Category Archives: Forking Recipes

Interesting twists on everyday things as well as the unusual

Sweet Corn Pudding by Vivian Howard adapted from Milk Street Magazine Recipe

I was watching Milk Street on TV and watched them make this amazing dessert. They genuinely looked like they were going bonkers on how great it tasted so I had to try it. YES!!!!! This is a FORKING AMAZING RECIPE!!!!! But it really is a soufflĂ©’s so you have to eat it just made because it soon falls. Serving size is difficult to judge here. Original recipe says that it is 6 portions. I cut the recipe in half and I got two decent sized 4 inch ramekins that for me were two generous servings each so I got 4 servings from half the recipe.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

4 Tablespoons salted butter – cut in 4 pieces plus more for buttering the ramekins

1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon sugar + more to sugar coat the inside of the ramekins

2 Tablespoons grated lemon zest – divided

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 cup corn kernels

1/2 cup heavy cream

pinch sea salt

1 egg – separated

1 teaspoon vanilla

optional – finish with powdered sugar ( I skipped this)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and have a rack in the middle of the oven ready for the puddings.

Butter the inside of the ramekins and coat them with white sugar.

Make the sugar – lemon zest topping. In a cup mix together one tablespoon white sugar and 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest. Set this to the side.

In a medium sauce pot whisk together the flour and an 1/8 of a cup sugar. Blend together the corn, cream and salt until smooth. Whisk the corn mixture into the the flour mixture in your pot. Put on the pot to medium heat and stir to it gets to be a shiny paste. Take it off the heat and stir in the butter just a little at a time till it is incorporated. Let it cool a little and mix in the egg yolk, remaining lemon zest and vanilla.

In a separate bowl whip up the egg white till light and foamy. Add 1/8 cup white sugar and whip till you have soft peaks. Carefully fold whites into corn batter. Fill ramekins. Run your thumb along edges to make a channel so soufflĂ©’s get a better rise. Sprinkle evenly with lemon zest sugar.

Place in middle rack of oven till golden brown and risen well (timing will differ….mine took 25 minutes)

Serve immediately and sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.

Sweet Fresh Corn Pudding

A special THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!! to Vivian Howard and Milk Street Magazine for this FORKING AMAZING Recipe.

The Forking Truth

Patra (Stuffed Taro Leaves) by Urvashi Roe Recipe from www.GreatBritishChefs.com

I picked up these large leaves at the Asiana Market. I thought I was going to stuffed them with fish or something. I noticed that the leaves were marked Patra.

So I looked up Patra.

It turns out that Patra (Stuffed Taro Leaves) is a DELICIOUS dish from Maharashtra & Gujarat Cuisines. It very easy to prepare and is extremely fragrant and delicious. This recipe uses a chick pea flour base that you spice up. You spread the chick pea mixture on the leaves. Repeat four times. Roll them up like. a jelly roll. Steam the rolls, slice and fry and add some more seasoning and fresh cilantro. They come out delicious! I’m not sure about serving sizes. The recipe I followed says to use 15 patra leaves. I only used four leaves but I used the largest leaves in the pack???? In the end my guess is that this makes 4 tasty servings. This recipe makes far more fried seeds than I think it needs. You can save the extra and use them for either a next time or something else.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

15 patra leaves – recipe states that spinach leaves are a substitute – I used 4 very large leaves

60 ml tamarind juice (around 2 oz)

150g chick pea flour (around 5 1/3 oz)

3 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp asafoetida ( I picked some up at Whole Foods )

1 tsp cumin seeds

3 tsp sugar

1 tbsp oil

2 tsp salt

1 tbsp oil (for finishing)

1 tsp mustard seeds (for finishing)

1 tsp cumin seeds (for finishing

3 tsp sesame seeds (for finishing)

1 tbsp fresh cilantro – chopped (for finishing)

Directions

1 – clean and dry leaves. Cut out large vein in leaves with a knife or scissors. Set leaves to the side.

Make the paste. The tamarind juice, chick pea flour, chili powder, turmeric, asafoetida, cumin seeds, sugar, oil and salt get mixed up together in a bowl. (mine came out too dry and I had to add a good amount of water for it to be spreadable.

Now you start out by spreading the mixture on a leaf that is face side down.

Take a second leaf and lay on top (like a lasagna) spread mixture again. Do a third and spread mixture again and do a fourth and spread mixture again. I was out of filling by now but if you have more than you can make more stuffed leaves.

Now you roll from the fatter end up like a jelly roll.

These rolls need to set in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.

When you are ready the next step is to steam the rolls for 20 minutes.

When the rolls are cool enough to handle you sliced them up and fry them up on both sides with some oil on medium high heat.

