s Cups really likes the Reese’s Cluster. He thinks the caramel over powers the peanut taste and they are great to him.

He doesn’t know but that means the candy might to some be a failure as something associated with Reese’s. People that enjoy Reese’s Cups and other Reese’s Candy enjoy that unique salty and slightly lumpy in a good way peanut taste with milk chocolate.

I like the size and shape and aroma of the candies and…I also like that these candies are heavily coated with chocolate….but…for the reasons mentioned-

I won’t eat them. They don’t appeal to me.

1/2 a Fork….OK at best…maybe for lovers of caramel

People that want to mix up the Reese Taste with an added sweet nougat like taste, caramel and lumps might enjoy this candy.

Those were my thoughts on Reese’s Clusters.

Your opinion may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

Risotto with Black Truffle Recipe

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Risotto with Black Truffle

I picked up a small fresh looking but American Black Truffle so I thought I’d cook up some risotto and see how it would taste. This risotto is a well seasoned risotto but not over seasoned. It pretty easy to prepare risotto. It takes about twenty minutes of slowly adding ingredients and a lot of stirring. I normally don’t add cream or butter to my style of risotto but used them here because they pair well with truffles. Leftover risotto does not reheat well and you might want to make rice balls with whatever risotto that’s left. It turns out that the American Truffle was better than a canned or bottled truffle but not anywhere up there with Australian Truffles. I’ve read that Italian White Alba Truffles are considered to be the finest and most expensive. But I only remember tasting Australian Truffles from restaurants I’ve visited. Sorry for the poor photos. For whatever reason the risotto was next to impossible for me to capture with my iPhone and turned everything yellow without the colors that it had.

Ingredients for about 6 servings

3 cups mushroom stock (your stock should be hot for preparing risotto)

2 cups arborio rice

1 medium sized sweet onion – finely chopped

1 garlic clove – mashed to paste

1 Calabrian Chile – chopped fine – stem removed

2 oz. sweet butter – room temperature

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil – maybe extra for serving

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup parmigiana reggiano

1/2 teaspoon dry thyme

1/4 teaspoon dry basil

1/4 teaspoon dry oregano

1/4 teaspoon dry rosemary

pinch saffron

a few grates fresh nutmeg

fresh ground black pepper to taste

pinch ground white pepper

at least .05 of a pound of fresh truffle

Directions

Get your sauce pot on medium high heat and add the butter, olive oil and, chile, onions, rice and stir until the onions are translucent.

Next add wine and stir until wine is absorbed.

Add a cup of stock and garlic and stir until stock is absorbed.

Add a cup or less of stock stirring till absorbed and continue till done with stock.

Add remaining herbs, spice, cheese and a cup of heavy cream.

It should look like this. Taste test and check that the rice is firm and cooked through. Add fresh ground sea salt and pepper to taste.

Serve immediately with shaved truffles. Garnish with a little extra olive oil if desired.

Risotto with Black Truffle

You will impress people with this one. It’s luxurious and delicious!

The Forking Truth

With GE Monogram Appliances you Forking need a Home Warranty Service

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Here I am soon to receive my 9th GE repair in 10 years of owning GE Monogram Appliances.

1-My first GE problem was a slow leaking GE Monogram dishwasher that ruined my floor and cabinets and trim. (was under warranty and was replaced)

2- My GE Monogram wall oven kept shutting off. Spent $300. for new control pad.

3- My wall oven still kept shutting off and I didn’t need the $300 control pad but only a $10. connector wire that caught on fire. (problems were both diagnosed by a certified GE Repairman.

4-GE Monogram Microwave repaired 10-25-07 – needed magnetron

5-GE Monogram Microwave repaired 6-30-08 – needed magnetron

6-GE Monogram Microwave repaired 11-13-08 – needed magnetron

7-GE Monogram Microwave repaired 10-26-09 – needed magnetron

A few months latter the microwave stopped working again. Didn’t get anywhere with GE. Someone named Tommy told me all they could do for me was give me a 20% off on a new GE microwave oven but I was on my own for a wall kit. His deal was about the same price as I could do on my own so I threw my over $1,000 dollar microwave oven in the TRASH. I had to spend $100.00 every time I needed a magnetron so I replaced that lemon with a $200.00 microwave oven that works better and hasn’t needed a repair so far.

