Lemon Cucumber

The lemon cucumber is the best cucumber you ever tasted. It’s so sweet and crispy. This recipe will NOT forking work with any other cucumber.

I love the smell of lemon verbena

lemon verbena

and I thought these special lemon cucumbers would make a delicious light refreshing salad paired with fresh squeezed lemon, lemon verbena and crisp sweet apple. The recipe is very simplistic. I want the ingredients to shine.

Ingredients for about 6 servings

7 lemon cucumbers (no need to peal but trim the flower ends) sliced in chip shapes

1 honey crisp apple – pealed, cored, sliced in chip shapes

1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (about three lemons)

8 lemon verbena leaves finely chopped

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon kosher salt

Directions

Place your cucumbers and apples in a large bowl. In a small pan slowly bring the rest of ingredients to a boil and let simmer around five minutes. Pour mixture over the cucumbers and apples and refrigerate over night.

Lemon Verbena Lemon Pickles with Apple

This salad is delicious and so light. I think everyone would like it.

This is Forking Yummy and That’s The Forking Truth

Italian Style Beans

These beans I’m told by several people are just amazing. They are very rich and luxurious. The secret ingredient is chicken fat that you save from your roasted chicken. Only chicken fat can give that deep intense  taste that is the backbone to this dish. Also instead of adding salt I use chicken base and think of it as chicken flavored salt for more flavor. The taste with the beans, spices with tomato and chicken is almost like pasta fagioli. This is one of those recipes that I don’t usually measure but made a point this time to measure.

I also make this dish slightly different because that depends on what I have in my pantry. Last time I used canned Italian tomatoes in this dish and this time I used fresh roasted tomatoes.

I’ve made these beans often using local dried beans from the farmer’s market. Those are the only dry beans that come out well all the time. Often the beans from any store are old and an old bean will never be tender. Although the farmer’s market beans are by far the best I ever cooked I went with the second best bean, the low sodium canned varieties. I had one problem with the farmer market’s beans and they are always packed with small stones and I always miss a few. I don’t want to damage my teeth or anyones so I went with low sodium beans because they taste the best of the canned beans.

Ingredients for 20 small servings

1/2 onion chopped fine

3 garlic cloves smashed

6 hot/sweet cherry peppers chopped fine (maybe 4 if you don’t want heat)

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup chicken fat

1/4 cup flour

3 cups chicken stock

1 6.2oz. can tomato paste

2 15.5 cans reduced sodium cannelloni beans rinsed well and drained

1 15.5 oz. can reduced sodium garbanzo beans rinsed well and drained

1 15.5 oz. can reduced sodium pinto beans rinsed well and drained

1/2 cup roasted bell peppers chopped

1 cup (heaping) roasted tomatoes – rough chopped

2 15.5 cans of large  butter beans rinsed well and drained

1 15.5 can reduce sodium cannelloni beans rinsed well and drained

1 15.5 can reduce sodium kidney beans rinsed well and drained

1 15.5 can reduce sodium garbanzo beans rinsed well and drained

2 teaspoons reduced sodium all natural chicken base ( I use better than bullion brand) (this is instead of salt)

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 Tablespoon pluss 1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary

1 Tablespoon dried basil

1 Tablespoon savory

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (cut to 1/4 if you don’t want heat)

1 Tablespoon sugar

Directions

In your medium/large sauce on medium high heat add your, onion, cherry peppers, and olive oil after a minute or two add your garlic and cook a few minutes till onions are translucent. Remove mixture from pot and set  to the side. Add your chicken fat and flour and cook till it bubbles. Whip in the chicken stock, tomato paste, 2 cans cannelloni beans, garbanzo beans and pinto beans and blend this all up with your stick mixer. Bring this to a slow boil. Next is adding everything else you have left. Lower heat slightly and bring to slow boil and lower again to low and let simmer at least a half hour.

You will have this much left after someone in your house helps himself to two bowls.

Freezes well to be used for latter.

People just forking love this dish.

This is Forking great and that’s The Forking Truth

Fennel Fava Bean Radish and Walnut Salad in Lemon Dijon Dressing

A great little tasty light refreshing salad that’s easy to prepare with a good presentation. The dressing is very delicious. You might want to save it for many other salads. It taste almost like an eggless caesar.

Ingredients for 4 servings

2 celery ribs with some inner leaves – peal the celery, slice thin at slight diagonal. Set the inner leaves to the side.

1 fennel bulb – wash and core fennel and slice thin on slight diagonal – save some of the fennel fronds and set them to the side

3-4 radishes depending on size and variety.- thinly sliced

2 cups fava beans – shelled and pealed and cooked

cup (scant) walnuts – toasted

1/4 cup parmesan – shaved

1 garlic clove – minced

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 Tablespoon dijon mustard

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 large  lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

splash Worcestershire Sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

Directions

Mix up the garlic, salt, black pepper, dijon, olive oil, lemon juice, Worcestershire and sugar together. Add the fennel, walnuts, celery and beans and mix well. Top with fennel fronds, celery leaves and parmesan shavings.

