Fe La Cubana Glendale AZ – Limited Selection but FORKING DELICIOUS! – Worth a Fork!

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Fe La Cubana is a small hole-in-the-wall casual Cuban Cafeteria style restaurant located in a rougher area of Glendale. The GPS gets a little screwy here and brings you to the newer side of the shopping center….Fe La Cubana is located behind where the GPS sends you.

I note that this is NOT A FANCY PLACE…and the Latin Music is a little loud. Remember that you are only here to try the food.

This is basically the whole dining room.

You step in and you will see a menu on the wall but I’m not certain if the menu is used.

There is also a pizza menu on the wall but I don’t think they make pizzas here?

The owner wearing a Fe La Cubana Shirt smiles but doesn’t speak English. A youthful looking girl that might be his daughter speaks some English.

We see her here behind the buffet pans and ask what they are serving today.

There are about seven different offerings today three were beef and four were pork. She said that you could have what you pick with either white rice or black beans.

I went with Ropa Vieja with rice.

It’s not much to look at but it taste FORKING GREAT! OMG! It’s delicious! It’s so tender and so flavorful. It’s juicy tender tasty perfection! WOW what a great surprise.

My husband also gets Ropa Vieja but adds on an oxtail and a pota je de garbanzo (pork chick pea soup).

Oxtails are too succulent for me but I did try the sauce from the oxtail. WOW! a BOMBSHELL of flavors with some acidity, brininess and a small amount of gentle heat. It’s incredibly developed with flavors. IT FORKING SCRUMPTIOUS! Crazy CRAZY crazy good!

I heard that the soup is just as great!

Limited selection but – WOW really great food.

When you are ready to pay you wait by the register. We didn’t get a receipt so I don’t know what the individual pricing was but the total for 2 ropa viejas, 1 oxtail, 1 soup and a bottled water came to a total of $32.00.

Parking is easy because there is a lot but you might not be coming from far because there isn’t a restroom.

I haven’t found a website for Fe La Cubana but they are on Facebook.

Fe La Cubana is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

REALLY FORKING DELICIOUS FOOD!

The Forking Truth

Stuffed Baby Eggplants with Indian Inspired Spicy Onions and Tomatoes Recipe

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I got these baby eggplants and had many different ideas about how to prepare them. Do I go Italian with anchovies, fried peppers, pine nuts and a basil sauce? Do I go Mediterranean with tahini sauce, feta, sesame seeds, dates and parsley? I did an Asian eggplant recently that was very good with miso, peanuts and crisp enoki mushrooms. So today I went slightly Indian because this is different.

Ingredients for about 4 servings

1 lb baby eggplants – split in half and score

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil – to drizzle over eggplants

1 lemon – split in half face down on pan with eggplants and use the fresh juice after roasted to sprinkle on eggplants.

sea salt – fresh crushed to taste on eggplants

black pepper – fresh ground to taste on eggplant

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (to cook vegetables with)

8 oz ripe sweet tomatoes chopped

1 large sweet onion – minced

1 serrano pepper – sliced paper thin or mince

2 1/2 Tablespoons – ginger grated

1 1/2 Tablespoon roasted garlic grated (I had some frozen in my freezer…it’s more mellow and more sweet than regular garlic you can roast some or use fresh but I’m guessing that you might use slightly less fresh garlic)

1 teaspoon garm masala

1/2 teaspoon fennel seed

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon ground mustard

1/2 teaspoon course sea salt

2 Tablespoons roasted cashews – slightly crushed

1/4 cup sprouts ( I used radish sprouts)

2 teaspoons fresh cilantro leaves

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Scored half baby eggplants go on baking sheet with scored sides up. The two lemon halves go on same baking sheet cut side down. Sprinkle the eggplants with oil. Timing will differ due to different sizes of eggplants. Mine were done in 45 minutes. You want the eggplants all the way cooked and with slightly charred ends. Sprinkle with roasted lemon juice and lightly season with salt and pepper.

While the eggplants are cooking you should make the seasoned onions and tomatoes.

Put a sauce pot on medium high heat with the tablespoon of olive oil. When hot add the onions and tomatoes and cook till onions are transparent. Next add all the remaining ingredients (serrano pepper, ginger, garlic, garm masala, fennel seed, turmeric, ground mustard and sea salt) Reduce to simmer and let it go about ten minutes.

Top baby eggplants with onion/tomato mixture, some sprouts, a few slightly crushed cashews and a cilantro leaf.

Stuffed Baby Eggplants with Indian Inspired Spicy Onions and Tomatoes

Tasty, Flavorful and Different!

