3 Hour Onions

3 hour Onions are very jammy and sweet and almost melt on to grilled meats or sandwiches. You take your pealed onions cut in half and slice and place in pans. Just sprinkle with a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and let them roast at 350 degrees for three hours.

Onion Syrup

After three hours, besides the delicious onions you get this really delicious onion syrup to use in pan sauces or just brush on meats or sandwiches.

3 hour onions are similar to confit onions. Confit onions should be cooked at 200 degrees for 8-12 hours along with butter wine and bay leaves.

Forking Good!

Italian Style Inspired Tuna Salad

As a child the only way my mother would make tuna salad was simply just canned tuna mixed with mayonnaise or a mayonnaise substitute. It was OK to me at the time served with that blue box macaroni and cheese that most young kids eat still to this day.

I am much older now and discovered a different way to eat tuna salad that taste much more delicious and is healthier too. Basically Italian Tuna Salad is really made with Italian Tuna in Italian oil with vinegar and Lemon.

I don’t usually use Italian Tuna or even tuna in oil.The addition of fruit with Briny Olives, Onions, Artichokes and capers is a nice play against each other. I don’t measure exactly but I think you will get the idea of how to put it together from these ingredients.

For about 4 servings.

About 10 oz. Tuna

Juice of one lemon and it’s grated zest.

About 1/4 chopped fine onion.

Either one small Asian Pear, Small or 1/2 Apple or a small bunch seedless grapes chopped into small cubes. I note Italians wouldn’t use Asian Pears but at the moment I’m liking them in this dish.

About 15 Olives chopped fine

About a Teaspoon of Capers

About a Cup of Chopped Artichoke. Fresh already cooked and cleaned is best but that’s a pain so the next best is frozen artichoke but in a pinch canned is fine.

Almost 1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar

About 1/4 Cup Good Extra Virgin Olive Oil

A very small amount of crushed Sea Salt

Some Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Now serve on top of mixed greens or in a sandwich or use as an appetizer filling.

Forking Good!

I love this delicious not too popular dip or spread called Muhammara. I first enjoyed it dining at a Lebanese Restaurant. After much research developed my own recipe. It is basically Roasted Red Peppers with Nuts, Exotic of Seasoning and Pomegranate. It’s very easy to make you just combine ingredients and process. Your mixture should be lumpy not smooth. Muhammara is so delicious I promise you that you will enjoy it!

Muhammara

5 fresh Roasted Red Bell Peppers Cleaned and Pealed with saved about of half cup of the pepper juice and make sure you get the really thick caramelized juice or reduce it till thick like maple syrup.

I Cup Roasted Almonds or Walnuts (I strongly prefer Almonds but Walnuts are more traditional)

One Pomegranate Fresh Roasted cleaned and juiced with a Ricer (or you can cheat and just use 2 Tablespoons of Pomegranate Molasses.

Juice of one Meyer Lemon

2 Red Thai Chili’s (use less if you don’t like spicy or don’t use but this dip should be spicy)

2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil a good quality one.

1 large garlic clove or 2 small

1 t.Cumin

1/2 t. Coriander

1 t.Paprika

1/2 t. Chili Powder

1/4 t. Nutmeg

1/4 t. Cardamon

1/4 t. Cayenne

1/4 t. Kosher or Sea Salt

1/4 t. Black Pepper

Some people do like this thicker and add one or two slices fresh bread or about 1/2 cup bread crumbs to mixture but I don’t like it that way. Many people add sugar or honey to the mixture but by using the concentrated pepper juice and by my method of roasting a pomegranate brings out natural sweetness that I prefer.

You just blend it up and your ready to dip or spread on a pita or a kabob or even a sandwich.

Forking Truth

Forking Good!

8-12 Hour Tomatoes

When I have extra tomatoes I slow roast them at 200 degrees for 8-12 hours with a little extra virgin Olive Oil and I crush fresh salt and pepper on them when I pull them out of oven.

The flavor of the tomato gets concentrated and is very sweet. Even those cardboard like  supermarket tomatoes turn delicious this way. They are excellent in a varity of ways including  entrees,  pizzas or grilled sandwiches.

They stay good in the frig  for about 10 days so I usually never have to freeze them but I have once and they froze and thawed well.

Polenta Cake

Polenta cakes are very easy to make and do make a nice side or appetizer and they freeze well. They might be better with butter or cheese but I keep them healthy style because I think they are creamy enough as they are.

All they are is for two dozen muffins are 9 cups boiling salted water that you add 2 cups of regular polenta. Bring down your heat to simmer for at least 20 minutes. Then pour into two muffin pans and bake at 400 degrees till slightly browned. Salt and pepper the tops lightly but don’t remove from pan till they are cool.

You can make them plain or add things to them. The ones pictured have corn kernels, hatch chilies, onions, red bell pepper, jalapeño and cilantro. I just threw them into mixture as it simmered.

Speaking of Polenta

Polenta from the Wriggly Mansion

I will never forget the Polenta tower that was served to me at the Wriggly Mansion. It sort of looked happy to see me. It was very stiff and bread like. Honestly I think the chef just used muffin mix and mixed it with polenta. The Wriggly Mansion has hired a new Chef since my visit.

Home Made Pizza

I think everybody likes Pizza.

I think the recipe for pizza is pretty basic. I don’t measure pizza dough and just go by how it feels as I move along. I start it by about a tablespoon of sugar and a pack of yeast in a very large bowl. I add a few cups of 100-110 degree water to the bowl and let it sit maybe a 1/2 hour till it gets really foamy. I then dump in bread flour and mix it up and then add 3 Glunks of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and about a tablespoon of Kosher Salt (I hate regular table salt) I add flour and hand mix till it feels like pizza dough, roll in a ball, cover with plastic wrap and proof in my oven till in rises. I punch the dough down and let it rise one or two more times.

To get a crispy crust in my oven for me it’s a two part process. I stretch out my pizza dough on a pizza pan that’s brushed with Extra virgin Olive oil and either corn meal or semolina flour at 475 degrees. The pizza cooks for about 5 minutes. I flip the pizza out (so the bottom is up on my pizza board, top the pizza. (home made sauce slightly thickened with tomato paste for the right pizza taste and my blend of pizza cheese, mozzarella, mild provolone and sharp provolone, a pinch of seasoning of fresh ground salt, pepper, oregano, basil and a micro pinch of garlic and a spray of extra virgin olive oil across the cheese.

Now this pizza goes onto a pizza stone at 475 degrees for around 5-6 minutes. It’s best to get your oven as hot as possible for the pizza but I find that 475 is the best temperature because your pizza stone can crack at 450 degrees but I find if you keep them oiled 475 works fine.

Pizza is whey good and that’s the Forking Truth!