Author Archives: The Forking Truth

Roasted Hot Green Sauce and Green Hot Pepper Ketchup Recipe

If you find yourself with a bunch of peppers that are forking too hot to consume you can always make them into Forking Hot Sauce and Forking Hot Ketchup. The Cool Thing is you can start off the two sauces from one pot.

Ingredients

6 Roasted, cleaned and seeded Bell Peppers and the golden sweet juice they release from roasting. (for sweetness)

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Around 12 oz. of Roasted Serrano Chilies Cleaned

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Around 1 lb. 11 oz. Hot Hatch Chili’s Roasted Pealed if you can and seeded

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1 apple pealed, cored and chopped

Juice from 1 Lime

3 Garlic Cloves smashed fine

3 Cups Apple Cider Vinegar

2 Cups Water

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1/2 teaspoon Cayenne

1/2 teaspoon white ground pepper

(for making the Ketchup afterwards you need )

1 Cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

Pinch Cloves

Directions

Dice up all the peppers place in pot and add rest of ingredients and blend.

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It will look sort of like this.

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Bring to boil and let simmer at least an hour.

Then use a strainer and separate the sauce.

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Take your thick sauce and turn it into Ketchup.

Place Thick Sauce back in your sauce pan and add 1 cup of white sugar, 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire Sauce and a pinch of Ground Cloves. Bring to boil and let simmer about an hour. Place in a clean container. You can blend it smoother if you want to.

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Back to Hot Green Sauce.

Put your thin green sauce back in your sauce pan and bring to boil and turn down to a slower boil and let it reduce to maybe a third from where you started.

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The Green Hot Pepper Ketchup almost had a fruit taste to it I think it would be really good with lighter meats. It’s spicy but not forking spicy.

The Roasted Hot Green Sauce gives you that roasted pepper taste at first and then gives you a big fat punch of forking spicy heat.

Forking Good!

Forking Good!

 

Quick EASY and Forking Delicious Spelt Veggie Flat Bread

It only takes minutes to prepare a delicious and light Spelt Veggie Flat Bread. This is forking easy and anyone can make this flatbread.

Spelt Veggie Flatbread

Spelt Veggie Flatbread

Ingredients for the Flatbread (this recipe makes two quarter flat pan flat breads and will serve 4-8 people) Set Oven at 450 degrees

1 Cup All Purpose Flour

1 Cup Spelt Flour

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1 Cup Water

about 2 teaspoons Kosher Salt

Mix well

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and pat flat on a slightly canola sprayed pan. Arrange your vegetables. (I used Zucchini, Onion, Corn, Heirloom Tomatoes and Shishito Peppers)

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At this point you pop the pan in your 450 degree oven and it’s cooked in 10 minutes.

Now you add cheese if you want cheese. (I used Brie and it was delicious) You season with fresh crushed Sea Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper and drizzle Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Balsamic Glaze and Pop back in the oven till cheese just melts.

Quick! and Very Easy to make! The spelt flour lightens up the dough and also makes for a more flavorful almost nutty tasting dough. This Flatbread got inhaled really forking fast. Yours will too.

Spelt Veggie Flat Bread

Spelt Veggie Flat Bread

So Quick, Easy and Forking Delicious! Spelt Veggie Flatbread.

Forking Good!

Forking Good!

 

 

Tomato, Hibiscus, Onion & Roasted Lime Salad

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I had these beautiful tomatoes and noticed the forking tomatoes looked similar to the cover of my magazine. But they also had those pretty purple sprouts and forking micro greens.

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So I thought I’d try out the Tomato, Onion and Roasted Lemon Recipe. I thought the edible sugar roasted and herbed lemons sounded interesting and thought to myself I could easily also do the same with limes and create a similar but different salad.

Tomato, Onion and Roasted Lemon Salad

Tomato, Onion and Roasted Lemon Salad

I do note other people might not feel the way I did about the Tomato, Onion and Roasted Lemon Salad.

I did the cover  recipe and just found out I FORKING HATE Pomegranate Molasses or I hate the bottled Pomegranate Molasses I used anyway. The magazine recipe includes pomegranate molasses. I LOVE pomegranates and had no forking idea that pomegranate molasses can taste exactly like forking cough syrup. That red sweet tart sort of taste is really nauseating to me. The whole salad tasted forking terrible to me even with all the spices added. It was that cough syrup, mint, sage,allspice and almost bitter lemon.  The tomatoes taste laced with cough syrup. For me these flavors were terrible together. I’m thinking the recipe might have some forking typo errors. I can’t forking stomach it BUT I do note other people might enjoy it.