The Forking Truth

Individual Turkey Bomba Calabrese Meatloafs Recipe

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This recipe makes around 19 individual flavorful moist meatloafs (meatloaves is also correct spelling). You can freeze the meatloafs, thaw over night in the refrigerator and heat when you need them. I used Coluccio Brand Bomba Calabrese condiment. It is an inconsistent product and does differ in the amount of heat but it is more flavorful than another brand I tried. This brand of Bomba Calabrese contains artichokes, mushrooms, eggplants, white wine, oregano HOT PEPPERS and other things. It’s full of flavors and great to add to things. I think it’s great to help add flavors to a turkey meatloaf. It just laces the meatloaf slightly with these flavors and didn’t make them spicy just flavorful. You should add to taste.

Ingredients for around 19 servings

3 lb ground turkey (I buy the 3lb package from Sprouts)

2 garlic cloves – microplane or ground to paste

1/2 large sweet onion – mince (I fine slice it and chop till minced)

1 celery rib – mince

2 teaspoons of Bomba Calabrese – preferably Coluccio Brand – or to taste because your taste and your jar might run different than mine.

3 Tablespoons vegetable soup base – (preferably reduced sodium better than bouillon vegetable soup base) this is instead of salt and it adds more flavors.

1 Tablespoon ground black pepper

1/2 cup parsley

1 Tablespoon dried thyme

6 eggs – beaten

8 oz whole wheat panko bread crumbs

non stick canola spray

Directions

Pre-heat oven at 350 degrees F.

Spray sheet pans with non stick spray and set to the side.

You add all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix till everything is mixed well. It’s easier to do all the vegetables, spices and mix with eggs till well mixed. Next I mixed in the turkey and last was the crumbs. I did this all with a fork but you can do it however you like.

Next weigh them out into 4oz portions and shape them in individual meatloafs on the sprayed sheet pans with about an inch space around each meatloaf.

Cook till cooked threw. Mine were done in 20 minutes.

Today I whipped up a simple basic sauce for them.

I used ketchup but it was Kensington Brand that is twice as expensive but is also twice as good as Heinz. Frank’s Red Hot, Worcestershire, a dash of liquid smoke. On a good day I’ll add those flavors to slow roasted peeled tomatoes.

It came out Forking Delicious!

Individual Turkey Bamba Calabrese Meatloafs
The Forking Truth

The Farm Kitchen in Phoenix Arizona – Nice Back Yard Patio Atmosphere

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The Farm Kitchen is located in Phoenix Arizona at The Farm at South Mountain. It is actually home to three restaurants a breakfast cafe called Morning Glory Cafe, The Farm Kitchen (lunch) and for Fine Dinner Dining Quiessence. For the Morning Glory Cafe and The Farm Kitchen you are suppose to park across the street but The Farm Kitchen is just steps away.

The Farm Kitchen serves mostly cold sandwiches and salads. They also have some local goods and fresh baked cookies for sale.

The menu is posted outside so you can order right away at the counter and pick up a beverage or help yourself to complimentary water outside.

Then you pick a table.

You pick up your order at the pick up window when your number is called.

Pick up window

If you ordered a salad it will arrive packaged and with a chilled metal bowl for mixing.

I tried the pecan turkey Waldorf ($12.95). It was made with moist flavorful turkey breast, organic greens, grapes, really crisp celery, apples, carrots, pecans and creamy jalapeño dressing.

My husband tried the Italian sandwich ($12.95).

This sandwich was made of thickly sliced soppresata, mortadella and salami. It also was dressed with olive relish, greens, pepperoncini, Italian dressing and was on a rustic baguette.

Everything was good……in a nice lush atmosphere. It was like sitting out in someone’s back yard. Could be a nice lunch destination before or after the zoo or botanical garden or just because.

www.TheFarmatSouthMountain.com

Every thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

azcentral Wine + Food experience November 3rd 2019

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The azcentral Wine + Food experience was held November 2nd and November 3rd in 2019. This event was held in Salt River Stadium Complex in Pima-Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale Arizona. General Admission pre-sale tickets ran around $50.00 and VIP admission ran around $120.00. Date of event tickets ran $65.00 and $140.00. VIP were entitled to one hour early admission and higher end wines. The headlining demo was by Antoni Porowski (food and wine expert of the reboot Queer Eye TV Show). This attracted a very large crowd that was already there and there was no way I could get in to see that one.

Today we made it a little early and got rounded up in a rope tied area like cattle.

I didn’t try everything but I tried a lot. Some of the same food venders were here a second day and served the same food so most of those I skipped.

Nothing Bundt Cakes gave out samples while we were waiting.

First stop was Bella Gusto Urban Pizzeria.

