This is how I make my basic Deviled Eggs. If you eat two halves as a serving then this will make 9 servings with a few extra whites that you can snack on.
Ingredients for around 9 servings.
12 eggs – boiled till hard (10 minutes) soaked in ice bath till cold, then peeled, cut in halves. Rice the yolks.
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon piment d’ espelette + plus extra to sprinkle the cooked whites
2 Tablespoons Dijon but preferably Amora Brand
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
smoked sea salt – to taste
9 small celery leaves
Directions
Lightly sprinkle the egg whites on both sides with smoked sea salt and piment d’ espelette.
In a medium bowl the riced yolks, mayonnaise, 1/2 teaspoon piment d’ espelette, Dijon, dry mustard, white pepper, cayenne pepper, and Worcestershire sauce together.
This mixture gets spooned or piped into the egg whites. Finish with a piece of celery leaf.
Mostarda is a spicy Northern Italian Condiment. It is usually but not always made with candied fruit and mustard syrup. I read at www.LaCucinaItaliana.com that there are SIX basic kinds of mostarda (cherry, apricot, fig, peach, squash, tomato). According to La Cucina Italiana instead of mustard they use something called mustard essence instead of mustard to make mostarda. I used a combination of mustard and mustard powder to make my inspiration. I previously made a FORKING DELICIOUS acorn squash with mostarda and taleggio cheese….so this is a spin off of that. Serving size is always difficult to judge because I don’t know if you want a small or large serving. For me this made 6 side servings so I’ll say 6 servings.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
1 cabbage – core removed, rough chopped
1 onion – rough chopped
3 carrots – peel if not organic – slice on a slight diagonal around 1/4 inch thick
1/4 cup chives
4 oz gorgonzola – crumbled (or any blue cheese)
1 cup sugar
1 lemon – zest and juice but separate
2 Tablespoons mustard powder
3 Tablespoons whole grain mustard (I used Maille Old Style)
2 short Calabrian dried chili peppers – crumbled
1/2 teaspoon course sea salt
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
sea salt – to taste
black pepper – to taste
Directions
Set oven to 400 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl (or maybe a few bowls if you bowl isn’t very large) mix together the sugar, lemon juice (zest is for finishing), mustard powder, mustard, oil, Calabrian chili flakes, and sea salt. Mix well. Mix in the cabbage, onion, and carrots.
This goes on baking sheets with rims in an even layer.
Add a light amount of fresh crushed sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.
This goes in your preheated 400 degree F oven for 30-50 minutes or until lightly charred.
I was reading a recipe for Focaccia and I was very surprised that it had an egg and heavy cream in the dough. This recipe I would have not read but it was by an Italian Chef from Lombardy so I guess it’s for real. I didn’t have heavy cream at home but I did have a French cheese called Fromagerd d Affinois with herbs (basically Brie). I used that in the dough instead of cream and I changed up the flours due to what I had in my pantry. I also changed up the liquids slightly. I also had to figure out the oven temperature and timing. But WOW! It came out FORKING DELICIOUS! Serving size is always difficult to determine because I don’t know if you want a small serving or a large serving. This made 6 small breads……so that means between 6-12 servings depending on if you want a half bread or a whole bread…..so I’ll say 9 servings. That is my guesstimate.
Ingredients for around 9 servings
1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon water warmed up to 110 degrees F
1 pack active dry yeast
1 Tablespoon honey
1/4 cup brie cheese or something similar
1 egg – lightly beaten
1 teaspoon course sea salt
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
5 Tablespoons 00 flour
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil + more for spraying the dough
4 Tablespoons water
6 pinches flake sea salt
1/4 red onion – sliced extra thin
12 sweet grape tomatoes – sliced thin
3 oz Grana Padano – shredded
3 small pinches rosemary
3 small pinches Italian seasoning (This is what I used…..I tablespoon sea salt, 1 Tablespoon black pepper, 1/2 Tablespoon garlic powder, 1/2 Tablespoon onion powder, 1 Tablespoon basil, 1 tablespoon oregano, 1 Tablespoon fennel seeds, 1 crushed small dried Calabrian Chile pepper)
non stick spray
a few pinches of cornmeal or semolina
Directions
Set oven to 425 degrees F.
