Kabocha Squash and Chestnut Gnocchi with Fried Sage and Browned Butter

These Kabocha Squash and Chestnut Gnocchi and Forking Delicious…….The Kabocha Squash is so sweet and chestnut- like tasting that they are meant to go together. So I combined some chestnut flour into the squash gnocchi and had some chestnuts cooking in the browning butter and the flavor really is off the charts great. I MUST ADMIT that this recipe is not recommended for people who are beginners at gnocchi making because these are harder to make than regular potato or cheese gnocchi. The squash doesn’t work as well with the flour and you might have trouble if your squash is too watery for this recipe to come out right. My squash was too hard for me to cut so I pierced it all over with a knife. Threw it on a pan with maybe 1/3rd of an inch of water at 400 degrees F. Covered the squash checked it at 45 minutes and it was still rock hard. It was a big kabocha. Checked every 15 minutes and it was “knife tender” not fork tender. At 90 minutes I got a knife tender kabocha.

The Squash should be cooked like this dry and not too moist or you have to make something else with it.

Ingredients for about 4 servings

1 cup mashed kabocha squash.

1 XL egg – slightly beaten

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1 1/2 oz chestnut flour

3/4 cup ap  flour ( only up to 3/4 cup should start with 1/2 cup do a tester and work up if necessary )*

2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon sea salt

pinch nutmeg

pinch white pepper

1 Tablespoon kosher or sea salt – for boiling the gnocchi

4 oz sweet butter ( for sauce )

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil ( for sauce )

5 oz chestnuts – roasted, peeled ( for sauce )

one bunch sage leaves – cleaned  ( to flavor butter and to top gnocchi with )

4 heaping Tablespoons ricotta cheese -preferably home made ( to finish plate of gnocchi )

Directions

In a large bowl with a for mix together the squash, egg and chestnut flour and let it sit on a counter for about thirty minutes.

While the squash mixture is sitting prepare the sauce.

In a sauce pan add the butter and olive oil. Once melted turn to medium high. let it go a few minutes and then add the chestnuts on one half of the pan . You can break them down a little with a spoon here if you want too.  Place the sage leaves on the other half of the pan. When sage leaves are crisp remove and let drain on a towel. When the chestnuts are lightly browned remove them. Let the butter go till it looks a little lighter than caramel. Take off heat and leave to the side.

Put on a sauce pot to medium boil with a tablespoon of water. Tie some kitchen string to a handle. The string cuts the gnocchi like so. But be careful not to catch the string on fire.

In the squash mixture bowl you need to add the remaining ingredients of balsamic, *flour (read note at flour ingredients), 1 teaspoon sea salt, nutmeg, white pepper and brown sugar. Mix well.

Snip disposable pastry bag, fold and fill like picture.

Twist end.

Apply pressure and cut gnocchi off with string.

Gnocchi will float in about a minute. Let them cook about a minute after floating.

Scoop them out with a slotted spoon into a dish and top with a little bit of the butter from the pan and shake the dish so the gnocchi get buttered. Don’t worry about pasta water getting mixed in because you want that! It’s better that way.

Refill pastry bag and repeat.

Add the chestnuts. Top with sage and a dab of ricotta.

Kabocha Squash and Chestnut Gnocchi

Forking Delicious!

The Forking Truth

Rice and Zucchini Crostata

I watched Lidia Bastianich on her TV Show on PBS Cooking with Lidia making this incredible sounding Crostata. It is a bit of work. Lidia recommends to make your own ricotta cheese and I’m totally understand that so that’s ok for me. The taste is not the same if you purchase the cheese. It doesn’t compare. You also need a lot of zucchini and a lot of scallions. Lidia recommends to make the dough with a food processor. I find the recipe is very good and you can make the dough by hand like I did……Also a  baking stone is also recommended to get the bottom of the crust brown. The only issue I had with the recipe is that it doesn’t contain pepper. In my mind the recipe should have some pepper in it but I didn’t want to change the recipe so I finely chopped 4 Calabrian Chili Peppers in to the mix and they gave a nice little mild bit of heat in the finish. The recipe makes a generous amount of filling so you can do a little tester in an oven with a small amount of filling and taste it and then decide if you want to add a little bit of pepper or not. This recipe is considered an Appetizer or Hors D’ Oeuvres ……..?…..but I think it can be a breakfast, lunch or light dinner  (If you don’t cut it too large). I didn’t try it yet but Lidia wrote that leftovers freeze well.

