Biscotti

Biscotti is a sliced double baked cookie.

Biscotti is a loose term because true biscotti are free of butter and oil. Leaving out the butter or oil makes them very hard and crunchy and not the best for eating but wonderful for dunking in certain libations or coffee. Old world true biscotti are made with almonds and pine nuts and are free of butter or oil.

I liked one of Chef Giada De Laurentis’s recipes for biscotti and it a very good recipe but I tweaked it slightly. The biggest change might be using bread flour instead of regular all-purpose flour. I like the crispier texture that you get with the bread flour and I also double cooked the cookie longer. I also chose to change the flavor by not using chocolate chips and using anise seed as the flavor. These cookies aren’t too sweet and have half the butter in the recipe as a typical cookie. The texture is crisp but not too dry and wonderful for eating.

This recipe makes about 33 cookies they last for weeks in a sealed bag or container and they also freeze well too.

Ingredients to make about 33 cookies about 33 servings

2 cups bread flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

3/4 cup sugar

1 4oz. stick unsalted butter (at room temperature)

2 XL eggs beaten

1 teaspoon anise seeds

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

You will need a baking sheet and silicon mat. (I hand mix everything with a fork)

In a medium bowl mix the butter and sugar well. Add beaten eggs and mix well again.

Add all remaining ingredients and mix well.

Set in the refrigerator at least half an hour up to the next day.

Mold the dough into two logs on your silicon covered baking sheet.

Bake 25 minutes at 350 F

After 25 minutes they should look like this.

Pull them out of the oven and let them cool. (about a half hour)

Now get a bread knife and make 1/2 inch slices. (I think it’s easier if you are very gentle and lightly glide the knife threw in a sawing motion)

Lay the cookies going the same way in three rows on your baking sheet and turn your oven down to 300 degrees F.

Put the cookies in for 15 minutes.

Turn down the oven to 275 degrees F.

Take the cookies out and let them cool a little till you can handle them and turn them over to crisp the other side. Put the cookies in for another 15 minutes. Pull them out and enjoy!

Biscotti

These are forking great! I think every one will love them.

The Forking Truth

Stacked Ratatouille Inspired

Ratatouille is a French Stewed Vegetable dish that’s usually made of tomatoes, onions, zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, garlic and herbs.  Each Vegetable is sautéed before layering in the dish. I thought I’d cook most of my vegetables separately because that is the idea about ratatouille. You want to bring out the best of each vegetable. To me squash taste the best broiled and charred. Condensing the tomatoes instead of making them into a sauce because removing the skin. Condensing the tomatoes really elevates them.  I also used tasty slightly spicy Anaheim chilies instead of bell peppers because I had a bunch of them and they also have more flavor than bell peppers with mild heat to cut threw the other vegetables. This recipe is very easy but also very time consuming.

Ingredients I used

Yellow Squash Broiled with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and fresh ground salt and pepper

Roasted Anaheim Chilies with most skin and cores removed. (I usually broil them ..just tried something different)

Eggplant, first salted and squeezed to release water and then lightly drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and then broiled on both sides.

Tomatoes that were peeled, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and then condensed. (250 degrees about 6 hours)

Peeled and Concentrated Tomato

Zucchini  drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and broiled on both sides. Fresh ground salt and pepper.

Slowly cooked thinly sliced sweet onions- roasted in a 350 degree F oven for over an hour loosely covered and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil when ready sprinkled with fresh ground salt and pepper.

Fresh thyme was sprinkled over the zucchini and yellow squash.

Fresh marjoram was sprinkled over the tomatoes.

For all the vegetables I had I grated two garlic cloves over all the pans and now assembled stacks of vegetables.

Depending of the size and shape of your vegetables you might want to stack them different. I went on bottom yellow squash in an x then chili, eggplant, tomato, zucchini and then sprinkled a little more fresh marjoram on the top.

I froze my leftovers and if they are too soggy then I can turn them into a more traditional Ratatouille Stew. The fresh marjoram and fresh thyme really are delicious with these vegetables.   It would be a crime to use dried herbs here. This combination of vegetables and fresh herbs are really forking delicious!

