Romesco Sauce

Romesco Sauce is a Nut and Red Pepper based sauce originally from Spain. Red Bell Pepper is not traditional to Romesco but the traditional Spanish Dried Peppers are very hard if not impossible to find so in the US so nearly all US recipes use Red Bell Peppers and sometimes a combination with some sort of dried pepper. Any combination of Almonds, Hazelnuts or Pine nuts can be used but most often it’s a combination of skinned roasted almonds and hazelnuts. I choose to use all Hazelnuts because of the unique flavor and I didn’t want this sauce to be too similar to the Muhammara Lebanese Roasted Red Pepper Dip also with nuts that I made before. Often but not always a slice of bread is added to Romesco and also Muhammara to thicken it more but I didn’t think it was needed in either recipe.

Romesco Sauce is used for grilled meats, fish and vegetables. Often when used for fish fresh mint is added.

Ingredients

3-5 Tomatoes (I used 5 VERY small tomatoes)

1/4 Sweet Onion (rough chopped)

1 Head Garlic (split in half)

approx 1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 Large Red Bell Peppers (roasted, skinned, seeded)

1/2 Cup Roasted and Pealed Hazelnuts

2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika

Directions

Set oven to roast at 375 degrees.

On your roasting pan place your tomatoes on one side of pan and your onions and garlic on the other side of pan and give a good drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive oil over the produce.

Get some foil and cover the half with the onions and garlic.

Let it roast for about an hour.

After an hour it will look about like this.

The Skin with peal easy off your tomatoes. And just squeeze the Garlic Halves to get the cloves out.

Toss your cleaned up tomatoes, garlic, onions and all the liquid into your blending container.

Add your roasted Peppers and Hazelnuts.

Blend till smooth. It will have a slight texture from the nuts.

Add your dry spices, vinegar and blend some more.

Now you have Romesco Sauce.

Romanesco Cauliflower with Romesco Sauce

Brown Rice topped with Romesco Sauce, Giant Beans and mint.

Forking Good!

The Forking Truth about Red Kidney Beans

The Forking Truth is that Red Kidney are the most Toxic of Beans.

Oddly UNDERCOOKED red Kidney Beans may be MORE TOXIC than raw red kidney beans.

NEVER cook red kidney beans in a slow cooker because the slow cooker doesn’t boil and will never get hot enough to kill the dangerous protein in red kidney beans that can make you forking sick!

Eating as few as 4 or 5 undercooked red kidney beans can onset extreme nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Some forking truth about Red Kidney Beans.

Forking Truth

The Search for local Sushi Part 1

Sushi fish must be fresh and sweet tasting and the rice should be seasoned and be prepared to the proper texture. Sushi is meant to be eaten in one bite so the size does matter. Soy sauce is used to season the fish and fresh grated (or real from frozen wasabi) not powdered wasabi is the perfect compliment. Ginger is used to clear your pallet between courses. When made correctly sushi is delicious light and healthy.

I prefer Sushi over Carpaccio. Both are forking raw. Something about eating raw cow flesh is less appetizing to me than the pretty colored sushi.

A local place near me did all these things correctly but has changed ownership and isn’t the same anymore.

From Sushi Catcher Glendale AZ (still open but under new ownership with different recipes)

Made two attempts to find good sushi in the area.

YUK! Old and not good! This place recently changed ownership and has a very good rating on a review site.

Looks good but not so good. Not tasty….. The rice isn’t right and not sure about the fish. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between quality and freshness.

The test for me is to try something with tuna. If a Sushi place can make raw tuna taste good it usually is a winner. This Tuna didn’t taste delicious to me and I already wasn’t a fan of the way they make their rice as it was too soft and missing seasoning. This place also has an excellent rating on a review site but has only a very average rating according to our local newspaper.

The search for Good Local Sushi may continue.

Forking Truth

Purple Veggies

Purple Bell Peppers

Some Heirlooms Tomatoes look sort of Purple

Purple Asparagus

Some of the Heirloom Carrots look sort of Purple

The purple peppers taste sort of like green peppers.

Each Color of Tomato taste different.

Purple Asparagus is the sweetest of asparagus and can be served raw.

Each color of the carrots taste different too.

Food just taste better when it’s colorful.

Forking Truth

Some Basic Food Preparation for Hard Squash or Pumpkin

According to the Arizona Republic The Forking Truth is that 70% of all pumpkin in Arizona are grown for forking ornamentation. I wonder how those pretty white pumpkins would look as food?

I normally buy Kabocha Squash. I think this is one of the best tasting of the squash and or pumpkins that I tried. It’s sweet and creamy and has sort of a chestnut flavor. Pictured below is a Kabocha Squash.

Some people call the Kabocha Squash a Thai Pumpkin or a Japanese Pumpkin. But I think it looks the same as an Italian Delica Pumpkin.

Photo from www.natooraco.uk Italian Delica Pumpkin

So I’m not sure WTFork it really is? Thai, Japanese, Italian and is it Squash or Forking Pumpkin?