Serve with the oil, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, sesame seeds and fresh cilantro.

Stuffed Taro Leaves
Patra

Enjoy! They really are delicious!

A special THANKS to Urvashi Roe and www.GreatBritishChefs.com for this amazing recipe.

The Forking Truth

Parmesan and Potato Mousse with Parmesan Crisps Recipe based on Pascal Aussignac’s Recipe

I was reading the Samurai Gourmet’s food blog. I saw this incredible looking parmesan and cauliflower mousse that I was very intrigued with. I wasn’t sure about making Parmesan Mousse and shaving raw cauliflower into it. I looked on line for such a recipe and none where to be found. However I did find on www.GreatBritishChefs.com Pascal Aussignac’s recipe for Parmesan and Potato Mousse with Parmesan Crisps recipe. I thought this recipe looked attractive and I was sure that it would taste good and it does. The chef uses a siphon to whip the mousse. I just whipped the cream and added the potatoes and cheese. I seasoned mine with less nutmeg from the original recipe. Added some white pepper and also used piment d’ espelette pepper. I made the parmesan crisp and mine came out delicious but weren’t real crisp.as I would like. I think next time I will add some corn starch or potato flour instead of all purpose flour. This recipe makes way more crisps than you need but they are delicious so they won’t go to waste. This recipe make 4 very small but rich servings. I converted the metric recipe as best as I could.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

5 1/2 ounce potato peeled , cut in half or quarter so it cooks faster (for mousse)

3 1/2 ounce parmesan – grated (for mousse)

3 1/2 ounce heavy cream – whipped (for mousse)

a few grates fresh nutmeg (for mousse)

big pinch ground white pepper (for mousse)

sea salt – to taste

piment d’ espelette pepper – to taste

5 1/2 ounce parmesan – grated (for crisps)

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

2.65 oz egg white (about three small ones)

1 ounce flour

12 basil leaves to serve with

Directions

You suppose to use a food processor and power the 5 1/2 oz. parmesan. Then you add the oil, flour and egg white. Process till smooth.

Next you with spread this dough thinly and evenly on a non-stick baking sheet or silicon mat. Then use a fork to create long lines in the dough. (I thought it was easier to squeeze out this dough with a pastry bag and top) Chill this in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Boil the potato in medium/high boiling water till it’s fork tender. (around 15 minutes). Rice the potato.

To the riced potato add the remaining parmesan, cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg. (keep warm till ready to use)

The parmesan dough goes in a preheated 256 degree oven for 14 minutes or until lightly golden. Allow to cool.

Assemble.

Each serving is delicious with a sprinkle of pigment d’ espelette, a few parmesan crisps and three fresh basil leaves.

Parmesan and Potato Mousse with Parmesan Crisps

A special THANKS to Pascal Aussignac and www.GreatBritishChefs.com for sharing this amazing recipe.

The Forking Truth

EAZY Quick Delicious Shishito Peppers Recipe

These peppers are tastier than many shishito peppers you might get at restaurants. These only take 15 minutes in the oven and it only takes a minute or two to whip up the sauce.

Ingredients for around two servings

1 teaspoon peanut oil

1 Tablespoon hoisin sauce

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 garlic clove – ground to paste or finely grated

1 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds (for finishing)

1 teaspoon furikake

8 oz shishito peppers

non stick spray or a little oil for pan

Directions

Set oven to 400 degrees F

Use a little non stick spray or oil for your baking sheet.

In a bowl combine the peanut oil, hoisin, soy sauce and garlic clove. Mix well and then toss in the peppers and mix them up well to get the sauce all over them. Spread the peppers out on the baking sheet. Place sheet in the middle rack of the oven till peppers are charred. Timing might differ but in my oven this took 15 minutes.

Take out when done and add the sesame seeds and the furikake.

Easy Quick Delicious Shishiito Peppers

Enjoy Immediately.

The Forking Truth

Spicy Beer Mustard Recipe

I’m brining a pastrami and I need beer mustard to go with it. I’ve made mustard before…then I branched off to spicy mustard and now I graduated to beer mustard. This one might be my best. I think it’s pretty good. My husband enjoys mustard more than me and he said that it is REALLY GOOD! It’s pretty easy to make but over night it thickens up slightly so you might want to thin it down a tiny bit more with more beer. It’s easy to make but you do need a spice grinder to grind up the seeds. This makes around a cup of mustard. I’m guessing that might be around 16 servings.

Ingredients for around 16 servings.