Fennel Fava Radish and Walnut Salad in Lemon Dijon Dressing

This is Forking Good and that’s The Forking Truth

Fresh Ricotta Gnocchi

I’ve done fresh ricotta gnocchi before about a year and a half back on this blog but it is one of the many recipes that I usually don’t measure and didn’t publish exact measurements before. I’ve been making gnocchi for years because it’s one of my husband’s favorites. When I first starting making gnocchi I based my recipe on the only gnocchi I ever had at that time and they were frozen gnocchi that I learned some time back are a world different than fresh made gnocchi. Frozen pasta dishes like gnocchi and raviolis are very thick and dense without a fresh flavor. Fresh gnocchi are very light and tender and do have more flavor. About ten to fifteen years back I ate my first fresh made gnocchi in New York at one of Mario Batali’s Restaurants and not until then learned I was making gnocchi wrong. I happened to purchase a book about that same time called Mom’s Secret Recipe File by Chris Styler. It’s a book of treasured recipes by the Mother’s of Great Chefs. One of the recipes I learned from was Lidia (Matticchio) Bastianich’s Mother’s potato gnocchi recipe. I made it a bunch of times. Eventually I did start playing around with the potato dumpling recipe and changing it to a cheese dumpling with my own seasonings. The recipe is simple but I learned to make a correct gnocchi the amount of flour always starts as half of whatever the filling recipe is. Like one cup of potatoes would be half a cup of flour and would never be more than 3/4 cup of flour. The amount of flour you need might differ in either potato, cheese or potato cheese gnocchi due to the amount of moisture in what you mix in and the humidity. You ALWAYS need your filling (cheese or potato) to be as dry as possible for the best results. Most gnocchi are made with potato, some are half potato and half cheese and sometimes the gnocchi are all cheese.

Since I can’t purchase good tasting ricotta cheese near where I live I just make the ricotta cheese fresh and then make the gnocchi. It’s very easy and I’ll walk you though it after the gnocchi recipe. I have also already posted how to prepare ricotta cheese on this site.

Ingredients makes around 7 servings

2 cups fresh made ricotta cheese (see end of recipe for easy directions)

1 XL egg beaten

1 cup parmigiana reggiano – shredded (for more flavor…I don’t always add the parmigiana)

1 cup flour

a few grates fresh grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

pinch white ground pepper

1 Tablespoon kosher salt (for your boiling water)

3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (to coat the gnocchi you pull from the water)

Directions mix cheeses, egg, flour, white pepper, nutmeg, and 1/2 t. salt together with a fork till smooth. Get a pot of boiling water on and add remaining salt to water. Make a 1/2 inch cut off an end of a disposable pastry bag 1/2 way fill with dough and twist end to hold it in.

Hold over boiling water and squeeze out each gnocchi dapping them off with your finger.

Let them boil a couple minutes and they will float to the top and remove them with a slotted spoon. Each batch you remove sprinkle with a little extra virgin olive oil.

Fresh Ricotta Gnocchi

Serve and enjoy.

To make ricotta cheese. Makes around 4 1/2 cups of cheese.

In a big pot add one gallon whole milk, one pint heavy cream and a 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Bring to a slow boil. (this will take a while) Let the mixture boil a few minutes and slowly add fresh squeezed lemon juice, add a few tablespoons at a time until it curdles.

Get a colander and line it with paper towels. Use a soup ladle and ladle out your curds and whey. Let drain until you see curds and place in a clean container and repeat till done.

You will be rewarded with really great tasting cheese you will never forking purchase it again.

This is GREAT and that’s The Forking Truth

Zucchini Noodle, Cheddar and Finger Lime Salad

I discovered that finger limes taste really great with aged sharp cheddar cheese so I made a light salad with cheddar cheese and flavors that work well with each other. The finger limes are like a combination of caviar and pop rocks with a lime kind of flavor. This salad really is kind of like fireworks in your mouth and happens to be Forking tasty.

Ingredients for two servings

2 cups zucchini cut in noodle strings

1/4 cup scallions chopped

1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped

3 radishes shredded

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove – minced

1 small lemon juiced

2 teaspoons honey

fresh ground sea salt to taste

fresh ground black pepper to taste

2 Tablespoons (Heaping) aged sharp cheddar cheese – shredded

4 finger limes

Directions

In a large bowl combine the zucchini, scallions, cilantro and radishes and set to side. In a small bowl combine extra virgin olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper, honey and mix well. and pour it over the vegetables in the large bowl. Mix well. Place in your two individual bowls. Top each bowl with cheddar cheese and squeeze out two finger limes for each serving.

It’s a very special salad. Light, tasty and interesting.

Zucchini Noodle and Finger Lime Salad

This is Forking Great and that’s The Forking Truth

Portuguese Inspired Roasted Chicken Thighs

This recipe is based on the Portuguese Roast Turkey recipe adapted from Chef George Mendes, Alea and Lupulo,NYC. I read this recipe from Tasting Table and thought it sounded mighty interesting. I didn’t know if I wanted to invest a whole turkey in a new recipe and thought I’d give chicken thighs a try since they were on sale for sixty something cents a pound.

