Levant Inspired Butternut Squash, Chickpeas and Israeli Couscous

I had a butternut squash and Israeli Couscous to use up and this is what I came up with. I have to say it really did come out Forking Amazing! I did use a bunch of ingredients that most people don’t use or have such as zahtar, Aleppo pepper, sumac and urfa pepper. The only ingredient that’s hard to find here is urfa pepper (one of my new favorites). The urfa pepper is more intense than Aleppo and a Spanish pepper called Nora. It’s really delicious. It’s fruity, raisin like,lightly smoky and mild heat. It’s worth your time and money to find the urfa pepper for your own creations because it will make anything you make delicious. The recipe is easy to prepare and is sure to be a #crowdpleaser. Sorry now that I didn’t make a bigger batch. This one is really special.

Ingredients for 4 servings

1 small butternut squash – peeled, seeds removed and cut in bite size pieces

1 15.5 oz can 50% less sodium garbanzo beans – drained and rinsed three times

5 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (1T on garbanzo beans, 2T for butternut squash and 2T for couscous)

1/2 teaspoon urfa pepper

1 Tablespoon zahtar

1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

1 teaspoon sumac

fresh ground sea salt to taste

fresh ground black pepper to taste

1 cup Israeli Couscous

1/3 medium onion – chopped

1 medium tomato – core removed – chopped

3 garlic cloves – sliced razor thin

1 1/2 cups vegetable stock

2 Tablespoons cilantro – chopped

2 Tablespoons parsley – chopped

4 oz goat cheese – crumble it

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F

Place the butternut squash pieces in a medium/large bowl and drizzle two tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle the urfa pepper, and zahtar. Mix well. Place in one layer on a baking sheet(s) and sprinkle  very lightly with a little bit of fresh crushed sea salt and black pepper.

Place the garbanzo beans in a medium bowl. Add one Tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle the Aleppo pepper,seasame seeds and sumac. Mix well and place on a baking sheet in one layer. Sprinkle very lightly with a little fresh crushed sea salt and black pepper.

Place squash pan(s) on the middle rack and the garbanzo pan on the top rack in oven.

Keep the pans in the oven till the beans have a light crisp and the squash is fork tender. In my oven this took thirty minutes.

In your sauce pot on medium high heat add 2 Tablespoons of olive oil and when hot add the couscous. Fry the couscous for about five minutes. Add the onions and cook till transparent. Next add the tomato followed by the garlic. You will smell the garlic soon and then add the stock. Simmer till couscous is done. About ten minutes.

Add fresh crushed sea salt and black pepper to taste.

By now the squash and garbanzo beans are done and carefully stir them into the sauce pan. Mix in the herbs. Serve and sprinkle the cheese on last.

Everyone will FORKING Enjoy this one!

Levant Inspired Butternut Squash and Israeli Couscous

The Forking Truth

Italian Style Eggplant White Bean Dip

I had a couple of extra eggplants so I decided to make an Italian type seasoned healthy dip. I made this dip with minimal amounts of oil. I used just enough to make the dip taste good. Besides Olive oil this dip is fat free. This dip is healthy and delicious.

Ingredients for about 8 servings

2 eggplants

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 very large lemon or 2 regular lemons – (just the fresh squeezed juice)

15 oz can 50% less sodium white beans – drained and rinsed three times. (50% less sodium beans don’t taste as canned as regular beans)

2 garlic cloves – ground to paste

3 Calabrian chili peppers – chopped fine (or substitute a hot red jarred chili that you enjoy to taste but the Calabrian chili is recommended)

1 teaspoon fresh chopped fine rosemary

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

fresh crushed black pepper to taste

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

about 1/2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil per portion to finish

about 1/2 teaspoon reduced balsamic vinegar per portion to finish

Directions

Set oven at 350 degrees F.

Wash the eggplants and slice them in half long ways. Place the eggplants in a baking dish. Score the eggplants on a diagonal in both directions like in the photo below.

Pour the lemon juice over the eggplants and then pour the olive oil over the eggplants. Roast until the tops are very dark brown (but not hard black) and the eggplants are squishy. (about one hour to one hour 15 minutes) like in picture below.

The eggplant then gets scraped out like the same way you do avocados, mangos and dragon fruit.

Blend up the eggplant. Add the rest of ingredients except finishing ingredients and blend. I prefer the dip slightly chunky so I don’t blend completely smooth.