Ingredients to make about 15 servings

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup cold water – plus more if needed

1 pound small zucchini (I needed three)

1/2 cup arborio, carnaroli or vialone nano rice

2 cups ricotta – preferably fresh drained over night

1 cup grated Grans Padano

2 bunched scallions finely chopped – (about two cups)(bunches by me are not big enough to make a cup)

3 large eggs slightly beaten

2 cups milk

2 teaspoons kosher salt

butter for baking pan – (I used non-stick spray)

Directions

If your making your own ricotta do that first…It will take about an hour plus. (basically 1 gallon milk, between 1 pint- 1 quart heavy cream 1 scant Tablespoon salt bring SLOWLY to rolling boil on medium heat. This will take at least an hour. Let it rolling boil a few minutes and add about fresh squeezed lemon juice SLOWLY until you see curds from about three medium sized lemons (you might not need all the juice if the lemons are very juicy but usually I need 3 lemons. You should see it curds now.

Let it cook just a few minutes and you can drain quickly with a mesh strainer. Your cheese will be ready as soon as it cools slightly. You will have more than double the cheese you need. Leftover cheese freezes very well.

Now make dough. If you have a food processor pour the flour, 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 olive oil and 1/3 cup cold water and pulse. Pulse and you should have a smooth dough but if it’s pebbly you might need a little more water. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest at least a 1/2 hour.

For the filling.- In a large bowl shred the zucchini on the course holes. Toss in the rice.and let it sit together 30-60 minutes. Then fold in the ricotta, grated cheese, eggs – beaten, milk and salt and mix well.

Add your baking stone to the oven on a middle rack and set the temperature to 375 degrees F.

On a floured surface roll out the dough till it’s about 4 inches larger than your pan. (if you can).

Butter your pan.

Roll the dough around the rolling pin so you can roll the dough off into the pan.

Place the dough in the pan the best you can and then add filling and fold the ends over the filling.

You might want to turn the crostata half way during cooking for even browning. In 45-60 minutes the Crostata should be done. (In my oven it took an hour to be done)

Let it rest and cool down a little before you put in the refrigerator. You are suppose to serve this slightly warm or at room temperature.

Rice and Zucchini Crostata

It’s delicious and very rich. I recommend to cut in small pieces. It’s a crowd pleaser!

Thanks to Chef Lidia for a great recipe!

The Forking Truth

Delicious Pickled Jalapeños

I got a bunch of Jalapeños that are HOT so I thought I’d pickle some of them. These Pickled Jalapeños are so delicious you can easily made lots of foods delicious with them easily. I do recommend to wear gloves because when you handle so many jalapeños because you will injure yourself. Your hands will burn the next day too so wear gloves. The recipe is pretty easy and you don’t really have to do the canning process because with all the vinegar it will stay fresh for several months or do the canning process if you prefer. I found out later that these Pickled Jalapeños make some VERY DELICIOUS Guacamole….It’s one of my new tricks! The other is that these Delicious Pickled Jalapeños help to make a really awesome chicken salad. I didn’t write down exactly how I made it but the chicken salad was made of pulled chicken, a good amount of the pickled jalapeños, dijon mustard, celery, green onions and a little water that emulsified with the dijon. I stuffed the chicken salad into mini bell peppers and it was Forking Great!

Ingredients for about 20 servings

1 lb jalapeños – cleaned, stems and cores removed and cut into rings

2 cups white vinegar

2 cups rice wine vinegar

2 cups water

4 Tablespoons kosher salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 sweet onion – cut in thin slices

6 cloves garlic – smashed

1 Tablespoon black peppercorns

1 Tablespoon coriander seeds

2 bay leaves

1 carrot – peeled and sliced very thin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Directions

Set the Jalapeños carrots and onions in a large bowl and set to the side.

Get your large sauce pot on medium high heat with remaining ingredients and bring to a boil till sugar dissolves.

Reduce to simmer and let it go about ten minutes.

