I found a page of recipes for Din Tai Fung Style Cucumber Salad when I searched Persian Cucumbers on the web. I read each recipe. Most were the same or similar but a few were different. Since I never tasted Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad I don’t know what it taste like or what recipe is the most similar. I came up with something that is similar but different. They came out light and refreshing and would be a great appetizer to an Asian Style meal. My idea of serving size will differ from your idea of serving size. I can see two people eating this batch since it doesn’t make much but I can also see this as four lighter small servings.
Ingredients for 4 servings
5 Persian Cucumbers – ends trimmed – cut in inch high chunks
1 1/2 Tablespoon kosher salt (to sweat cucumbers)
3 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons mirin
2 Tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seed oil
1 1/2 teaspoon chili garlic sauce (or to taste)
splash soy sauce
Directions
In a medium bowl add the cucumber chunks and the salt. Mix well and leave the cucumbers sweat for 20 minutes. Then rinse and dry the cucumber chunks. In a small bowl mix up the vinegar, mirin, honey, oil, chili paste and soy sauce. In a zip lock bag (I only needed a sandwich size bag) add the rinsed off and dried cucumber chunks and the liquid mixture. Try to push air out as you zip lock the bag and refrigerate over night and serve tomorrow.
Dining out can be deadly these days during the pandemic. Take out is a less risky option. All restaurants are struggling and we have little else to do these days anyway so we are giving as much support as we can to restaurants.
Our first take out of the week was from a small casual Mediterranean/Greek restaurant Pita Kitchen in Glendale (#UpperWestSide). I didn’t go in to pick up but my husband said that they installed more plexiglass inside for our safety.
Pita Kitchen bakes their own fresh pita bread that is always delicious. I usually get the chicken kabob Greek Salad. The kabob always taste delicious with lots of flavors and always has a delicious char. 18 out 20 times it is also juicy. My husband usually gets the gyro meat on a Greek Salad.
My dogs always love Pita Kitchens’ food.
Next Take Out was from Fabio On Fire in Peoria (#UpperWestSide). This is a small Italian Restaurant that offers Neapolitan Pizzas, various Italian dishes, amazing breads and desserts (FORKING FABULOUS Gelato). They have a 100% contact free curbside transaction. You order and pay online and all the communication is done by text. They sanitize a table and your order is placed there.
We got family style pear salad, pappardelle con fungi and peach gelato. Everything was very good. Portions were very large. P.S. That peach gelato is the best in the whole wide WORLD. Fabio should go to shark tank to sell his gelato across America….YES IT’S THAT FABULOUS!
Pups were happy to try a little cheese from the salad.
We also did take out from Scotts Generations Restaurant and Delicatessen in Phoenix. They offer breakfast dishes and delicatessen favorites.
My husband got a pastrami sandwich (or actually 2) I got the smoked fish supreme platter and tomorrow we will try the latkes for breakfast. My platter is a really great value. My platter is large and I get three meals out of it. One of the fish I pick is Lake Sturgeon…..I don’t think any other restaurant sells it in Phoenix and it cost around $40. a pound. My platter also comes with a bagel, cream cheese, cole slaw, potato salad, fresh made pickles and vegetables. It’s a nice treat to have once in a while. We also like that Scott’s is open on most of the holidays.
Our dogs were very excited to try some of Scott’s.
FnB in Scottsdale had a take out special on fried chicken so we got two. In case you have been living under a rock…..FnB is co-owned by a James Bead award winning chef Charleen Badman so if she offers a take out special like this it would be advisable to try it.
Half a fried chicken with a peach and feta salad, macaroni and corn salad and potato salads. This is also way more food than anyone can possibly eat. But WOW! This take out was GREAT! Reminds me oof a similar take out from Thomas Kellers’ Ad Hoc. His fried chicken was also fabulous but FnBs’ sides are far more detailed and delicious!
Dogs are yappy….I mean happy to try some.
Last Take Out of the week was from Aioli Burgers in Phoenix. I heard about a Nashville Hot Chicken Style Sandwich that was on special for the Fourth of July….But it was Sunday the fifth and they were still offering them so we decided to give them a try.
We each got a Nashville Style Hot Chicken Sandwich with a side of roasted vegetables. Our sandwiches were suppose to come with green chili aioli but the aioli was forgotten….or maybe they ran out?. The sandwiches are tasty and the chicken is moist. They aren’t very spicy but they are tasty as chicken sandwiches. As per usual my dogs helped with the large portion of chicken. (I removed the coating for them since it might contain spices and vinegar that are not good for dogs)
“We are in this thing together!”