It was pretty easy to do another salad using the same method to cook the citrus. So I created another salad that looks similar but with flavors that forking taste good together to me.

The recipe is pretty easy.

Tomato, Hibiscus, Onion and Roasted Lime Salad

1 Lime Washed and sliced very thin with seeds removed (ignore the lemons in the picture, I used them for the other recipe)

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About 3 Tablespoons Fresh Cleaned chopped Cilantro

1/2 teaspoon Sugar

2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil (1Tbsp & 1Tbsp)

1 Tablespoon Hibiscus Syrup

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3 Hibiscus Flowers torn

1 Slightly Spicy Pepper sliced thin (I used a Shishito but a fresno or banana pepper would be just as good)

1 Garlic Clove mashed or crushed fine

Around a pound of small Heirloom Tomatoes sliced up.

About 1/4 sweet onion sliced thin

About 2 Tablespoons of Roasted Watermelon seeds (Pumpkin would also be very good)

Fresh Crushed Sea Salt and Black Pepper

 

Set your oven at 325 degrees

Boil your limes for 2 minutes to remove bitterness, drain and pat dry.

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Toss lime slices with I Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1 Tablespoon Chopped Cilantro and Sugar. Line your citrus on a parchment lined pan and bake the limes 15-20 minutes till they seem dry.

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Mix I Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil with garlic and Hibiscus Syrup till well combined. Add all your remaining ingredients and Season with Fresh Ground Sea Salt and Black Pepper.

Tomato, Onion, and Roasted Lime Salad

Tomato, Onion, and Roasted Lime Salad

I thought the salad was good this way but then I kicked it up adding some Hibiscus Flowers to add more balance to the lime, A thinly sliced Shishito Pepper, and Roasted Watermelon Seeds. The salad is forking complete now.

Tomato, Hibiscus, Onion and Roasted Lime Salad

Tomato, Hibiscus, Onion and Roasted Lime Salad

Forking Good!

Forking Good!

 

 

Food Wise Phoenix AZ is Forking Different

It’s subtle but when you move to or visit Phoenix Arizona you might start to notice many small things in your food world are forking different.

The Produce Section,

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Dairy Sections

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and Meat Sections

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do differ from Grocery Stores in other areas that you might remember.

Different or fewer apples, less variety and more expensive mushrooms.

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(yikes some good ones in specialty stores are forking $40. a lb. and more), and usually fewer colors of cauliflower. Instead of reasonably priced banana peppers you can find reasonably priced jalapeños and you can never find any fresh forking cherry peppers.

In the dairy section

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you won’t find the different cottage cheeses offering you the variety of different sizes of curds. You also won’t find a good quality ricotta cheese so you should forking make your own. You can find heavy whipping cream but regular heavy cream that you might need for  your cheese making as it is almost impossible to find. Not all but MOST  forking grocery stores here don’t carry heavy cream and just carry heavy whipping cream instead.

The deli forking differs too here in Phoenix.

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You need to make your own forking Health Salad out here if you want it. The brands of deli meat differ and out here you can’t get real pastrami like the kind that has fat you just melt off in your fry pan. Out here you get the kind that turns forking hard when you try to heat it in a pan because it’s made without fat and also has less flavor.

Not all but most meat departments don’t carry veal but that might be because maybe most people don’t eat veal anymore?

It used to be easy to find roaster chickens but most places here only forking carry fryer chickens.

Almost everyone likes Cannoli’s.  I guess not too many people out here in Phoenix eat them because they are M.I.A. from the forking  bakery counters. If you want a cannoli you need to find a specially store or make them yourself.  Actually a lot is missing in action from the bakery counters such as people. People don’t wait in line to order bread and sweets as it’s just forking self serve. So far I haven’t tried any sweets from these grocery bakeries that taste good to me  as they seem to have that chemical box taste taste so I forking make my own.  Real rye bread doesn’t make much of an appearance here either as you have to settle for mostly spiked up white bread trying to be rye. Most of the grocery bakeries make forking squishy bread that doesn’t taste like real bread. You can find some good bread but it’s few and far between.