Combine yeast, 110 degree water, and honey in a large bowl. Mix and wait about ten minutes till you see a foamy surface. Whisk in cheese, egg, and salt. Add flours, water, and olive oil. This mixes together very well. Knead it some and make a ball and put it in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. In around an hour divide the dough into 6 balls. 2 sheet pans get sprayed lightly with non stick spray and then spray the lightly with olive oil and add a light sprinkle of corn meal or semolina. Shape each ball of dough into a flat pancake. Three pancakes will fit on each sheet tray. Cover them loosely with plastic wrap. Let them rise 30-60 minutes.
Spray them with olive oil. Sprinkle them with a light sprinkle of sea salt flakes and rosemary. (Optional….you should make the dimples in the dough….I did but they didn’t stay dimpled)……Add a sprinkle of raw onions slices and tiny sweet tomato slices. Add a sprinkle of Grana Padano. Finish with a LIGHT sprinkle of Italian seasoning and another sprinkle of extra virgin olive oil.
This goes in your preheated 425 degree F oven till slightly browned. Ovens do differ. This took around 25 minutes in my oven on a middle rack. In my old oven I think this only would take around 15 minutes.
Anyway it really did come out FORKING DELICIOUS! (Below is one of the 6 small loaves sliced up)
Took some to a party I went to with my FORKING AMAZING chocolate chip cookies.
Focaccia Style Bread with Onions, Tomatoes, and Grana Padano
I didn’t make chef Mattia Agazzi’s recipe for Focaccia (only because I didn’t have the ingredients) but it inspired me to make what I got here so a Special Thanks!!!! to him!
I was thinking about calling this recipe FORKING TASTY cauliflower because when my husband tried it he said that this was, “FORKING TASTY Cauliflower. Sorry I missed photographing my dog for you……….. but even he thought it was FORKING TASTY too and STOLE a piece off of this plate while my back was turned. I used an orange colored cauliflower that is slightly tastier than the white ones but you can use a white cauliflower. Purple cauliflowers are more delicate and would probably burn up so I wouldn’t recommend using purple. Serving suggestion size may differ because we all have different appetites.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
1 cauliflower (preferably orange) – break down to florets
2 eggs
3 tablespoons mustard (I used Amora Brand Dijon mustard)
4 oz parmesan cheese – grated
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
non-stick spray
Directions
preheat oven to 450 degrees F
Spray your baking sheet(s) with non-stick spray and set to the side.
In a large mixing bowl mix together the eggs, mustard, cheese, pepper, and paprika. Mix well and then add the cauliflower florets. This mixture will be very thick. Mix well till it looks like the cheese mixture is all over the cauliflower. Then arrange the cauliflower on sprayed sheet pan(s) in single layer with a small amount of room around each floret.
These go on your middle rack for around 25 minutes or until cauliflower is cooked and slightly brown.
This recipe is easy but is kicked up a couple notches from the pickled onions and the sumac crusted feta cheese. Easy recipe just roast the carrots with a little cumin and the broccoli with smoked paprika…All the flavors are FORKING DELICIOUS together! This will make around 4-6 servings. I got 6 side servings. Your carrots might be smaller so I’ll go on the low end just in case.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
1 onion – slice thin
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
10 carrots – Peel if not organic. I cut mine in half longways (you can cut however you like but they will cook in different time)
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
sea salt – to taste
ground black pepper – to taste
1 teaspoon cumin
1 bunch broccoli – break down in florets
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
sea salt – to taste
ground black pepper – to taste
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
4 oz feta cheese – crumbled
1 teaspoon sumac
optional – 2 tablespoons parsley or cilantro
Directions – preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a small bowl or tub combine the onion, water, vinegar, sugar, pepper, and coriander. Let this sit on the counter for an hour. You can refrigerate after that.
The carrots go on a baking sheet. Spray them generously with olive oil. salt and pepper to taste. Then sprinkle them with ground cumin.
Ovens differ….also carrots differ in size and freshness too so your timing may differ from mine. Mine took about 50 minutes on the middle rack.
In a small bowl add the crumbled feta and sprinkle it with sumac.
I got very thin broccoli that can almost pass for broccolini so I didn’t need to par-boil mine but you might need to par- boil yours. About 2 minutes in boiling water. Then give them an ice bath. You might want to peel and trim the stems too!
Broccoli goes on a sheet pan. Spray generously with olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Give them a sprinkle of smoked paprika. Broccoli timing may also differ. Mine took 20 minutes to be done on a lower rack.
Assemble – Carrots and broccoli go on plate. Add pickled onions. Add sumac crusted feta. Finish with fresh parsley or cilantro if desired.