8-GE Monogram refrigerator and freezer stopped cooling and freezing. Needed an inverter kit ($551.76) 4-29-2014

9-GE Monogram refrigerator and freezer stopped cooling and freezing. Waiting for repair to be done…December 2016…diagnosed as needing a new control board….Got the new control board installed.

Other GE related problems are the plastic inside refrigerator cracks and my egg tray fell apart.

GE used screws that rust in my dishwasher.

The Forking Truth is that when you have GE Monogram Appliances you FORKING need a Home Warranty Service for all the repairs you are going to need. I note that this is typical of GE Monogram Appliances as I learned that all my neighbors and strangers I met at appliance stores have similar stories to tell.

GE Monogram Appliances and GE Repairs and Consumer Service is….

NOT WORTH A FORK!

With GE Monogram Appliances you Forking NEED a Home Warranty for all the repairs you will encounter.

The Forking Truth

My re-visit to The Marketplace Cafe at Nordstrom Department Store at Scottsdale AZ Fashion Square

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My favorite place to eat a fast casual meal in the Scottsdale Fashion Plaza isn’t in the food court. It’s a cafeteria cafe in Nordstrom’s Department Store called The Market Place at Nordstrom’s. They serve eggs that are cage free, the food is organic and much of the food they offer is locally sourced. The casual menu consist of soups, salads, sandwiches, pasta, pizza, entrees and amazing looking and tasting in house baked desserts.

A few of the house made desserts at Nordstrom’s

I went threw the cafeteria line and we ordered and paid. They gave us a number and we seated ourselves. Other times they have handed us our plates over the cafeteria line then we proceed threw with a tray.

Soon our food arrives.

I got the Nicoise Salad with Herb and Dijon Roasted Salmon. My salad was full of fresh mixed greens, French Green Beans, hard eggs, olives, onion, and delicious creamy and crisp gold potatoes. The dressing that tied it all together was delicious.

Last time I had a delicious Berry Salad that I almost got again…All the salads are great here..I’ve eaten my way threw about half the salads on the menu. I’ve never felt deprived when I tried a salad here!

Berry Blue Cheese and Chicken Salad from Nordstrom’s

My husband got The Grilled Skirt Steak Chimichurri.

The steak was tender like butter and delicious. It came with a generous serving of roasted carrots, asparagus potatoes and cilantro lime vinaigrette. (steak is over the vegetables)

The Market Place Cafe at Nordstrom’s is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

For more information please visit www.restaurants.Nordstrom.com

Your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

Some of the Forking Food I made in 2016

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Fresh “Feta” Dill and Caraway Won Ton Raviolis

Forking Fabulous Mini Potato Knishes

Jackfruit Salsa

Hummus with Spicy RED Skhug Sauce

Asian Inspired Radish and Carrot Salad

Citrus Salad with Honey Poppy Seed Dressing and Spiced Almonds

Real Enchilada Sauce Recipe

Cook’s Country Potato Cheddar Pierogi

Classic Boule

Baba Ghanoush

Biscotti

Tumbleweed Potatoes

Blue Cheese Gnocchi with Heirloom Beets, Apple and Walnuts

Acorn Squash with Cranberry Mango Habanero Sauce and Blue Cheese

Scaccia also called Lasagna Bread

Tortillas

Michael Symon’s Pickled Chilies for Steak

Rye Bread

Forking Great Buffalo Potato Salad

Pistou Sauce

Flat Bread with Blue Cheese Butter and Pistou Inspired from Eddie’s house of Scottsdale AZ

