Yellow Squash with Hawayej

Yellow squash has little flavor on it’s own. To make the yellow squash tasty I usually broil the squash on both sides till it chars with a light sprinkle of extra virgin olive oil. When it comes out of the oven the squash gets fresh ground sea salt and pepper. Then I added a light sprinkle of the Hawayej spice and now I have more exciting squash!

Hawayej is a Yemenite spice blend that is used for meats, soups, stews and vegetables. It is believed to promote good health.

I looked at many recipes for Hawayej and decided to try Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tammy’s recipe since Ottolenghi is considered to be one of the most respected chefs in the world.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

4 whole cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamon

1 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

Heat up a small fry pan with the black peppercorns, coriander, cumin and cloves till fragrant on medium heat for thirty seconds-up to one minute. Remove from heat when cool grind and then stir in the cardamon and turmeric.

Hawayej sure makes yellow squash more interesting. You can bump this up one step further by adding some creamy fresh feta cheese and some fresh chopped parsley.

Yellow Squash with Hawayej

Yellow Squash is better with Hawayej and that’s The Forking Truth

Michael Symon’s Pickled Chilies for Steak

I was watching The Chew TV Show and Chef Micheal Symon said he serves a pickled chili salad over his steaks at his restaurant. I never thought of pickled chilies with a steak. I usually do something traditional like slow cooked onions or mushrooms. So I thought I’d try it since a had a bunch of Anaheim Chilies that I wanted to do something with. In Michael Symons recipe he uses Jalapeño peppers, Fresno Chilies and Shallots. I used Anaheim Chilies and one large Red Onion. I have to say the pickled chilies and onions are really great with steak. It seemed to lighten the steak up. These chilies would also be great on sandwiches. You might want to give this a try. Use whatever chilies you like!

Ingredients for 8 servings

1 cup white wine vinegar

1 cup rice wine vinegar

1 cup water

2 Tablespoons kosher salt

1/4 cup sugar

1 small onion pealed and sliced

1 head garlic slice off the very top so the cloves are exposed

1 Tablespoon black peppercorns

1 Tablespoon coriander seeds

2 bay leaves

8 oz chilies jalapeno and fresno (they were left whole in his recipe I sliced mine) (I used Anaheim  Chilies)

8 oz shallots sliced thin (I used a red onion)

Directions

Leave your chilies in one sterile container and your shallots in another sterile container. The rest of the ingredients put in a medium sauce pan and bring to boil and then reduce to simmer and let it go till it reduces some. Strain and pour over your chilies and shallots.

Michael Symon’s Pickled Chilies for Steak

Yum a new favorite!

This was good and that’s The Forking Truth

Arizona Lox, Deconstructed Guacamole and Fresh Made Tortilla Sandwich

WOW this taste FORKING Amazing. I have to write it down. This combination is just genius. I was watching Top Chef Master Lorena Garcia on some kind of Chef Competition Show and she mixed lox into her guacamole and served it on a fresh made arepa. Chef Lorena won the battle with this creation and the judges couldn’t stop talking about how great it was. So I did something similar.

I made fresh corn tortillas and just used the recipe that was on my bag of masa flour. Doing a half batch for my first time doing tortillas.

I don’t have a tortilla press and used plastic wrap on both sides of the tortilla and rolled it out the best I could.

30 seconds on each side about tree times in a medium high fry pan. I couldn’t forking get mine round but they came out delicious anyway.

I knew I needed to find a better recipe for tortillas so about a week latter I tried Mark Bittman’s recipe.

I do WARN YOU! This recipe I wouldn’t recommend unless you have a non-stick pan because in a regular pan the tortilla comes out well but it is very hard to clean the pan afterwards. Took me a forking hour to scrub out the black residue.

1 1/2 cup masa harina

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons oil or butter or lard (I used canola oil)

1 cup hot water

Made them the same way and these came out better for me. I didn’t use a press but they came out closer to round, were softer and got nice char marks. (corn tortillas should be served hot and steamy)

I wish this was my first try at tortillas.