That was take out in metro Phoenix week 16 of the coronavirus pandemic.
We went to-
Pita Kitchen – Glendale/#UpperWestSide
Fabio On Fire – Peoria/#UpperWestSide
Scott’s Generations Restaurant and Delicatessen – Phoenix
FnB – Scottsdale
Aioli Burgers – Phoenix
Everything is subject to change and we hope it does for the better.
Safeway had ten pound bags of chicken quarters (8 quarters) on sale for 59cents a pound and I was thinking about a delicious Ethiopian dish I had at Abyssinia Restaurant and Cafe in Phoenix AZ called Doro Wat. It’s the national dish of Ethiopia and is a delicious spicy robust chicken stew served with a hard boiled egg and it normally comes with spongy but light Ethiopian Bread called injera. It might not be for everyone because it is spicy…..but it truly is really delicious. Another thing you must know is that this takes two or three days to prepare. One day to make the onions and to let them cool overnight. Next day cook the chicken. Third day is optional…..I used third day to chill the Doro Wat sauce to remove the fat that comes to the surface (some people might prefer to keep the fat) I make chicken stews all the time but I wasn’t sure of the seasonings that go in Doro Wat so I read every recipe that I could find on the internet for Doro Wat. The base of the sauce besides all the spices are onions. Different people prepare the onions differently but I read on one website that the onions are traditionally cooked in the oven. Anyways I picked the seasonings from the recipe from food.com because the person that wrote the recipe was someone named Zurie from Africa. Also Zurie’s Berbere seemed the most complex of the Berbere Mixtures I came across. I made her stew different because I used whole chicken quarters with skin and bone so I have to cut out all the extra fat that she put into her recipe from using boneless. I also added around a cup of red wine. I read on someone else’s recipe that Ethiopian Mead is normally added to this dish so I got the idea to add red wine. Did a few other minor changes. You might not need to make as much as I did but this freezes well incase you want to know. My 10 pound bag of chicken quarters made 10 four ounce portions of chicken and a little extra chicken. I cut Zurie’s recipe for Berbere in half because she makes enough Berbere for TWENTY POUNDS of chicken. Half is just right for 10 pounds (my bag contained 8 quarters). This recipe makes around 10 servings. My idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size.
Ingredients for 10 servings
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cardamon seed
1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground clove
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1 Tablespoon sea salt
1/4 cup cayenne powder
1/4 cup sweet paprika
10 pounds chicken quarters
3 large sweet onions – fine chopped or grated
1 whole head garlic – peeled – fine chopped (around 13 cloves)
13 oz slow cooked peeled tomatoes (you can use canned but you might need to adjust sugar and or salt)
1 Tablespoon honey
1 cup red wine
1 Tablespoon vegetable soup base (instead of salt is less sodium and adds more flavors)
non stick spray
optional water to thin sauce to your liking
Directions
Get two small bowls. Make the Zurie’s Berbere Spice Mixture.
In one small bowl add all the spice powders (ginger, nutmeg, coriander, cinnamon, clove, allspice, salt, cayenne, paprika). In the other small bowl add all the spice seeds (cardamon, fenugreek). The spice seeds get heated till fragrant. You can do this either in a pan, the oven or the microwave. (I like doing it in the oven best………like 300 degrees 5 minutes). Then the seeds have to cool off. Then you can grind them and add them to the powders and mix well. This is the Berbere Spice Mixture. Set to the side.
Set oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray a large pan or 1/2 buffet pan with non stick spray.
In a large bowl add the onions, garlic, 3 Tablespoons berbere spice, cooked tomatoes, wine, honey and salt. Mix well and add to pan. Cover with foil and cook for an hour. Leave on counter to cool off and blend. Refrigerate over night and cook tomorrow.
Next day cook chicken.
Set oven to 350 degrees F.
You will need about three big pans. Rub chicken all over with all the remaining berbere spice mixture. Lay out the chicken in the pans and add the onion mixture on top of the chicken.
Cover tight with foil and cook still chicken is tender and falling off the bones (skin will not be edible). (timing will differ but this will be 2 hours or slightly less like one hour 45 minutes) While the chicken is cooking you might want to boil some eggs to serve with the meal…..
