I was gifted with many bunches of parley. So far I made tabbouleh, parsley pesto, chipotle lime chimichurri, Jamaican jerk inspired parsley salad (like tabbouleh but jerk flavored). Now here is sun-dried tomato and walnut parsley pesto. Everything I made with parsley is delicious so far. Had no idea that parsley can be so great! Portions are difficult to judge because you will use a lot if you are using this pesto to dress pasta. But you will only use a little if you are spreading this on bread. I think it will be at least 4 pasta servings and 8 or more servings for bread.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
4 cups parsley leaves – packed tight hand chopped fine
3/4 cup crushed walnuts
1 teaspoon garlic confit – fresh garlic might turn too strong (roast garlic cloves in olive oil covered for about an hour at 350 and blend…..I make a big bath every time I buy a bag of garlic)
3 oz sun dried tomatoes – chopped
1 cup parmigiano reggiano – shedded
1 Meyer lemon – zest and fresh squeezed juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon course sea salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
optional – a splash of Calabrian chili oil (or Calabrian peppers)
some water or oil to thin to desired consistency
Directions
All above ingredients get blended together. Thin with water or oil to desired consistency. Adjust salt and pepper.
I’m always looking for new ways to do cauliflower. So here is something new and different that is flavorful and easy to prepare. Serving size may differ.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
1 cauliflower – break down to florets
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
fresh crushed sea salt – to taste
Aleppo pepper – taste ( you can substitute black pepper or Urfa pepper)
1/4 cup black olive puree
1/4 cup poppy seeds – ground
1/4 cup black garlic – ground to paste
1 Tablespoon reduced balsamic vinegar
1 Tablespoon honey
4 oz feta cheese – crumbled or cubed
2 Tablespoons barberries (I bought mine at Asiana Market) (when barberries get old they turn sweeter. you might want to add a little lemon or sumac if your barberries turned sweet)
2 Tablespoons chives or scallions
1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts – lightly crushed
Optional sumac or lemon to taste if too sweet
Directions
Set oven to 400 degrees F.
Get the cauliflower florets on a baking sheet and drizzle or spray with the olive oil. Put them in the middle rack and cook until they get tender and a little brown. Timing will differ mine took 25 minutes.
While the cauliflower is roasting mix together in a small bowl the olives, black garlic, poppy seeds vinegar and honey. Spread this on bottom of cauliflower plate for serving.
When cauliflower is done sprinkle it with salt and pepper. then top the black garlic sauce with the cauliflower and top the cauliflower with feta, hazelnuts, barberries and chives or scallions.
Cauliflower Feta Barberries Hazelnuts and Black Garlic Olive Poppy Seed Sauce
My husband went out to the supermarket to pick up one thing. He came home with a pack of Impossible Meat (vegetable based plant meat). I was really surprised because he isn’t into plant based meats. He is usually anti to them. I said why did you pick that up and he said it was on sale and you cooked Impossible burgers really well (not to brag but…I did….better than Impossible burgers I ate out). I happened to already have a bunch of those yellow guero chile peppers that they use in Mexican Foods so I thought I’d stuff them Tex Mex Style hoping that they would come out good and they came out FORKING DELICIOUS! I make various meatballs and meat loaves all the time so I had an idea on what I was doing. The big surprise to me was that the Impossible meat doesn’t need as much binder or liquid as the other real meats out there. The big secret for these stuffed peppers coming out great is that you have to make them. Let them cool and refrigerate them. When you reheat them the pepper is well cooked and the Impossible meat is just like real beef. You can’t tell the difference. Serving size is difficult to judge. All the different peppers out there come in all different sizes. I used 14 assorted peppers of different sizes and my little 12 ounce Impossible meat package gave us 6 meals.
Ingredients for around 6 portions
14 peppers -*******AMOUNT OF PEPPERS CAN DIFFER ******(You can use any pepper that you feel like stuffing that you like…I used mostly yellow chili peppers. Anaheim, bells, poblanos, milder jalapeños would be good too)
1 onion – (medium – small) diced
1 bell pepper (I used red) diced
I Tablespoon canola oil
2 Tablespoons garlic confit (I buy bags of garlic from Costco and roast up half the bag with olive oil and make garlic confit. but you can substitute fresh garlic cloves ground to paste…..you will need between 3-5 cloves depending on size and taste)
1/4 cup scallions – sliced thin
1/4 cup cilantro – chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon mild chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground achiote also called annatto (Asian and Mexican Markets sell this or buy on-line)
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle powder (Sprouts sells this or substitute around a teaspoon of chilies in adobo ((mince any chili)
2 eggs – lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon low sodium vegetable base (this is instead of salt but with more flavor)
12 oz Impossible Meat Package
1/3 cup masa flour
1/3 cup peas
oil for spraying.