Faux Potato Mushrooms

Forking Delicious Lime Water Ice

Fresh Basil Turkey Meatballs

Easier Very Crisp Chicken Skin

Chipotle Rice Stuffed Jalapeño Peppers with Potato String Crust

No Dairy Italian Inspired Meatballs

Pickled Beets with Stems, Leaves, Clementines and Blue Cheese

Brazilian Inspired Potato Salad

Tri-Color Salsa

Tomatio Jicama Fruit Salad with Tapioca and Lemon Cream

Next to Fat Free Skinny Baked Poppers

FORKING AMAZING Grilled Mac-N-Cheese Sliders

Forking Awesome Fresh Ricotta and Spinach Gnudi

Baked Crispy Gochujang Chicken Breast

Crispy Sweet Corn Cakes

Crisp and Creamy Red Potatoes

Melon Salad with Preserved Lemon, Lavender and Whipped Cream Cheese

Pickled Beet Israeli Couscous and Harissa Vinagrete

Eggplant Meatless Meatballs

Feta and Dill Spaghetti Squash Patties

Indian Inspired Green Beans and Chickpeas

Jalapeno Cheddar Baked Potato Fingers

Butternut Squash Cinnamon Bun

White Nectarine Crostata

Pastrami on my rye bread

Balsamic Glazed Cauliflower “Wings”

Julia’s Child’s Poached Egg Trick

Pear Almond Cake

Hatch Chile Cheese Bread

Spicy Hatch Chile Cheesy Polenta Dip

Non-Traditional Potato Crusted Hatch Chile, Cheese and Vegetable Quiche

Cheesy Hatch Chile Potato Casserole

Indian Inspired Turkey Meatballs with Green Chutney (Chutney is just handful mint, handful cilantro, 1/2t cumin seeds, 2 garlic, 1t lemon J. salt)

Spicy Asian Turkey Baked Scotch Eggs

Pumpernickel Bread

Forking Adorable and DELICIOUS Mini Apple Pie Bites

Pesto make with Purple Basil

Forking Easy Delicious Shattering Crisp and Juicy Oven Fried Turkey Wings

Chanterelle Mushroom Bread Stuffing

Cheese Lasagna

Duchess Style Stuffed Potatoes

Those were some of my dishes of 2016.

The Forking Truth

Most Memorable Food I tried in Metro Phoenix in 2016

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Memorable can be wonderful, or different or even bad. This is a collection about the foods I had out in Metro Phoenix AZ Restaurants over 2016 that I remember most. I warn you that it wasn’t all negative or all positive because I tell TheForkingTruth. You know that in life there is no Ying without Yang…No light unless you have dark…Maybe no God without the Devil….I just tell The Forking Truth! I do note that every experience in a restaurant may differ so you may or may not experience the same. In the beginning of the year some of the Forking doozies started…. and here are some……..

Sweet Potato Tart from Casa Filapina Bakeshop and Restaurant

Filipina Bakeshop and Restaurant is a very much loved restaurant in the area for Philippine Food. I enjoyed a nice meal there but dessert was another story. I read in a local publication that the baked goods are expectational too. As my luck would have it on the day of my visit both tarts I tried were hard as rocks. Trying to eat them was impossible as I couldn’t even stick a fork threw them and that was memorable. My husband actually wrestled with them to get them to crack. They were almost as hard as cement. We did bring the tarts to the attention of the owner and he said that nothing was wrong with the tarts…and they just needed to be heated up. Afterwards he did bring edible tarts.

Fondant from India Fusion

Sadly Inde Fusion is no more. The atmosphere was great and they had so much potential. Some things I tried there were very good….but…..The Fondant dessert they served me wasn’t a molten lava cake like a Fondant is known to be…..Instead they served me a forking lump of fondant icing. I will NEVER forget that and it was memorable.

The Nosh Eatery and Wine Bar

The Nosh accidentally served my husband the wrong burger and he sent it back. (big mistake)….Instead of preparing a new burger they recycled the old burger leaving behind some residue and serving a dried out burger. I’ll never forget how mad my husband got and we never went back. I note that they were newly opened and might not be recycling burgers anymore.