Of the jarred items I’d normally purchase I have to do without India Relish as NOT ONE STORE in the forking Phoenix Area Carries it.  Hot Cherry Peppers are not in any regular supermarket. I note I can find them at the Asian Market so I have to forking go there for that. I also haven’t found anisette sugar out here anywhere yet.

I hate to say this and pardon the pun but the Forking Fish selection Stinks.

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That is the truth! Almost every major supermarket sells only a few varieties not so fresh tasting fish. I know Arizona is the forking desert and fish just don’t swim here but just about every FORKING TIME I purchase fish from a supermarket it doesn’t taste fresh if it’s edible at all. Often ALL the Markets sell Spoiled Fish.

Soda taste different. I think the high Arizona Heat brings out the chemical taste.  The same with canned foods. You can taste the can more. Maybe it’s because of the dry heat?

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On the Bright Side!

The Phoenix food area is far from forking awful and many things are also better!

It’s easier to find less expensive better tasting beef.  You can pick up almost any forking beef from anywhere and you can do well easily.

Local Produce is grown here and is sold at Super markets and Farmers Markets. Some of the stand outs are the Local Grains, Local Beans and I really like the Local Sprigarella, Local Rutabaga’s, Local Pecans and Local Dates.

Many big box stores and Asian Markets are conveniently located to most of us.

You have forking easy access to booze and wine. Most Super Markets and Forking Gas Stations sell Booze and Wine. Phoenix also has some Forking Drive threw Liquor Stores.

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Specialty wine stores are also conveniently located in many areas.

Phoenix is a foodie destination! lots of interesting and international restaurants. You can travel the World by the Forking Seat of your pants in the Metro Phoenix Area.

Most of Mexican Cuisine is here from Seafood to Cow Head Tacos to dishes with dried Crickets to Americanized Mexican Favorites like chimichangas.

The Birthday Song kind of place

The Birthday Song kind of place

Almost every kind of Asian Food is here

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including Cambodian. We also have Caribbean Food, Swedish Food, Moroccan Food, German Food, Bosnian Food, English Food, Indian Food, Middle Eastern Food and Others!

Many Magazines and Food TV Shows say we have the best Forking Pizza Shop in the country!

You want Steak Phoenix has LOTS of fine steak houses. There is no steak shortage here.

Many James Bread Nominated Chefs have restaurants here and they all put out all kinds of Forking interesting creative plates.

At not all but many of the restaurants with patios your dog is welcomed to dine with you.

Food wise Phoenix Arizona is not the same and is Forking different from other places you’ve been.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

Easy India Style Zucchini Relish

I’m full of forking Zucchini and I know you can make pickles with zucchini so I thought I’d make India Style Relish since they don’t forking sell any in my part of Arizona. This relish comes out full flavored and not so sweet.  If you like your relish on the sweet side  you will need to add more sugar.  I also recommend to let it sit for a day for the flavors to settle.

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Ingredients

About a 1 pound Zucchini grated

1 red Bell Pepper Diced

1 Greenish Bell Pepper Diced (Mine was Green Yellow)

1 Sweet onion grated

2 Tablespoons Kosher Salt

2 Cups White Vinegar

6 Tablespoons Sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon clove

1/2 teaspoon Allspice

2 Tablespoons Mustard Seeds

Forking easy directions

Dump all your veggies in your sauce pot with vinegar and half your seasonings.

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Now blend it up with your blender wand a little.

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Bring to boil and then turn down to a little more than a simmer and let it go till it’s about at desired consistency. (that will take 1 1/2 hour – 2 hours.)

Taste it and decide if you want to add a little more seasoning from your mixture.  I used about 1/2 of what was left. (The rest might be really good to coat a burger with)

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EASY India Style Relish (made from zucchini SHsssssss)

Forking Good!

Forking Good!

 

 

DON’T JIP! Leave The TIP! Groupon Tipping

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Sometimes you get these Great FORKING Deals on Groupon and OTHER Groupon-Like sites.

These Groupon and Groupon-Like Sites are internet sites were you can purchase and print vouchers for discounted rates on merchandise, services and or Restaurant Deals.

It can be something like a Forking $100.00 deal for $49.00 or a $200.00 Steal for $80.00.

For Restaurants some Groupon-Like Sites require a predetermined gratuity added to your bill so you don’t forking jip your server.