Roasted carrots &.broccoli with pickled onions and sumac crusted feta cheese
Egg salad doesn’t have to be the same old egg, mayo, mustard, celery. You can make it Global anything! I happened to have leftover eggs, feta, harissa, and dukkah so this egg salad practically made itself. Instead of mayo or (what I normally use…Amora Dijon) I used tahini because I thought that would work well and I also needed to use it. I used my own recipe for the harissa that I make in batches and portion out and keep frozen in my freezer but you can use any harissa you like….I also always make dukkah and usually follow any Yotam Ottolenghi recipe for dukkah because that will always be like a 100 times better than what you can buy in a jar. But you can use what you want.
Ingredients for 4 servings
10 eggs – boiled 10 minutes, then ice bath till cool, then peeled, then rough chopped
2 slightly heaping Tablespoons tahini
4 Tablespoons harissa – split in half (or amount to taste….fresh made taste different than from a tube or jar)
1 lemon (just the fresh squeezed juice)
1 – 6.5oz small jar marinated artichokes – drained (mine was quarters and pieces that looked small. you might need a rough chop)
2 oz feta cheese either crumbled or sliced thin. (preferably a good quality that isn’t too salty and taste creamy not sour)
1 1/2 Tablespoons dukkah – Preferably a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe dukkah or purchased dukkah to taste.
3 Tablespoons – cilantro, parsley leaves, or a mix of the two – chopped
Optional – black or Aleppo pepper to taste (I don’t think you will need salt because feta cheese even mild is salty)
Directions
Mix the tahini, 1/2 the harissa, lemon juice together. Add the artichokes and mix. Gently mix in the eggs trying not to break them up much. Top with remaining harissa, cilantro and or parsley, feta, and dukkah. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking. You might want to serve with pita bread.
Egg Salad with Artichokes, Harrisa, Feta, & Dukkah
I thought I’d do something slightly different with turkey quarters. I do note that I buy turkeys from Trader Joes (they only sell them in November). I usually only buy turkey from Trader Joes because they sell brined, and dry brined or kosher turkeys. When you buy brined turkeys you are getting the most BANG for your buck because brined turkeys always come out flavorful and usually moist. They are the closest to the most foolproof turkey that you can buy. The way this came out for me….I got my usual flavorful moist dark meat but what came out different was the skin. The skin got thin and crispy with a really great taste to it.
Today I marinated the turkey quarters (each weighted about 1 1/2 pounds) I mixed up normal ingredients like soy sauce, sugar, garlic, and ginger. This mixture and the turkey quarters went in a gallon ziplock bag and marinated over night. The next day you blot the turkey quarters dry. You dump around 1/2 a cup of flour and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in a gallon ziplock bag. Shake and add turkey quarters and shake and bake.
I discovered after I made the turkey quarters I had liquid gold in my pan and it couldn’t be wasted. It had an amazing aroma and taste. The only thing I had at home to use was a cabbage so there we go. After all the turkey quarters needed an hour to cool off anyway. Just rough cut a cabbage and an onion. Toss it around the liquid gold. Put it in the still hot 375F oven for a total of around 45 minutes stirring after around 30 minutes.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
2 preferably brined or dry brined turkey quarters (mine weighed around 1 1/2 pounds each. They can be any size but timing will differ)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar (I used dark)
1 large head garlic – ground to paste
1 inch ginger – fresh grated
1/2 cup flour – (around this you don’t have to measure)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cabbage – core removed, rough cut
1 onion – skin removed – rough cut or slice
salt – to taste
pepper – to taste
Directions
To a gallon zip lock bag (you could use a bowl to support the bag) add soy sauce, sugar, garlic and ginger. Squish around so it is mixed. Add turkey quarters. Squish the liquid all around the turkey quarters. This needs to refrigerate over night. Occasionally keep turning the quarters so they marinate on all sides.
Next Day –
Pull the turkey quarters out and let them rest around 30 minutes.
Set oven to 375 and pour the oil in your pan. Set the pan in the middle of your oven to heat up.
Take the legs out of the bag and blot them dry.
Put some flour salt and pepper in a clean gallon ziplock bag. Add the turkey quarters and shake, shake, shake.
Pull the pan with hot oil out of the oven. Add the legs.