Huitlacoche Machete – $7.99 -Azteca Estilo DF Phoenix AZ

One of the biggest and most memorable plates I tried came from Azteca Estilo DF. It was the biggest and best folded quesadilla called a Machete I ever had stuffed with Huitacoche and was only $7.99. Look at the fork on the platter. Not only was it humongous but it was delicious filled with a delicacy of Huitacoche also called Mexican Truffles. This one Machete can feed 2-3 people and it did.

Binkley’s

The Shaved Truffles with Prunes are what dreams are made of…….from Binkley’s. This plate will blow anyone’s mind.

Organ Stop Pizza

The Organ at Organ Stop Pizza is the biggest or one of the biggest Wurlitzer Organs in the country and the whole restaurant is filled with it. This photo only shows you about 1/10 of the organ. The music I heard was amazing. The pizza is ok. The Music made the food memorable.

The Vic Bar and Grill

I will never forget pulling out a silicon like object from my mouth from a dessert at The Vic Bar and Grill. Now THAT was memorable! Forking memorable!

Tratto

One of the Best Meals of the year I had came from Tratto Restaurant as everything was superb. Everything was perfect.

Barrio Gran Reserva

Most interesting Salad came from Barrio Gran Reserva. A very complex salad that hit everywhere in your mouth. I tasted bold flavors and ingredients I never tasted before. It was very memorable and delicious.

“The Bobby Slayer” From at The Boulders

WOW! Best Sandwich I “Discovered” this year was at The Boulders in The Discovery Lounge. The Boulder’s Chef battled Celebrity Chef Bobby Flay on Food Network TV and beat Bobby Flay with this “Bobby Slayer” Steak Torta Sandwich. It’s worth the trip just for this sandwich as it was FORKING GREAT! It was a great big sandwich that we split and it was filled with Skirt Steak, Oaxacan Chiles, Crispy Chicken Skin, Avocado Creama and Cabbage. I never imagined I’d eat a sandwich like that but It was Forking Awesome!

The Chicken Scoop

I love the idea of the Chicken Scoop Restaurant that’s an all Chicken Salad Restaurant. The food did taste good that I tried but all the chicken salads I tried seemed whipped and smooth without chunks. More like chicken spreads……..I am not used to chicken salad being prepared that way so it seemed very odd to me and I keep thinking about it.

Quiessence

Quiessence served some of the most amazing bites I tried this year. The first three courses of the tasting menu truthfully were astonishingly great!……..

It was a night of mostly astonishingly great food, that mostly all came with corn and an covered cooked and salted dinner.

Over Cooked and Over Salted by Quiessence Restaurant Phoenix AZ

Kitchen West Scottsdale AZ

Kitchen West offers an incredible menu that’s interesting and unique. We started out with a mushroom flatbread where the mushrooms on top were forgotten and the provolone cheese was missing but replaced with a spreadable cheese. We did inform the manager and she brought us the mushrooms we were missing and kindly took the appetizer off our bill. The appetizer was a bit of a miss and I thought we were done with misses but I was wrong……I was looking forward to an amazing salad that contained Amazing Ingredients such as fiddlehead ferns, pickled blueberries (got blueberries but they didn’t seem pickled), candied sunflower seeds and more. I didn’t get ingredients promised for the salad. At this point I felt cheated but more bummed out because I was looking forward to those things. I also received what seemed like a piece of leftover overcooked salmon with albumin formation that was slightly reheated. Then I really felt cheated……That was Forking memorable like a bad dream. I’ll never forget that.

