Bomba Calabrese Marinated Chicken Thighs Recipe

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I wanted to prepare this pack of chicken thighs some way that was just tasty for anytime and not too fancy. I flavored olive oil with garlic, sea salt, and Bomba Calabrese (the Coluccio Brand). I only marinated the chicken one hour. Then I pan fried the chicken and it came out tasty and tender. Serving size may differ. I don’t know if you want the chicken for a small lunches or a bigger dinners? I got 10 smaller chicken thighs in my 3 1/2 pound pack so for me it around 10 servings.

Ingredients for around 10 servings

3 1/2 lbs chicken thighs ( got ten in my pack)

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon course sea salt

8 garlic cloves – ground to paste

2 Tablespoons (heaping if you use the PREFERRED Coluccio Brand) Bomba Calabrese – all the brands do taste different and they all offer different levels of heat. Of course I haven’t tried them all but Coluccio has a wider range of flavors than what I’ve tried from several brands.

Fresh basil

fresh tomatoes – I only had a part of a pint – cut in halves

sea salt – to taste

fresh black pepper – to taste

non stick spray

Directions

In a gallon zip lock bag add the olive oil, salt, garlic, Bomba Calabrese and mix well. Then add the chicken thighs. Try to distribute the liquid all around each chicken thigh. Leave this sit out one hour.

Shake them off before frying.

Spray a larger fry pan with non stick spray. Put the pan on medium high heat. When the pan is hot you can add thighs to your pan. Leave them cook until they get a brown crust on the bottom (mine took 8-10 minutes). Then turn them over for around another 5 minutes. Remove from pan and add salt and pepper to taste.

Now is when it’s best to fry off the tomatoes in the leftover oil and juices. When done remove them and clean the pan.

Fry up the rest of the chicken the same way.

Finish with some fresh basil.

They come out delicious and everyone will enjoy them. They re-heat amazing in a small amount of tomato sauce too!

Bomba Calabrese Marinated Chicken Thighs

ENJOY!!!

The Forking Truth

My FORKING Thoughts on Van Leeuwen Limited Edition Malted Milkshake and Idaho Potato French Fries French Ice Cream

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Van Leeuwen makes higher and high quality packaged French Style ice creams (French style is richer from egg yolks….extra fattening). Usually I find their higher quality ice creams at my local Sprouts Grocery. The Pistachio flavor only has three or four ingredients in it. I usually find the unusual limited flavors of Van Leeuwen Ice Creams at my local Walmart freezer. I came across the limited edition malted milk shake with Idaho Potato French Fries at my local Walmart so I thought I’d give this one a try.

I open it up.

I don’t see much of anything but it is the perfect eating temperature.

The texture does differ from other Van Leeuwen Ice Creams I’ve tried….This one seems more whipped and airy. YUMMMMM the taste of the malted milk is very good……unitil I hit a small chunk of cold hard French Fry. But the creamy part really is very good……..Then you get a small piece of cold fry and it sucks……..It is weird……..The flavors and textures don’t work together….but for some odd reason I felt the need to try it……….This would be really amazing if they replaced the cold hard fries with lightly crushed malt balls…….WHY-THE-FORK didn’t they do that? ……..?????????

Well those were my FORKING Thoughts on Limited Edition Malted Milkshake and Idaho French Fries French Ice Cream.

Your FORKING Thoughts may differ.

The Forking Truth

A Taste of Unstripped Food Festival Las Vegas NV

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Vegas Unstripped is about 30 of Las Vegas’s most acclaimed and creative chefs. This is an “OFF THE STRIP EVENT” downtown in the Arts District on California Street Between Ester’s Kitchen and Garagiste Saturday October 14 2023 7pm – 10. Tickets were $150., They include unlimited tastes and also include cocktails, and are non profit.

www.VegasUnstripped.com listed the chefs that are expected.

Nearly all the foods that we’ve tried was next level FORKING AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! There was more food and drink than I could do but all but one thing I tried was over the top amazing! Also not all of my photos came out but here are most.

frogs legs

Asian style chicken

Tuna pasta adorned with burnt kimchi aioli

guacamole and salsa macha tostada – YUM!

tuna tostada – YUM!!!

Really complex flavors from this chicken wrap

vegetarian African food – delicious

That Korean fried chicken really just melted in your mouth. The hamachi was also delicious.

I didn’t try this one but my husband said that this was very VERY VERY Good!

I have to say that this was the very best barbacoa I’ve ever tried.

Amazing flavors here.

LOOK at the way they melt that incredible cheese on their amazing bread.

I was looking forward to this..because this is from a Bravo Top Chef….but passed because the short rib was rabbit. My husband did try it and said the flavors were very interesting.

Very good food from another Bravo Top Chef.

We both thought that the potato was super amazing!

oxtail with interesting embellishments.

