Several times a year the supermarkets will have Choice Grade Eye Round on sale for less than for $3.00 a pound. That is when I prepare Roast Beef…..I usually buy a 7.5 pound package of it that I cut in half. I Do Note THE RECIPE WON’T WORK if the pieces of beef differ from the 3-4 pound size. Of course you can purchase two smaller packages but I never find them in the right size so I don’t think they come that way….so I buy the full package. Sometimes I have to trim a lot of hard fat and skin off.

I’m not the greatest at trimming but if I can do it then you can do it too. I cut the beef in 3-4 pound pieces. Then they get rubbed with oil and next my spice rub. Use 1/2 the spice rub on each beef. You don’t actually rub the spice into the meat…..I put the meat in a bowl, oil it and sprinkle the spice all over like a crust. This time I put the beefs in pans lined with a few carrots as a rack.

The meats then go on the middle rack in a 500 degree F oven for 15-18 minutes. DON’T OPEN THE OVEN or you will FORK IT UP! ……Shut the oven off and LEAVE the beefs in the oven for 2 1/2 hours. Pull them out and let them rest a half hour. Slice the beef and you will be FORKING AMAZED on how FORKING Delicious, Tender flavorful and Moist the beefs come out.

I didn’t invent this method for doing Roast Beef…..but a million people on the web do take credit for this method. The only difference is that everyone’s rub recipe will differ. I saw this method for roast beef on a bunch of TV Shows (including Rachel Ray) This method has been around forever but it is a great method. I’ve done it a bunch of times now. After doing it several times I suggest 15-18 minutes of 500 degrees F before you shut the oven off. REMEMBER 15-18 minutes at 500 degrees F and shut the oven off WITHOUT OPENING THE DOOR FOR 2 1/2 HOURS or you will FORK it up!

The Beef below was in the oven at 500 degrees F for 18 minutes. Oven was shut off without anyone opening the door…and stayed in for 2 1/2 hours.

Here is my recipe for the rub I did this time (and it might have been my best).  I note I didn’t measure exact so this is a guesstimate.

Ingredients for about 7 1/2 pound eye roast

1/3 cup canola oil

1/4 cup kosher salt

2 Tablespoons black pepper

2 Tablespoons granulated garlic

2 Tablespoons paprika

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

big pinch of ground cloves

I promise that you will thank me for this recipe. You also should save the juice that is sitting in the pan. Use it for reheating the beef.

 

 

 

Richard Blais does some incredible things with carrots…..I enjoyed a very special Carrot dish at his restaurant Juniper and Ivy in San Diego CA a little while back that was to die for actually everything was great there….but those almond wood smoked carrots were.. Forking Amazing! The very BEST carrot dish I ever tasted in my life…..I found another Richard Blais Carrot dish called Ginger-Lime Baby Carrots. WOW if you come a cross a Richard Blais recipe you show most definitely try it!  I had to make a few minor changes…NOT TO CHANGE Richard Blais’s recipe but due to what I already had at home…(I was all out of limes….so I thought oranges would work..I used $2.00 carrots instead of $5.99 carrots w/tops and so on…)…..His recipe is so Forking Good that it came out really great anyway! It came out FORKING Delicious!

Ingredients for about 4 servings

12 average size carrots -preferably organic so you can leave skin on. Peel them if they are not organic.

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/2 Tablespoon minced fresh ginger

big pinch cinnamon

1/2 cup vegetable stock

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

1 orange – the fresh squeezed juice and also the zest (separate)

1/4 teaspoon sriracha

1 Tablespoon furikake

course sea salt – for boiling water

Directions

In a large sauce pan get salted water on to boil and add carrots….Cook carrots till tender crisp. Timing will differ due to size of carrots.

In a large skillet heat the olive oil. Add the carrots,  ginger, and cinnamon and cook over moderate heat tossing occasionally till the ginger is fragrant, about 3 minutes, Add stock and boil at moderately high heat until reduced by half, about three minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and let cool 30 seconds. Swirl in the butter,  orange juice and sriracha. Either you are done with carrots at this point and just top them with the furikake and orange zest. OR you can slightly brown the carrots and put them on a sheet pan on the top rack of the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes and then serve the carrots in the Ginger-Orange Sauce and then top with furikake and orange zest.

I note my pan looks dry but I had a good amount of sauce on the carrots.

It’s really a delicious sauce….I think it would also be amazing on chicken or fish.

A special THANKS! to Richard Blais for coming up with this GREAT RECIPE! and putting out there on the web so we all can prepare it! Thanks so much..it’s like a gift!

