Sweet Potatoes with Cherry peppers, Figs, Green Onions and Balsamic Drizzle

Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Scallions, Calabrian Chile, Figs with Reduced Balsamic

I came across this recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi for these Roasted Sweet Potatoes called Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Figs. After I read the recipe I thought about how interesting and different it was. I thought it was great because it wasn’t too sweet. It seems almost every recipe written for sweet potatoes just sweetens them more. Most of my life I have eaten sweet potatoes with just butter because I want my dessert to be sweet and not my potatoes. I served these similar potatoes last year for Thanksgiving and most people who tried them enjoyed them so I did these potatoes similar this year but used Calabrian Chiles instead of tame cherry peppers.

It very easy to prepare this dish. I didn’t follow Y.O. & S.T. Recipe exactly because it was very simple so I winged it.

Use however many sweet potatoes you need and cut them into wedges. In my photo is only two sweet potatoes.

Lightly dress them in olive oil and spread them out on a non-stick sprayed baking sheet in a 425 degree F oven for about 20 minutes.

Add fresh ground sea salt and black pepper

On another baking sheet

Add figs cut in bite size pieces. some scallions in bite size pieces and some chiles of your choice. Cut mild chiles in thin rings. Chop hot chiles in small pieces. lightly drizzle with olive oil.

I put these on a baking sheet in a 350 degree F oven for about 15 minutes.

Added a small amount of fresh ground sea salt and black pepper.

Then I combined pans.

I used a better quality reduced balsamic vinegar and drizzled everything.

You can just easily reduce your own vinegar but it’s horrible to remove from a pot. I scrubbed and scrubbed and I thought my pot was ruined. It really was next to impossible to remove the residue of balsamic vinegar. I don’t recommend reducing vinegar unless you are using a non stick pot and even then I’m still not sure. Also the already made reduced vinegars differ greatly in quality. At the moment the one I like best is called “Fini” It’s the only reduced Balsamic that is 90% reduced balsamic without weird ingredients mixed in. I found Fini at World Market Store.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Green Onions, Calabrian Chili, Figs with Reduced Balsamic

A brilliant way to do sweet potatoes!

The Forking Truth

Preserved Lemon Butter Cookies

This is recipe is based on Pastry Chef and Cook Book Author Elinor Klivans Slice and Bake Cookies featuring Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter. Her cookies get chilled into a log shape, get sliced washed with egg white, course sugar and topped with a nut. I think it’s the best butter cookie recipe I ever found and enjoy the recipe most as a butter cookie. I have done many variations over the years.

Ingredients for around 14 cookies or 14 servings

4 oz sweet butter – room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

1 XL egg yolk – beaten

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

pinch cardamon

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

pinch kosher salt – or sea salt

3 Tablespoons turbinado sugar

1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions

set oven to 325 degrees F

Get your baking sheet and line it with parchment paper.

In a medium size mixing bowl mix up your butter and sugar well, add yolk and mix. Add vanilla, cardamon, mix well.

Add flour, baking powder, salt and mix well.

Get a disposable pastry bag, snip the end and insert a large star tip that’s very open on the end. Fill with dough and twist end to hold dough in.

Squeeze out dough in swirl shapes and sprinkle on the turbinado sugar if desired for a nice textural crunch.

Bake till they are slightly brown on the edges or about 14 minutes or until they look like this.

Feel free to decorate the cookies anyway you like. Powder them with powdered sugar or drizzle with glaze or white chocolate. Add a cherry or sprinkles.

Preserved Lemon Butter Cookies

Tasty little cookies that are very easy to make.

The Forking Truth

Glacier Lettuce White Bean Watermelon Fennel Salad with Lemon Tangerine Vinaigrette

I picked up some unusual ingredients from the Farmers Market that I made into a special salad. The flavors and textures are pretty darn amazing together. Finding Glacier Lettuce is pretty difficult but if you happen to come across it you might want to pick it up because it’s special. The recipe makes slightly more dressing than you actually need so save the leftover for you next few salads.

Ingredients for about four servings

1 container glacier lettuce

1 15.8 can reduced sodium great white northern beans – rinsed very well

1/4 cup purple basil – packed – rough chopped

3 purple cabbage leaves – cut in manageable pieces

1/2 smal fennel bulb – cored and shaved

2 Tablespoon fennel fronds

1/8 sweet onion shaved

1/2 watermelon radish – sliced thin

2 cups watermelon – cubed

1 purple carrot peeled – sliced thin

1 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

1 tangerine – the zest and the fresh squeezed juice

1 clove garlic – ground to a paste

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon Aleppo pepper

Directions

In a large bowl combine the glacier lettuce, beans, basil, cabbage, fennel and fronds, onion, watermelon radish, purple carrot and watermelon.

In a small bowl mix together all the remaining ingredients.

Dress the salad when your ready to eat it.

Glacier Lettuce White Bean Watermelon Fennel Salad with Lemon Tangerine Vinaigrette

This one is a Forking Good Salad!

The Forking Truth

Forking Adorable and DELICIOUS Mini Apple Pie Bites

Tiny desserts don’t weigh you down and are great all the time and especially for family gatherings were you serve an abundant amount of foods. These tiny bite size pies are sure to be a hit at any gathering. I must give credit to Chef Lidia Bastianich here because I used her crostata dough recipe. It’s a great olive oil crust recipe that’s very easy and delicious and comes out perfect all the time. I made the apple filling with tapioca flour. It took me till this year to figure out that no other thickener is nearly as good as tapioca flour for fruit. You can make tapioca flour from just putting tapioca threw a coffee or spice blender. The Apple Pie Bites are FORKING DELICIOUS and you will want to make this recipe. You will need a mini bite size baking pan. possibly a spice grinder for the tapioca and I used a spiral slicer for the apples but if you have a mandolin that will give you a thin cut that will work too.

Ingredients to make 12 mini Apple Pie Bites. About 6 Servings

1 cup flour (plus a little extra for rolling the dough)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/6 cup cold water (more if needed)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 large apple (I used a honey crisp)

1/8 cup tapioca flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

about 6 grates fresh nutmeg

pinch cloves

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup all fruit apricot spread

non stick spray – canola or vegetable

Directions

Get a baking stone and put it in the middle of your oven. Set your oven to 375 degrees F. Spray 12 cups of a mini cup baking pan with non stick spray and set to the side.

In a medium mixing bowl combine flour, olive oil, water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, mix well and wrap in plastic wrap and set to the side.

In a small bowl combine tapioca flour, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, 1/8 teaspoon salt. Mix and set to the side.

Now get out your spiral slicer. Core your apple. Use your ribbon blade and slice up your apple like this.

Put all your apple ribbons in a bowl breaking them down or giving them a rough chop and pour the small bowl with sugar and spices on the apple ribbons. Mix and set to the side.

Roll out your dough as thin as you can using a little extra flour for the surface and your rolling pin.

Use a drinking glass and cut out 12 pieces. I note that you will have to use the scraps and re-roll the dough to get 12 pieces.

Pat each dough circle into the pan.

Stuff each one with apple filling the best as you can. if your apple is very large you might have some leftover.

Place in the oven on the stone at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes.

Take the pan out of oven and brush with apricot spread.

Put back into the oven for about 10 minutes till they look like this.

Take them out of the oven and let them cool off a bit till they are at least just warm about 20 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Forking Adorable and DELICIOUS Mini Apple Pie Bites

These are FORKING Adorable and DELICIOUS Mini Apple Pie Bites! Nobody is going to eat just one!

The Forking Truth