4 Tablespoons black mustard seeds (+1/2 teaspoon at end)

2 Tablespoons yellow mustard seeds (+1 Tablespoon at end)

2 allspice berries

7 juniper berries

4 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup beer (I used a lager)……(you will need about two splashes……one at the end if desired……and maybe one The NEXT DAY because overnight it thickens…..if desired)…..(so don’t finish your beer)

1 Tablespoon honey (maybe slightly more…I estimated)

2 garlic cloves – ground to paste

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 Tablespoon ground mustard

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 Tablespoon yellow mustard seeds (these are left whole)

1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds (these are left whole)

Directions

In your spice grinder grind up the top 4 ingredient and blend not all the way to powder but a little chunky (mustard seeds, allspice seeds, juniper berries) and add to a small bowl or container. Add the apple cider vinegar, beer, honey, garlic, black pepper, turmeric, ground mustard and sea salt and mix. Now add the remaining mustard seeds. Add a splash of beer if desired. It will be best the next day. It might thicken some and you might want to add another splash of beer the next day.

It will go great with many things.

Beer Mustard with Rye Rolls

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

Baby Eggplants with Tomatoes Shallots Pickled Sweet Peppers. Crisp Basil and Anchovy Caper Dressing Recipe

I got these beautiful baby eggplants so I had to come up with something with things I had at home. This was pretty easy to make. It would be best to pickle the peppers the day before. The eggplants, tomatoes and shallots all went in the 350 degree F oven at the same time and all got done in 45 minutes. White they were roasting the dressing can be whipped up fast. Basil leaves can be crisped in oven. They only take 3-6 minutes. You can do this while stuff is cooking. This recipe makes more pickled peppers than you need. The extra peppers are great in sandwiches and salads.

Ingredients for around 5 servings.

8 oz baby bell peppers – sliced in rings

1 cup white vinegar

1 cup rice wine vinegar

1 cup water

2 Tablespoons kosher salt

1/4 cup sugar

3 garlic – ground to paste

1 1/2 teaspoons black peppercorns

1 1/2 teaspoons coriander seeds

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon dry oregano

1 lb baby eggplants (I had 5 baby eggplants) – cut in half long ways and score them (like cross hatch)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (I don’t know the exact amount because I sprayed the vegetables and basil with the oil. I also used one Tablespoon of oil later in the recipe for the dressing.

1 lemon just the fresh squeezed juice (one lemon goes on eggplants ( half a lemon for the juice is used later for the dressing)

1 pint grape tomatoes – cut in half

2 shallots – diced

1 cup basil leaves

fresh crushed sea salt to taste – goes on eggplants, tomatoes, shallots

fresh crushed black pepper to taste – goes on eggplants, tomatoes, shallots

10 anchovies + a little oil (1 or 2 teaspoons)

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/2 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

1 garlic clove – ground to paste

1 Tablespoon capers – drained

1 Tablespoon golden raisins

Directions

You need to make the pickled peppers first.

Put your pepper rings in a container with the garlic. In a sauce pot on medium high heat add the vinegars, water, kosher salt, sugar, peppercorns, coriander seeds, bay leaf and dried oregano. Bring this mixture to a boil and then pour it over the peppers. Leave it on the counter till it’s room temperature. After it cools down you can refrigerate it.

Your oven gets set to 350 degrees F.

Baking sheets get sprayed with olive oil. Put the eggplants on one sheet, the tomatoes on another sheet and the shallots on another sheet. They all get sprayed with olive oil. The eggplants get drizzled with lemon juice too. They all get seasoned with salt and pepper.

I put the eggplants on the middle rack and the shallots and tomatoes on one rack under the eggplants. In my oven they took 45 minutes to be cooked and nicely browned. Your oven might differ some.

While they were roasting I whipped the dressing with my stick blender.

Blend up the anchovies, anchovies oil, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, capers and rosins till smooth and set to the side.

Now spray a baking sheet (lightly) with olive oil and place a single layer of basil leaves on the pan. lightly Spray the tops of basil leaves with olive oil. The leaves will crisp up fast…only 3-6 minutes.

Get ready to serve.

Eggplants on platter. Top with tomatoes. Then top with shallots. Top with some pickled peppers. The dressing you either put on bottom. Or dress around the plate or pour over. Lastly add the crisp leaves.

Baby Eggplants with Tomatoes, Shallots, Pickled Sweet Peppers, Crisp Basil and Anchovy Caper Dressing

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

Balsamic Cipollini Onions and Cranberry Gravy Sauce Recipe

The gravy or sauce is cold in my photo and does look better warm. Just before Thanksgiving I got this beautiful bag of cipolini onions. In case you don’t know cipolini onions are small flat onions that you have to boil to peel. They are very special and are usually served with balsamic vinegar…..So I got the idea in my head that they would be great with cranberries and they are. My husband usually hates cranberry sauce but when he tasted this he said it was very good. This might be my usual cranberry sauce now. My idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size. Leftovers can be frozen.