Directions
Set oven to 350 degrees F and oil a baking sheet.
The rest is pretty easy.
In a fry pan on medium high heat add the canola oil. When the oil is hot add the bell pepper. Let it go around 5 minutes and then add the onion string occasionally. Lower heat to medium and cook till lightly caramelized. Take off heat. When room temperature add to your big mixing bowl.
In a big bowl mix together the onion, bell pepper, garlic, scallions, cilantro, pepper, cumin, oregano, chili powder, achiote/annatto, chipotle, eggs, vegetable base, IMPOSSIBLE meat, masa flour, peas and mix well.
Prep the peppers.
Before the peppers get stuffed you have to make a “T” shop slit at the top of the chili shaped peppers. You have to remove the core and membrane and seeds so you can fill them. Then pack in the filling the best you can.
These go the preheated 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes.
Then let cool on the counter.
Refrigerate over night. (they will have a better texture this way)
Reheat at 350 degrees F covered for 30 minutes to serve.
Maybe ten minutes before you take them out of the oven you might want to melt shredded pepper jack and cheddar cheese on them?
You also might want to top the peppers with fresh cilantro, scallions, pickled onions and a little chopped pickled jalapeños? ………..Maybe some sour cream?
I didn’t know that I like Nam Prik until recently. Nam Prik is a Thai Chili, Lime, Fish Sauce that is usually based with tamarind. I looked up on how to make the sauce. Mine is pretty basic but based with mango that goes really well with fish. Then I read another recipe where they marinated the fish and then used Nam Prik, I didn’t have the ingredients to do their marinate so I came up with something else that is also delicious. This recipe is only two servings.
Ingredients for two servings
2 meal sized white fish filets
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 cup shallots – sliced extra thin on a mandolin
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon anise seeds
1/2 teaspoon garlic confit
1/2 cup mango – puree
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic confit
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 hot red pepper – minced
1 1/2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1 lime – juice and zest (optional save some zest to sprinkle on top)
1 1/2 teaspoons fish sauce (preferably Red Boat Brand)
2 Tablespoons fresh mint – torn or chopped
2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro – torn or chopped
fresh crushed sea salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons olive oil to spray on pan and fish (guessing around 2 Tablespoons)
2 Tablespoons butter
Directions
Heat up the canola oil on medium high heat in a sauce pan. When the oil is hot add the shallots. Keep cooking till the shallots are caramelized. Take out heat and add the ginger, turmeric, anise and garlic confit. Mix well. Leave out on counter till cool. Get out the fish and lay them on big pieces of plastic wrap. When the marinade is cool you can pat the mixture evenly over the fish. Wrap the fish in the plastic wrap. Marinate in the refrigerater 4-5 hours.
While your fish is marinating make the Mango Nam Prik.
You need around 1/2 cup of pureed mango. That might be one-three mangos depending on their size. The pureed mango gets mixed in a small bowl with the garlic confit, ginger, hot pepper, vinegar, lime juice, some or all zest, and fish sauce.
Now it’s time to cook the fish. (you can do this in either fry pan or oven) I think a fresh fish is better in a fry pan but a fish from frozen comes out better in the oven.
Spray the fish and either fry pan or baking sheet with olive oil.
If you are doing it in the oven pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Put your fish on oiled baking sheet and top each fish with dabs of unsalted butter.
Your fish stays in the oven till cooked threw. Timing will differ. In my oven this took 15 minutes.
Serve the fish splashed with mango nam prik fresh mint and cilantro and salt and pepper to taste.
Shallot Anise Turmeric Marinated White Fish with Mango Nam Prik
I never would have thought up parsley pesto before. But I got gifted with a bunch of parsley so I did parsley pesto and man it’s a FORKING PLATE LICKER. Can’t judge how many servings too well because you will use a lot on pasta or only small amount as a spread. I’ll guesstimate around 8-4 servings.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
4 cups parley leaves (packed)
1 cup parmigiano reggiano – shredded
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic confit (when I buy bags of garlic I cut the heads across in half drizzle well with olive oil, cover, and roast at 350 around one hour, blend cloves and it is a delicious sweet mild garlic paste.)
I was gifted with LOTS of parsley. One of things I used the parsley for was this Chipotle Lime Chimichurri sauce. It came out delicious. You are suppose to use chimichurri for grilled meats but it is so good that you can use it on chips too! serving size will differ. I’m guessing that this makes at least 8 servings.
Ingredients for around 8 servings.
