Tag Archives: #foodies

Yuzu Honey Ginger Beets with Melon Sweet Basil and Pistachios

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I had some yuzu juice that I had to use up and I thought it would go well with beets so I made infused red beets and marinated chioggia (candy stripe) beets with yuzu, honey, and ginger. This flavor goes pretty well with melon sweet basil and pistachios. You can add any greens that you have to go with it. I made a Chinese Mustard deviled eggs to go with it. I didn’t add that recipe because I only added Chinese Mustard to the egg yolks and nothing else. The egg whites were seasoned with furikake and the yolk part was deviled with togarashi seasoning.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

1 lb red beets – peeled and cut in slices

1 chioggia beet – peeled and thinly sliced across the beet

1 cup + 3 Tablespoons yuzu juice separated

1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon honey separated

4 Tablespoons + 2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar separated

1/2 teaspoon + 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger separated

1/4 teaspoon + pinch ground white pepper separated

1/2 teaspoon + 1/4 teaspoon Red Boat Salt separated

1/2 a small sweet melon of any sort. Make melon balls

1/4 cup torn basil

2 oz salted roasted pistachios – lightly crushed

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Mix together the marinate for the chioggia (candy stripe) beets. In a small bowl mix together the 3 Tablespoons yuzu juice, 2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar, 1 Tablespoon honey, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon Red Boat salt, and a pinch of white pepper. Mix well and add this and the thinly sliced chioggia beets to a quart size ziplock bag to marinate in the refrigerator.

Place red beet slices in a mostly single layer in a pan or baking dish.

In a bowl mix together the remaining yuzu juice, honey, vinegar, ginger, pepper, and salt. Pour this over the beets and cover the pan or dish. Place this in the oven on a middle rack till beets are tender (around an hour). You can serve the beets either warm or chilled with the marinated beets, melon balls, basil and pistachios. Add a few greens if you like.

SERVE.

Yuzu Honey Ginger Beets with Melon, Sweet Basil, and Pistachios

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

Cooking with Dogs

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You wouldn’t understand unless you have or had dogs. Today is just a “FLUFF” story. This is what it’s like in my house when I’m cooking with dogs,

Up above is my big dog with my smaller dog in the kitchen. They were very interested in what I was making……I think they both are smiling at me trying to butter me up so I’d give them a taste of something.

There is cheese on the counter. The smaller dog thinks all the cheese in the house is his.

I am making polenta cakes. This dog is waiting for it.

Real polenta takes around 40 minutes to cook. This dog has been waiting 40 minutes.

I’m putting chicken in the sous vide. My bigger dog is very interested in that and stretches out to occupy almost the whole kitchen.

My smaller dog is eyeing up the eye roast I just made.

I just made Jodhpuri Tawa chicken and I’m also portioning pastrami. Looks like someone is hoping that I drop some his way.

He’s checking out a New York Strip that I sous vide and then seared. He’s hoping that it jumps off the plate.

He’s supervising me removing the silver skin from an eye roast.

Both of them are waiting for something.

He’s waiting for something cooking in the oven.

He’s waiting for some brisket.

He’s eyeing up another eye roast.

The big dog doesn’t usually get in my way. She admires from a far and is already licking her lips.

Interested in another steak I made.

Always interested in perfect chicken from the sous vide getting portioned out for lunches.

Both dogs are always interested in the food but the large dog has better manors and doesn’t get up in my way.

Smoking a pastrami

Large dog feels the need to guard oven with the precious pastrami.

They are delighted with the results.

Interested in oven fries. Well they were a really great batch.

I don’t know why but he is there for the vegetarian andouille squash sausage that I made.

I think I like this picture of both dogs in the kitchen best so I played with it on www.LunaPic.com and came up with this.

That was cooking with dogs. You wouldn’t understand unless you have or had dogs.