From my first batch of tortillas……

I topped them off with about 1 1/2 oz of regular not the best smoked salmon or what we call lox (******lox is a loose term and is actually just salt cured salmon from the belly area that’s easy to make if you live in an area were you can purchase really fresh salmon.)

Avocado slices sprinkled well with fresh lime juice

Grated frozen jalapeno (I keep jalapeños in my freezer)

Grated one small garlic clove

Some chopped scallions

a little fresh cilantro

Topped with another small tortilla

Arizona Lox, Deconstructed Guacamole and Fresh Made Tortilla Sandwich

Gosh it really was delicious! I’m surprised I never saw this on a menu anywhere. Who knew the creamy avocado goes so well with lox and all these flavors compliment extremely well. It’s fireworks in the mouth. It’s something really original.

Thanks to Chef Lorena Garcia, I learned from watching her on Bravo TV and got the idea to do what I did.

This sandwich was FORKING AWSOME !

This really was FORKING AWSOME and that’s The Forking Truth

Blue Cheese Gnocchi with Heirloom Beets, Apple and Walnuts

I already have a fresh cheese gnocchi recipe published here made with fresh made ricotta cheese that you make yourself. I recently got a great deal on blue cheese so I thought I’d make Blue Cheese Gnocchi. They are very flavorful and do taste very good.  The taste sets them apart from many other gnocchi.

If you never made gnocchi before I recommend that you make my fresh cheese recipe gnocchi first. Even if you don’t make the cheese and purchase cheese you will learn how to make gnocchi better as this recipe is a little harder because the ratio of flour differed.

I sort of regret using the light heirloom beets instead of regular red or golden beets because the regular beets might have been more attractive for this dish.

The hard part for me was deciding on what sauce to prepare with them. I thought that the flavor is powerful so I thought they needed some other flavors and textures for a kind of balance with beets, apples and walnuts.

****************Blue Cheese Gnocchi******************************

Ingredients about 8 servings

10 oz blue cheese – leave out for about an hour so it warms up and gets soft

1 XL egg – beaten

1 1/4 cup + 1/8 cup flour

Water for boiling gnocchi

1 Tablespoon kosher or sea salt – to be added to boiling water

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil – for sprinkling on each batch of gnocchi so they don’t stick..(and it also adds another layer of flavor)

Directions

Get your sauce pot filled about 3/4s with water and a Tablespoon of salt on to a medium boil.

In a large bowl add blue cheese, egg and flour and mix well.

hand pinch off one gnocchi and do a tester to make sure you like it because the ingredients do vary depending on the humidity and mostly your cheese. You might need slightly less flour or slightly more flour. I try to make a very light melt in your mouth kind of gnocchi that differs very much from a frozen type. I try to use just enough flour to hold it together.

When you decide you like the gnocchi put about 1/3 of the mixture in a disposable pastry bag with the top tip cut off.

Twist the bottom to hold everything in and squeeze.

either knock off or swat each gnocchi off with your finger until done or add a string to the handle and use the string to cut off the gnocchi. After the gnocchi float for a few minutes take them out with a slotted spoon and give them a sprinkle of extra virgin olive oil so they don’t stick.

For this recipe I used sheet pans to hold the gnocchi in a single layer to make sure they wouldn’t stick.

*SAVE your gnocchi water because it will be used to used to cook the beets!

The gnocchi are done and now you can put them aside and prepare the walnuts.

***********************For The Walnuts******************************

Ingredients

cup walnuts

2 cups water

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

fresh cracked black pepper a few cracks

Directions

Put your walnuts and water in a microwave safe bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

Microwave three minutes.

Uncover and drain the brown water you just released some of the bitterness.

Rub the walnuts dry with a paper towel.

Now place them in a small bowl add remaining ingredients mix well and place the nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Leave out to cool and put to the side.