That was just a taste of Vegas Unstripped.

www.VegasUnstripped.com

The Forking Truth

Lemon Poppy Seed Mini Cakes Recipe

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I saw a picture of this lemon poppy seed cake that I thought looked delicious so I started to make this recipe. Thankfully I stopped to re-read the directions and I found a long list of complaints about the recipe not working out. Also some people complained about the taste and how heavy the cake was. When I made the batter it was heavy like pizza dough so I can imagine it would be very heavy. I had to fix the recipe and made over 6 changes and added ingredients to make it taste better. The temperature needed to be changed as well. I made the recipe easy to prepare and it came out lemony, delicious, moist, and not too heavy or too sweet. I’m bringing these Lemon Poppy Seed Mini Cakes to an event that I’m going to. This made 16 mini cakes.

Ingredients for about 16 servings

5 Tablespoons unsalted butter – room temperature

3 eggs – lightly beaten

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1 Tablespoon poppy seeds

2 Large ripe lemons – You need all the zest for the cake. Juice from one for the cake, and juice from the second lemon for the glaze

1 + 1/3 cup flour

1 + 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon PURE lemon extract

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

non stick spray

1 cup 10x sugar – for the glaze

Juice from your 2nd lemon – for the glaze

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Pull out two trays of cupcake pans. Line 16 with cupcake liners. If your liners are very thin then you should double them. Spray the cupcake liners LIGHTLY with non stick spray.

In a large bowl add the eggs, sugar, butter, poppy seeds, all the zest, juice of ONE lemon, flour, baking powder, extract, salt. Hand mix with a fork till smooth.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake liner till 3/4 full.

These go on middle rack till cooked. Ovens do differ and cupcake liners differ slightly in size. My first rack with 12 was done in 16 minutes. My second rack of four was done in 18 minutes. At around 15 minutes you should test them with your finger. If they feel done then they are. If they feel soft and raw on the top they need a little longer…..

The glaze only takes a minute to prepare. You can do that while the mini cakes are in the oven or after you take them out.

In a small bowl add the 10x sugar and the juice from your second lemon and mix well.

Spoon about one teaspoon of glaze over each lemon poppy seed mini cake.

They came out lemon-ee, moist, delicious, light, and not too sweet.

ENJOY!!!

Lemon Poppy Seed Mini Cakes
The Forking Truth

Halloween Special and Limited Edition Foods 2023

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Every year we come across foods that are special or limited edition for Halloween. These are some of what I’ve come across at my local stores.

Up above is a special edition Apple Jacks with spooky ghost marshmallows.

Next is…..

Cap’n Crunch’s Halloween Crunch with ghosts that turn your milk (and maybe teeth?) green.

We also have….

Kellogg’s Spooky Froot Loops with ghost marshmallows…….

There’s more!

Kellogg’s Rice Krispies in shooting orange color so you can poop Halloween too!

Next is…

Kellogg’s Chocolate Frosted Flakes with spooky ghost marshmallows

Post Limited Edition Halloween Fruity Pebbles……Not sure what makes them halloween? Looks like less colors?

General Mills – Chocolate Lucky Charms with Haunted Marshmallows

General Mills – Limited Edition Reese’s Puffs Bats (Reese’s gone batty)

Kellogg’s It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown Vanilla flavored cereal with marshmallows.

Kellogg’s Frosted Mini Wheats in Naturally Flavored Pumpkin Spice

Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes in naturally flavored Pumpkin Spice

General Mills Boo Berry, NEW Carmella Creeper, and Count Chocula Cereals

Utz – Witch’s BrewHalloween Party Mix – (The pretzels are shaped like Jack-O-Lanterns)

Reese’s snack sized white chocolate coated peanut butter ghosts

Reese’s snack size milk chocolate covered peanut butter pumpkins, bats, and ghosts.

Fun Sweets in Boo Berry and Classic Cotton Candy

Ferrero Kinder Joy wafer candy and toy

Edward Marc Day of the Dead Halloween Bark – It’s chocolate with lots of stuff in it and topped with sugar skulls…..EEEK!

Peeps Marshmallow Skulls

Maybe the best ones (not best tasting) are next?

MyFav Zombie Pizza Bites

MyFav Monster Poopers

and a few more Monster Poopers

MYFav Monster Poopers – Who knows WTFork this will do?

These were some of the 2023 Halloween special and limited edition foods out there.

Happy Halloween!

The Forking Truth

Dining Out With DOGS at Those Guys Pies North Las Vegas NV

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Those Guys Pies is a pizza and cheesesteak restaurant with a location in North Las Vegas Nevada. If they seem familiar then maybe you caught them featured on Food Network’s Diners Drive-ins and Dives with Guy Fire. Those Guys Pies is one of the few dog friendly restaurants in North Las Vegas Nevada and the they were open and set up for us unlike another restaurant we were thinking about trying……. Those Guys Pies also might be the only restaurant with a Craft Dog Biscuit Vending Machine too!

