Category Archives: Forking Recipes

Interesting twists on everyday things as well as the unusual

Chipotle Cilantro Lime Beef & Rice Stuffed Peppers with Avocado Cream Recipe

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I made this chipotle lime sauce for a squash and then I got the idea to flavor beef in a similar way so I did. This recipe makes 14-15 five ounce mini meatloafs. I think they might be gluten free too because I used masa flour for that flavor and leftover white rice in them instead of breadcrumbs to bind. You don’t have to stuff peppers like I did and just cook off meatloafs if you prefer. I like the pepper cooked so I pre roasted the peppers cut in half for 15 minutes at 450 f. If you want your pepper crisper and more raw don’t precook the peppers.

Ingredients for around 14 servings

3 pounds ground beef (we grind our own brisket and remove most of the fat)

7 peppers – cut in half longways, seeds & seed membranes removed (I used Anaheim peppers)

1 onion – fine chop or grated

6 garlic cloves – ground to paste

2 Tablespoons chipotle powder (you can remove seeds from a dried chipotle pepper and grind it up or buy chipotle powder I buy it from Asiana Market and have bought it from Sprouts too)

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

1 Tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 cup fresh cilantro (leaves and only the very tender stems) – chopped

6 eggs – lightly beaten

1 Tablespoon (heaping) reduced sodium Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base (I use this instead of salt because it gives more flavor and has less sodium than salt

1 cup corn masa flour

2 cups cooked rice

1 lime the zest and fresh squeezed juice

1 Tablespoon honey

2 avocados

1/2 cup water ( a little less if your avocados are small)

1/2 cup hot pepper brine (preferable from home made pickled hot peppers) If you don’t have just substitute some vinegar or use more water

1 lime (just the fresh squeezed juice)

1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

Directions

Set oven to 450 degrees F.

Roast off the half peppers cut side down around 15 minutes or until cooked.

When the peppers are out of the oven turn the oven down to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl combine the beef, onion, garlic, chipotle powder, black pepper, oregano, Old Bay Seasoning, cumin, cumin seeds cilantro, eggs, corn masa flour, and rice and mix well.

In a small mixing bowl mix together the lime juice and zest with the honey and add that to the meat mixture and mix well.

Measure out 5 ounces of meat mixture and fill peppers.

Put the peppers on the middle and lower racks of the oven and let them cook till done. (about 20 minutes)

While the stuffed peppers are cooking whip up the avocado cream. Blend together the avocado, water, brine, lime juice, and olive oil.

Serve.

Chipotle Cilantro Lime Beef & Rice Stuffed Peppers with Avocado Cream

ENJOY!

The Forking Truth

Yotam Ottolenghi Inspired Spiced Cabbage with Ginger Crisp and Chili Oil Recipe

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Yotam Ottolenghi is a chef, restauranteur and multi award and James Beard awarding winning cook book author. When you come across one of his recipes you can surely learn something and or taste something incredible. I came across Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe for Soba Noodles with Ginger Broth and Crunchy Ginger. I read the recipe and I thought that sounds really good but don’t feel like soup or noodles today (It’s really toasty hot in Phoenix). I figured out how to do his recipe as a vegetable. So that is what this is…..and it came out really delicious! portion size is difficult to judge. I used one medium to small cabbage. For me that is around four side servings.

Ingredients for around 4 side servings

12 Tablespoons olive oil (split into 8 and 4 Tablespoons)

1 Tablespoon red chili flakes

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

60 grams peeled and grated ginger (around 6 Tablespoons)

2 shallots -peeled and fine chopped

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

1 Tablespoon white sesame seeds

1 Tablespoon black sesame seeds

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 cabbage (I used a medium/small one) Cut into 1 1/2-2inch pieces

1 heaping Tablespoon vegetable soup base

1 lime – just the fresh squeezed juice

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger

2 Tablespoons reserved chili oil

Directions

Make the chili oil. – Add 8 tablespoons of oil to a large skillet and heat over medium heat. Place the red chili flakes and the paprika in a small heatproof bowl. When the oil is hot but not smoking add the oil to the small heatproof bowl. Set this to the side to let the flavors infuse. (2 Tablespoons need to be reserved for making the cabbage)

Set oven to 450 degrees F.

