Tag Archives: #food

Take Out In Metro Phoenix AZ During The CoronaVirus Pandemic – Week 9 – Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery, La Piazza Al Forno, CHZBURGR, Vincent Market Bistro, Greek Palace

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These are the worst of times and also the worst of times for restaurants. Many restaurants already permanently closed because of the pandemic. We are trying to support as many restaurants as possible. As of May 14th there is no evidence that you can catch coronavirus by food (subject to change). Earlier reports stated that even if someone had coronavirus and prepared your food that it was unlikely that you would catch coronavirus that way too. I do note that I don’t know if that is factual. This week some restaurants have opened and now offer indoor dining again. It’s a fact that many people are still catching coronavirus and many people are still dying from coronavirus. I think I’ll still be doing take out for a while. At the moment I feel safer doing take out than dining in.

We packed up the dogs and did take out from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix.

My husband got a shaking Beef Banh Mi Baguette Sandwich.

I got a noodle bowl with chicken that comes with an egg roll. It’s way more food than I can eat but I had some help with that. (BTW – both dogs helped)

Next take out was from La Piazza Al Forno in Old Town Glendale.

We shared an antipasto plate called Tavola mista and we had a Bianca Pizza with added Calabrian Chilies and a Savatore Pizza. My GOSH! These pizzas were FORKING AMAZING! I almost didn’t want to share but I did.

Next we packed up the dogs and went to CHZBURGR in North Glendale.

They had a really great curbside completely contact free ordering and paying system.

Soon I was enjoying a BIG JUICY DELICIOUS fried chicken thigh sandwich with added Calabrian peppers.

My husband already got his teeth into his triple cheese burger. He said it was a great as this kind of burger can be.

I guess we will be going to CHZBURGR more often.

Next take out came from Vincent Market Bistro.

I ordered the Arctic char with basil pesto and ratatouille but they accidentally gave me salmon with rice and asparagus. We also got fresh local peaches, a lemon pomelo tart, some complimentary desserts and my husband got the pork loin. (my husband did call to let them know that they gave me the wrong dinner and they did the right thing and took it off the bill) My dogs were there to try Vincents Market Bistro.

Last take out of the week was from Greek Palace in Peoria.

Both entrees were served with fresh side salads and warm pita bread. On the left is the firefighter place that is gyro meat with vegetables, spicy peppers and rice. I ordered the salmon. Today it came with lots of rice and peppers and onions. It was a very large portion of fish so I will be making two meals out of it but I did have my usual help with that too.

“Don’t worry, we are in this thing together”

That was take out during the coronavirus pandemic week 9. The restaurants we went to were-

Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery – N Phoenix

La Piazza Al. Forno – Old Town Glendale

CHZBURGR – Glendale

Vincent Market Bistro – Phoenix

Greek Palace – N Peoria

Everything is subject to change and we hope it does for the better.

The Forking Truth

Mushroom and Pea Crepes over a Spinach garlic Dashi Puree Recipe Inspired by chef Dominique Crenn’s Breton-Inspired Crepes

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I saw this amazing looking crisp disk of a crepe in Food and Wine Magazine by chef Dominique Crenn. It was over vegetables in a green sauce and I knew that I wanted to try this recipe. After I read the recipe I had to come up with changes for several reasons. I had to make a different crepe for allergy reasons. I also made a different puree because for an unknown reason maybe a misprint? Maybe a different quality of produce? It didn’t work out for me. I had to make the puree with a different flavor and less fat. I substituted regular button mushrooms for the recommended wild mushrooms. I did make a basic dashi instead of a more complex shiro dashi. It came out amazing anyway.

This recipe is about 4 servings

1 egg – beaten

1/4 cup + 2 teaspoons water

1 Tablespoon + 1 1/2 teaspoons unsalted butter – melted

1/4 cup flour

pinch salt

neutral non stick spray

1/4 cup unsalted butter

6 garlic cloves – smashed and chopped fine

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup dashi (basic dashi is just bonito flakes boiled with kelp)

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup chopped yellow onion

8oz mushrooms – sliced

1/2 cup peas

1/4 cup dashi

1 teaspoon tarragon

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

Directions

Make crepes.

Either make two big crepes to split or 4 little crepes. Get a fry pan on medium heat with non stick spray. In a small bowl mix together the egg, water, melted butter, flour, pinch salt and mix well. pour half into large fry pan if you are making big crepes or a couple tablespoons if you prefer small crepes. Loosely cover the pan and they cook pretty fast…and might be done in about a minutes. Set the done crepes to the side.

Make the puree.

Get a fry pan and set it on medium low. Melt the butter and add spinach, garlic salt. Cook for about 15 minutes. Blend it up with 1/2 cup of dashi till smooth. Set to the side.

Make mushroom filling.