Place in dish. Make well and fill with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Serve with vegetables and or crusty bread.

It’s delicious and healthy!

Italian Style Eggplant White Bean Dip

The Forking Truth

Portuguese Inspired Meatloaf and Sauce

I was reading about Portuguese Cuisine and read that common flavors in Portuguese Cuisine are Piri Piri, Cinnamon, Paprika and Bayleaf. I thought that would be easy to put in a meatloaf so that’s what I did. The Piri Piri Pepper is hard to come by so I used Nando’s Brand Piri Piri Sauce that contains real Piri Piri Peppers. For the sauce I used slow roasted tomatoes that I cooked at 200 degrees F for most of a day that are very concentrated and sweet. You can use canned or roasted but your tomatoes might not be as sweet so you might have to adjust and add sugar. I served the meatloaf with black rice cooked in vegetable broth with black beans.

Ingredients for 8 servings

1/2 medium sweet onion – chopped fine

3 garlic cloves – ground to paste

2 XL eggs – slightly beaten

1 Tablespoon vegetarian soup base (This is instead of salt as it’s salt with flavor)

3/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 Tablespoons Hot Piri Piri sauce (I used Nando’s Brand)

1/3 cup lager

1 cup panko bread crumbs (I used whole wheat)

1 lb ground turkey

1/4 cup parsley

non stick spray

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (for sauce)

14 oz cooked tomatoes (mine were slow roasted and concentrated, you might need sugar) (for sauce)

1 red bell pepper – chopped fine (for sauce)

1/2 medium sweet onion – chopped fine (for sauce)

1 celery rib – chopped fine (for sauce)

4 garlic cloves – ground to paste (for sauce)

1 Tablespoon – course sea salt (for sauce)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper (for sauce)

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (for sauce)

5 bay leaves (for sauce)

8 black olives – quartered (for sauce)

Directions set oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray baking sheet(s) with non stick spray.

In a large mixing bowl combine 1/2 onion, 3 ground garlic cloves, eggs, soup base, 3/4 black pepper, 1 teaspoon thyme, both paprikas, cinnamon, piri piri sauce, lager and panko. Mix well.

Mix in the turkey and parsley. The mixture will be extremely moist. Measure out  the individual meatloaf in 4 ounce portions and place on sprayed baking sheet(s) like this.

Place them in the oven for 20 minutes or until cooked and then remove from oven.

To make the sauce

Put a sauce pot on medium high heat with the olive oil. When hot add the bell pepper, onions and celery and salt. Cook till tender. Add garlic till mixture seems fragrant. Add the remaining ingredients. The sauce might be ready in a few minutes depending on how your tomatoes are…Cook till you think your tomatoes are ready and do a taste test for seasoning. You might need a small amount of sugar if your tomatoes aren’t sweet enough. REMEMBER TO REMOVE THE BAY LEAVES).

Enjoy!

Portuguese Inspired Meatloaf with Sauce

Delicious!

The Forking Truth

Buffalo Blue Cheese Topping For Potato Pancakes

I got this idea for Buffalo Blue Cheese Potato Pancakes. Well……..The pancakes came out good but not infused with much buffalo blue cheese flavor…so I came up with a topping for the pancakes. Potato pancakes are pretty easy to prepare and you don’t really need a recipe for them. Basically for about 35 pancakes that freeze well you need about 3 lbs potatoes shredded mixed with a whole grated onion mix in with potatoes (doesn’t turn brown) squeeze out liquid and mix with about two eggs, 1/2 cup of some kind of starch and season. Potato pancakes normally get served with sour cream and chives or sometimes apple sauce. But like I said earlier I got this Buffalo Blue Cheese idea….This topping taste terrific. It’s got this amazing melty texture and it’s very flavorful. A thin spread goes a long way here. You might want to use it on bagels and other things like on sandwiches too. I’m thinking maybe it can kick up a grilled cheese sandwich in an interesting way too. Well anyways it sure makes the Potato Pancake a little more fun and tasty!

Ingredients for about 12 servings

12 oz whipped cream cheese – room temperature

7 Tablespoons cayenne pepper sauce (preferably Franks Red Hot)

4 Tablespoons dijon mustard

4 oz sweet butter – room temperature

1 Tablespoon sugar

7 oz blue cheese

Directions

Get a large bowl and mix in ingredients one at a time in order until done.

Buffalo Blue Cheese Topping For Potato Pancakes

Forking Delicious!

The Forking Truth