They made TASTY Wild Mushroom Arancini and Salted Caramel Panacottas.

One of the tastiest bites of the day came from Chino bandido.

It was a puffed wheat crisp cracker stuffed with jerk chicken with slightly sweet sauce and a more savory spicy sauce. It really was tasty! They also offered snickerdoodle cookies.

Sweet Republic offered a few desserts but the one I took was this toasted fig/hojicha ice cream cake cone with chocolate shell. Whatever it was it really did taste great!

My picture from Frashers Steakhouse/Mrs Chicken came out blurry but they were serving pulled pork and butter cake.

Next we went on the Bourbon Steak.

They served some sort of raw beef plate and Bourbon Mud Pies.

Frites Street offered some tasty fries.

Another one of the best bites was the tasty Chula Seafood Swordfish Katsu Slider from Chula Seafood.

A very detailed pork stew came from Talavera at the Four Seasons Resort.

Proof at the four seasons made DELICIOUS bourbon pecan pies!

Zak’s offered Guatemalan and Belize Chocolates.

Tacoa Tijuana offered beef and pork tacos.

Blue Clover Distillery offered spirits, chips and salsa.

Match offered buffalo cauliflower and chicken bites.

Detailed corn fritter from Che Ah Chi

Quiessence offered a number of things above is the Chula swordfish ceviche. Below is a fancy toast with house churned butter, radish and bacon.

Also from Quiessence was some sort of detailed pana cotta.

Carnitas and guacamole from Los Sombreros

Famous 48 brought their mac-n-cheese topped with pulled pork.

Bourbon and Bones served little steaks on duck fat corn cakes.

Barillia Pasta was here yesterday and today but today we stopped there.

My husband tried some pasta and I tried a little ricotta tart.

Then I waited in line for a really cool towel keepsake.

Pasta It’s FORKING Delicious! LOL! You know THAT belongs in my kitchen!

Thank you Barilla Pasta! You made my day!

That was most of azcentral Wine + Food experience November 3rd 2019.

Every year does differ and the food and wine vendors always differ some from what was printed in our local newspaper.

www.wineandfood.azcentral.com

The Forking Truth

azcentral Wine + Food experience Nov 2nd 2019

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The azcentral Wine + Food experience was held at Salt River Fields in Pima – Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale Arizona November 2nd and 3rd 2019. Pre-sale general admission was around $50.00 and pre-sale VIP was around $120.00. (after pre-sale $65.00 and VIP $140.00) Your ticket got you bottomless tastings of food, wine, liquor, chef demonstrations and more. VIPs got one hour early entry, the AJ’s fine foods tent and top wines. The headliner guest was chef Alex Guarnaschelli. I caught the end when she was taking questions from the audience.

Our own chef Christopher Collins did a demo too.

Here is some of what I came across. I didn’t try everything but I tried a lot. My husband can eat more than me so he nearly tried everything.

The first tent I got to was made not entirely but was mostly chef Christopher Collins Restaurants.

From chef Christopher Collins restaurant The Macintosh was short ribs over cheesy grits.

Chef Collins – Wally’s American Gastro Pub a very tasty fried chicken sandwich that was cooked to perfection with a really perfect herbed slaw and a sweet mustard sauce.

Chef Collins – Twisted Grove Restaurant – a shrimp noodle salad.

Chef Collins – The Collins

I didn’t try this one so I forgot what it was but I do remember my husband ate the whole thing so it couldn’t be bad. Latter when we got home my husband did say that this was really good.

Next was chef Collins – The Grassroots Restaurant offering tuna poke with cooked shrimp.

Chef Collins also brought his house made ice cream from his dessert shop Sweet Provisions.

Spinatos was cooking off a variety of their frozen pizzas and mushrooms stuffed with herbed parmesan cream cheese.

Mowry and Cotton offered the most eye catching plates.

Butternut squash salads and monkey bread.

My husbands favorite plate was one of the plates I skipped…..

A plate from Otro Cafe.

They made their own fresh tortillas.

Otro Cafe Taco (above)

Next was the brisket taco from Stonegrill.

The Clever Koi made a SUPER TENDER -melt in the mouth kind of sweet/hot fried chicken bun. This one was really great!

AJ’s offered cheesy pasta, pasta with tomato sauce and some sort of salad

Beckets Table made a very unusual sort of corn cake with lightly smoked chicken cooked in bacon fat…..It was very unique.

Gadzooks offered an open face version of their award winning chicken tacos with cornbread stuffing. You couldn’t pick them up to eat and they were still good but didn’t give the same effect as when you eat them whole.

Timo gave out lamb and butternut squash soup.