Use tongs and remove the chicken quarters from the sauce. They are too hot to mess with so you need to let them cool some. At this time you can blend the sauce again to get it smoother. Depending on how thick the sauce came out you might want to add some water to thin it down.
Next part is optional……I like to remove the fat from the sauce so I chill the sauce over night.
The next day.
The fat is easy to remove from the top. You can save it because it full if delicious flavors and can make a delicious dumpling or pastry if you care to.
It’s a Forking Delicious dish!
Ethiopian Style Chicken Stew
A special THANKS to Zurie from www.Food.com for her amazing Berbere Recipe. Without it I wouldn’t have made such a delicious dish.
I thought it would be fun to try some foreign Lay’s Potato Chips that I can’t buy here in America. Thailand seemed to offer the most flavors at reasonable pricing so I tried a few bags. I liked that these are extra small snack bags. They only contained HALF OUNCE of potatoes chips in each bag.
The first one I’m trying is the Salted Egg Flavor.
I open the bag and take a whiff…..It smells sort of like an egg yolk.
I taste a chip.
It has a nice texture. It kind of taste like it was rubbed with an egg yolk…..It’s not bad…but it’s not a chip that I crave….But not bad…so that’s a win! (Ok-Good)
The back of the bags do have the ingredients in English but they are very hard to read.
Now I’ll try the Extreme Hot Chili Flavor.
I open up the bag and spill some out. These smell kind of good….sort of cayenne pepper. I eat one. YES very hot but it doesn’t hurt or sting. Yipes they do build with heat…..still good…not bad…another win. (OK-Good)
I was saving the Sweet Basil for last because I thought it would be my favorite since I love sweet basil.
I open the bag and take a whiff………I was expecting basil but this isn’t basil…….These smell strange. They smell like burnt cake. YUK! THESE ARE REALLY AWFUL! They don’t even taste like food. Sorry I can’t eat them. (The BIG SUCK!)
Just like American Lay’s the flavors go all over the place – from surprisingly good, good, ok, not so great and the big suck!.
Those were my FORKING Thoughts on Thailand Lay’s – Salted Egg, Extreme Hot Chili Flavor and Sweet Basil.
Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.
You know that saying when life gives you lemons that you got to make lemon-aid? Well I was sort of gifted with more yellow squash than I could eat. So I made my last two pounds of yellow squash into faux sour kraut that isn’t too sour. Actually it taste better than most sour krauts out there and it’s quick and easy to prepare. Two pounds seems like a lot of squash but this shrinks down a lot. This will stay fresh around up to three weeks. My idea of serving size will differ from yours. This makes at least 6 servings.
Ingredients for 6 servings
2 lbs yellow squash – thin spiral cut
1 large sweet onion – sliced very thin on mandolin
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
9 juniper berries – ground
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
Directions
In a large mixing bowl combine the spiral cut yellow squash and mix well with the thinly sliced onions and set to the side.
In a small bowl combine the vinegar, sugars, salt, juniper berry powder, caraway seeds and mustard seeds and mix well. (you can heat to dissolve sugar and salt but it isn’t necessary because it melts as it sits)
At this point it is easier to put the squash/onion mixture in a gallon zip lock bag and pour the vinegar mixture into the bag. Scrape out anything that didn’t dissolve in the bowl and add it to the squash mixture. Squeeze the bag mixture and squash things around to distribute as best as you can. Squish out as much air as you can and let this sit out on the counter for an hour. The sugar and salt will cook and sweat the squash. It will be delicious on your food.
Add some to a hotdog, or pastrami or whatever you like kraut on.
Forking Fabulous Almost Instant Kraut Style Yellow Squash
The Collins restaurants are of the restaurant group Common Ground Culinary by a 4th generation restauranteur chef Christopher Collins. The restaurants listed are Grassroots Kitchen and Tap, Wally’s American Gastropub, Twisted Grove Parlor and Bar, The Collins Small Batch Kitchen and the Macintosh. The restaurants are similar….with different but somewhat similar menus of mostly a good variety of American Comfort Food Prepared extremely well and all the restaurants offer marvelous slices of pie. During the pandemic all the Collins restaurants are offering the safer curbside pick up option in addition to limited dine in. (subject to change during these uncertain times)
Below are some trips from Grassroots Kitchen and Tap in Scottsdale.
Scottsdale Location
I usually but not always get some sort of salmon from the Collins restaurants. They prepare salmon better than the majority of places. The salmon is always grilled nicely and cooked reasonably well but never dry. You also never have to worry about rubbery skin or the gross bloodline with any Collins Salmon.