 

 

This is a chunky salad of avocado, a couple types of oranges tied together with guacamole type seasoning. I used home made pickled jalapeños and a very special pepper called chile pequin to heat things up. You will have no trouble finding chile pequin at WinCo or any Mexican Grocery Store. The chile pequin pepper is very small and very mighty. It’s delicious and doesn’t seem hot at first but it builds. It’s very similar to the very expensive chitepin pepper. ($23.00 for two ounces). Anyway this is a tasty topper for tacos, nachos or grilled meats. This Avocado salad seems lightened up some with all the sweet oranges in it. I think the oranges cut the richness of the avocados and give this topping a unique flavor. I note that I used all small sized produce so your results may differ due to the size of fruit used.

Ingredients for about 6 servings

3 avocados (smaller sized)

2 garlic cloves – ground to paste

2 clementines – peeled with a knife so the out side of the fruit is skin free and slice and peel out the segments. (In this step it’s very easy to remove the membrane)

2 smaller oranges – supremes (that means skinless if you can do it if not just peel the skin off with a knife so you remove most of the skin – then slice the orange across a few times. When you pull apart the segments you can also remove most of the orange membrane.

1 lime – just the fresh squeezed juice

1/4 cup sweet onion chopped

2 home made pickled jalapeños -preferably my recipe on site or use someone else’s home made pickled jalapeños

2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro – chopped

2 Tablespoons fresh parsley – chopped

2 chile pequin

1/2 teaspoon course sea salt

Directions

Get a medium size bowl.

Supreme the oranges. You basically are peeling the orange with a knife and are removing the outer membrane of the orange. Then slice into each segment to remove it from the orange.

I wasn’t able to supreme the clementines but was able to remove the outer membrane like from the orange. Then I just sliced the clementine across a few times and removed the segments and peeled the membranes off.

Put the oranges and clementines in your bowl.

Add the chopped onions, pickled peppers, cilantro, parsley, salt.

Cut the avocado in half around the pit. Score the flesh with a knife all the way but not threw the skin. Remove the avocado flesh with a spoon.

Add the avocado to the bowl.

Sprinkle the bowl with all the fresh lime juice.

Take the chile pequin and rub it with your fingers over the bowl and break it down the best you can over the bowl. Repeat with the second chile pequin.

Stir very gently and try not to mash things up.

Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.

I made tacos and use sliced jicama for the shells and this topping went really great with them! The next day over maui maui….both were really great and the salad stayed fresh and didn’t brown.

 

I was at the Pinnacle Peak Farmer’s Market and Crooked Sky Farms usually has something interesting to try. I saw these really BIG Greens. I had no idea on what they were but I thought I’d try them. I asked the man at Crooked Skys what kind of green it was and not for all the money in the world can’t I remember the name of this vegetable but is is some sort of Chinese Cabbage. In studying pictures of Chinese Greens this one most resembled one of about 50 kinds of Chinese Mustard Greens. The most popular way to use Chinese Mustard Greens is to pickle and jar them. The second most popular way to to stir fry them simply with a Thai Chili little oil and some Garlic…..but it was suggested at www.ChinaSichuanFood.com to blanch the vegetable first. I prepared the cabbage similar to what and how www.ChinaSicuanFood.com did but I added a few extra ingredients for my taste.  In my research I don’t recall where I read this but someone suggested adding half a teaspoon of baking soda when you blanch the greens for when the stems are thick. So I prepared the vegetable and in the end this once bitter tasting green now taste very similar to spinach. I do note you might have to cut back on the Thai Chili peppers, garlic and sesame oil if your green is smaller than mine or for your taste.

Ingredients for about 6 servings

1 Chinese Mustard Cabbage (a really big one) – all cleaned up and chopped up like in pictures below. Put the pieces with wide stems in a separate bowl.

a few drops oil (this is for blanching. I used canola)

1/2 teaspoon salt (for blanching)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda (for blanching)

5 garlic cloves – chopped fine – or to taste

3 Thai Chili peppers – chopped fine – or to taste

1 Tablespoon canola oil

2 teaspoons sesame oil – or to taste

fresh ground black pepper to taste

fresh ground sea salt to taste

Directions

Put a pot of water on to boil with the few drops of oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a 1/2 teaspoon baking soda.

The wide stems need to boil 10 seconds. Take them out with a strainer or a wide slotted spoon and place in a bowl of ice bath. Mostly ice a little cold water.

The leafier parts only need 2-3 seconds. You will notice that the water left in the pot smells very unpleasant. You just removed this taste from the greens. Then take the greens out and they get the ice bath too.