Make the cabbage (or if you are taking your time it might be better for you to do the ginger crisp next so you aren’t doing two things at once). – In a large mixing bowl combine the soup base, lime juice, soy sauce, granulated garlic, powdered ginger and reserved chili oil. Mix well. Add the cabbage and mix well. Spread out on a sheet pan and roast in the oven till slightly charred. (ovens do differ but in my oven this took around 22 minutes. Remove from oven when done. Use a slotted spoon so the cabbage is dryer.

Make the ginger crisp. – Add 4 Tablespoons oil to the same skillet that you just used. Heat on medium high. Once hot turn the heat down to medium. Add the ginger and the shallots. Stir often till nicely browned and starting to crisp (10-15 minutes). Add the panko, sesame seeds, and salt. Cook around 6 minutes more till nicely toasted. Transfer to a bowl and set to the side.

Combine and serve. Cabbage gets topped with ginger crisp. Sprinkle with chili oil as desired.

Spiced Cabbage with Ginger Crisp and Chili Oil

ENJOY!

A Special THANKS to Yotam Ottolenghi for sharing his Forking Amazing recipe for Soba Noodles with Ginger Broth and Crunchy Ginger so I could come up with what I made.

The Forking Truth

Sazon Spiced Acorn Squash with Cilantro Chimichurri Recipe

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Here is DELICIOUS Sazon Spiced Acorn Squash with Cilantro Chimichurri. You can buy Sazon (General Spanish and or Mexican Seasoning Salt) but here we mix our own because we already have the spices. These flavors annatto, garlic, cumin, and coriander are delicious on acorn squash and the cilantro chimichurri just elevates it even more. Acorn squash do differ greatly in size. The one squash I used was large for an acorn squash. For me it makes 4 smaller side servings.

Ingredients for around 4 side servings

1 large acorn squash – washed well, cut in half (stem to tip) seeds and seed membranes removed and then cut into one inch slices

1/2 teaspoon mild chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ground annatto

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon coriander

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 Tablespoons canola oil

1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 1/2 oz cilantro leaves and fine stems – chopped

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

5 garlic cloves – ground to paste

1 small-medium onion (around 6 oz) chopped

2 small hot peppers – chopped (I used chili de arbols)

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon sea salt

optional – 2oz roasted salted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) for finishing

optional pickled red onions for serving

Directions

Set oven to 475 F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper

In a small mixing bowl combine the chili powder, annatto, granulated garlic, cumin, coriander, black pepper, salt, canola oil, and apple cider vinegar. Set squash slices in a single layer on parchment lined baking sheet. Paint the contents of the small bowl on the squash on both sides. Use up the whole mixture. Put the squash pan on an upper middle rack for 15 minutes. Flip the squash pieces over and cook another 15 minutes or until squash looks slightly charred.

While the squash is cooking make the cilantro chimichurri.

Blend together the cilantro, oregano, garlic, onion, hot peppers, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.

SERVE squash with the chimichurri. Add optional roasted salted pepitas and pickled red onions if desired.

Sazon Spiced Acorn Squash with Cilantro Chimichurri

This delicious and everyone will enjoy!

The Forking Truth

Anaheim Romesco Sauce Recipe

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I got the idea in my head that romesco sauce made with roasted Anaheim peppers would be delicious and it is. Romesco sauce is a Spanish sauce that often is used on fish. It is usually made from roasted red peppers, tomatoes, almonds, sometimes thicken with bread and a few other ingredients. It’s a delicious easy sauce to make. Servings are difficult to judge because I don’t know if you are using only a little or a lot. This makes a good 4 servings.

Ingredients for around 4 servings.