Other Groupon and Groupon-Like sites let the consumer leave a voluntary gratuity BUT DO HAVE fine print printed on the voucher and their internet site that you should leave 15%-20% of pre-discounted price.

Don’t Jip! Forking Leave the Tip!

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

Restaurant Week does differ. The restaurants usually create a 3 course meal at a slightly lower check average than what you normally would pay at that restaurant. Restaurant Week sometimes is considered the “Special.” If you had a positive exsperience you should tip around 20% or plus.

Great Bargains can be found at a Restaurant Supply Store

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Even if you don’t own a forking restaurant or have a boat load of people to cook for Great Bargains can be found at a Restaurant Supply Store. I do note it is helpful to have an extra freezer. I also note not all forking restaurant supply stores let the public shop in their stores.

How about getting Bags of 5-6 Red Bell Peppers for around $2.00 a bag?  I purchased several forking bags and roasted up a bunch and froze. I also sautéed up a bunch and froze some too.

One time when I went I got a forking 5 pounds of forking parsnips for around $2.00! I managed to use them all between making soup, parsnip fries and parsnip keftedes (vegetarian Greek Style meatballs).

I liked getting 40 pounds of fresh Chicken quarters for $24.00. I just cooked and cleaned up a big batch of some and got a  forking “stock pile” in my freezer.

Picked up a box of Frozen Walleye Pike. Made some in pan fried and brushed with my forking home made mustard recipe and crisp onions. They came out great! The whole forking box of fish cost as much as one dinner out for two would have cost!

Canola High Heat Cooking spray is a bargain too. Not only is it a bigger can for less than half the money of a supermarket price it a forking higher quality spray without that long list of chemicals.

You say Tomato.

Tomato

Tomato

I got Tomatoes!

Just for fun (and possibly turbulent  sleeping conditions) I picked up a number 10 can (that’s over 7 pounds) of Vegetarian Refried Beans for around $4.50 as someone in the house is really found of refried beans.  Got some in the fridge, got a a few containers in the freezer.

Some things aren’t a bargain  for a the regular consumer like packaged or canned tuna fish. I need that in smaller portions.

Sometimes the store gives you stuff for free with your purchase! But I didn’t need a forking 30 pounds of fryer fat or 50 pounds of onions.

They also sell lots of fun equipment like ice machines, fryers and flat top grills. But I can forking fit any of them in my house.

I enjoy everything I purchased from the Restaurant Supply Store because I only purchased what I can use and what were bargains.

Great bargains can be found at a Restaurant Supply Store.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

 

 

WTFork is a Clafoutis?

Clafoutis Type of Dessert From Bottega in Yountville CA

Clafoutis Type of Dessert From Bottega in Yountville CA

I never Tasted a forking Clafoutis kind of dessert until I ate at Michael Chiarello’s Restaurant Bottega in Yountville CA. I do have to say it was the most delicious dessert I’ve tasted this year so far. The cake part wasn’t sweet but almost a pancake or crepe kind of taste with an almost custard like texture. The strawberries in this dessert were concentrated with Sweet Strawberry Flavor and the almost tart tangy cream with that balsamic drizzle and the hit of Black Pepper was pretty darn-right forking amazing. I had some very good and great food in California but that Clafoutis from Bottega is what I think about most.

According to Wikipedia a Clafoutis is a baked French Dessert with Fruit traditionally baked with black Cherries with Pits! The pits release a small amount of Amygdalin and that compliments the flavor.

The acceptable fruits to use in a Clafoutis are, Red Cherries, Plums, Prunes, Apples, Cranberries and Blackberries.

If you use a forking different fruit your dessert is a forking Flaugnarde.

So I decided I wanted to make my first Clafoutis. I looked at many different recipes and they do forking differ a bit. So I actually found an Apple Clafoutis Recipe by Michael Chiarello on Foodnetwork.com so I tried that one cutting the recipe in half and not running out to buy anything special like a vanilla beans or Calvados Fruit Brandy. I just used what I forking had around the house.

When I studied the ingredients I was forking surprised that this Clafoutis Recipe is actually pretty low in fat and sugar and has very little flour. I cut the recipe in half because I only wanted 4 servings. I only used 2 eggs, 1/4 C. Flour, 1/2 cup milk Slightly over a tablespoon of butter and I think it was only 3 tablespoons of sugar plus two tiny apples.