Christopher’s Bar and Crush Lounge

Had a wonderful dinner at Christopher’s Bar and Crush Lounge. Every single plate was incredible. Techniquely perfect and delicious. The plate in the picture even has an edible spoon that contains cheese for the expertly prepared house smoked salmon. The dessert was amazing and the one I enjoyed most this whole year. It was Lemon Tart with Berry sauce with a side of Lemony Lime Ice in an edible basket..just sublime……(insert angels singing here)

Kitchen 18

Best Baba Ghanoush and shawarma I tried in Metro Phoenix so far came from Kitchen 18. This is what eggplant dip is suppose to taste like. I haven’t tasted any other Baba Ghanoush out at any other restaurant that even comes close. It’s creamy, there is a taste of smoke, Tahini and lemon are accents to perfectly prepared eggplant. Baba Ghanoush should be mostly eggplant that’s double or triple cooked. I note that I haven’t been everywhere (not to many places in Tempe or Mesa) in Metro Phoenix for Mediterranean Food but I have been to many places in Glendale and Phoenix and for sure all the Mediterranean was very above average but the Baba Ganoush was so great that it earns a shout out. The other items I tried were all solid and the chicken shawarma was the best I tried too!

Match Cuisine

The Dessert from Match Cuisine certainly was among one of the best of the year. It certainly was the most detailed dessert I had all year and it was interesting and tied together with a chocolate mole sauce. It was a work of art that was interesting and different!

Tang Dynasty

Tang Dynasty is a newly opened restaurant that made the best Sichuan style food I tasted in a LONG time. This Sichuan Style Beef with lettuce was amazing. I so wanted to scoop out the beef and eat on a roll like a steak sandwich… It was that great!

Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal sure makes a killer Chicken Biryani and a tasty Fish Vindaloo. The owner claims his Masala is the best you can get anywhere….and people do drive two hours for it. This was overall the best Indian food I had this year.

CC’S Mesquite Grill

CC’s Mesquite Grill makes REALLY delicious Mesquite prepared meats but the sides of beans and rice were weak like they didn’t come from the restaurant. The atmosphere is very unusual. More strange than my photo shows….Like sea shore graffiti and weird objects are glued to walls…. All together it’s memorable.

Sonata’s

Sonata’s serves Eastern European and Lithuanian foods I tried the most complex and BEST pirogies I ever had in my life and maybe the tastiest Filet I ever had. Mostly everything I tried at Sonata’s was incredible.

Fat Ox was very dimly lite with an energetic loud atmosphere

Fat Ox is a newly opened restaurant that serves Modern Italian Food. They did serve one of the best plates I tried this year and it was hand made pastas that contained butternut squash.

It was so flavorful and so detailed. It was a light bite that was gone in minutes but it was amazing and memorable. It had everything going on with it.

This was a collection of what was most memorable to me from Metro Phoenix Restaurants that I visited over the 2016 year.

The Forking Truth

How to make the BEST Forking Cannoli in the Whole World Recipe

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If you want to most delicious Cannoli you have to make your own fresh shells and fresh home made ricotta filling. The cannoli shells aren’t sold at local Phoenix Supermarkets and when you do find them at specialty stores they are very expensive..about $1.50-$2.00 a shell. Around Phoenix local supermarkets don’t sell fresh tasting ricotta cheese that taste good. The ricotta cheese sold here is full of gum and taste flat. It’s some work but you have to make your own shells and cheese if you want a good tasting cannoli. I’ve been making these for years and I got it down but I do spend three days making these Cannoli but they can be done in two days. Three days before I need them I make the shells. I have a small fryer and can only fry six shells at a time so it takes a while. It might be a good idea to invest in a well made pastry mat for rolling the shells. I got a new one this year from a high end kitchen store and it made a big difference. My shells were easier to roll and came out much thinner ( as a result I also got about ten more shells from the same recipe. The next day I make the fresh cheese. The way I make cheese it comes out very firm and I flavor the cheese in three flavors, vanilla, chocolate and cinnamon. The minute I add sugar to sweeten the cheese it becomes too wet so I have to drain the vanilla and cinnamon flavors for a day. The chocolate stays very firm because the added cocoa dries it out. You will have extra cheese left over. You might want to remove up to three cups of ricotta and freeze use for something else like gnocchi, ravioli, toasted bread or rolled lasagnas. Fresh ricotta freezes very well. It will last 6 months to a year depending on your freezer.