The Forking Truth

Carrot Parsnip Lime Soup with Cilantro Recipe Milk Street Style

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I subscribe to Milk Street Magazine. They sent me a recipe in an email called carrot-lime soup with cilantro that they say is a riff on a recipe by Alice Walters. I happened to have carrots and parsnips that I needed to use up so I thought this recipe seemed great since it comes out to be a creamy rich soup that is WITHOUT butter and cream. I made very slight changes. You can’t change this up too much because carrot doesn’t have a strong flavor. My biggest change wasn’t on purpose to change the recipe…I didn’t have enough carrots and happened to have parsnips to use. I think I might have accidentally improved the flavor with parsnips but parsnips can be difficult and sometimes you really need to remove the woody core they sometimes have. I also substituted onion for shallots and added a few garlic cloves. I thought a little added white pepper and a small pinch of cinnamon would be good so I added that too.

Ingredients for around 4 smaller servings

1 lb carrots – peeled, cut up in smaller pieces

3 large parsnips or around 1/2 lb parsnips (you might need to remove woody cores of parsnips. Peel and cut into smaller pieces

3 garlic cloves – chop

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil + more for serving

2 Tablespoons cilantro + 1/2 cup – chopped

1 lime zest & juice separated

2 jalapeños – stem and core removed – small chopped and separate (you need one for the soup and one for the garnish)

1 sweet onion – minced and divided in half

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

small pinch cinnamon

optional some sour cream or crema for serving

Directions

In a large sauce pot heat up the oil till it is shimmering. Add the carrots, parsnips, 2 Tablespoons cilantro, lime zest, one jalapeño, 1/2 the onion, coriander, salt, stirring occasionally. Cover till vegetables are fork tender. Add 4-5 cups of water and bring to a boil. Meanwhile in a small bowl combine the remaining jalapeño, onion, cilantro and lime juice. season with salt and pepper. Set to the side. The soup is ready to puree…Be careful when using a blender. It is safer to use a blending wand. Taste and adjust if necessary.

Serve with cold vegetable garnish, a little olive oil and optional sour cream or crema.

Carrot Parsnip Lime Soup with Cilantro

Enjoy!

A special thanks to Milk Street to get me off my ass to prepare this healthy style soup that I needed to make.

The Forking Truth

Rocket Burger & Subs Phoenix AZ – A World of Sodas and Is Where Locals Eat

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Rocket Burger and Subs is a small not too fancy restaurant. Obviously they serve burgers and sub sandwiches. A Rocket Burger is a three patty burger. You can get two and single patty burgers but they are thin small burgers so most people need at least two patties. Rocket Burger offers more sodas than you ever knew existed. They also offer plenty of other things. They also offer, beef hot dogs, submarine sandwiches, pastrami, chicken sandwiches, fish sandwiches, soft serve ice cream, and a children’s menu. Did I mention soda? HUNDREDS of sodas, craft sodas and more! Prices are very low. Single cheeseburgers are only $5.79, double cheeseburgers are only $6.99, and Rocket Cheeseburgers are $11.99 (prices are subject to change). The food isn’t fancy and the beef is fresh and not from frozen. It’s only fast food priced and it’s better than fast food. That is why locals eat here.

It’s very casual here. You grab a soda like one of the hundreds of root and birch beers or maybe something exotic? Like lemon meringue..

Huckleberry

Or orthodox kosher grape

This one might not be kosher…………chocolate maple bacon

Then you order at the counter.

You seat yourself and they run your order to you when it is ready.

Below are a few of the offerings that you can enjoy from Rocket Burger.

New York burger (pastrami & slaw) with fries and a Frostie Root Beer

Double bacon cheeseburger

cornmeal coated onion rings

fried zucchini

crispy chicken salad

pescado de cottete (also known as the Mexican fish sandwich…This is really delicious! This is my favorite here…) with a cucumber soda.

double cheeseburger topped with a fried chili and a Kutztown birch beer.