I mixed up Flour, Sugar, Cinnamon, Salt, Eggs and Milk

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Then I Cooked peeled Apples with butter till butter browned.

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I then added vanilla, salt, sugar, and poured into buttered glass bowl and topped the apples with batter.

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The Mixture got baked for about 22 minutes at 400 degrees.

I topped it with a little powdered sugar, cinnamon and Black Pepper.

Instead of Creme Fraiche I mixed some similar tasting Whipped Cream Cheese with Nonfat Greek Yogurt and added some Balsamic Vinegar to it instead of drizzling the dessert with Balsamic Glaze.

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The Apple Clafoutis had the same taste but I thought the strawberries gave it a little more pop and zing.  My Companion however felt different and preferred the dessert made with apple.

In a few weeks maybe I’ll try Gordon Ramsey’s Recipe for Clafoutis his differs and has fresh ground almonds and heavy cream in the recipe.

Now I know what forking Clafoutis is.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

My Local Asian Market is a Pepper Paradise and More!

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The Asiana Market in Glendale Arizona sells more varieties of Peppers than I can forking mention. Some that I forking remember were Jalapeños, Thai Chili’s, Korean Peppers, Bell Peppers and Anaheim’s but these are the ones I purchased.

Twisted or Shishito Peppers. These Shishito peppers are featured on many better restaurant’s menus across the country.

Shishito Peppers

Shishito Peppers

Shishitos from FnB Restaurant Scottsdale AZ

Shishitos from FnB Restaurant Scottsdale AZ

Shishitos from Zazu Kitchen and Farm Sebastopol CA

Shishitos from Zazu Kitchen and Farm Sebastopol CA

My Shishitos with Balsamic Glaze, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Italian Hard Cheese, Watermelon Kernels, Basil and Black Pepper.

My Shishitos with Balsamic Glaze, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Italian Hard Cheese, Watermelon Kernels, Basil and Black Pepper.

They also had Banana Peppers.

Banana Peppers

Banana Peppers

And Italian Chilies!

Italian Chilis

Italian Chilies

I picked up a Jar of Cherry Peppers.

Cherry Peppers

Cherry Peppers

And a Jar of Grilled Cayenne Peppers!

Grilled Cayenne Peppers

Grilled Cayenne Peppers

I then decided I had enough forking peppers and picked up some forking Date Molasses because that’s really hard to find.

Date Molasses

Date Molasses

I didn’t buy the Old Squash but I saw they had some.

Old Squash

Old Squash

I did buy the Yu Choy because that cooks up like Good Spinach.

Yu Choy

Yu Choy

They had Dosekai and maybe I’ll try them next time.

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Asiana Market is a Pepper Paradise and More!

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

 

 

Willie Bird’s Restaurant in Santa Rosa CA…….(let’s Talk Turkey)

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Willie Bird’s Restaurant in Sonoma County Santa Rosa CA is a Great Restaurant for Forking Turkey to gobble up. Willie Bird’s are Locally Grown Willie Bird Turkeys that are also sold at the Willie Bird Store.

Forking Nothing about the restaurant or menu is fancy. When you walk in it’s forking like grandma’s old dining room with a forking lot of old turkey ceramics. The menu is not all but mostly Turkey. It’s sort of forking like Thanksgiving every day Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner seven days a forking week! Turkey, turkey, TURKEY, and more TURKEY!

This time I came for dinner. They started us of with a Bread Basket and an appetizer plate of Vegetables and Pepperoni (Turkey?)

Complementary with dinner

Complementary with dinner

Then next came a cup of soup. I had TURKEY Barley.

Included with dinner

Included with dinner

My companion had Lentil with TURKEY Sausage.

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Next came a House Salad.

Included with Dinner

Included with Dinner

For dinner (and 4 other meals) I (and We) forking had the Roasted Drumstick Dinner.

Roasted Drumstick Dinner

Roasted Drumstick Dinner

I received a very large tender, flavorful Turkey Leg, mashed potatoes, and stuffing covered in giblet gravy. This was a forking hell of a deal for just under twenty dollars.

My companion had the Chicken Fried Turkey Dinner.

Chicken Fried Turkey

Chicken Fried Turkey

Willie Bird’s Restaurant in Santa Rosa is the forking destination to Gobble up Turkey!

Forking Truth

Forking Truth