  This is delicious and that’s The Forking Truth

Classic Boule

I got this recipe from the Tasting Table. This recipe is adapted from Adam Leonti of the Brooklyn Bread Lab. You only need an oven, a baking stone, water, active dry yeast, salt and bread flour. This bread is very easy to make but you have to start it maybe 4-5 hours before you go to bed and then leave it covered in the refrigerator for 12 hours. It makes a very tasty flavorful bread.

The Forking Truth is that I had some trouble with the recipe. I don’t know if some of the directions were omitted or if there was some sort of typo. It is a possibility that I had an oven problem ?(because my oven is a GE Monogram ((The Corvair of Appliances to me in search box search Monogram for my Story if Interested) and it’s always possible that it  was just an Arizona Climate related problem because good bread is seldom found in Arizona. Is it the water? The Climate? The elevation? Or did I run into trouble for using off the shelf bread flour instead of the recommended  Hayden Mills Flour?…….I don’t forking know!

Well anyways after one failed batch of bread that was raw in the middle I made another batch and simply made two loaves instead of the one loaf that the Tasting Table says this recipe makes.

First batch after 30 minutes (the recipe says it’s done in 25 minutes)

FIRST FORKING BATCH after 30 minutes in oven

I figured that if I made two loaves the recipe would work out and it did.

Ingredients for two loaves.

6 1/2 cups bread flour – Hayden  Mills is recommended but the Brooklyn Bread Lab grinds their own flour.

2 1/2 Tablespoons salt

3 1/2 cups water

1 Tablespoon active dry yeast

Directions

In a large bowl add your dry ingredients and slowly add the water mixing. Mix for about 4-5 minutes until the dough is like elastic.

Transfer to a floured surface and let it sit at room temperature covered for four hours.

Punch down and shape dough into a ball. Dusting as needed and place dough in a heavily floured bowl then cover a refrigerate twelve hours. The next day I punched it down after it warmed up and let it rise again and shaped the dough into two round loaves.

Preheat oven with a stone on middle shelf at 500 degrees F. Make slits in the bread about 1/8 inch deep.

I went a little deeper than the 1/8 an inch

Bake until golden on a pre-heated stone. this is after 20 minutes from my oven. (500 degrees F on a stone)

My second try at the Boule came out Forking Good!

The Forking Truth

Peeled and Concentrated Tomato

Peeling a tomato is very easy and anyone can do this quickly. Concentrating a tomato is also easy but it takes all day.

Anyone can make peeled tomatoes- Put a sauce pot on and bring it up to boil.

Drop your tomato or tomatoes in the boiling water. No matter what size the tomatoes are they will need very little time in the boiling water. About 1/2 a minute or a little less is all any tomato will take. Be careful not to cook them too long or the tomatoes can get mushy. Remove the tomato(s) with a slotted spoon and put them in an ice-bath.

Cut a not too deep “X” on the bottom of your tomato and also remove the core.

After the ice bath the skin comes off very easily.

Now you might have a bunch of peeled tomatoes.

Many dishes would be elevated if you concentrate the tomatoes.

To concentrate tomatoes –

Cut the tomatoes into thirds, place the tomato slices on sheet trays and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. (unless you want to stop and de-seed first)

Put in a 250 degree oven F . The time will vary with the size and moisture of your tomatoes. They usually take 5-7 hours.

The above 4 quarter pans of tomatoes cooked down to 2 quarter pans when I was finished.

These are great for many of your recipes and fish.

The Forking Truth

Cook’s Country Potato Cheddar Pierogi

I thought I’d try out Cook’s Country Pittsburg Potato Cheddar Pierogi Recipe because it seemed easy and you don’t need a pasta machine for the dough.Cook’s Country tells a nice little story about how they learned about the pierogi from Pittsburgh’s Polish Hill Neighborhood. According to about Pittsburg.com the Pierogi is eaten there 11 times more than anyplace else in the country and many Pierogi shops are in business there. I thought the dough recipe was very unusual because it uses bread flour and sour cream so I thought wtfork I’ll give it a try. I didn’t make any changes to the dough and I thought the filling was a little bland possibly due to not using a better sharp cheddar instead of the store brand I used. I grated in 1/2 of a banana pepper to add some flavor and a tiny bit of heat to the filling. After I boiled the pierogi I took them one step further and crisped them up in a pan a little with some butter with some onions.