Take out – double cheeseburger with fried onions

Take out – chicken sandwich

Take out – Santa Fe double bacon cheeseburger topped with a fried chili….To the right is a Mexican fish sandwich (I think they gave me extra fish by accident in this photo?)

crispy garlic chicken sandwich with fries and a fried chili

fried chili (was only $1.)

Philly cheesesteak double burger with fries

Rocket Burger can be a blast!

Rocket Burger is a world of sodas and a place where locals eat.

www.TheRocketBurger.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

A Taste of The Toast Craft Kitchen & Cocktails in Surprise AZ – Newly Opened

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The Toast Craft Kitchen & Cocktails recently opened in a strip-mall in Surprise Arizona. It’s in the spot where Amuse Bouche used to be. This is a full service restaurant that offers a weekend brunch, lunch and dinner. The menu is American but leans towards Mediterranean. On the regular menu they offer appetizers, sharing boards, salads, sandwiches, entrees and desserts.

They offer patio dining.

They have a bar area.

This is the main dining area.

We started with a sharing board called The Italian.

It’s a generous tray with lots of fruit (dried & fresh), lots of creamy room temperature cheese, a hot pickled pepper olives, date spread, meats, and soft bread. We both liked the cheese best from this tray…

For dinner I tried the pomegranate salmon.

The fish was nicely seared and was well done but moist inside. It rest over a bed of rice pilaf and charred asparagus. It was drizzled with pomegranate sauce and pomegranate seeds. It was tasty and different.

My husband tried the balsamic marinated hanger steak.

The steak was very tender…but kind of plain……. The fries weren’t timed right and weren’t hot and fresh like they should be.

Well the salmon was good!

I haven’t found a website for The Toast Craft Kitchen and Cocktails but I did notice that they are on Instagram and Facebook.

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Bok Choy Garlic Stems and Chestnuts in Asian Sauce Recipe

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I went to H Mart Korean/American Supermarket and got some interesting garlic stems….I’ve heard of garlic stems but didn’t buy them till today.

I washed a piece off to see what it is like.

Raw – it’s much more tender and sweet than I thought it would be. It does taste like sweet roasted garlic too! I thought it would go well with bok choy in an Asian type of sauce.

I was SMART….I like cooking the bok choy healthy style instead of fried because it comes out good blanched in water seasoned with a little sesame oil. I figured that I can blanch the garlic stems first in the same water to give the water a little garlic taste.

Then I made the sauce and it came to me that chestnuts would be delicious with these flavors and that is how this dish came to be. Serving size is difficult to judge because I don’t know if you want this as a meal or with lots of rice or as a side dish. I think this will make between 4 – 6 servings depending on portion.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

1 lb bok choy – cut in half long ways

1 lb garlic stems – trim off any dried end and cut in edible lengths ( around 1 1/2 inches)

2 teaspoons sesame oil

2-3 Tablespoons gochujang – preferably purchased from an Asian Market (it will taste better….also the different brands taste different) (I buy the one from Korea that comes in tubes and use a whole tube)

1 Tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

7 oz roasted chestnuts – slightly crushed

2 Tablespoons chives for garnishing

1 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds for garnishing

Directions

In a small mixing bowl add the gochujang, honey, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and chestnuts.

Fill a sauce pot around halfway high with water and the sesame oil to boil. add the garlic stems. Boil them around 2 minutes but no more than 3 minutes. Remove after cooked and drain. In the same boiling water add the bok choy bulb end into the water. Let the bulbs boil around three minutes then stir the tops in the water for only a second or two to wilt. When cooked drain. Mix in the gochijang sauce and top with chives and sesame seeds. Serve.