Place vegetables in containers. Add liquid. Place lids on when it’s cool.

Pickled Jalapeños

These were once jalapeños that were to hot to eat and now they are a yummy kinder heat that’s layered in flavor and delicious.

I found they add something super special to home made guacamole and they also are great in chicken salad and MORE!

Guacamole made with the Delicious Pickled Peppers

The Forking Truth

Forking Tasty Sous Vide and Browned 1/2 Turkey Breast

I had a half Turkey Breast in my freezer that was already brined. To me Turkey Breast are best prepared in a Sous Vide or in the pan. Here we do both because I left the skin on. It’s incredibly easy to prepare delicious moist, tender, white meat turkey this way. The half Turkey breast goes in a Sous Vide Bag with some spices and fresh garlic and frozen garlic confit (garlic that has been roasted with olive oil and then whipped). Seal the bag and put in the Sous Vide at 140 degrees F for four-five hours. Rinse the spices off with cool water, blot dry and apply rub. Brown in a medium high pan for about three minutes a side.

Ingredients for about 6 servings

1/2 turkey breast from a medium size turkey that was brined.

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 teaspoons dark brown sugar

2 juniper berries – ground

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1 bay leaf

pinch cinnamon

smaller pinch ground cloves

1 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

pinch hot crushed red pepper

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 teaspoon coriander

1 1/2 teaspoon mustard

pinch white pepper

6 garlic cloves – smashed

2 oz FROZEN garlic confit

2 teaspoons black pepper (for rub)

1 teaspoon coriander (for rub)

1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika (for rub)

1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic (for rub)

1/4 teaspoon granulated onion (for rub)

1/2 teaspoon (the Sous Vide Seasoning Mixture) (for rub)

1/4 teaspoon course sea salt (for rub)

2 Tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

Set the Sous Vide with water and set to 140 degrees F.

In a small mixing bowl combine kosher salt, brown sugar, juniper, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, 1 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, ginger, paprika, coriander, mustard, white pepper. Mix well.

Place the turkey breast in the Sous Vide Bag. Add one Tablespoon of the Sous Vide Spice mixture to the top of the breast and add one Tablespoon Sous Vide Spice mixture to the other side of turkey breast. Add the smashed garlic and the frozen garlic confit. Seal bag and then place in Sous Vide Machine for five hours.

After  5 hours run the bag under cold water to stop the cooking process.

Remove the turkey from bag and rinse off the garlic cloves and spices.

Blot dry with paper towels.

Apply the rub mixture.

Put a large fry pan on medium high heat with the vegetable oil.

Fry turkey about three minutes on bottom, top and sides.

Forking Tasty Sous Vide and Browned 1/2 Turkey Breast

It wasn’t what I was going for but It came out really delicious…it was too good not to write down so here it is!

It’s moist ,tender and juicy with exotic flavors.

The Forking Truth

Delicious Kabocha Squash Pie with a Coconut Crust

Kabocha Squash is one of the healthiest, most delicious low calorie foods out there. It creamy and sort of sweet and it kind of taste like sweet potatoes mixed with chestnuts. I’ve been thinking about baking a pie out of Kabocha Squash for a long time now and finely came up with a recipe. I didn’t want it to come out just like pumpkin pie so I thought coconut would go really well so I made a tender coconut crust and instead of milk for the custard I used coconut milk and it’s seasoned it’s own way. This is a very unique and delicious pie that you won’t get to taste unless you make it.

Ingredients for about 8 servings

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoons cold water

2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

non stick spray

2/3 cup kobocha squash –  roasted. pierced squash all over with knife till “knife” tender.  Seeds, membrane, stem removed then meat scooped out  (my large kobocha went into a 400 degree F oven covered with maybe 1/4 in. water I checked at 45 minutes and every 15 minutes till knife tender) – mashed well or pureed

2 1/2 Tablespoons sweet butter – room temperature

1/2 cup and 1 Tablespoon dark brown sugar

2 Tablespoons flour

3 XL eggs – slightly beaten

1/3 cup coconut milk

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (I used Vietnamese Cinnamon)

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

pinch white ground pepper

pinch sea salt

Directions

Turn oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl combine 1/2 cup flour, coconut flour, olive oil, water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 Tablespoons sugar and mix well. Mixture should look like wet crumbly sand.