Then put all the greens in a colander to drain.

Get your wok hot on high heat and add the Tablespoon of canola oil and the chopped garlic and Thai Chili peppers.

then stir in the greens.

season with salt, pepper and sesame oil. Mix well and serve.

They taste great and are suppose to be very healthy for you! A special Thanks to www.ChinaSichuanFood.com for directions on how to work with this type of green and another special thanks to Crooked Skys Farms for offering such great produce at The Pinnacle Peak Farmers Market too!

www.ChinaSichuanFood.com

 

 

 

I came across this Chipotle Buttered Corn Recipe on the Tasting Table by Chef Christopher Lee of Sophia’s a Philadelphia Restaurant. I know Chipotle goes amazing with corn but Star Anise is a flavor I never thought of to go with Chipotle and corn. I did some research and I tried to find other recipes combining Star Anise and Chipotle. In my search I discovered the EXACT SAME RECIPE is posted on Genius Kitchen by Cluich..?…..I don’t know if Cluich and Chef Christopher Lee are the same person or not???????? (thought that was interesting) I don’t know if either Chef Christopher Lee or Cluich would approve or want to have anything to do with what I’ve done with Star Anise, Chipotle and Corn but I can tell you that it’s delicious and great. I take what I did a little further. What might be even better is the amazing corn stock that you get if you make the dish my way. The leftover Chipotle Corn Stock is great for chipotle mashed potatoes. Just boil the potatoes in that stock and after the potatoes are fork tender add enough stock to make them moist and then they are delicious with almost no fat or dairy (or you can add some butter to make them a little rich and better). The other thing I did with the Chipotle Corn Stock was to blend butternut squash into it. I made a Chipotle laced puree and later thinned it down with vegetable broth to make a soup.

Ingredients for about 6 servings

8 ears of corn

4 oz unsalted butter

2 star anise

2 Tablespoons chipotle in adobo sauce – chipotle peppers chopped fine

1 meyer lemon cut in half

2 Tablespoons kosher salt

4 cloves garlic

1 onion cut in 8 slices

8 cups water

1/2 cup chopped scallions

Directions

Set your oven to 350 degrees F.

Get out two large pans (1/2 buffet pans) and lay out the corn and ingredients just like the photo below.

Four ears of corn in each pan and half the ingredients (except scallions) in each pan.

Add the water – 4 cups in each pan.

Cover very tightly with foil.

In the oven they go for two hours at 350 degrees F.

After two hours pull the pans out and carefully loosen the foil – WATCH OUT! – there will be hot steam – but leave the foil hang over.

Let the pans cool on the counter for an hour. Then throw out the star anise and the lemon.

After an hour you can serve the corn….I think it’s better on the cob……You will get the most amazing taste like you can’t imagine….very sweet juice you can suck out of the cob that’s infused with crazy flavors. Most people I know prefer the corn removed from the cob. So you can move the kernels and mix with sliced scallions. Either way it’s delicious and you can’t do any wrong.

DON’T THROW OUT THE LIQUID FROM THE CORN.

Take it and boil peeled potatoes in it…..(used vegetables and all except the lemon and star anise you already threw out)

The potatoes will be delicious. Remove the potatoes from the pot. Make them more delicious and mash them with some of the strained liquid…….add a little butter if you want and these potatoes will be super yummy!

You can get one more use out of the liquid if you want……

Peel and roast up cubed butternut squash. Puree it up with some of this still very flavorful liquid. Now you have a flavorful figure friendly Butternut squash puree.

Maybe you’d enjoy the butternut squash more as a cream free soup. Just add vegetable stock and a small amount of finely chopped and sautéed carrot, celery and onion and puree again. You might want to add a small amount of more finely chopped chipotle pepper. I added a few peas for color and some really cute butternut squash pasta I found at Trader Joes.

The Anise Infused Chipotle Corn is Worth a Fork!

A special Thanks to The Tasting Table with Chef Christopher Lee’s Recipe and To the same recipe at Genius Kitchen by Cluich. That recipe inspired me and helped me to create all these dishes.