I’ve read that not always but often most people will eat the fresh made pierogis just boiled and often it’s the leftover pierogi that get eaten fried. In the past I worked with a Polish Cook at a restaurant and he always served the pierogi deep fried with crispy onions and they are very tasty that way too.

Cook’s Country say’s this recipe makes about 30 pierogi but I got 44 and would have gotten maybe another dozen but I wasn’t about to re-roll out the scraps thin. I did however use the rolled out extra dough and made thick chewy tasty noodles.  I had about one cup of extra filling left too. I summed up the directions to simplify.

Filling

1 lb russet potatoes cooked and pealed

4 oz sharp cheddar cheese shredded

2 Tablespoons butter

salt and pepper to taste.

Directions

While potatoes are hot mix everything together till smooth and set to the side.

Dough

2 1/2 cups bread flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup sour cream

1 large egg

1 large yolk

salt

Directions

Whisk dry ingredients together. Get your stand mixer out and the dough hook on. Mix on Medium high for 8 minutes. Transfer to a floured bowl cover with wrap and refrigerate.

Roll dough and 1/8 inch thick. (I found it was much better to roll the dough in maybe thirds because the faster you work with the dough the better it seals) Use a 3 inch cutter and add a small spoon full to the center of each circle. Then seal shut and keep going.

Get a pot of water on with salted water and boil your pierogi and enjoy. You can freeze pierogi that might want to save for latter or you might want to boil them all freeze leftovers and fry what you want for dinner. Either way serve with some caramelized onion and a little sour cream.

Cook’s Country Potato Cheddar Pierogi

Thank’s to Cook’s Country that is a good recipe!

This is a great recipe but I recently figured out that they come out EVEN BETTER if you chill the filling. I had leftover cheesy potatoes that I wanted to make into Pierogi. The cold hard filling scooped out with my meatball scoop was just right. The pierogi were much easier to fill and look much better too.

This post is too old for me to add a photo.

This is really Good and That’s The Forking Truth

Forking Non-Traditional Italian Inspired Tuna Noodle Casserole

My husband thinks I make the best tuna salad in the whole world so I made a casserole that is similar to the way I usually make tuna salad.

This is a very unique original recipe and I doubt anyone did what I’ve forking done here before. Casseroles normally are made with cheese but I didn’t want to use any cheese in this recipe because cheese would spoil the flavor with my recipe and I needed something neutral so I used my secret ingredient that is great for casseroles and low fat thick but seem rich kind of sauces…….drum roll…….Silken Tofu. It’s healthy it’s low fat and adds that perfect something. For this recipe you wouldn’t want to use high end tuna for a casserole recipe unless your pockets got no bottom so I think the best choice is wild caught chunk light tuna. I normally make tuna salad with fresh lemon juice and the zest but I was all out of lemon so I used lime and it added the acidity that was needed.

Ingredients  for about 12 servings

12 oz egg noodles cooked al dente ( about 4-5 minutes in salted water)

13 oz chunk light tuna drained

12 oz artichoke hearts rough chopped (I used frozen thawed)

1/2 cup olives stuffed with pimentos rough chopped

1 Tablespoon capers

1 cup scallions rough chopped

1 apple in thick shreds

teaspoon kosher salt

teaspoon black pepper

4 XL eggs

18 oz silken tofu package drained and cut up

1/2 cup lime juice

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 Tablespoon garlic confit (roast garlic with extra virgin olive oil covered for about an hour and whip)

2 teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 and 1/2oz fresh basil rough torn (Save some for the top for serving)

non stick cooking spray

6 teaspoons reduced balsamic vinegar (1/2 teaspoon per serving) finish with a drizzle

6 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil (1/2 teaspoon per serving finish with a small drizzle

Directions

Set your oven to 350 degrees F and get a 1/2 foil pan and spray it with non stick spray.

In a large mixing bowl combine your noodles, tuna, artichokes, olives, capers, scallions, apple, one teaspoon salt and one teaspoon black pepper and set to the side.

I used a stick blender and first blended the tofu with the lime juice till smooth. Then add balsamic, garlic, salt and pepper and blend again. Now add the eggs and blend.