2 cups parsley leaves (don’t use stems they are bitter)
I’m always looking for new ways to do beets. I came across Gordon Ramsey’s recipe for Beets Wellington. I didn’t have most of the ingredients that he used so I made up my own way to do it including the pastry…(and my pastry came out extra delicious too!). This recipe make about 6 portions.
Ingredients for around 6 portions
1 cup flour + more for dusting – pastry
1/4 teaspoon sea salt – pastry
1/4 teaspoon baking powder – pastry
8 Tablespoons sweet butter cut into pats – a colder than room temperature – pastry
1/4 cup cream cheese – pastry
1 lb beets – trimmed and peeled (I had three beets)
2 cups red wine vinegar
1 cup red wine
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 oz. scant star anise
1 Tablespoon mustard seeds
1 Tablespoon sweet better – duxcelle
10 oz mushrooms – chopped small – duxcelle
1 small leeks – trimmed – sliced extra thin on a mandolin – small chopped – duxcelle (If desired reserve around a Tablespoon of leeks for finishing pastry)
3 rice paper wrappers (you need one wrapper for each beet)
I Tablespoon everything bagel seasoning – for sprinkling on the pastry.
1 beaten egg yolk
non stick spray
Make the pastry.
Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Use an extra large fork or pastry masher to hand cut up the butter pats in the flour mixture till the butter is around the size of peas. Stir in the cream cheese and give it a few kneads. Dust the dough with flour and roll it out and fold it into thirds. Leave this chill in the refrigerator until ready to use. Cover with plastic wrap.
Braise the beets.
Beets go in a sauce pot with vinegar, wine, water, sugar, star anise, and mustard seeds. Give it a stir and bring to boil and then reduce to simmer and continue simmering until beets are fork tender. (You will need to add more water to the pot as the water goes down) Depending on the size and freshness of your beets timing will differ……could be less than 30 minutes and could be more. When beets are done remove them from the braising liquid. Set beets to the side and cover with plastic wrap.
Make Duxcelle
Melt butter in a sauce pan on medium high heat. Add the mushrooms and leeks and cook till slightly brown. Lower heat to medium low and add salt and pepper. Cook till all the liquid is evaporated. Add thyme and smoked mushroom powder (if using). Blend and set to the side.
Wrap beets with duxcelle and rice paper.
Rice paper gets pliable when you set it in a bath of warm water for a second. Take the rice paper out and spread it with 1/3 of the duxcelle (or 1/4 if you have four beets). Place beet in the middle and wrap. Repeat for each beet.
Get baking sheet(s) ready for the beets. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and spray paper with non stick spray and set to the side.
Set oven to 400 degrees F and have a middle rack ready for your pans.
You pastry gets cut in thirds. One third for each beet. Wrap each beet with pastry the best you can and place on sprayed parchment lined baking sheet.
Paint each pastry with egg yolk
Sprinkle each pastry with everything bagel seasoning
If desired sprinkle each pastry with some leeks
Place sheet pan in pre-heated 400 degree F oven till pastry is golden brown and looks done. Timing will differ. Mine were done in around 30 minutes.
Wine Braised Beets Mushroom Leek Duxelles in Pastry
I was lucky and got a big bag of Brussels sprouts for $1.00 and a bunch of tarragon for $1.00 and that is how I came up with this recipe. My idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size. I think a pound of Brussels sprouts makes around 4 servings.
1 lb brussels sprouts – cut in half
canola oil to fry
sea salt – to taste
ground black pepper – to taste
1 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice
1 garlic clove – ground to paste
2 Tablespoons white miso
2 Tablespoons French or Dijon mustard (I used Pommery Moutarde Royal with Cognac because I had it…..)
2 Tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/4 cup toasted cashews – slightly crushed
2 Tablespoons tarragon leaves
Directions
In a small bowl mix together the lemon juice, garlic, miso, mustard and vinegar and set to the side.
Put a large sauce pan on medium high heat with slightly less than a half inch of oil for frying. When the oil is hot add the Brussels sprouts cut side down. Fry them till they are browned. Put them on a cooling rack or a sheet pan lined with paper towels. Fry them up till they are done. Salt and pepper the Brussels sprouts to taste.
Top the Brussels sprouts with the vinaigrette, cashews and tarragon.