6 small roasted Anaheim peppers – peeled, stems removed, seeds removed, chopped (my 6 small peppers were 200ml in my measuring cup)

3 garlic cloves – fine chopped

1/4 cup roasted salted almonds

1 Tablespoon sherry vinegar

1 lemon – the fresh squeezed juice

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

sea salt – to taste

ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Blend.

Anaheim Romesco Sauce
Anaheim Romesco Sauce

I used it with smoked paprika roasted cauliflower, pickled onions and crisp apples.

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

Broccoli 3 Ways with Confit Egg, Onion Jam, Blue Cheese, Crispy Cabbage and Tempura Radish Recipe based on Chef Ivan Tisdall-Downs Recipe for Broccoli Stalk with confit egg and blue cheese recipe

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This is an outstanding recipe that I found in the internet by chef Ivan Tisdall-Downs for Broccoli Stalk with Confit Egg and Blue Cheese Recipe. This recipe has a lot of steps to it but nothing is too hard to do. I did change only a few things but maybe not enough to take any credit for this recipe. I wanted my broccoli cooked instead of raw so that was one change. I thought the broccoli puree needed chives so I added that. Instead of making blue cheese dressing I just added blue cheese because the creamy extra rich broccoli puree was enough richness for me. I also didn’t have kale so I substituted cabbage and crisped it up in the microwave but I do have to admit that when you use kale like YOU SHOULD that the kale crisp will turn out tastier than my microwaved crisp cabbage. Still even with the slight changes I made this is an exceptional recipe that taste FORKING AMAZING. I do note that this recipe is A LOT OF WORK for only 4 servings…..You make this recipe when you want to make something very special. This recipe is in metric. One thing that isn’t very clear when you read the recipe is how much broccoli to use. I used two very large heads of broccoli for the whole recipe.

Ingredients for 4 servings

4 egg yolks – confit eggs

250ml neutral oil – confit eggs

500g onions – finely sliced – onion jam

75g demerara sugar – onion jam

75ml cider vinegar – onion jam

50ml water – onion jam

1 dash vegetable oil – onion jam

285g broccoli washed and fine chopped – broccoli puree

200ml heavy cream – broccoli puree

100ml whole milk – broccoli puree

77g unsalted butter – broccoli puree

1g baking soda – broccoli puree

1 pinch sea salt – broccoli puree

2 Tablespoons chives – fine chopped – broccoli puree

115g blue cheese crumbled

1 bunch of kale (I used a small head of cabbage that I microwaved the leaves crisp but I do note that crispy kale chips would indeed be better)

1 Tbsp neutral oil – kale chips

1Tbsp sugar – kale chips

1 Tbsp salt – kale chips

180g flour (this batter recipe made maybe twice as much as I needed) tempura radish

1 Tablespoon baking powder – tempura radish

250ml ice water – tempura radish

1 pinch sea salt – tempura radish

12 radishes – tempura radish

neutral oil for frying – tempura radish

2 broccoli stalks only – broccoli stalks

1 teaspoon honey – broccoli stalks

10ml apple cider vinegar – broccoli stalks

1 knob butter – broccoli stalks

sea salt to taste – broccoli stalks

remaining broccoli cut in manageable pieces for eating

Directions

Make the confit eggs. Set sous vide to 63C and carefully add yolks to a small dish and cover the yolks with oil for around an hour. If you don’t have a sous vide you will slightly over cook the eggs in the oven. Confit eggs on the oven should be done at around 150 degrees F for around 30 minutes…Good LucK.

Make the onion jam. Put a sauce pan on medium heat. Add oil and when it’s hot add the onions and cook till soft and golden. Add sugar and cook till sugar turns to caramel and then deglaze with the vinegar. Add water and cook till jam consistency.

Make broccoli puree. Melt butter in the pan and add the milk and cream. Take off heat and add the baking soda. This mixture with the broccoli gets blended till as smooth as possible. Add chives and blend some more. Add seasoning to taste.