Add the blended tofu mixture and mix well into the large mixture and lastly mix in the fresh basil.

Transfer to your 1/2 pan and covered with sprayed foil so it doesn’t stick to the casserole.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about one hour 20 minutes depending on your oven. At this point the noodles aren’t crispy on the top.

Chill to set.

Portion and heat to serve.

Finish with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and some torn fresh basil.

Forking Non-Traditional Italian Inspired Tuna Noodle Casserole

This is really Good and That’s The Forking Truth

Real Enchilada Sauce Recipe

This is the kind of enchilada sauce that is the real kind and not like the gringo kind that is sweeter with tomatoes. This is the version where you fry the dried chili pods, then rehydrate them ,puree them, strain them and cook them some more. If your still interested here’s the forking recipe.

Chili Pods

Ingredients that makes about 18 ounces and I’d say that is about 8 servings

2 oz. guajillo chili pods – stems removed broken down

2.5 oz. California chili pods – stems removed broken down (New Mexico chili pods would also be good but my store had California so that is what I used)

1 large sweet onion chopped

3 garlic cloves chopped

1 1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon oregano

3 Tablespoons canola oil

1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

4 cups water

1 Tablespoon masa flour

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

pinch cinnamon

pinch cayenne

Directions

In your sauce pan on medium high heat add the dried chili pods, onion, garlic, cumin, oregano, oil, and salt.

Fry about 10 minutes on medium high heat.

Now add water and bring to boil and simmer about an hour.

Blend everything in the pot a stick blender will work best.

Strain and push all you can threw the strainer.

Discard the remaining stuff in the strainer.

Whisk in the masa, vinegar and sugar.

Cook on medium high heat until it boils and then reduce to simmer and let it go about five minutes.

Finish with a pinch of cinnamon and a pinch of cayenne.

Enjoy!

This is forking good and that’s The Forking Truth

Jalapeño Apple Jam

I enjoyed a scrumptious cilantro lime marinated chicken sandwich recently at The Scottsdale Beer Company and they added jalapeño jam and avocado aioli to the sandwich and it was amazing. Last week I published a Cilantro Lime Chicken Meatloaf recipe that taste very much like the same sandwich. You might want to enjoy some Jalapeño Apple  Jam either on grilled meats, a sandwich with avocado, on the Cilantro Lime Chicken Meatloaf or with cream cheese.

This jam recipe is somewhat reduced in sugar. I used an apple to mellow the jalapeño peppers and to add natural sweetness. The lime juice and apple also added natural pectin so running to the store and buying pectin isn’t necessary.

The First batch I made is the Chunkier Jam on the right. The recipes are very similar except the liquid in the clearer jam on right was water and the blended jalapeño jam was apple cider vinegar. The two jams came out tasting very different to me. The Jam on Left has a more mello jalapeño heat and more apple taste…still spicy and not as sweet. The Jam on right is much hotter and much sweeter.

The jalapeños I used were from the same batch and were nice ones that were fruity with a medium heat.

Ingredients for the sweeter & Hotter Chunky Jam (more preserve like) on the right side. Makes about 10 servings.

1 1/2 cups jalapeños chopped with stem removed

1 apple pealed cored and chopped

3/4 cup water

1 Tablespoon lime juice

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

Directions combine in sauce pan on medium heat and stir occasionally and when thickened remove from heat and put in a sterilized container.

Ingredients for The Jam on left that is blended, less sweet and with less heat and has more of an apple taste  makes about 12 servings

2 cups jalapeno peppers chopped with stems removed

1 apple pealed chopped cored

1 cup apple cider vinegar

2 Tablespoons lime juice

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

Directions

Blend the jalapeño peppers, apple, lime juice and vinegar together.

Get your sauce pot on medium high heat and add everything. Stir occasionally. When the mixture starts to boil turn the heat down to medium. Continue to stir occasionally and your mixture is done when it thickens. (about 20 minutes)

This is GOOD and that’s The Forking Truth

Citrus Salad with Honey Poppy Seed Dressing and Spiced Almonds

This is a very delicious light and refreshing salad that’s different. There are exotic spices in the tasty almonds and the cheese I used is fat free farmers cheese that is light and different. The dressing is so tasty you can almost drink it. My recipe does make slightly more dressing than you need so pour to taste and I slightly added more nuts than you need so feel free to pick at the nuts and save a little dressing for latter. This is a super delicious salad that you will make over and over again.