So today my dogs got to try Sniff Pistols Craft Beef Dog Biscuits.

Both dogs enjoy the beef dog biscuits.

I didn’t give the dogs any of the diablo fries because they are FORKING HOT!!!!! I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone because they are TOO HOT for anyone to enjoy. I’m surprised that they make them that hot.

Everything else was good.

I had a house salad with grilled chicken.

Both dogs enjoyed the chicken from my salad.

The dogs also got to enjoy some sausage from my husband’s sausage sandwich.

That was Dining Out With DOGS at Those Guys Pies. We Hope you’ve enjoyed!

Those Guys Pies

5585 Simmons Street North Las Vegas Nevada – 725-251-5826

www.ThoseGuysPies.com

The Forking Truth
In Memory of Louie 5-5-2001 – 3-3-2017

My Trip to Casa Don Juan – Las Vegas NV

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Casa Don Juan is a full service Mexican Restaurant in Las Vegas Nevada with three locations. The Main Street location in the Arts District has an out side patio. Inside this location has a Frida Kahlo theme with many pictures of her on their wall. Incase you don’t know Frida Kahlo is considered to be Mexico’s most important artist and is part of Mexico’s culture.

Whatever you order they start you off with complimentary chips, salsa, and bean dip.

To me the chips don’t taste freshly made. The salsa is spicy but taste mostly like oregano. I didn’t try the beans.

I tried a chicken fajita salad (with the jack cheese on the side) that is called ensalada de fajitas here.

The chicken breast is tender and sautéed with onions and bell pepper that are saturated with soy sauce over warm soft uninspired salad. This plate is topped with some guacamole. For my taste this is way too much soy sauce but maybe other people enjoy this?

My husband tried the #31 combo (Chile relleno, enchilada, taco with rice and refried beans)

I’ll be nice as possible and just say that this isn’t our favorite combo plate that we’ve tried.

That was my trip to Casa Don Juan – 1204 S. Main Street Las Vegas NV – 702-384-8070

www.CasaDonJuanMainSt.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Soulbelly BBQ – Las Vegas NV – Worth a Fork!

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Soulbelly BBQ is an artisanal central Texas inspired kind of BBQ restaurant by seasoned chef (James Beard Nominated, Food Network Chopped Champion, and Bravo Top Chef) Bruce Kalman. The Las Vegas Arts District location offers outdoor seating by the smokers.

Indoor seating in the bar and take out area.

And main dining area where the live music happens.

The tables are set up with carriers of sauces that include the house made Jiggly Meat BBQ sauces.

I wanted to try the tri tip pastrami but they were sold out of that today……so I went with Caesar Salad with their BBQ Smoked Turkey.

The turkey is tender, moist, and delicious………The salad taste far different than it looks…….It’s kind of deconstructed……..The black pepper cornbread croutons in there are really amazing and contain some of the flavors of Caesar….It’s different…but all together delicious. But might be even more delicious with a few drops of house BBQ sauce….. The vinegar sauce only a few drops kicks it up a level.

My husband tried the sandwich called, The Belly of The Soul (smoked brisket, fried egg, cheese sauce, pickled onions, spicy BBQ sauce, and crispy BBQ onions).

He said that this was really great. I tried a small bite of the BBQ Brisket and I have to say it was really perfect today.

On a second visit my husband had to have the Belly Of Soul sandwich again but with beans this time. He said it was just as good as from last time.

This time I got to try the tri tip pastrami sandwich – topped with slaw with a side of watermelon-cucumber salad.

It’s pretty good but isn’t cured with nitrates……the special dangerous pink salt that turns the meat pink…… resulting in a different taste. It’s beefier and less corned……..Well it’s healthier than what I’m used to and is pretty good. It seems like you won’t go wrong with the brisket, and the turkey. I want to try the fresh ground in house smoked brisket burger next time.

So we went back.

We started out by sharing their fried macaroni and cheese balls special.

Ummmm! and the pepper puree dipping sauce is unique and delicious too!

This time we both had their amazing smoked ground in house brisket burgers that are finished on the grill. They suggest to get them medium rare so we both did.

My husband got his with extra American Cheese and Soul Belly made Bacon with a side of potato salad.

The burger is really great. For my taste the potato salad is too smooth and has too much mustard in it….I can’t eat it but I do admit that I am sensitive to mustard.

I had my burger without cheese but with with slaw, pickles and special sauce with their cornbread on the side.

WOW! this is a really great burger! Juicy, smoky, flavorful. It really doesn’t need anything else. It is large. I thought it might be 8 ounces but our server said it’s a 7 ounce burger. The cornbread also is very good and really doesn’t need the honey butter since it is so rich, moist and with crunchy ends. It’s not too sweet or too savory. It’s just right!