Set your oven to 400 degrees F or 200C. Make the kale chips. Spread leaves on baking sheet and drizzle with oil. Set another tray on the top of the kale and cook it for 5 minutes. Then season with the salt and sugar. (I note that I didn’t do this step and just microwaved cabbage leaves in a lightly non stick sprayed microwavable safe bowl for 5 minutes on one side. Blotted leaves dry and turned them over and around another 5 minutes and they were crispy…They do burn easy and I did accidentally burn some)

Peel the broccoli stalks. Slice in half long ways and boil for 8 minutes (I added sea salt and cut in chunks) Then shook in ice water.

Either set up a fryer with oil to 180C or a pot on the stove with neutral oil for frying at around medium heat. Make batter. Flour, pinch salt and ice water till smooth. Batter up those radishes and fry till golden. Drain on cooling rack…Or pan lined with paper towels. Season with salt.

Get a sauce pan with a knob of butter and cook till butter turns brown on medium high heat. Add the broccoli stalks and cook till caramelized. Add the honey cook around 2 minutes and deglaze with vinegar.

While you are doing the broccoli stalks blanch broccoli crown tops in salted water till tender crisp (around 3 minutes and then shock in ice water. Season with salt and pepper.

Put this all together and sprinkle with blue cheese.

Broccoli Three Ways with Confit Egg, Onion Jam, Blue Cheese, Crispy Cabbage and Tempura Radish

When I served this with dinner mine looked more like this.

This REALLY IS a FORKING AWSOME RECIPE!

A SPECIAL THANKS!!!!!!! To Chef Ivan Tisdall-Downs for his FORKING AMAZING Recipe so I could make this.

The Forking Truth

Spicy HOT Delicious Indian Style Red Sauce Recipe – DIFFERENT but based on a Milk Street Magazine Recipe

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I came across a recipe for a Maharashtra Indian Style chicken recipe from Milk Street Magazine that I want to try sometime. I read that this type of Indian style is always very deeply flavored. I had plenty of grilled and sous vide meats prepared and only had boring cauliflower around so I figured out on how to convert this recipe for cauliflower. I didn’t make it with the creamy yogurt that this dish should contain…Instead I changed it up a little more and put jack cheese and the sauce on my roasted cauliflower and it was MIGHTY FORKING TASTY and DELICIOUS. This comes out very hot but not too hot if you eat at South Indian Restaurants. My husband said that this taste just like it came from a very good Indian Restaurant. I think this sauce makes around 6 servings. I used it on cauliflower at least 4 times and on grilled chicken twice….maybe I used it more I forget? I wanted to write down how I made it before I forget how the heck I made it.

Ingredients for 6 (or more) servings

1 – 14 oz can Italian diced tomatoes

1 large onion fine chopped

1 Tablespoon canola oil

8 cloves garlic – fine chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (fresh is better but I didn’t have any)

1 1/2 Tablespoons paprika

1 1/2 Tablespoons cayenne pepper (We thought that this was delicious but you might want to use less)

1 teaspoon sea salt

3 Tablespoons cumin seeds (you need a spice grinder to grind them but these don’t go in to the end)

1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves (some tender stems ok)

Directions

In a sauce pot and medium high heat add the oil. When hot add the onions and cook until clear. Now add the tomatoes. Stir occasionally. Now add garlic, ginger, paprika, cayenne, and salt. Bring to simmer. Cook until you are satisfied with the way the tomatoes taste.Before you are finished add the ground cumin seeds. Finish your dish with fresh cilantro leaves.

Sorry I didn’t get a better picture for you.

Spicy HOT Delicious Indian Style Red Sauce

This is pretty simple but very delicious. Would be a great for Indian pizza too!

A special THANKS to Milk Street Magazine for this inspiration.