Match offered chicken bites and buffalo cauliflower.

Frank and Alberts made mushroom tostadas.

Famous 48 offered pulled pork topped Mac-N-Cheese.

It was all this and MORE!

That was Nov. 2 of the azcentral Wine + Food experience 2019.

www.wineandfood.azcentral.com

The Forking Truth

Roasted Cabbage and Yellow Squash with Date Dijon Vinaigrette and Spiced Walnuts

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Lately I love roasted Cabbage. It gets so sweet and delicious with charred ends. I’ve only recently discovered that roasted cabbage pairs very well with different squashes. They both turn sweet but the cabbage adds that texture that makes the vegetables better together. Instead of just adding butter for just oil to the vegetables a date dijon vinaigrette is more interesting and a few spiced walnuts just kicks the dish up another notch. These vegetables are very easy to prepare. I just threw them in a high oven and pulled them out when done. The walnuts only take 5 minutes in a low oven.

This makes around 6 servings

1 lb yellow squash or chayote squash (zucchini gets too soggy) – ends removed and cut in chunks

1 small cabbage – core removed and cut in either 8ths or 10ths (start by cutting it in quarter wedges and then cut those wedges in half….you want small wedges

1 large bell pepper – core and seeds removed – rough large dice

1 large onion – skin removed – rough large dice

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (this I didn’t measure because I sprayed the vegetables lightly with the oil…I think I might have used less)

fresh ground sea salt to taste but slightly less than

fresh ground black pepper to taste but slightly less

1 teaspoon shallot – minced

1 Tablespoon date syrup (preferably McClendon’s select)

1 Tablespoon + 1 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon dijon (preferably Amora Brand)

1/2 teaspoon grain mustard (preferably Old Style Maille Brand)

1/2 cup walnuts

teaspoon olive oil

1 Tablespoon sugar

big pinch course sea salt

Aleppo pepper to taste (around three shakes)

Directions

Set the oven to 300 degrees F.

In a small mixing bowl add the walnuts, teaspoon olive oil, sugar and salt. Mix well and spread out on baking sheet. This will be done in 5 minutes. Take out and set to the side.

Set oven to 450 degrees F.

On baking sheets spread out in a single layer the squash, cabbage, bell pepper and onion. Spray them lightly with olive oil. The vegetables go in middle and lower racks of the oven. Timing WILL DIFFER but in my oven the squash were done in 20 minutes, peppers were done on 20 minutes, onions were done around 30 minutes and the cabbage was done in 45 minutes. When the vegetables are done sprinkle them very lightly with salt and pepper.

While the vegetables are roasting make the vinaigrette.

In a small mixing bowl add the shallots, date syrup, vinegar, mustards and one tablespoon of olive oil. Mix well. (this is FORKING Delicious…you will make this again)

Serve vegetables with date dijon vinaigrette and spiced walnuts.

Roasted Cabbage & Squash with Date Dijon Vinaigrette and Spiced Walnuts

A really nice vegetable side dish…great for holidays!

The Forking Truth

White Cheddar Horseradish Mashed Cauliflower Recipe

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I didn’t have any potatoes at home so I used a very small head of Cauliflower to make White Cheddar Horseradish Mashed Cauliflower. I also happen to get these horseradish granules that I wanted to try out and wow they taste great. I find that horseradish can be tricky to work with at times because it doesn’t keep at all. It doesn’t heat well. It doesn’t freeze well either. It doesn’t matter…. fresh or jarred it just loses it’s flavor or turns sweet. Anyways- it came out tasting right. You can use whatever kind of horseradish you have…but at the moment I’m liking the horseradish granules. This recipe makes around three servings.

Ingredients for around three servings

1 small head cauliflower (mine weighed only a pound) – Trimmed and cut into small florets

2 Tablespoons cream cheese ( preferably a quality brand like Arla that doesn’t contain stabilizes and preservatives)

4 oz white cheddar – shredded (I like the Costal Brand from Costco)

2 teaspoons horseradish granules (I bought from The Great American Spice Company) or use any kind of horseradish to taste

good pinch ground white pepper (I don’t think any salt is needed because Costal cheese is salty)

Directions

Get a pot of water on to boil and top it with a mesh strainer or steam basket. Add the cauliflower then cover loosely with foil. Steam until the cauliflower is fork tender. Empty the pot and add the cauliflower and cream cheese. Use a stick blender and blend till smooth. Add the cheese, horseradish and pepper and blend again till mixed well. Serve right away. It’s not necessary but a few fresh chives or a little bit of fresh dill will go well here.