Bok Choy Garlic Stems & Chestnuts in Asian Sauce

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

Smoky Slightly Spicy Aleppo Pepper Cauliflower Vegetable Bowl or Side dish Recipe

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I’ve discovered that smoked paprika and Aleppo pepper taste really delicious together with a little saffron and a few other things. I make cauliflower a lot because it is healthy and low calorie. Another thing that is great about cauliflower is that it taste very neutral so you can jazz it up anyway you like. This was easy and delicious. I just mixed up my dressing for the vegetables in a big bowl with all the vegetables and then I roasted them. Mine got finished with pea sprouts, fresh basil, and roasted salted peanuts. I had a really big cauliflower and this made two meals and 4 side dishes for me. I do note if you only have a medium sized cauliflower that you will have too much seasoning for it and you might need to use slightly less of the dressing.

Ingredients for around 6 servings

1 large head cauliflower broke down into manageable florets

4 radish – cut into thick slices

1/2 large onion – slices

5 oz. seafood mushrooms

1 carrot – peeled if not organic – sliced

1 container pea sprouts (2 oz) – cut off bottoms with peas

1/4 cup basil – torn

1/2 cup roasted salted peanuts – lightly crushed

1 Tablespoon Aleppo pepper

1 Tablespoon smoked paprika

1 pinch saffron – crumbled

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

2 teaspoons sea salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/4 teaspoon granulated onion

2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 Tablespoons jalapeño brine (preferably from TheForkingTruth.com pickled jalapeño recipe or purchased from a farmer’s market.

Set your oven to 400 degrees F

In a large mixing bowl combine the Aleppo pepper, smoked paprika, saffron, white pepper, salt, black pepper, garlic, onion, oil, and brine. Now add the cauliflower, radish, onion, carrot, mushrooms. Mix well. Spread out on a baking sheet.

Roast on the middle rack in a preheated oven at 400 degrees F. Roast until you get brown crispy edges. (Mine took 35 minutes but timing can differ)

Take out and top with fresh basil, pea sprouts and crushed peanuts.

Smoky Slightly Spicy Aleppo Pepper Cauliflower Bowl or side dish

This is delicious as a bowl with or without meat and is also delicious ass a side dish.

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

Jetza Pizza Restaurante & Gelateria Glendale AZ – Tiny Italian Restaurant with a Great BIG Menu

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Jetza Pizza Restaurante & Gelateria is located in Old Town Glendale Arizona. This is a TINY Italian restaurant with a great big menu. They are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. On the menu are many things and many things like appetizers, wings, house made soups, salads, sandwiches, subs, pasta, dinners, Italian combination plates, pizzas, calzones, a children’s menu, desserts and of course gelato. And there are also dishes that you might not expect like pastrami, Italian nachos, green Chile Alfredo pasta, and jalapeño fried cheese ravioli.

A lot of bright light comes in threw the glass front.

It’s not a fancy place but it seems clean.

I didn’t notice alcohol here but I do see that they offer a variety of Italian sodas.

We started out by sharing a Greek salad. It was split in half on two plates for us.

The house made dressing is pretty good. The salad is fresh and crisp and is a very generous portion.

We shared a margherita pizza.

They added sliced tomatoes to it and used a generous amount of fresh basil. It’s a good pizza but I’m not sure what kind of style that it is…It’s a a cross between a Neapolitan and a Sicilian. It’s crisp on the bottom, thick, chewy and firm.

We also shared a combination plate called the Venecia of chicken parmesan, spinach tortellini and pasta with pesto sauce that came with garlic toast.

The chicken is moist and the pastas were heated up well. The pesto sauce taste like it was made with dried basil.

Portions were very large and prices were low.

Service was very attentive.

That was a little taste of Jetza Pizza Restaurante & Gelateria in Old Town Glendale AZ.

www.JetzaPizzaPHX.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

A Taste of Brunch at Campo Italian Bistro in Scottsdale AZ – Worth a Fork

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Campo Italian Bistro is a casual full service Italian Restaurant located in Scottsdale Arizona. This restaurant is brought to you by a group called Genuine Concepts Group that also have at least five other restaurants or bars in metro Phoenix. Campo Restaurant is unique and does differ a bit on the menu and from the atmosphere of other Italian restaurants.