Ingredients for around 12 servings

1 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons water

4 Tablespoons turkey or chicken fat (or butter)

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

2 lbs cipollini onions (boiled 2 minutes, cool, peel. Small ones I leave whole and bigger ones I chop)

1 orange (just the grated zest)

18 oz cranberries

4 bay leaves

3 cups turkey stock – preferably home made (or vegetable stock)

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

sea salt – to taste

ground black peppers – to taste

balsamic vinegar – to taste

Directions

The sugar and water go in a pot on medium heat. Do not stir. You take its off the heat in about 5 minutes when it starts to turn brown. Then stir in the fat till melted and then the vinegar.

Add onions, cranberries, bay leaves and stock and bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer.

Reduce to desired consistency and add thyme. (I reduced to around half…this took a long time)

Add salt, pepper, balsamic to taste.

Balsamic Cipollini Onion and Cranberry Gravy Sauce

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

Forking Great Stewed Turkey Legs Recipe

Turkey legs always come out crazy great when you stew them. This is a two for one because you also get a great stew too. You need to make my home made stock for this stew. My home made stock is also used for many of my stuffing recipes and my gravy recipe. Two large leg quarters made me 25 ounces of meat and two large bowls of stew.

Ingredients for around 6 servings

2 turkey leg quarters

1 lb parsnips – peeled, diced

1/2 large sweet onion – peeled diced

2 carrots – peeled diced

2 celery ribs – diced

13 cloves garlic – fine chopped

1 cup turkey stock

1 heaping teaspoon bomba (Italian hot pepper paste) ( I used Coluccio Brand Stuzzichino Hot Pepper Paste this has really great flavors to it)

2 bay leaves

3 good branches of parsley (hard ends cut off)

12 small sprigs thyme

6 sprigs rosemary

3 branches of sage

kosher salt – sprinkle legs well

granulated garlic – sprinkle legs well

ground black pepper – sprinkle legs well

paprika – sprinkle legs well

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and have a rack in the middle of the oven for the pan.

Fill the pan with the stock, onions, garlic, celery, carrots, bay leaves, parsley, rosemary, sage and thyme.

Add the leg quarters and season the tops well with kosher salt, granulated garlic, black pepper and paprika. (I used to season all over and found that the stew got too salty…but it comes out just right if I only do the top)

This gets wrapped tight with foil and goes on the middle rack of a preheated 350 degree F oven. Ovens do differ…..so timing will differ some……In my oven this was perfect in 2 1/2 hours.

Turkey Leg Stew

You need to remove the legs and let them cool an hour. Remove the skin and clean the meat off the bones. The stock cools on the counter till room temperature and then can go in the refrigerator to chill over night. The next day you came scrap off the fat that floats to the top. Use this flavorful fat to make your gravy.

ENJOY!

The Forking Truth

FORKING AMAZING Smoked PASTRAMI Recipe

I’ve been making tweaking my pastrami recipes but this one so FORKING AMAZING that I was told not to tweak or change things ever again. I do note that this is the first thing I ever smoked….some how I did incredible. I recommend my rye rolls recipe, my garlic dill pickle recipe and my beer mustard recipe to go with the pastrami. My idea of portion size may differ from your idea of portion size. I’m thinking 3oz portions are perfect and I think I got around ten portions. I do note that this recipe takes about a week to prepare. 6 days in brine. One day to smoke and finish in the oven. I like to make the brine the day before so it’s cool enough to use and I don’t water mine down with ice to use. I can brag here because my pastrami is way better than from the stores or certain deli restaurants. BRAG BRAG BRAG!

Ingredients for around 10 portions

1/2 a brisket trimmed up (around 3 1/2 pounds)

1 Tablespoon prague powder (you need to order it one line I got mine from Olive Nation)

4 oz Crystal kosher salt (this can not be substituted) (Crystal brand salt has a different salt content and different shape crystal that penetrates the meat in a different way)

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup honey

2 teaspoons juniper berries

3 Tablespoons coriander seeds

2 teaspoons allspice berries

3 bay leaves

1 cinnamon stick

1 teaspoon whole cloves

2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds

2 Tablespoons black tellicherry peppercorns

2 teaspoons white peppercorns

1 teaspoon ground ginger

20 garlic cloves (around 3 ounces) – crushed and rough chopped

1 Tablespoon granulated garlic

2 hot dried peppers – crushed

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

8 cups water

4 Tablespoons coriander seeds (ground up in spice grinder for the rub)

1 Tablespoon black tellicherry peppercorns (ground up in spice grinder for the rub)

1 Tablespoon smoked paprika (add this to rub for more flavor)

Directions

In your sauce pot add the prague powder, Crystal brand kosher salt, sugar, honey, juniper berries, coriander seeds, allspice berries, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cloves, mustard seeds, peppercorns, ginger, granulated garlic, dried peppers, smoked paper and water. Bring to a boil. Let it boil about ten minutes and simmer it for about 20 minutes. This needs to cool before you use it. I leave it out till it’s room temperature and then I but it in the refrigerator and use the next day.