The Forking Truth

Slighter LIGHTER Healthier Quick EASY Miso Hollandaise Sauce Recipe

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Hollandaise sauce is delicious but it is basically mostly melted butter and egg yolks made into an emulsified sauce. Often this sauce is served with asparagus, fish, eggs, and steaks. I got the idea to do Miso Hollandaise Sauce for my bok choy today but I don’t want to use mostly just melted butter and just egg yolks because that is too unhealthy to enjoy at home. For my research on something slightly lighter I read a healthy style hollandaise recipe from someone else who used buttermilk and corn starch to cut the amount of egg yolks and butter……..That might be a very good recipe but I started to think why don’t I just use the egg white instead of buttermilk and corn starch. After all egg whites are a very healthy lean food. I just don’t see a reason NOT to use the egg whites. Somehow I guessed the flavors perfect but I had to make this recipe twice. First time around I did the recipe in a sauce pan and I accidentally over cooked the sauce slightly (still useable but not nice enough to photo so I tried again). The second time I just microwaved the butter ….Then I added the hot butter to my beaten whole egg, blended them together with my stick blender, and microwaved that for 30 seconds. Then I blended it again with the miso. Added the rest and I was done. It was almost instant and came out perfect. The serving size is hard to give you because I don’t know how much that you want to use. This recipe is for one very large portion (like enough to drown a sandwich) or what I really think is two proper sized portions ( like two dollops). (for my taste it didn’t need salt because my miso was salty enough but you might want salt) I also need to note that I used a stick blender. It might be hazardous to prepare this with a regular blender because it the hot liquids that you are messing with.

Ingredients for two servings

1 1/2 oz unsalted butter

1 1/2 oz white miso

1 whole egg

pinch ground white pepper

small dab garlic confit or a very small or 1/2 a garlic clove ground to paste (I usually make garlic confit when I buy bags of garlic because it taste so much better for sauces and certain things….To make garlic confit take garlic heads and cut across and drizzle well with olive oil and cover and place in a 350 degree F oven till soft and roasted (around an hour) pop out the cloves when cool enough to handle and blend till smooth. It keeps for a very long time refrigerated)

1/2 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

optional finish with chives or scallions

Directions

Melt the butter in a microwaveable dish (mine took 30 seconds).

In a small microwavable dish add egg and beat it. Now add the hot melted butter and blend. This blend of egg and butter are not cooked yet. This goes in the microwave another 30 seconds and gets blended till smooth.

The miso, garlic, white pepper. some chives if using…rest of chives will look nice on the top.

Add fresh squeezed lemon juice and blend that in.

SERVE!

Slightly Lighter Healthier Easy QUICK Miso Hollandaise Sauce

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

Chocolaty Beet Brownies with Beet Coconut Caramel Beet Meringues

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I got this recipe off the internet and had to edit it, simplify it, change some ingredients and change the amounts of the ingredients to make it work. I wound up with something that is this that is FORKING delicious. The original recipe was originally in metric. So I continued fixing the recipe in metric. I do like cooking in metric…..metric is perfection…and the measuring is so easy. This recipe makes 6 brownies and around 12 meringues.

Ingredients for 6 servings

1 medium/large beet – skin removed – beet grated – split into two bowls. Slightly larger amount of beet to go into the brownie mix. – brownie (smaller 1/2 is for caramel)

60g 100% chocolate grated – brownie

50g unsalted butter – melted – brownie

100g sugar – brownie

1 egg – beaten – brownie

15g cocoa powder – brownie

15g flour – brownie

neutral non stick spray – brownie

1 egg white – meringue

50g sugar – meringue

1 Tablespoon beet powder (or juice from a beet) – meringue

110g sugar – beet coconut carmel

45g water – beet coconut caramel

150ml coconut milk – beet coconut caramel

1/2 reserved shredded beet – beet coconut caramel

Directions

Set oven to 250 degrees F or 121 C

Make meringues.

Whip egg white till stiff. Fold in sugar and beet powder. Get a pastry bag with a large star tip and squirt them out on a parchment covered baking sheet. Put them in the pre-heated oven for an hour. Then shut oven off and let them cool down and harden.

Make the beet coconut caramel.

In a sauce pan add the sugar and the water on medium high heat. DON’T STIR. This will eventually boil and you want it to turn brown. When it turns brown then take it off the heat and add the coconut milk and the reserved shredded beets and stir. BE CAREFUL because this will foam up. Keep to the side.

Make the brownies.