You basically have two ways to prepare it. The first way is good for a mashed kind of dish or a sauce. If you are careful and get it out at the right time it won’t be too soft and be firmer than being just mashed. I recommend this way the most because it’s easy and you won’t get hurt preparing it this way.

I recommend just roasting it in a 375 degree oven in a covered pan with a little water. Depending on it’s size it might take 1-1 1/2 hours to get it fork tender. You might want to flip it half way but I usually don’t need to. When cool enough to handle just cut in half scape out the seeds and then scoop out the flesh. Some of the Chefs on Food Network say you can eat the shell but I don’t care for it.

Another way to do more with your Squash (or Pumpkin) is to clean it up before roasting it.

Scoop out the centers.

Peal

Chop in Chunks and either steam till fork tender or roast in a covered pan with a little water for about an hour or until fork tender.

The peal method isn’t for everyone. I heard somewhere that many food related accidents are from handling hard squash in this way. You need the right knife, pealer and enough strength to do this or you might forking wind up in the hospital. To prepare the squash (or pumpkin) this way would be good for Kobocha Gnocchi, Pumpkin Risotto or Pumpkin Curry.

I think more than 30% of Arizona’s Pumpkins should be forking used to eat and not just thrown away.

Forking Truth

The Apple Banana

At my local Sprouts Grocery Store I saw Apple Bananas also called Latundan Bananas and Manzana Bananas.

I thought I had to try them since trying the Burro Banana that was so interesting and different.

When I got home I tried one and didn’t taste much of a difference between an Apple Banana and a regular banana. So in the morning I had one at breakfast and I did taste that Apple Taste to it. I don’t know if one day of ripening made a difference or if my taste buds were just working better I don’t know. The finger length bananas peal like a normal banana. The Texture is also similar and I didn’t get that mild itch that I occasionally get from bananas. But this banana has that slightly acidic apple snap to it today. All bananas vary in sweetness so I don’t know if they are normally sweeter or not.

Forking Truth

You can go Forking CRACKERS at the Super Market

Just trying to select the Classic Premium Saltine Cracker has now become forking dizzying in the grocery store.

It is too much work to break your forking crackers in your soup so just buy the new small sized crackers.

Maybe you don’t care for the square shape? So go for the round shape.

You can buy the crackers in smaller wrapped portions to forking cut back on your plastic wrap usage.

Maybe you like your crackers shaped like oyster crackers?

You might have a whole household that needs a bunch of these crackers.

You can go forking Crackers at the Super Market.

Forking Truth

New and Improved really means “Now FORKING LOUSY” Part 1

Every FORKING Time I see “New and Improved” on anything I know it really means “Now Forking Lousy”.

According to Wikipedia. Prior to 2006 (we don’t forking know exactly when) Breyer’s was well know for producing All Natural Ice-Cream. The Vanilla Flavor for example only contained, Milk, Cream, Sugar, and Vanilla.

They call this new forking stuff “Home Made Vanilla but I don’t know of any forking household that uses carob bean gum, mono and diglycerides, guar gum and tara gum so HOW THE FORK can that be a Homemade Recipe?

WTFork!

I didn’t buy it but the taste and texture can’t be the same. I read somewhere that this stuff isn’t actually Ice-Cream anymore. The ingredients aren’t the correct percent to be ice-cream and now this is just a Frozen Dairy Product.

This is Forked Up!

New and Improved always means “Now Forking Lousy”

Forking Truth

The Cashew Apple and it’s Seed the Cashew

Who knew the Cashew is a seed that grows on a fruit called the Cashew Apple. (picture from HoboTraveler.com)

Unless you live in Brazil, India, SE Asia or Africa it’s likely that you’ve never seen a Cashew Apple. The Fruit is extremely Juicy and fragile and is usually only used as a drink, or made into liquor, or just given as feed to livestock.

The Cashew must be properly roasted to release the toxins it contains in it’s shell. That is why you never see cashews in the shell.

Forking Truth

Woo HOO Chef Emeril Lagasse Favorited my Tweets

Favorites mean a Tweet is well liked among Twitter uses.

My Easy Chicken Gumbo

Easy Chicken Gumbo over Pink Rice

My White Sonora Berries in Dijon Sage Vinaigrette.

White Sonora Berries Salad in Dijon Sage Vinaigrette

My Basil Heirloom Carrots Two Ways.

Rainbow Carrots two ways with Apple, Basil and Black Rice

My Korean Leek Pancakes.

Zucchini and Korean Leek Whole Wheat Pancakes

and My Homemade Pizza.

He also favorited a Tweet my Pizza was forking mentioned in.

I thought that was very forking cool.

I just feel like bragging.

Forking Truth

TheForkingTruth

Forking Thoughts on Food and Restaurants

Romesco Sauce

Like this:

The Forking Truth about Red Kidney Beans

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The Search for local Sushi Part 1

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Purple Veggies

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Some Basic Food Preparation for Hard Squash or Pumpkin

Like this:

The Apple Banana

Like this:

You can go Forking CRACKERS at the Super Market

Like this:

New and Improved really means “Now FORKING LOUSY” Part 1

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The Cashew Apple and it’s Seed the Cashew

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Woo HOO Chef Emeril Lagasse Favorited my Tweets

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