In my oven on the middle rack mine took 65 minutes to be done……YOURS MAY DIFFER! So you really do need to use a thermometer. According to the U.S. Department of agriculture the turkey leg meat is safe to eat at 165 degrees F but in my opinion it isn’t good at 165 F. I like it more at 180F or even slightly higher.I like mine to fall off of the bone and melt up some stuff in that area. Most people will agree 165F-180F is what you must aim for.
After 65 minutes.
Then I noticed I was left with liquid gold. The turkey quarters need to rest an hour. Take them out of the pan and place on a tray or preferably cooling rack.
Rough cut one cabbage (with core removed) and rough cut or slice a peeled onion. They go in your liquid gold pan. Mix up the cabbage and onion in the pan.
This goes in your still hot 375F oven. After around 30 minutes some of it will be lightly charred but stir and put back in for the remaining 15 minutes.
Add a good quality sea salt and any pepper you like. I used my homemade smoked pecan sea salt and Aleppo pepper.
I came across a recipe for Persian Jeweled Rice. I thought that sounded interesting so I looked up 6 or 7 more recipes for Persian Jeweled rice and none of them were the same. But I did get ideas from all of them and I thought I could make a vegetable taste sort of like the Persian Jeweled Rice. I picked out the flavors that I thought would work the best with amounts that I guessed were good. One recipe called for rose petals. I happened to have rose water so I used a little bit of that instead. Somehow I guessed the amounts right because this came out really tasty. This recipe makes around 6 servings give or take.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
1 cabbage – remove core and rough chop
1 onion – rough chop
1 green bell pepper – remove stem and seeds – rough chop
1 red bell pepper – remove stem and seeds – rough chop
2 carrots – peel if not organic – slice on diagonal around 1/4 inch slices
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon rose water
1/2 teaspoon saffron (if you don’t have substitute ground turmeric )
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon cardamon seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 Tablespoon date syrup
3 garlic cloves – ground to paste
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup salted roasted pistachios – lightly crushed
1/4 cup dried barberries
1 Tablespoon dried mint (fresh is better but I didn’t have any if you use fresh mint mix with some fresh parsley to mellow out the strong mint)
1 orange – just the fresh grated zest
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
In a large mixing bowl combine the cabbage, onion, bell peppers, carrots and set to the side.
In a small bowl that you will lightly microwave or in a sauce pan that you heat on medium heat on the stove combine the butter, oil, rose water, saffron, cinnamon, cardamon seeds, date syrup, garlic, salt and pepper. Heat gently till the butter is melted and the contents are fragrant. (about a minute)
Pour the small bowl of liquid over the vegetables and mix till the vegetables are coated. The vegetables go on sheet pan(s) preferably on the middle rack. Roast until slightly charred and so the carrots are fork tender (about 25-30 minutes).
Finish with pistachios, barberries, mint, and orange zest.
This is a variation of a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe that I jotted down when I came across it on the internet. Incase you don’t know Yotam Ottolenghi is an award wining chef, restauranteur and cookbook author. He’s well known for PHENOMENAL vegetable recipes. When you come across his recipes they are always worth trying. For some reason I can’t find this recipe again so I don’t know what the name of the recipe was called. I made changes based on ingredients that I have at home. Many of the ingredients differ from the original recipe….. Like…. I used cauliflower instead of cabbage because I came across a great price on pretty colored cauliflowers this week. I swapped out cashews for peanuts because that is what I had. Same thing with lemons for limes. and a few other things….Taste-wise maybe the biggest change I made was using date syrup instead of light brown sugar. Date syrup is easy to pick up these days and they sell it at Walmart. It just has a nice taste that sugar doesn’t have and the peanuts came out so delicious this way. All the flavors go together really well. This looks like 8 dinner side serving to me. Serving size is SURE TO DIFFER. You might use bigger or smaller vegetables than what I used and also your idea of a portion size might differ from my idea of a portion size.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
3 small cauliflowers – break down to florets (I used an orange, purple, and a green)
3 carrots – peeled – cut in diagonal 1/3 inch slices
1 red onion – peeled – quarter – and slice quarters
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (a generous amount of olive oil to spray on vegetables)
sea salt – to taste
fresh ground black pepper – to taste
7 oz roasted salted peanuts (turmeric peanuts)
2 teaspoons ground cumin – (optional – you can heat till fragrant for better flavor) (turmeric peanuts)
2 Tablespoons date syrup (turmeric peanuts)
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil (turmeric peanuts)
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric (turmeric peanuts)
3 lemons (just the fresh squeezed juice) (lemon dressing)
2 Tablespoons dijon mustard (I used Amora Brand) (lemon dressing)
2 garlic cloves – ground to paste (lemon dressing)
1 Tablespoon poppy seeds (lemon dressing)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (lemon dressing)
2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (lemon dressing)
Directions
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F
Place cauliflower florets, carrots, red onion, and Anaheim chilies on sheet tray(s). Spray generously with olive oil. Add sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.