Melt 1/4 cup butter in a fry pan on medium heat. Add onions. Stir often and cook till onions are beginning to brown (about 8-10 minutes). Add mushrooms and cook till tender (about 6-8 minutes). Add peas and a 1/4 cup of dashi and cook till most of the liquid is gone. Remove from heat and stir in the tarragon, lemon juice and dijon.

Assemble

Spread puree on plates. Fill crepes with mushroom filling and serve immediately.

Mushroom and Pea Crepes over Spinach Garlic Dashi Puree

It’s delicious!

A special THANKS! to Chef Dominique Crenn and Food & Wine Magazine. I would never have thought of lacing dashi into a dish like this. It’s Forking Amazing!

The Forking Truth

Pickled Rainbow Bell Peppers Recipe

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I find that I am using pickled rainbow baby bell peppers a lot in all kinds of things lately. They go well in salads and on sandwiches. I also used them to decorate a flatbread. They are very easy to make. They will stay fresh for about 3 months. If you want them to have a little kick or heat you can shave a Serrano pepper or two into it.

Ingredients for around 12 servings.

11 oz baby bell peppers (you can probably squeeze a pound in) remove stem, core and slice in rings

2 cups white vinegar

2 cups rice wine vinegar

2 cups water

4 Tablespoons kosher salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 sweet onion chopped

6 garlic cloves – chopped

1 Tablespoon black peppercorns

1 Tablespoon coriander seeds

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon dry oregano

Direction

Put your peppers and onions in a sterilized container.

Put a sauce pot on medium high heat with everything except for the peppers. Bring to a boil. Then pour the contents into the peppers.

Leave on counter until this turns room temperature and then refrigerate. Don’t use until at least tomorrow. Enjoy all the different things that you can do with them.

I decorated a flatbread with pickled rainbow bell peppers.

I used them with tequila batter cauliflower.

Squash with neonata, olive oil smoked paprika potatoes, peppered feta and pickled peppers

Enjoy!

Pickled Rainbow Baby Bell Peppers
The Forking Truth

Forking DELICIOUS Salsa recipe

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I had 9 pints of cherry and grape tomatoes so I made a delicious salsa out of them. To make this recipe as delicious as I made it you have to make my pickled jalapeños and my pickled cascabella peppers because they are part of the recipe. I think they just might be the secret here! Anyway this salsa comes out fabulous and just might be the most Forking Delicious salsa that you have ever tasted. My idea of serving size will differ from your idea oof serving size and since salsa is a condiment it is really difficult to judge serving size. This recipe makes around 12 cups of Forking Delicious Salsa. I guess it will be around 20 servings. It’s made with vinegar so it should stay fresh for three weeks or more.

Ingredients for around 20 servings

9 pints small tomatoes rough chopped (mine were a combination oof cherry and grape tomatoes)

1 large red bell pepper – core and stem removed – chopped

1 large sweet onion – chopped

3 large pickled jalapeños – chopped (preferably The Forking Truth Recipe)

1/2 cup pickled cascabella peppers (preferably The Forking Truth Recipe)

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

12 garlic cloves – ground to paste or microplane

1 Tablespoon sea salt

2 limes – just the fresh squeezed juice

2 cups fresh cilantro (leaves and only tender stems – chopped)

1/2 bunch fresh mint (leaves only) – chopped

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 cup scallions – chopped

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

Directions

Blend. Serve and Enjoy!

Forking Delicious Salsa

It really is FORKING DELICIOUS!

The Forking Truth

Know what to expect when you buy a jar of Pommery Mustard Royal Cognac – It’s Hard to Open

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I got this $17. jar of mustard for free when I made a purchase from yummy bazaar .com . It looks impressive and the mustard comes in a big crock that has some sort of plastic coating on the top near where the lid should be. I didn’t know how I should open this baby up so I started whacking the plastic off with a knife around the edges first. The ends of the plastic started coming off.

After most of the plastic on the ends got whacked off I stuck a little knife into the cork to lift it up.

I think that is a lot of work to do to open a mustard. I’m ok doing this but I imagine that many people could get injured opening up one of these mustards.

It really is a very good mustard though. It’s not harsh at all like most American Mustards. It’s very smooth, mild and creamy and is like mostly mild dijon with some grain mustard that is light with mustard grains and is laced with some cognac.

Now you know what to expect if you need to open a jar of Pommery Mustard Royal Cognac.