Ingredients for about 4 servings

1 blood orange that you supreme

1 red grapefruit that you supreme

1 cucumber – pealed, cored and sliced

1 celery rib pealed and sliced

1 cup (packed) red cabbage shredded

1/4 scallions chopped

1/4 cup (loose) fresh basil torn

8 oz fat free farmers cheese (add to salad once plated)

1/2 cup almonds – slivered and blanched or use regular almonds that you boil for a couple minutes and then rub the loose skin off

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

pinch cardamon

pinch black cardamon

1 Tablespoon garlic confit (garlic roasted till melted tossed with extra virgin olive oil ((I whip mine so it’s smooth like butter))

2 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

2 Tablespoon poppy seeds

1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika

Fresh ground sea salt to taste

Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Set your supremes in a small bowl set a side. In a larger bowl combine the cucumber,celery, cabbage and scallions and set to the side. Mix in most of your torn basil and leave a few leaves for decoration if desired.

Set your oven to 300 degrees F

You need a baking sheet and a small bowl. Put the almonds and oil in the small bowl and mix well. Add the sugar, cayenne and cardamons and mix well and spread out on your baking sheet.  Place in the oven and in about 20 minutes they should be lightly browned and tasty. Pull them out and set to the side.

In a small mixing bowl add the garlic confit and dijon and mix well. Slowly add the oil and keep mixing till it’s emulsified. Don’t clean your 1/2 cup measure and use it for the honey because your honey will slide out clean. Add honey and mix well. slowly add the vinegar and mix well. Now add poppy seeds, paprika and fresh ground sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste to finish the dressing.

Get the salad mixture and mix with dressing till is coated to your liking. You should have about a quarter cup or a little more extra. Plate the salads and carefully add the supremes. Top with small scoops of farmers cheese and top with almonds and serve right away!

Citrus Salad with Honey Poppy Seed Dressing and Spiced Almonds

YOU and your Guest will Forking LOVE This one!

This is Really GREAT and that’s The Forking Truth

Asian Inspired Radish and Carrot Salad

This Asian Inspired Radish and Carrot Salad is light and refreshing and not too acidic or too sweet. This salad is something most people will love. I was inspired to make this salad from remembering tasting a similar salad from some budget Asian Buffets I’ve been too. If you never tried a budget Asian Buffet it’s possible that you’ve never tried this kind of salad because I never have seen this kind of salad at any Asian Restaurant I ate at.

In my area the Budget Asian Buffet is almost a thing of the past. Several years back Budget Asian Buffets were popping up like mushrooms everywhere. For around only $10.00 a head the  budget Asain Buffets offered over a hundred items of foods to pick from and some of these places started out being ok or good for the price. As time pasted most but not all of these buffets seemed to  lower quality of food preparation until they were out of business. The budget buffets I used to go to are all gone now but several are still around.

The one salad that most of these places prepared was a carrot and radish salad that I enjoyed. I think my recipe is very close to what I tried just maybe slightly less sweet. I cut the radish and carrot with a 1.5 strip slicer and a 3mm strip slicer. I cut the carrot into thinner pieces than the radish because the carrot is harder than the radish. At the buffets the radish and carrots were much thicker and possibly cut with a shoe string potato slicer. Cut them however you like. I do note that this salad should be mostly radish and less carrot but my photos picked up the carrot more than there was.

Ingredients for about 4 servings

1 large daikon radish – pealed

1 medium-large carrot pealed

1 Tablespoon  kosher salt

2 garlic cloves (mashed on a garlic plate)

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons rice vinegar

1 scallion – cut in thin slices

pinch shredded red pepper

Directions

Use the 3mm strip slicer and shred up the radish. Use 1.5 strip slicer to shred up the carrot. Add salt and mix well. Add remaining ingredients mix well chill and enjoy!

Asian Inspired Radish and Carrot Salad

This is FORKING GOOD and that’s The Forking Truth