American pastrami on a pretzel bun with cheddar. You can’t see but on the other side of sandwich is jalapeño cheese grits.
We did take out from the Grassroots (Scottsdale) in April.
I took out the house smoked salmon and orzo salad, brisket with cheese grits, beans and that FABULOUS key lime pie (made with 40 hand squeezed key limes).
Next to the Grassroots is Collins Sweet Shop called Sweet Provisions (Scottsdale). They serve ice-cream candy and desserts.
As of today I’ve only been to Wally’s American Gastropub (Scottsdale) once and it was for curbside pick up. I noticed that they do have a large patio that looks spacious.
We took out – pretzel asiago fondue, a veal and spicy pork meatloaf with horseradish mashed potatoes, crispy onions and asparagus. My usual salmon…this one comes with spinach…it might be the lightest of the Collins salmon dishes but it insures room in your stomach for one of the delicious slices of pie. We tried the coconut cream cream pie this day. EVERYTHING was delicious.
We made it to Twisted Grove Parlor (Scottsdale) and Bar.
I had a crispy grouper sandwich there with a side of spaghetti squash.
My husband had house made cavatelli carbonara.
We shared monkey bread for dessert.
We were at The Collins Small Batch Kitchen (Phoenix) a number of times.
Tasty Artichoke appetizer.
From The Collins in Phoenix AZ
The Twisted Noodle Salad is incredibly delicious. It just explodes with flavors. Love this salad.
My husband had a burger that he said was really great…but he wanted the slaw on the side…because he isn’t a fan of most slaws.
We went back again and I had a fish sandwich. Grilled nicely and prepared to perfection. It was served with colorful fresh vegetables.
My husband had the burger again.
. We recently did curbside takeout from The Collins.
I got my usual salmon. I am partial to this one because I really enjoyed the cauliflower and sweet tomatoes that came with it. My husband got the braised beef short ribs with risotto and Brussels sprouts. We shared a Ghirardelli mousse pie for dessert.
We even made it to The Macintosh (Phoenix).
I had a salmon and half chopped salad.
My husband had shrimp and grits.
Salmon with a different half salad.
Shrimp sandwich with grits.
Key Lime Pie made with 40 hand squeezed key limes
That was a little taste of Christopher Collins Common Ground Culinary.
Grassroots Kitchen and Tap – Scottsdale
Wally’s American Gastropub – Scottsdale
Twisted Grove Parlor and Bar – Scottsdale
Sweet Provisions – Scottsdale
The Collins Small Batch Kitchen – Phoenix
The Macintosh – Phoenix
www.CommonGroundCulinary.com
Everything is subject to change and we hope it does for the better.
Going out to eat can be deadly these days during the pandemic. Take out is a less risky option. All restaurants are suffering these days so we are doing take out as much as possible….besides we have little else to do these days……. Our first take out of the week was from Twist Bistro and Gallery in North Scottsdale. They serve modern Mediterranean style food that may contain a “Twist” or two.
We got the take out combo for two special. They gave us these complimentary cheese studded biscuits that were buttery and light as air and delicious. Our appetizer was a everything flatbread topped with a layer of creaminess, house made lox and salad. My dinner was phenomenally cooked chicken that was very moist and flavorful. It came with braised greens, berries, goat cheese and unusual (Twisted gnocchi) that were very goat cheese to me. My husband got the wild boar meatballs with the twist version of gnocchi and were nothing like a traditional gnocchi. We also had a strawberry rhubarb cobbler minus the ice cream because I didn’t want it to melt on our way home. Some things were unusual but everything was delicious.
Our dogs helped me with the large portion of delicious chicken.
Next take out was from Confluence in Carefree. It’s a FORKING AMAZING restaurant that serves incredible Modern Cuisine.
We got spectacular fried chicken that came with unbelievably delicious chili Tepin honey sauce, blue corn bread and shredded snow peas. We also got carnitas with tossed salad, broccoli with hominy and popcorn butter and strawberry cobbler with dessert. Everything was so good it was a treat! The chicken is also an extra large portion and I can get three lunches out of it. Still had plenty to share with the dogs.
Our nest take out was curb side pick up from Wally’s American Gastropub in Scottsdale.