 

 

I was inspired to create this recipe when I read about Chef Binkley’s Pastrami Carrot Corn Dog on his menu this week……I know my creations can’t compare to the Great Chef’s Masterpieces …..but this one here is might be considered to be Forking Great! I had a pound  of beets and a pound of carrots in my refrigerator. I was thinking that beets might be great also to pastramize…So I did two pans, one with carrots and one with beets.Then I figure I have to make something to go the beets and carrots….I first thought of Russian Dressing….Of course a simple basic Russian Dressing is delicious with these carrots and beets…….Then I thought a better idea was my Kraut Style Spaghetti Squash but I didn’t think squash and root vegetables are very appetizing together so Chickpeas was it because they go great with Carrots and Beets……I did the quick soak method for beans but you are welcome to do the over night soak….I think the two methods produce different textures to the beans……The overnight soak makes the beans super creamy and sweeter….I wasn’t sure if I wanted super creamy beans so I did the quick soak for more texture. I think I would have been happiest with 1/2 and 1/2 but I didn’t think of that at the time.

Ingredients for about 6 servings

1 lb. carrots – peeled (needs to be peeled so the flavorings get in)

1 lb. beets – peeled and sliced in thick slices (needs to be peeled so flavorings get in)

2 Tablespoons kosher salt

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon juniper berries

2 teaspoons allspice berries

2 bay leaves

1/2 cinnamon stick

1 1/2 teaspoon whole cloves

1 1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds

2 Tablespoons black peppercorns

1 teaspoon ground ginger

8 garlic cloves – smashed

1 hot dried pepper – torn in half

1 teaspoon liquid smoke

4 cups water

coriander to taste (to top carrots and beets)

fresh ground black pepper to taste (to top carrots and beets)

1/2 lb dried garbanzo beans (also called chickpeas)

3 cups water (keep the leftover bean water)

1/2 sweet onion – very thinly sliced and rough chopped

2 cloves garlic – ground to a paste

4 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar (or a little more to taste)

4 splashes sherry vinegar

2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon course sea salt

8 juniper berries – fresh ground in spice grinder

2 teaspoons caraway seeds

1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seed

Directions

set oven to 350 degrees F

Get two baking dishes or two 1/2 pans.

Put all the carrots in one pan.

Put all the beets in the other pan.

Get out a medium sized mixing bowl.

add the salt, sugar, juniper berries, allspice berries, cloves, mustard, peppercorns, ginger and mix well. Put 1/2 the mixture in each pan.

Put one bay leaf, 1/4 cinnamon stick, 1/2 dried pepper and 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke in each pan.

Add 2 cups of water to each pan and cover tightly and lace in 350 degree oven.

Cook till fork tender. About one hour.

When ready to use drain.

Rinse and sort beans.

Put pot of 3 cups water to boil. When boiling add beans and boil the beans for two minutes. Then shut the heat off cover the pot and leave it alone for an hour. After an hour drain and rinse the beans. Put them back in the pot with three cups of water. Bring the pot to boil and then reduce to a low simmer covered. These beans should be done in about 90….. minutes….maybe 2 hours. (******make sure that any bean you prepare is fully cooked because undercooked beans can cause illness or be toxic!)

While the beans are cooking get a small mixing bowl and add the onion, garlic, sherry vinegar, sugar, 1 teaspoon course sea salt, ground juniper, caraway and mustard seeds. Cover and put in the refrigerator while the beans are cooking. This mixture will cook itself.

When the beans are done drain them. Add the small bowl of onion mixture to your pot. Add the drained beans and about 1/2 cup of reserved bean water and bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce to simmer for 15 – 25 minutes…..you want things to get absorbed. Wa la Kraut Style Beans.

Plate it up! (make sure you sprinkle the beets and carrots with fresh ground black pepper and coriander.

WOW! I feel like I could stuff the beets in with rye bread and Swiss cheese! This is a FORKING Special vegetable plate. Ummmm I’m thinking of quick rye bread waffles and drizzling  everything with a Swiss Cheese Sauce….

 

 

 

 

 

 

These Spicy Thai Basil Potatoes taste like the Thai Dish Pad Gra Pow. These potatoes are delicious and very easy to prepare and are low in fat too. You can serve them cold as a salad or hot as a side dish.

This recipe makes about 12 servings

3 pounds small red potatoes

1/4 cup vegetable soup base (or chicken)

1 cup Thai Basil – chopped

4 Thai red chili peppers – chopped fine

4 large garlic cloves – chopped fine

1/4 cup golden mountain seasoning sauce also called tuong gia vi (it’s a soy sauce but with more flavors)

1 Tablespoon dark brown sugar

2 Tablespoons fish sauce

1 shallot – sliced very thin on a mandolin

1 Tablespoon canola oil

Directions

Put the cleaned potatoes in a pot. Add the soup base and cover potatoes with water. Bring pot to a medium boil and let the potatoes cook till fork tender. (they boil about 15 minutes)

Drain the potatoes when done.