On another visit we had some repeats that were just as good as before. We also relied the BBQ mushrooms with chimichurri.

They might be the meatiest mushrooms ever….but…they are very strong with the smoke today.

I also noticed that the menu has changed a little bit. The pastrami sandwich and the watermelon salad are no longer on the menu. Also the macaroni and cheese balls are on the menu now.

I have to say Soulbelly BBQ is Worth a Fork!

Worth aFork!

Soulbelly BBQ 1327 S. Main St Las Vegas NV – 702-483-4404

www.SoulbellyBBQ.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

West African Inspired Carrots, Cabbage, & Peas Recipe based on Kitchen Butterfly’s Nigerian Jollof Rice Recipe

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I came across a Nigerian Jollof Recipe by Ozoz Sokoh that goes by Kitchen Butterfly. I enjoyed a no added meat version of Jollof Rice that I tasted at a restaurant called West Hut in Phoenix AZ. There are many varieties of jollof rice out there. There are over a dozen different West African countries and they all make Jollof rice different. When I read the Kitchen Butterfly Version I thought it might taste similar to what I tried at West Hut. Then I’m thinking that I don’t need a big pot of rice and really only need to cook vegetables today so I used her spices to come up with what I got here. I made my version FAT FREE and it came out FORKING DELICIOUS!!!! I think everyone out there would like this! Serving size may differ because I don’t know if you want a small side serving or a large bowl full.

Ingredients for around 8 servings

2 lbs carrots -peel if not organic, cut in chunks

1/4 cabbage – rough cut

1 onion – slices and cut the slices in half

4 oz celery – chop

hot pepper to taste – I use one hot hatch chile – fine dice

2 teaspoons Caribbean Curry Powder (I used Kitchen Butterfly’s recipe and 1/2ed her recipe and I still have quite a bit extra here’s 1/2 her recipe 1 1/2 Tablespoons turmeric, 1 1/2 Tablespoons ground coriander, 1 Tablespoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon ground fenugreek, 1/2 teaspoon powdered mustard, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon fennel)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 bay leaves

24 oz. tomato puree (preferably from Italy so it’s sweet)

1/4 cup water to get all the tomato puree out

12 oz peas (I used a bag of frozen that I thawed)

optional – sea salt – to taste

optional – ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl add the carrots, cabbage, onion, hot pepper, Caribbean curry powder, thyme, bay leaves, tomato puree. (water to the can or bottle) and that liquid gets added, Mix well.

This goes in a large covered pan (or two pans) on the middle rack till the vegetables are fork tender. Ovens do differ and so do the vegetables so it will take 90-120 minutes.

Your thawed peas should get heated up slightly. (microwave, oven or pan) and stir them in before serving.

West African Inspired Carrots, Cabbage & Peas

WOW! This came out so FORKING DELICIOUS!

A Special THANKS!!!!!! to Kitchen Butterfly (Ozoz Sokoh) and Food52 for your recipes so I could do what I got here.

The Forking Truth

My FORKING Thoughts on Chef Ramsay Frozen Fish & Chips & Frozen 4 Cheese Macaroni & What I think Gordon Ramsay might say

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I haven’t purchased a frozen dinner in maybe a few decades. I live close to several Gordon Ramsay Restaurants but I was curious about Chef Ramsay frozen fish and chips at my local Walmart so I thought I’d give it a try with the 4 cheese macaroni.

On the back of the fish and chips box it says that it contains two servings……….I thinking maybe 2 servings for a toddler….This is what I got. I guess it’s more like one serving with too many fries.

I do note that I don’t have an air fryer and an air fryer is the preferred method for preparing the fish and chips. My husband followed the directions for oven preparation.

I have to admit that the fish and flavor of fish nugguts are very good but the breading didn’t get crisp. The fish is very flaky and is very moist. The potatoes or “CHIPS” have a delicious fluffy interiors but their exteriors aren’t crisp.

WtFORK would Gordon Ramsay say?….I think he’d say something like, “My dead grandmum can make crispier fish and chips than that.”

Anyways-

Here’s the back of the box for the 4 cheese macaroni. The box says one serving. I prefer it as a side serving so this is two servings to me.

It says to microwave it.

It taste very good. It actually taste much better than from many restaurants but it didn’t come out right.

It’s all stuck together.

I wonder what would Gordon Ramsay say?…..I think he’d say something like, ” Well you are a DUMP F****ing Donkey for buying microwave frozen food.”

Also my half didn’t have any corn bread crumbs.

I doubt that I will ever buy anything premade frozen again.

Those were my FORKING Thoughts on Chef Ramsay Fish & Chips and Four Cheese Macaroni. and what I thought Gordon Ramsay might say.

I do note that YOUR FORKING THOUGHTS may indeed differ. (and you might have an air fryer and do a little better)

The Forking Truth