Brussels sprouts with cashews, tarragon and lemon miso vinaigrette
This came to extra delicious……I mean FORKING delicious. My husband snacked on it while I was walking a dog….He NEVER snacks on a vegetable. He said that it smelled so good he wanted to try it. Then he asked me what this was…….This was today’s version of a roasted cauliflower. I made a delicious sauce that got roasted onto the cauliflower. The same sauce can be used on other things like chicken. I think one of the reasons why it came out so delicious was because I used some of my home made brine from my pickled jalapeños. Another fine ingredient was my garlic confit……Incase you don’t know…garlic is more delicious when you make it confit style..It’s never harsh or too garlicky. The third reason why it’s delicious because I used an actual Asian Gochujang from an Asian Market. Gochujang from my local grocery store just isn’t comparable. Yours will taste different if you use different ingredients. Serving size may differ.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
1. head cauliflower – cut into florets
4 oz gochujang – preferably purchased from an Asian Market (home made would even be better)
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1 Tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
2 Tablespoons chilies in adobo (I used around 1 1/2 peppers minced with some of the sauce)
3 Tablespoons canola oil
2 Tablespoons pickled jalapeño brine (preferably from home made pickled jalapeños)
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
1 Tablespoon garlic confit (a substitute would be a few garlic cloves (maybe 4) ground to paste)
sea salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup cotija cheese
non stick spray
Instructions
Set oven to 500 degrees F and have a middle rack ready to use.
Spray baking sheet with non stick spray.
In a large mixing bowl add the gochujang, corn starch, sugar, cumin, coriander, chipotle in adobo, oil, jalapeño brine, tomato paste and garlic confit. Mix well. Add the cauliflower florets and keep mixing till the sauce is distributed well over the cauliflower. Space florets on baking sheet and leave in oven till cooked threw and slightly charred. Timing will differ. (Mine took 23 minutes)
When done add fresh crushed sea salt and pepper to taste. Top with shredded cotija cheese.
You might want to garnish with normal nacho type toppings like cilantro, scallions, pickled red onions, sour cream, lime wedges.
Enjoy!
Gochujamg Chili Cheese Cauliflower The Forking Truth
Fry’s had ground turkey on sale and I had two acorn squash that I needed to cook and I thought I could turn them into chili so I did. Chili is something that I make completely different all the time and it is something that I don’t normally measure. I did something different that I never done before and guessed at the seasonings and made a spice mix. I thought it would easier instead of a million trips to my spice cabinet. Every time I cooked a part of the chili I seasoned it with the spice mix. In the end I didn’t use all of the spice mix and figured that I made about one ounce too much that I will use on something else….like cauliflower or chicken……so use the spice mix to taste. I would remove one ounce from your completed mix so you don’t over season. My idea of serving size will differ from your idea of serving size. I like chili in smaller portions so to me this makes around six servings. If you like a big bowl then it makes around 4 servings.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
2 acorn squash (my 2 squash weighed 2 pounds together) cut in half, seeds and membrane removed, covered and roasted in a pan with edges with a little water till soft. (around 45 – 60 minutes at around 400 degrees F) (scrap squash flesh out when cool enough)
1 lb ground turkey – (mine was 93% lean)
non stick spray (or oil)
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 red pepper – diced
1 small onion – diced
12 oz tomatoes (I used peeled that was slow roasted and then blended but canned crushed would be good too)
14 oz can Italian fine chopped tomatoes (They seem like crushed but are very good tomatoes)
1 Tablespoon garlic confit – you can substitute garlic to taste…guessing 4 or 5 cloves ground to paste
1 cup water (or a little more)
2 Tablespoons smoked mushroom powder (SVHarvest.Worldpress.com I buy from the local mushroom lady who grows all these mushrooms and supplies them to restaurants in Phoenix)
3 Tablespoons chili powder
1 Tablespoon cumin
1 Tablespoon chipotle powder (or substitute chilies in adobo)
1 Tablespoon oregano
1 Tablespoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon cocoa (unsweetened)
1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
apple cider vinegar – to taste (I did a big splash….maybe 1/4. cup)
Directions
Make the spice mix. In a small mixing bowl combine the smoked mushroom powder, chili powder, cumin, chipotle powder, oregano, smoked paprika, cocoa, salt and pepper. You will end up with about an extra ounce of seasoning. Remove one ounce to use for something else.
Heat up a large fry pan with non stick spray or oil. Make 4 burgers out of the turkey. Season them on both sides with spice mix. Cook up the turkey burgers. When done put the burgers to the side.
Don’t clean your pan because flavor is there.
Add some oil and fry up the red pepper on medium high heat for about 5 minutes and then add the onion and add more seasoning. Cook till the onion and pepper are soft.
Add the Anaheims, the squash, tomatoes, water, garlic and MORE seasoning but not all the seasoning.
Turn down the heat to simmer.
Chop up the turkey burgers and add them.
Add more seasoning but not all the seasoning. (make sure that you removed one ounce) Add apple cider vinegar to taste. (maybe around 1/4 cup)
Taste.
Add more sea
Serve as is or add sour cream, scallions or maybe cheese.