On the menu for brunch they offer a full bar, baked goods, coffee, fresh juices, toast plates, salads, pizzas, classic breakfast plates with an Italian twist, panini and more.

They offer seating at the bar and inside by the bar are high top tables.

They also offer seating on the patio.

And traditional table seating.

On the special board was a snack of the day that we tried called goat cheese mousse with apples, beets pistachios and a cheese crisp.

It was tasty and not too much.

For brunch I went with the arugula salad with added salmon.

The salad with made with arugula, marinated fennel, pistachios, and citrus vinaigrette. The salmon seemed very fresh and was a good quality really moist salmon with a very crispy seasoned skin. The flavors all worked well together.

My husband had the Italian ham and cheese (prosciutto, asparagus, fontina, béchamel, and fried egg on country bread).

It’s basically an Italian croque madame with potatoes on the side.

I’d say that brunch at Campo Italian Bistro is certainly – Worth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

Previous dishes we tried at Campo Italian Bistro were –

stracchio cheese plate

artisan cheese plate

creste pasta

crispy salmon entree

semifreddo

www.CampoItalian.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Three Cheese Mac and Cheese With Pickled Shallots and Mushrooms Recipe

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I had raclette cheese that was getting old and I also happened to have gruyere cheese, shallots and a few more things that I needed to use up. I came across a recipe for macaroni and cheese with pickled shallots and I thought that sounds interesting. I started to follow that recipe and found many errors in the recipe. The sauce was a little flat until I fixed it. The BIGGEST problem that the recipe had was that it used TWICE as much pasta as I put in it…..I’m thinking that it must be a misprint…It would come out bone dry with twice as much pasta……..I fixed up the recipe as I was going along. And it did come out FORKING DELICIOUS>>>>Serving size is difficult to judge. I don’t know if you want a lot of little portions or big portions. It will make around 8 good sized portions.

Ingredients for around 8 portions.

1 cup thinly sliced shallots

1/2 cup leftover mushrooms or around a cup of thin sliced mushrooms that you cook up

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon sea salt + salt to boil pasta

2 teaspoons sugar

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup corn starch

5 cups non fat milk (I used nonfat powdered milk and added HOT water to it.) If you use regular milk you need to heat it up.

14 oz gruyere cheese – grated

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

8 oz cavatappi pasta

14 oz raclette cheese – Most of this cheese is for topping the dish…I only used around a 1/2 cup added to the sauce. ( mine came in slices from Costco and I reserved 10 slices for topping the dish…….You can grate it all and reserve a good amount for topping the dish.

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese – grated

1/4 cup scallions – sliced thin

non stick spray

chives for finishing

Directions

Combine shallots, vinegar, water, sugar, salt in a microwavable bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave three minutes and set to the side. After around ten minutes remove the shallots and add the mushrooms the the pickling solution.

Set the oven to 375 degrees F.

Put a pot of water on to a medium boil with a generous amount of salt in it. When the water starts to boil you add the pasta. You want to cook the pasta 2 minutes less than suggested. Then drain it.

You can start the seconded pot while the pasta is boiling or wait a few more minutes and don’t dirty two pots.

Get out your sauce pot and melt the butter on medium high heat. Whisk in corn starch and whisk constancy till the cornstarch turns light brown and take off the heat. Whisk in the heated milk. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce to simmer and let thicken slightly. Take off the heat and whisk in the gruyere, cheddar and the around a half cup of the raclette cheese. Add the black pepper, white pepper, nutmeg, scallions. Drain the shallots and mushrooms. Add about 1/2 the shallots and all the mushrooms to the cheese mixture and leave it to the side.

Spray a BIG pan or 1/2 buffet pan with non stick spray.

The drained pasta gets mixed with the cheese mixture. Then you put it in the pan.

Top with raclette cheese.

Next top with the remaining pickled shallots

Put in the middle rack of a pre heated 375 degree oven for around 35 minutes.

Add chives if you have any.

Everyone will enjoy!

People will sample it all day long.

The Forking Truth