Ingredients to make around 40 shells

2 cups flour – plus extra to roll out dough and dust dough

2 Tablespoons unsweetened butter – room temperature

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 pinch sea salt

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup wine (could be any wine lately I use dry white wine)

1 XL egg separated – both beaten (I use beaten yolk for sealing and white in dough batter)

vegetable oil to fill fryer

2 cups (about 2 cups) 10x sugar – to dust cannoli shells inside (to stay more crispy) and outside. (you have extra but I just toss that out.

optional – a few small pinches of anisette sugar on top of the dusted cannoli for extra flavor

1 gallon whole milk

1 quart heavy cream

2-3 lemons – just the fresh squeezed juice

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

sugar to your liking

natural vanilla extract to your liking

cinnamon to your liking

high quality cocoa powder to your liking

few drops of natural anise extract to your liking (a little goes a long way…don’t use much or skip)

Directions

Fill your fryer with oil and I set bring to 350 degrees F

In a medium bowl mix flour, butter, two pinches salt, water, wine, egg white, together with a fork. pinch a small ball the size of a smaller fresh cherry. Dust your rolling mat with flour and dust the dough ball. Roll from the inside out.

Wrap the dough around the cannoli core and seal with egg yolk. repeat at least 6 times. Use a tong and slowly place the dough wrapped cores into the hot oil. they will sink and then they will float. You will need to hold them down with the tongs or another basket so they can brown all over. They get down pretty fast and you remove them when they are golden brown and place on a towel or paper towel lined pan or baking sheet.

I’m not paid or anything to recommend Fanara’s cannoli cores but they really are the best. They are made from aluminum that cools quickly and they are designed so you can pinch the core and the shell comes off easily. The Forking Truth is that I threw out all my other cannoli cores and I tried Fanara’s. FT! (Forking Truth!) By the time you do six and then roll out your next six then the first six will be cool so you can slide the shells off the cores and get ready to repeat till done.

Place shells on new paper towels over a pan or baking sheet and when cool cover with plastic wrap.

To make the cheese you put a very large pot on medium heat and add the milk, cream and about 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt. You have to slowly bring this to a rolling boil. It should take about one hour. During this time you stir it occasionally.

When the mixture is at a rolling boil then you SLOWLY add fresh squeezed lemon juice. Depending on the size and how juicy the lemon is you will need 2-3 lemons. You slowly add the juice and stop when you see it turns to curds.

Let it continue to cook for just a couple minutes and shut the heat off.

I use a metal mesh strainer and SLOWLY ladle out the mixture and let it drain and then add to a clean container.

Put in the refrigerator when the cheese cools down a bit. After a night in the refrigerator the cheese will seem very thick and it needs to be. Decide on what flavors you want to make. I like to make a third vanilla, one third cinnamon and the last third chocolate. Add sugar and flavoring to your liking. A day before I need to use the cannoli filling I make the flavors because the vanilla flavor and the cinnamon flavor turn runny from the sugar and you will have to drain those fillings over night with paper towel lined colander that is kept in the refrigerator. (make it triple lined and line on top too)…you can drain the cheese for more than one day but change the towels at least once a day but twice is better.

The next step is the day of serving the cannoli I dust the inside and outside of cannoli shells with 10x sugar that keeps the inside crisp longer and adds another dimension of flavor to the cannoli. It’s easy to pipe the filling in with a pastry bag. You don’t even need to use a tip. You can add pistachios, chocolate chips or cherries to the ends but I prefer without.

Cannoli

I sprinkle a little cinnamon to the cinnamon cannoli and cocoa to the chocolate cannoli.

I made these cannoli for my neighbors and everyone said that these were the best cannoli they ever tasted.( FT) This is the dessert my husband’s family requests for their annual Christmas Gathering.

These are the Best Forking Cannoli in the Whole World.

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