Set the oven to 350 degrees F or 180C . Get your muffin pan and spray 6 of the muffin cups with non stick spray. In a large mixing bowl combine the beetroot, chocolate, butter, sugar, egg, cocoa powder, flour and mix well. Evenly fill the 6 spots for muffins in the pan. This needs to stay in the middle rack of the oven till cooked. All ovens do differ. In my oven at 15 minutes mine were almost done but I could feel the center was ever so slightly wet so I put them back. In my oven mine were done in 18 minutes. At 18 minutes my kitchen smelled like chocolate and I knew they were done. After I tasted one I knew it was perfect.

I made a drizzle real fast that I never measure. I had a handful of white chocolate chips, a small knob of butter and the end of my 100% unsweetened chocolate (around 60g) and I carefully melted hit in my microwave and drizzled it all over the brownies.

Put the brownies together and enjoy.

Chocolaty Beet Brownies with Beet Caramel, Beet Meringues

This is a winner!

You will make this again!

The Forking Truth

Charred Asparagus with Pickled Egg Yolk and Hazelnut Pesto Recipe – different but based on chef Josh Egglton’s recipe

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I came across chef Josh Egglton’s recipe for Charred white and green asparagus with pickled egg and pesto when I was searching for another really great asparagus recipe. I never heard of a brined and pickled egg yolk before so I had to try this recipe. I already had hazelnut pesto that I made recently that I had to use so I didn’t make chef Egglton’s for the pesto. I pretty much followed the brined and pickled egg recipe because I didn’t know how to do that. The only minor difference was that I didn’t have a teaspoon of pickling spice so I used a pinch of each of the ingredients that picking spice is made of (mustard seed, allspice, coriander seeds, red pepper flakes, ginger, bay, cinnamon and clove). I’m sure mine might taste slightly different but it still came out amazing. I did have one issue with the pickled yolk. The recipe is written that you are suppose to brine the eggs for 30 minutes and then pickle them for 30 minutes for runny and longer (it does say how long..) for less runny. I do note that I wanted less runny so I pickled for 45 minutes. Mine came out with a jammy surface but very delicate (they broke very easy) and were runny but very delicious. I will try them again but next time I might try an hour of pickling and see what happens.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

4 eggs (just the yolks)

4 cups water

3 1/2 oz sea salt

8 oz sugar

10 2/3 oz white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon pickling spice (I did a pinch of mustard seeds, 4 allspice berries, coriander seeds, red pepper flakes, ginger, bay leaf, cinnamon, 2 cloves)

1 sprig rosemary

1 sprig fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

2 black peppercorns (I upped to 3)

28 oz asparagus (I did two bunches) – hard woody ends removed

1 large shallot – fine chopped

1 teaspoon olive oil

sea salt to taste

lemon juice to taste

heaping 1/4 cup pesto (mine was around a bunch parsley (just leaves), handful of toasted hazelnuts, a good amount of grated parmigiana, smallest amount of garlic (you can leave out) very small amounts of salt and pepper and just enough extra virgin olive oil to blend.

Directions

Make brine for egg yolks.

Combine the water with salt and 1 2/3 Tablespoons of sugar, rosemary, thyme, bayleaf and peppercorns in a pan. Heat till sugar is dissolved. Cover and leave pan to the side to cool.

Make the pickling liquid.

White wine vinegar, remaining sugar, and pickling spice go in a pan. Stir some. You heat it till the sugar is dissolved. Leave to cool. Strain and then set to the side.

As soon as the brine is cool. Separate the eggs and carefully place the egg yolks in the brine for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes the egg yolks get placed in the pickling liquid for another 30 minutes or longer for harder.

Make the asparagus tartare. Take two asparagus and slice extra thin and mix with the finely chopped shallots. Season lightly with some sea salt.

Boil the asparagus for a minute. Then shock them with ice water. Dry them off.

Griddle, fry or grill the asparagus till you get them charred.

Dress the asparagus with lemon and oil and very lightly with sea salt and pepper.