This recipe involves brining the poultry and then marinating the poultry before roasting.

I made a few substitutions due to what I had in my pantry and a major change in the amount of oil used going from three cups of oil down to one cup because I can’t stand the thought of using that much oil.

The other major change I did was adjusting a whole turkey cooking  procedure to preparing chicken thighs in a sensible way. I adjusted the recipe was to cook the chicken thighs at high heat without steaming or basting. If you were doing this recipe with turkey besides quadrupling the brine recipe you’d start you oven at 400 degrees F till browned  over a bed of onions carrots and a cup of water with bay leaves…thus steaming the bird…….then lower the oven to 300 degrees constantly basting the turkey with marinade and cook till done at about 160 degrees F at the thigh.

The amount of brine I cut down to one quarter since I wasn’t doing a turkey.

This chicken came out absolutely FORKING DELICIOUS! It’s very flavorful and moist and just really good. I find that if I brine chicken I like to roast it at high heat to get an easy crispy skin. Since this recipe also involved marinating I had no fear of cooking it at high heat.

Ingredients for Brine for about 5 lbs of Chicken Thighs makes 8 servings

6 cups water

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 cup kosher salt

3 cloves

2 pieces star anise

1 1/2 bay leave torn in halves

1 cinnamon stick

3/4 Tablespoon black peppercorns (white peppercorns are suggested)

1/2 Tablespoon fennel seeds

1/2 Tablespoon coriander seeds

Directions heat your brine up to medium high and simmer 8-10 minutes once chilled you can start brining. I brined the chicken two hours. If you were doing a turkey it would be 6-8 hours.

Brine the Chicken Thighs 2 hours

Paprika Marinade

1 cup extra virgin olive oil (three cups is suggested)

1 12 oz. bottle lager (1 1/2 cups Sagres is suggested)

1 Tablespoon Spanish Nora Pepper

1 Tablespoon sweet paprika

1 Tablespoon smoked paprika (instead of the three peppers I used 3 Tablespoons of Spanish Sweet Paprika is suggested)

1/2 yellow onion thinly sliced

7 garlic cloves thinly sliced

3 fresh bay leaves torn

Directions just mix together.

More Directions.

After two hours remove your chicken thighs from the brine. Throw out the brine and dry off your chicken a little with paper towels. Place your chicken in a big zip lock bag and add the marinade and let sit in your refrigerator over night.

Directions

Set your oven to 450 degrees F.

You need pans and line them with carrots so you make a natural rack for the chicken.

Wipe off the marinade from the chicken and place over the carrots. Depending on the size of the thighs and your oven they will be done in 30-45 minutes. I found I had some small pieces that were done in 30 minutes and the bigger pieces were mostly all done in 40 minutes. I wanted the internal temperature to be close to 180. I find when doing dark meat it’s much more delicious this way.

When the chicken comes out a light sprinkle of fresh ground sea salt would be good.

Some of my fans are waiting for chicken

Portuguese Inspired Roasted Chicken Thighs

This chicken came out forking good. I might try doing a turkey this way.

This is FORKING GOOD and that’s The Forking Truth

Light Crisp almost oil free. The kind of onion rings that just shatter with a paper thin batter an onion that’s cooked though so it doesn’t pull out.

I fried the onion rings in canola oil at around 350 degrees. I used a medium large sweet onion.

I didn’t measure the batter…..I usually don’t measure for many things I make but stop and do it for these forking recipes sometimes……. I’m guessing it was around……

1/2 cup rice flour

1/4 cup corn starch

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 beaten egg

less than 1/2 can sugar free root beer soda. (didn’t have any beer or seltzer in the house or I would have used beer or seltzer I knew I needed something with bubbles but didn’t want to open a forking bottle of champagne) The soda has a salt taste to me so I didn’t add salt to the batter.

Fresh ground sea salt and ground pepper for finishing

The batter should be very thin.

I just fried them till they were lightly brown.  My husband said, they were the best forking onion rings he ever had. (*NOTE, see forking note)  Neither of use tasted root beer in the onion rings. The onion rings just tasted forking great! We both thought these were the best FORKING onion rings we ever had…..and were laughing about it. For some unknown reason they really were that forking good.

*NOTE* he would not say that to be nice…he is not that forking type. I sure got a bunch of forking stories I can insert here….

Forking Great Onion Rings

Used the leftover batter on some fish.

I liked the texture very much and it was better than LOTS of fish I had out. It was tasty, airy and had that really awesome shattering crunch. The texture was great. I didn’t think I tasted root beer but I did taste something that I wasn’t perfect with the fish.  Next time when doing fish I would run out for beer, seltzer or use a lemon lime soda. I only forking put this batter on the fish because it was leftover and the onion rings were so forking delicious. I would totally made the fish this way again just with a different liquid in the recipe.

OK fish and forking great onion rings.

GREAT Onion Rings and that’s The Forking Truth