White Cheddar Horseradish Mashed Cauliflower

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Flint By Baltaire in Phoenix AZ – Lunch – nice but for smaller appetites

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Flint by Baltaire is an upscale wood fired contemporary mediterranean accented restaurant with great atmosphere, a big exhibition kitchen and an all weather indoor patio.

The indoor patio

The lunch menu is broken down into humus, dips and spreads, salads and vegetables, laffa flatbreads, pizzas, large plates and sides.

We started with a wood grilled artichoke ($14.00).

The artichoke was grilled nicely and salted perfect. It came with a delicious grilled lemon half and a little ramekin of tarragon aioli for dipping.

Our server suggested that we shared plates so we split a Flint laffa flatbread ($13) and a big plate of ora king salmon ($28).

You know the song dude looks like a lady? …well…..This flatbread looks more like a wrap.

It’s served with delicious harissa (a middle eastern condiment made of a roasted pepper base, warm spices, a little hot pepper and something like caraway and also a ramekin of tahini sauce. The laffa bread is nicely charred. My half (the bottom has some cabbage, a slice of egg, a red onion slice, some tahini and a shred of pulled chicken. Fresh greens adorn the plate.

The harissa is delicious on this but this really only appetizer sized. This was only two bites with a small shred of chicken. I think my husband’s half might have had more food in it but not much more. Honestly even if I was here by myself and ate the whole thing this still wouldn’t be much food.

Then we share the BIG PLATE of ora king salmon ($28)

We shared nicely cooked salmon with seasoned crisp skin, a grilled half lemon, a dab of almond-olive relish and maybe the best tasting broccolini I ever had. It was cooked to perfection and had a delicious wood cooked taste to it.

The big plate is not so big.

The food was good, service was good, the atmosphere is stunning but lunch seems to be for people with very small appetites.

Lunch was around $55.00 before tax and tip and we left hungry.

www.FlintByBalltaire.com

Every FORKING THING is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

Forking AMAZING Baked Asian Seasoned Cauliflower and Broccoli Bites Recipe

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This recipe is inspired by the Bang Bang Broccoli that I enjoyed from The Larry Restaurant in Phoenix AZ. It was Forking Scrumptious….by far my favorite thing I ate there. I got the flavor and the texture nearly identical to what they served me. My broccoli even came out crisper. The Larry’s bang bang broccoli really didn’t seem fried to me and what I liked was the flavor and the really light almost coating…..that was like more of a dusting to hold flavors. I thought the “dusting” didn’t seem like panko or even regular flour. So I took a guess and used potato starch. I used a few things and added a small amount of ginger and garlic to the potato starch and the seasonings were bonito flakes and Asian rice seasoning. An Asian Rice seasoning called shiso meshi was used. The Larry served their bang bang broccoli with a sweet chili sauce but from what I read about other bang bang dishes it usually is a creamy chili sauce. I made a slightly creamy gochujang sauce with a slight amount of ketchup. Since I don’t really know what real…(if there is real?)…I didn’t call my dish bang bang. I also didn’t measure ingredients when I made this dish but my measurements are pretty close. This recipe might make four servings.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

1 small cauliflower – broken down into florets (needs to be wet from being washed)

2 broccoli stalks – florets removed (needs to be wet from being washed)

1/2 cup potato starch (possible that you might need slightly more)

1 teaspoons sesame oil

1 Tablespoon canola oil

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/2 teaspoon granulated ginger

canola non stick spray

Real oil spray Just a few squirts

heavy sprinkle of bonito flakes

heavy sprinkle of shiso meshi (Asian Rice Seasoning….but there are many different Asian Rice seasonings)

heavy sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds

Directions

Set oven to 400 degrees F and spray a baking sheet lightly with non stick canola oil.

Get a gallon zip lock bag and put all the broccoli and cauliflower florets in there. Add the oils and soy sauce and shake it up well till it looks like every thing is distributed evenly. Next dump in the potato starch, granulated garlic and ginger. Shake it well till it looks coated as much as possible.

You can pick the pieces out and spread on baking sheet(s)

The cauliflower and broccoli do need a few squirts of a LIGHT spray of oil so the potato starch can brown…

Now they go in your pre heated 400 degree F oven till sort of brown….(timing will differ) In my oven on the middle rack this took 45 minutes.

When you pull out immediately sprinkle with bonito flakes, shiso meshi (or Asian rice seasoning)

and toasted sesame seeds if your rice seasoning doesn’t already have them added. You need to taste to see if you need salt or pepper…It all depends on your rice seasoning.

Forking Amazing Baked Asian Seasoned Broccoli and Cauliflower Bites

It would be easy to serve this with sriracha mayo. But it’s so delicious you don’t really need a dipping sauce.

The Forking Truth