*****************For The Roasted Beet Sauce*************************

Ingredients****** (note I originally made double of this recipe and found that I had 2x of what I needed so I cut recipe in 1/2 so you’d have the right amount of sauce. Feel fee to double because you can freeze it and use for another time over chicken, more blue cheese gnocchi or something else)

1 1/2 large Beets ( I purchased my beets at the farmers market and got the mostly white candy stripe ones that only turn slightly pink) Any beet will do.

2 medium apples pealed, cored and cut in cubes

1/2 small sweet onion

1 garlic cloves

1 carrot

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 Tablespoon kosher or sea salt

1/2 banana pepper (or any pepper with heat that you like)

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon thyme

about 1/2 the water saved from boiling the gnocchi

neutral non-stick spray

1/2 medium sweet onion – chopped

1 celery ribs – pealed (like you do a carrot)  – chopped small

1small or a 1/2 garlic clove – grated

splash red wine

1/4 cup scallions chopped

Fresh ground salt and pepper to taste.

Directions

Put your apple on a non-stick sprayed  baking sheet and roast 30 minutes and put away.

Get the beets, carrot,  garlic clove, banana pepper, 1/2 c sugar, 1/2T salt, apple cider vinegar , thyme and fill about 3/4s with the water saved from boiling the gnocchi  into a pan and roast for about 2 hours.

I waited till the next day to finish but you can do the same day.

When the contents are cool enough to handle-

Toss out the carrot, onion, garlic and banana pepper.

KEEP THE LIQUID and peal the beets and cut in cubes and put the liquid and cut beets to the side.

Get a large sauce pan on medium high heat and spray with non-stick spray.

Heat up your celery, garlic and onion till soft.

Add the wine and some reserved liquid and let reduce a little and in the mean time gather HALF your beets and HALF your apples and blend them with some of the reserved liquid up to thicken and flavor your sauce. Add fresh ground s&p to taste.

To serve heat sauce up with the apples and beets and near the end add the gnocchi and before serving add top with the walnuts and some scallions.

Blue Cheese Gnocchi with Heirloom Beets, Apple and Walnuts

This really came out delicious.  It’s something unique but really good. Give it a try using any color of beet.

This is really Great and that’s The Forking Truth

Reduced Fat Artichoke Dip

It’s easy to prepare delicious food when you use full fat ingredients. But it’s a challenge to create delicious foods that are reduced in fat. Cream Cheese, Mayonnaise and Sour Cream  are usually the base to most artichoke dips. They all have high fat contents and are high in calories.

3 ounces of mayonnaise is about 142 calories and 29.76g fat

3 ounces of sour cream is about 156 calories and 15.12g fat

3 ounces of cream cheese is about 306 calories and 30.36g fat

while

Silken Tofu is only

3 ounces of silken tofu is 50 calories and 2.5g fat

For my base I used silken Nigari Tofu. It only has 2.5 g Fat per 3 ounces. That is nearly fat free! It’s a health food. It has almost no flavor so it’s a blank canvas that you can do a lot with it.

I infused the artichoke with flavors. (********see yesterday’s post or just type in artichoke in the search for my directions.) The dip is seasoned to perfection. If the directions are followed exactly your dip should come out delicious.

Ingredients for about 10 servings

8 oz artichoke scrapping (what you scrap off from the leaves after cooking)

11.5 (package) Silken Tofu Nigari

1/2 cup (scant)  parmesan – grated

1 small lemon – just the juice

1/4 cup scallions – chopped

1 Tablespoon Dijon

2 teaspoons garlic confit (I do this in batches and it last for weeks. I roast garlic with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil covered at 350 degrees F for about an hour. The garlic turns sweet and it gets whipped up with a stick blender and is a smooth butter like texture I like to use in cold food)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

Directions

Just combine and blend.

Reduced Fat Artichoke Dip

Nobody will ever guess the base is healthy tofu. This really came out delicious!

This is Very Good and That’s The Forking Truth!