When your brine is cool …….. Pierce your brisket all over with a fork. Place brisket in turkey bag with the garlic and brine. You need a pan to support the bag.

The brisket gets turned every day. This stays in the refrigerator for 6 days.

After 6 days you take the brisket out and rinse it off. It only takes a few seconds to make the rub. Put the coriander seeds and peppercorns in your spice grinder. Till it’s broken down and a little chunky. Mix in the smoked paprika. Rub it all over the brisket.

Now you are ready to smoke it.

I used pecan wood and changed it a few times for around 5 hours. (it’s not done yet)

Set you oven to 185 degrees F.

Wrap your brisket TIGHT with foil.

The brisket stays in the oven till it’s tender. (maybe 4-5 hours)

Then let the pastrami cool to room temperature.

Refrigerate the pastrami so you can slice it up.

You MUST make my beer mustard recipe to go with this.

Spicy Beer Mustard

You might want to make my rye mini rolls too!

And my garlic dills.

Forking Amazing Pastrami

You’re Welcome!

The Forking Truth

Mushroom Chestnut and Fig Bread Stuffing

I thought I’d make a different stuffing this year. This one is mushroom chestnut and fig bread stuffing. It’s laced with home made turkey stock. I didn’t have the turkey fat yet so I used chicken fat from the last chicken I roasted instead of using oil or butter like most people do. You take your Thanksgiving food up to the next level when you use bird fat instead of oil or butter. This stuffing comes out with a great depth of flavor. It’s also comes out moist, fluffy and a little crisp on the ends. It makes half a buffet pan of food. For me this is about 20 servings….but I try to make my stuffing portions very small. So I will guesstimate 10 – 20 servings. Mine came out like this.

Ingredients for around 15 portions

6 oz mushrooms – chopped or sliced thin

1 red onion – small diced

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves + plus extra to sprinkle on at serving

5 oz saved fat (This is the type of fat that you skim off a from a stew – I used chicken but would have preferred turkey.) (You can use butter but I didn’t)

1 Tablespoon sea salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

Optional – 4 Tablespoons mushroom powder (100% mushrooms) (I used from www.sunvalleyharvest.com from the local person known as the mushroom lady) (it depends on your mushrooms if you want to use mushroom powder)

5 oz dried figs – chopped

11 oz roasted chestnuts – chopped

4 cups home made turkey stock (I have a recipe here for turkey stock)

1 loaf dried sourdough bread (you buy the bread a week before you need it and place it in slices or all chopped up in a single layer on sheet pans to dry out in your oven. This takes a week. My loaf of sour dough weighed one pound three ounces when all dried out. – cubed

3 eggs – beaten

1/2 cup scallions – sliced thin

non stick spray

Directions

Set your oven to 350 degrees F and spray either a large baking dish or a half buffet pan with non stick cooking spray and set the pan to the side.

In a large fry pan melt one ounce of the fat. Add the mushrooms and onions and stir a little let it go about 5 minutes till it’s soft and add the thyme, salt, peppers, figs and chestnuts. Let that cook together about 5 more minutes and then add the stock. Let it go till it boils. Take off heat and let the remaining fat melt into it. Keep to the side.

In a big bowl add the stale bread that was cut into cubes. Add the scallions.

In a medium bowl beat your eggs. Add the mushroom powder to the eggs. Add a cup of the pan contents to mix into the eggs. Add this and the remaining pan contents to the big bowl of stuffing and mix it all up. Let this sit out for about 30 minutes so the bread can absorb the liquid and flavors. You will need to mix again.

After around 30 minutes when everything looks nice and absorbed put the mixture into the non stick sprayed pan. Cover the pan tightly with foil. Place in the pre-heated 350 degree F oven for 75 minutes. Uncover and put it back in the oven for no longer than 15 minutes to crisp it up a little.

Mushroom Chestnut and Fig Bread Stuffing

Sprinkle with some more fresh thyme. Serve with Turkey gravy.

ENJOY!

The Forking Truth