The Forking Truth

Tequilia Battered Cauliflower with Chipotle dust, Chimichurri & Lime Pickled Peppers inspired by chef Aaron Sanchez’s Decadent Tequila battered Cauliflower Tacos Recipe

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I came across chef Aaron Sanchez’s recipe for Decadent Tequila battered Cauliflower Tacos and as AMAZING as they sound I wanted to make them less (fattening) decadent. By cutting out the tortilla and incorporating that flavor in the batter I cut a little there. I cut way more by eliminating the generous thick smear of chipotle mayonnaise. More decadence was cut when I removed the cheese from the original recipe. The cauliflower still is rich and delicious. It still isn’t diet food but much of the guilt was cut. As far as serving size the original recipe says it is for 4-5 servings. Servings do differ and each cauliflower will differ in size and in denseness. My cauliflower was very dense and I got maybe 40 florets. After they were battered each one seemed very large to me and I thought I got like 10 servings. They still came out very delicious and you will want to eat several. They are very crisp when they are hot but as they cool they don’t stay as crisp but you can bring back the crisp in your oven.

Ingredience for around 7 servings

7 limes (just the fresh squeezed juice)

1 lime – cut into wedges for serving with cauliflower

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 Tablespoon salt (divided into three teaspoons + extra to taste)

2 serrano peppers – sliced extra thin

3-6 rainbow baby bell peppers (they differ greatly in size when in doubt make more because they taste good) – sliced extra thin

1/2 cup flat leaf parsley leaves

1/2 bunch cilantro rough chopped

1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons capers

1 1/2 teaspoons caper brine

1 scalion – rough chopped

1 garlic clove – ground to paste or microplane

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

canola oil for frying

1 cup ap flour

1 cup corn masa flour

1 cup corn starch

2 cups club soda

3 Tablespoons silver tequila

1 large head cauliflower – cut into florets

smoked paprika to taste

mild chili powder to taste

ground chipotle to taste (only 99cents at sprouts grocery)

Directions

In a small bowl combine lime juice, sugar, one teaspoon salt. 1 1/2 serrano peppers, baby bell peppers. Leave on counter one hour.

Blend parsley, cilantro, vinegar, capers, brine, scallion, garlic, 1/2 serrano, and one teaspoon salt. Blend till chopped and slowly add olive oil and keep blending. Set to the side.

Get a pot on to fry on medium high heat with the canola oil. You need enough oil to fry up the cauliflower florets. You also need either a cooling rack with something under to catch the oil or a sheet pan with paper towels.

This seemed like too much batter but it wasn’t. In a large bowl combine flours, corn starch, remaining one teaspoon salt and slowly add soda until it looks pourable. You might not need it all.

Be careful frying. Use thongs to dip cauliflower in batter and carefully fry in oil till done. Don’t crowd the pan. They should fry up in 2-3 minutes. Repeat till done.

Sprinkle with salt, smoked paprika, mild chili powder and ground chipotle.

Either dip or toss in chimichurri and top with some lime pickled peppers and wedges of lime.

Tequila Battered Cauliflower with chipotle chimichurri and lime pickled peppers.

YOU and YOURS will ENJOY because these are FORKING DELICIOUS!

A SPECIAL THANKS to chef Aaron Sanchez for sharing his recipe for Decadent Tequila Battered Cauliflower Tacos.

The Forking Truth

Grocery Shopping During The CoronaVirus Pandemic – Week 8 – Costco Delivery Phoenix AZ (you can’t always get what you want…..or what you need or what you order)

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This week I thought I’d shop at Costco again since the delivery was so great last time. I didn’t need toilet paper or paper towels since the nice delivery person I had last time asked me if I wanted to add them n to my order. That didn’t happen this time but II don’t need those things yet. It’s still the same on line and you can’t order those paper products for delivery. I was surprised that I couldn’t order fresh whole carrots but most things that I wanted to buy I was able to order…………but I wasn’t able to get 🙁

I liked that I could virtually see my order going into the cart.

I also liked that I could add lots of wine.

I liked that my order was to be delivered in around 2 hours.

This time when I got my order I noticed that I didn’t get my major things that I needed for my lunches next week (romaine lettuce and spinach). We were also missing my husband’s meat and cheese roll up snacks that he likes. It’s no biggy but instead of oranges I got tangerines. I also got a few things that I didn’t order like apples, bananas and mangos….Oh my!

We texted the delivery driver to see if she would fix things and never heard back that whole day.

We waited an hour and didn’t hear back so I filled out the questioner from Costco and I got this before their response.

Then I got this.

I asked for a refund.

That’s how my Grocery Shopping from Costco delivery went week 8 of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Forking Truth

Cucumbers with Radish Sprouts, Rainbow Baby Bell Peppers Feta, Mint and Urfa Pepper Recipe

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I had 4 English cucumbers and came up with a Middle Eastern Inspired cucumber salad. It’s light and delicious. It’s not very spicy but does have a small amount of mild heat. I’ve found that radish sprouts not only look pretty but also make any cucumber salad extra delicious. I made this salad with ground Aleppo pepper and Urfa pepper that you might have to order on-line. I’ve found them at my local Asian Market. My idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size.