Serve them with the brined/pickled eggs and the pesto.

Charred Asparagus with Pickled Egg Yolk and Hazelnut Pesto

A special THANKS! to chef Eggleton for his Amazing recipe!

The Forking Truth

Hasselback Beets with Lime Leaf Butter and Crispy Fried Beet Leaves Recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi

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I’ve must have done beets over 50 different ways so far but I am still always searching for something new and different. I came across the most FORKING AMAZING white albino beets from from Singh Meadows Farm in Tempe Arizona. I got lucky and found this FORKING AMAZING recipe for beets and a FORKING AMAZING recipe for crispy fried beet leaves both from genius chef Yotam Ottolenghi on www.TheGuardian.com There are more recipes to both recipes but I thought for me I had enough to enjoy. You can add a blend of heavy cream and greek style yogurt to the beets if you want. To the battered crispy beet leaves you can make a tangerine dipping dipping sauce. Serving size here is difficult to call. The recipe says that it makes 4 side servings from 8-10 medium/large beets…..for me that sounds more like 8 servings…?????? I will say 4 servings.

Ingredients for around 4 servings.

2 pounds beets with leaves (reserve leaves for frying if desired)

sea salt

1 stick unsalted butter

1 1/3 oz olive oil

5 lime leaves – chopped

1/3 oz fresh ginger – peeled and chopped

1 garlic clove – crushed

1 Tablespoon lime juice + 2 tsp to serve

10 lime leaves – stalks removed and finely chopped – lime leaf salsa

1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger – peeled and fine chopped – lime leaf salsa

1/2 garlic clove -crushed- lime leaf salsa

1/2 green chili – fine chopped – lime leaf salsa

1 Tablespoon cilantro leaves, tender stems ok – chopped – lime leaf salsa

3 Tablespoons olive oil – lime leaf salsa

beet greens (I used just the leaves but it is ok to include stems)

scant ounce – dill – torn in small pieces

1/2 ounce fresh mint – torn in small pieces

1/2 Tablespoon Szechuan peppercorns – crushed

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup corn starch

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 cup ice water

1/2 teaspoon black sesame seeds

pinch ground white pepper

oil for frying

Directions

Set oven to 425 F. Place beets (not leaves) in a in a baking dish with a thumbs length of water. Add one tablespoon of salt and cover tight with a lid or foil. Bake one hour and twenty minutes or until beets are fork tender. Let them cool and remove skins when cool enough to handle.

While beet are cooking put the butter, oil, lime leaves, ginger and garlic in a sauce pan on medium high heat. Gently cook until butter begins to bubble about 4 minutes. Then let flavors infuse for around 40 minutes. Discard solids and stir in 1 Tablespoon lime juice and one teaspoon salt (preferably flaked salt).

Make lime leaf salsa. Mix the lime leaves, ginger, garlic, green chilli, cilantro and olive oil together. Set to the side.

By now the beets are cool and peeled. Make the hasselback on the beets. Cut slits on the backs….I used chopsticks around each beet as I made the cuts so I wouldn’t accidentally cut all the way threw. Place the beets on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Spoon the melted butter over the beets and into the cuts. They need around 1 hour and 15 minutes in the oven. Baste them around every 20 minutes. They need to cook till they are cooked threw and have crisp edges and are caramelized.

While the beets are in the oven you can make the crisp battered beet leaves. Have a pot of oil on medium heat slightly towards high. In a small bowl add the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, sesame seeds, dill, mint, peppers and salt. Add ice-water till you have a nice smooth batter. Dip a few leaves to fry up. They get done when golden. Use a cooling rack or a baking sheet lined with paper towels. Repeat till done.

To serve – Spoon the butter over them, (if using yogurt cream spoon that on too) Drizzle with salsa and remaining lime juice.

Hasselback Beets with Lime Leaf Butter and Crispy Fried Beet Leaves

ENJOY!

A special THANKS! to Yotam Ottolenghi for his FORKING AMAZING recipe and to the Guardian for putting his recipes up on the web.

The Forking Truth