Spray pie plate with non stick spray. (I think my pie plate is 11 inches)

Dump crust mixture on to pie plate.

Pat mixture into pie crust shape.

Peirce crust all over with a FORK.

Set oven to 300 degrees F.

Place in over for about 10 -12 minutes. Till crust looks sort of cooked.

Set crust to the side. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look perfect because it gets covered with filling.

In a large bowl combine remaining ingredients ONE AT A TIME in order till done.

Pour into pie shell.

Place in oven for about 35 minutes. (I note timing may differ due to different size pans and different ovens) The filling might puff up a bit but will fall and be flat.

Kabocha Squash Pie with Coconut Crust

Chill and serve at room temperature for best taste and texture.

It came out pretty darn great. I think this is what a Kabocha Squash Pie should taste like. The filling is custardy unique and delicious…. You can taste the Kabocha Squash laced with Coconut. The crust is tender and coconut flavored.

If you are a fan of Kabocha Squash and Coconut you will enjoy this pie. My husband doesn’t enjoy coconut ever and even he thinks this pie is delicious.

The Forking Truth

Nigel Slater’s Extremely Moist Chocolate Beet Cake Simplified

Beets were on sale this week for on .88cents a bunch and I haven’t baked desserts with beets before so I thought I’d find a great recipe for baking with beets. YES Nigel Slater’s Recipe is Iron Clad Fantastic. It might be that one recipe you want if you want that one really awesome tasting chocolate cake. The recipe is so good I didn’t even need to read the directions. It’s somewhat involved and many bowls need to be used.  I simplified the recipe by bringing down 5 bowls to only two bowls to prepare the cake. The only major change I did to the recipe was to leave out the 1/4 cup of hot espresso because that would never be in my kitchen and I don’t want the added deepness in flavor because it’s deep enough. The suggested topping for the cake is creme fraiche with poppy seeds. That sounds amazing……but I don’t feel like running to the store to spend $6.00 on a small tub of creme fraiche………so I just used 3 oz of 63% all natural cacao chips melted with 2 oz sweet butter and a splash of warm cream. The cake is super moist and very decadent with deep chocolate flavor. You might not notice the beets. The beets are only in the background and you see a the slight color difference. I was about to use a fresh ricotta cream – mascarpone  with the cake maybe tinted with some beet puree …but didn’t this time……maybe next time… Here’s the simplified recipe.

Ingredients for about 10 servings

8 oz beets – roasted with just water and then peeled and pureed (you need one cup of puree)

7 oz fine dark chocolate (the best my store sells is 63% all natural cacao) (optional to purchase a 10 oz bag of 63% chocolate chips and use 7oz for the cake and three oz for the topping)

8 oz unsweetened butter – cold temperature (optional extra 2 oz for topping)

1 cup flour – plus extra for dusting the springform pan

1 1/14 teaspoon baking powder

3 Tablespoons quality cocoa powder

5 XL eggs

1 cup sugar

optional creme fraiche and poppy seeds to serve

non stick spray

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F

in a large bowl chop up the butter into cubes and either put the bowl over a pot of heated water or being very careful micro wave it covered with plastic wrap for 30 seconds at a time till it’s half melted. Then add the chips and either way slowly melt the chips into the butter. (this is the hardest part of the whole recipe).

Add the sugar mix.

Add the beet puree and mix.

Add the cocoa and mix.

dump the flour and baking powder on top.

set to the side

In another large bowl add the eggs and with a mixer beat the eggs till they are light and fluffy.

With a fork stir the chocolate and beet bowl till the mixture is almost mixed.

Carefully as possible stir in the eggs till the mixture is incorporated.

Spray the springform pan with non stick spray.

Add a few Tablespoons of flour and shake it around the pan till it’s dusted.

Fill with cake mixture and set in oven

TURN DOWN OVEN TO 325 DEGREES F.

In about 40 minutes the cake should be done

Leave in pan till the cake is slightly warm and run a soft knife around the cake to make sure it doesn’t stick. Slide the cake off onto a plate.

Decide on how you’d like to serve the cake.