Ingredients for around 6 servings.

4 English cucumbers – ends trimmed and sliced (you can use regular cucumbers with seeds removed or Persian cucumbers would be best but I don’t know how many would equal 4 English cucumbers)

7 rainbow baby bell peppers with end and core remove. Slice into rings.

1/2 sweet onion – sliced

1/4 cup fresh mint leaves – chopped

2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro – chopped

2 Tablespoons fresh parsley leaves – chopped

1 cup radish sprouts

4 oz feta – crumbled (preferably a less tangy less salty one)

1 Tablespoon Urfa pepper

1 Meyer lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

1 orange – just the fresh squeezed juice

2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 garlic clove – ground to paste or microplane

1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper

Directions

In a big bowl add the cucumbers, baby bells, sweet onion, mint, cilantro, parsley and radish sprouts. Set to the side.

In a small bowl mix up the olive oil, lemon juice, orange juice, salt, garlic and Aleppo peppers and mix well and add to big bowl of cucumbers.

Add the feta cheese and urfa pepper and mix well. Top the cucumber salad with the peppered feta.

Enjoy!

Cucumbers with Radish Sprouts, Rainbow Baby Bell Peppers, Feta, Mint and Urfa Pepper
The Forking Truth

My Forking Thoughts on Lay’s Thai Taste Green Curry Potato Chips

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I was looking for some unusual chips to try and I found these Thai Taste Lay’s Green Curry flavored Potato Chips from Thailand. It’s a medium size bag that weighs less than 3 oz.

Here’s the back.

Here’s the ingredients.

One of the ingredients is packing gas? ….OMG did someone fart into the bag?

Another ingredient is natural identical flavor…LOL WTFork is that?

Anyway I open up the bag and take a whiff.

It smells delicious like green curry.

I pour some chips out.

They are very small ridged chips that feel powdery.

Gosh they actually taste better than green curry from some restaurants.

These chips are full of lots of flavors and some heat.

I taste coconut milk and lemongrass the most.

Next I taste chillies, garlic, shallots, lime and fish sauce a little bit of sweet and something sort of gingery and salt.

Not sure what else is in here but these chips have a very good flavor.

If you are a fan of Thai Green Curry then you should be a fan of Lay’s Thai Taste Green Curry Potato Chips.

Worth a Fork!

Your opinion may differ.

The Forking Truth

Stir Fried Chicken Recipe

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I throw together this chicken and got the idea to marinate it similar to the way I did ramen eggs. It was pretty easy to stir fry and came out FORKING AMAZING! After I stir fried the chicken I stir fried quick cooking vegetables with a little garlic, oil, soy sauce and mirin. WOW! It taste as FORKING AMAZING as it smells! My husband gave me the greatest compliments on it too and he usually isn’t a fan of Asian Food. The chicken also came out super moist delicious and perfect. I wasn’t planning on publishing this so I didn’t measure exact but this is really easy to wing.

Ingredients for around 2 dinners

1 – 1/2 breast of chicken (around a pound raw) without skin and bone – butterfly and remove tender – half the butterfly – cut across into strips about as wide as your finger.

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup mirin

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon granulated garlic

around 4 cups vegetables mostly soft (I used a carrot sliced like spaghetti, 1/2 onion slice thin, handful snow peas, handful snap peas, cup cabbage (chopped) and maybe 2 cups zucchini that was spiral cut.

1 hot pepper sliced paper thin or fine chop (I used a Serrano)

3 garlic cloves – ground to paste or microplane

2 tablespoons canola oil

splash soy sauce

splash mirin

4 pinches toasted sesame seeds (to finish)

fresh cilantro (around two Tablespoons to finish)

few shakes togarashi if you have it.

crushed sea salt to taste (not much)

fresh ground pepper to taste

optional non stick spray (I started the chicken in a regular fry pan that isn’t non stick)

optional ramen eggs to finish with.

Directions

Depending on the pan you are using you need to add a little oil or non stick spray and put your pan on high heat. The chicken only needs only a short time and you start pushing the pieces around so it browns all over. Maybe a total of two minutes to cook the chicken. Put the chicken to the side in a big bowl.

Add oil to the pan. Start frying up the harder vegetables till they are almost done. Remove them and add them to your bowl of chicken. Add the sauces and garlic and softer vegetables. Add them to bowl. Salt and pepper slightly or to taste. Serve it up and top with cilantro, sesame seeds, optional togarashi. Finish with ramen eggs if you already made them.

Ramen eggs are easy to prepare and are very delicious. Slow boil eggs for 7 minutes and then they go into ice bath. They need to marinate over night in equal parts of soy sauce mirin and water.

Stir Fried Chicken and Vegetables

Then when I threw this into a bowl to eat it looked like this.

FORKING DELICIOUS!

The Forking Truth