While they are hot slice the potatoes in half and put them in a large bowl. Sprinkle the golden mountain seasoning sauce over the potatoes and let them absorb for about 5 minutes. Shake the potatoes around so the sauce is distributed. Add Thai basil, chili peppers, garlic, sugar, fish sauce, shallot and oil. Gently stir.

Enjoy!

Delicious!

 

I was watching Andrew Zimmern’s TV Show “Delicious Destinations” in Sicily. What interested me the most were the unusual Cannoli he enjoyed in Sicily. They didn’t look anything like any other cannoli I’ve come across anywhere. They looked almost like Chocolate Tacos filled with the usual cream filling studded with chocolate chips and topped with candied orange peel. I remembered he said the secret to these cannoli was vinegar in the recipe. So here is my attempt to create something similar to what I saw on TV. I used my normal cannoli recipe ……that took a while to develop….and swapped out the water and wine for vinegar. I added 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa and an extra Tablespoon of sugar (because of the vinegar). The mixture got very dry so I then added just one teaspoon of water. As the mixture sat it got too wet……so I pinched off a dough ball and just dipped each dough ball in flour and kneaded like bread. If you make the candied orange peels you have to make them two days in advance because they take two days to dry. In my area they don’t sell good tasting ricotta cheese for the filling so I make a rich ricotta cheese. It takes about an hour to make. It’s simply a gallon of milk, a quart of heavy cream (this is a creamier version of what I normally do…usually I use a pint of heavy cream), a teaspoon of course sea salt. You SLOWLY bring to a slow boil. Into the boiling parts SLOWLY add the juice of two lemons till curds form and let it slowly boil a few minutes. I drain the cheese well with either paper towels lining a colander or if I’m in a big hurry I use a mesh strainer. I add 10x sugar and vanilla to taste for the filling. For regular cannoli I dust with 10x sugar. For Delicious Destinations Style Cannoli I used a mixture of unsweetened cocoa mixed with 10x sugar. It’s best to make the cannoli filling the day before because the sugar makes the vanilla filling wet and you will need to drain it.

Ingredients for about 13 servings

1 cup flour – plus extra for kneading and rolling

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter – room temperature

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 pinch course sea salt

1/4 cup vinegar

1/2 egg white and 1/2 yolk separated (use yolk to seal cannoli)

1/4 cup cocoa

Optional 1 teaspoon water if dough seems too dry

oil to deep fry with – I used vegetable oil

2 oranges – for candied orange peels

2 cups sugar – for candied orange peels – plus extra to roll peels in

1 cup water – for candied orange peels

Directions

Add Oil to electric fryer and set it to 350 degrees F.

In a medium size bowl add flour, butter, sugar, salt, vinegar, 1/2 egg white, cocoa and mix well with a fork. If the mixture is too dry add up to a teaspoon of water. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it chill in the refrigerator for about a half hour.

If you’re making the candied orange peels use either a knife or a vegetable peeler and peel off the orange zest. Try not to get much of the white part because that white part is bitter. Boil the orange peels and you will see the water turn orange. Drain the water and REPEAT TWO MORE TIMES. After you boil the peels THREE TIMES. Simmer the peels again with one cup water and two cups sugar. Keep it simmering till the liquid looks slightly thicker. Pull the peels out and roll each peel in sugar and place on a pan covered with plastic wrap. Peels need two days to dry.

Either pinch off a marble size piece of dough or divide the dough into about 13 pieces. If the dough feels sticky dip the dough into flour and knead. Lightly flour your rolling pin and rolling mat or whatever you usually roll dough on. Roll it as thin as you can. Place in your taco frying holder and place in oil till it looks cooked. Remove cannoli shell on to a paper towel lined pan. Repeat till all the shells are done.

I like to powder the shells. The powder also helps to keep the shells crisp. For plain shells I powder with 10x sugar. These D.D. Sicily Inspired Chocolate Shells I powdered with a mix of Unsweetened Cocoa and 10x sugar. The shells get filled with a fresh made rich ricotta cheese. I added a splash of pure vanilla maybe two drops of natural anise extract and 10x sugar till it’s slightly sweet. The sugar will make the mixture turn wet so I put the mixture in a paper towel lined colander in the morning and changed the paper towel twice. Just before filling the shells I added slightly chopped chocolate chips. Each D.D. Sicily Inspired Cannoli gets topped with a candied orange peel.

Different! More flavors, notes and textures than my regular cannoli. I like the usual different look but they are a little harder to eat because of the unusual shape. If I make them next year I’d just try to make the taco shape smaller.

Your Place can be a DELICIOUS DESTINATION if you prepare these Forking Delicious Cannoli!