It’s really deep with chocolate and extremely moist…you don’t really need anything but it looks naked.

A few options are….

just powdered sugar or sweetened cocoa

The suggested creme fraiche and poppy seeds

3oz deep chocolate chips melted with 2oz unsweetened butter and a splash of warm cream.

Sweetened fresh made ricotta – mascarpone  cheese….maybe tinted with beet puree…drizzled with chocolate or chocolate shavings…..

Nigel Slater’s Extremely Moist Chocolate Beet Cake Simplified

The cake is excellent…Everyone will love this cake!

The Forking Truth

Modern Reduced Fat Avocado Green Goddess Dressing

Green Goddess Dressing is an old fashioned dressing that is traditionally made from mostly all high fat ingredients like, Mayonnaise, Creme Fraiche and Sour Cream blended with green herbs. I enjoy high fat foods like everyone else does but I prefer my salads to be somewhat healthy so I came up with this recipe. Traditional Green Goddess dressing does NOT contain avocado. I had some extra avocado so I thought I could make a rich tasting Green Goddess type of dressing and I did. You can use this dressing for salads, chicken salad, dip or drizzle it on vegetables, chicken or fish.

Ingredients for about 4 servings

8 oz ripe avocado

3 Tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup scallions sliced (packed tight)

1/4 cup parsley (packed tight)

8 anchovy filets (I used Delallo Brand…I note some other reasonably priced brands sold in Phoenix will not work out as well)

3 Tablespoons white vinegar

1/4 cup water

1 Tablespoon dried tarragon…..(fresh would be better but I very rarely use tarragon..so I usually use dried)

1/4 teaspoon or to taste fresh ground black pepper…( I found after I made the dressing I needed slightly more than 1/4 teaspoon)

Fresh ground sea salt to taste….(not much)

Directions

Just blend all the ingredients.

Modern Reduced Fat Avocado Green Goddess Dressing

This dressing seems very rich and is delicious.

The Forking Truth

Forking Awesome Kicked UP Waldorf Inspired Salad

The Waldorf Salad was created in the 1890s at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City. A typical Waldorf Salad is made from apples, celery, grapes and walnuts dressed with a mayonnaise dressing. That sounds sort of boring and heavy to me so I went with that idea and used some unusual ingredients like kumquat, rambutan and tomatillo that made it more interesting. There is a lot of flavors and textures in this salad with a little heat. It really is Forking Great….most people will like all the flavors and textures. Even if you don’t want to make this salad you will still want to make the walnuts like I do. I cook the walnuts with water for 3 minutes in the microwave to release the bitter flavor and toss the walnuts in the oven with minimal amounts of sugar, oil and seasoning and they are just delicious! My recipe makes more walnuts than you need for this recipe. I don’t think you will have a problem using them or snacking on them.

Ingredients for about three servings

1 cup walnuts

2 cups water

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

a few cracks black pepper

12 rambutan – peeled (you can substitute lychee fruit or large grapes)

2 celery ribs – peeled and cut in bite size pieces

1/2 fennel bulb – core removed and sliced thin (save some fennel fronds to toss in)

1 tomatillo – cut in quarters, then eights and each eight in fourths

1 apple – cored and cut in bite size pieces

3 Tablespoons jumbo raisens

2 radish sliced thin

2 kumquats sliced thin (remove seeds if you come across any)

1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 Tablespoon honey

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

few cracks fresh black pepper

Directions

Place the walnuts in a microwave safe bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and heat for three minutes.

Set oven to 350 dries F. When the walnuts are cool enough to handle remove from the muddy looking liquid and blot as best as you can on paper towels. This is to remove even more of the bitterness. Place the walnuts in a small mixing bowl and toss with the olive oil, 1 Tablespoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne and a few cracks of fresh black pepper. Toss well and spread out the walnuts on a baking sheet. Place in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove and let cool.

Cut the peeled rambutan off the pits and place in a large mixing bowl.

Add celery, fennel, fennel fronds, tomatillo, apple, raisins, radish, kumquats and remaining ingredients.

Toss.

Top with desired amount of walnuts.

Forking Awesome Kicked UP Waldorf Inspired Salad

It’s really very light delicious and different.

Most people will enjoy this salad!

The Forking Truth