Place on middle rack and lower racks of the pre-heated oven. Timing may differ……mine were cooked and slightly charred in 30 minutes.
While the vegetables are cooking make the dressing and the turmeric peanuts.
For the dressing add to a small bowl the lemon juice, dijon mustard, garlic, poppy seeds, salt, and olive oil. (bring it to the table and let guest dress the vegetables themselves.)
Now make the turmeric peanuts. In a small bowl add the cumin, date syrup, oil, turmeric and mix well. Now mix in the peanuts. Serve on top of the vegetables.
Cauliflower with Lemon Dressing & Turmeric Peanuts
A Special THANKS!!!!! To Yotom Ottolenghi for sharing his FORKING Amazing recipe so I could come up with what I got here!
These one pan dinners are super easy, super flavorful, the chicken always comes out super moist and super flavorful and chicken quarters are very inexpensive…..Safeway often sells them for 99cents a pound and a few other places sell them for even less. To make these dishes you start out by browning the chicken and using the drippings to sauté the vegetables. By doing this you are infusing flavors. More ingredients get added and everything goes back in a big oven safe pot or pan in the oven till it’s done. There are a few things you need to know before you make this recipe. One is that the chicken skin will not get crisp enough to eat by cooking it this way but the meat will be very tender and also very flavorful. Ovens and the pans you use do differ and so will the timing. The other thing is that you need to make sure the lentils are done and the chicken is at a safe temperature to eat. According to the government chicken is safe to eat at 165 degrees F. Use a thermometer when you make this meal and make sure the chicken is at least 165 degrees F but I normally cook dark chicken and dark turkey at least at 180 because that is what I prefer….actually I like the dark meat between 180-200 degrees F but your preference may differ and you cook it to the degree you prefer.
Ingredients for about 6 servings
4 lbs chicken quarters (about three large chicken quarters) (season on both sides with salt, pepper and granulated garlic)
kosher salt to taste – (to season chicken)
fresh ground black pepper to taste – (to season chicken)
granulated garlic to taste (about twice as much as salt) – to season chicken
1 large sweet onion – chopped
2 carrots – peeled – chopped (mine were real skinny so I just sliced them in thirds)
2 stalks celery – chopped
13 garlic cloves – chopped well
1 Tablespoon soup base (instead of salt more flavor less sodium – either reduced sodium chicken base or vegetable base)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 red bell pepper – chopped – or a few red Fresnos for a little heat
1 green bell pepper – chopped
3 bay leaves
7 oz tomatoes – rough chopped
3/4 cup brown lentils (rinsed and inspected)
3/4 cup orange lentils (rinsed and inspected)
1/2 oz fresh parsley – chopped (to finish)
2 1/2 cups water
8 oz fresh spinach if desired (I think spinach taste good with lentils..you only have to stir it in at the end)
Directions
Brown the seasoned chicken on both sides either in a frying pan with a little oil or broil in the oven about 10 minutes on each side and use the drippings to sauté the vegetables and set the chicken to the side.
Set oven to 350 degrees F.
If you have a very large oven safe pot use it to sauté the vegetables with the drippings on medium high heat……If not just use your sauce pan for now. Add the onions, celery, carrots, garlic, soup base, black pepper, tomatoes and bell peppers. Stir occasionally and cook till the onions are soft. Then add the water and bring to a boil and add the lentils and then shut off heat and take off burner.
If not in a very large oven safe pot then transfer to a large pan. (I used a half pan)
Top the pan with the parsley and then the chicken and cover tightly with foil.
This goes in the oven till the lentils are tender and the chicken is at least 165 degrees F. (but I prefer dark chicken to get to 180 F…..it will be very tender and not dry) ********Ovens DO DIFFER…..In my oven this took 2 hours but I had two other pans in my oven that might have added on extra time. I recommend to check at around 90 minutes you will have an idea on how much longer and also if you need to add a little more water. When the pan is done you will remove the chicken and throw out the bay leaves. Now when it’s steaming hot is when you stir in the fresh spinach if desired.