My husband was craving the veal and spicy pork meatloaf with horseradish mashed potatoes, onion strings and jumbo asparagus (he said it was VERY GOOD). We also shared the fresh baked pretzels with asiago fondue, For dinner I had the Norwegian Salmon that comes with caper sauce and spinach. You must get pie when you dine at a Collins Restaurant because his pies are outstanding. This time I tried the coconut cream pie and it was outstanding like all the other Collins pies. Even my husband who HATES coconut said the pie was very good. As usual I had plenty too share with my dogs.
Last Take Out of the week was from Sala Thai in Peoria (#upperWestSide).
We shared egg rolls and I had the spicy lemon chicken salad. My husband had the spicy pork basil. Dogs couldn’t wait to try!
“Don’t worry we are in this thing together”
Week 15 of take out during the coronavirus pandemic.
Twist Bistro and Gallery – North Scottsdale
Confluence – Carefree
Wally’s American Gastropub – Scottsdale
Sala Thai – Peoria (#UpperWestSide)
Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.
Today I made a lasagna. I pulled out some tomato sauce from my freezer. The sauce was made from fresh tomatoes that I peeled and slow cooked for about a day. I have a similar recipe for tomato sauce called winter tomato sauce made from canned tomatoes of you want to try that or just use whatever you normally use. The recipe for sauce is not here. I made the ricotta cheese fresh because they don’t sell good tasting ricotta cheese in my part of Arizona. Then I made the pasta and hand rolled it. I topped the pasta sheet with my lasagna fillings and rolled it up almost like a jelly roll. The hardest part was placing the rolled dough in the bundt pan but it wasn’t impossible either. If you make this the way I did then it will take you 2-3 days to make the lasagna. The sauce I made takes all day. The cheese takes a little over an hour but needs a day to drain. You have to get the cheese very dry and crumbly. I also chilled my dough over night because I had the time. Serving size will indeed differ…same as bundt cake. Little slices are about 16 servings and big gut busting servings are around 8 servings. I got 14 servings for my taste so I will calculate this to be 14 servings. You can freeze leftovers well.
Ingredients for 14 servings
1 gallon whole milk
1 pint heavy cream
2 lemons – just the fresh squeezed juice – (if your lemons are tiny or dry you might need a third lemon
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
2 eggs
3 yolks
1 1/3 cup ap flour plus more for dusting (you might need less or more flour depending on brand…start with one cup and see if you need more
2 pinch sea salt
1 egg
1 Tablespoon fresh parsley – fine chopped
1 lb mozzarella – shredded (**I actually used 9.5 ounces between the layers and put the rest on the top)
1 cup parmesan cheese – grated (plus more for serving)
1/2 cup sharp provolone – grated
scant 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
few grates nutmeg
few grates black pepper
non stick spray
Make the cheese.
Put a gallon of whole milk with a pint of cream and maybe two teaspoons of sea salt in a BIG pot on medium heat and bring to a rolling boil. (this might take about an hour) You want to SLOW BOIL this mixture. When the milk is SLOW BOILING for a few minutes SLOWLY add the lemon juice a little at a time and let it keep boiling to make curds. Scoop out the curds with a strainer and shake out the whey.
Keep going till you get out all the curd. You will have to drain the cheese several times. Best to chill overnight so you can get the cheese nice and extra thick so it comes out right. When the cheese is all completed drained. Mix together all the ricotta (it should be slightly over a pound), 1 egg, 1 Tablespoon fresh parsley, 1 cup grated parmesan, ground white pepper and a few grates of nutmeg. Refrigerate till ready to use.
In another bowl combine around 9 1/2 oz of shredded mozzarella with 1/2 cup shredded provolone and refrigerate till you are ready to roll (the lasagna up).
Next make the dough.
Mix together 2 whole eggs, 3 yolks, 1 Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, 2 pinches of sea salt and between 1 and 1 1/3 cup of flour. (the amount of flour will differ depending on the brand you are using and the humidity. (this dough recipe was based on a Cook’s Country Recipe but the one cup flour never worked out right for me on the 4 times I did this pasta dough and I find that I always need around a third a cup more. I also added the salt because I thought pasta dough needs a little bit of salt. Kneed dough a bit and make it into a ball. Wrap with plastic wrap and chill at least 20 minutes or overnight.
Put it all together.
Spray bundt pan with non stick spray. Set oven to 350 degrees F.
Put around a cup of tomato sauce in non stick sprayed bundt pan and set to the side.
Roll out pasta dough about 22 inches by 16 inches on a very floured surface.
Spread around a thin coating of tomato sauce.
Fill a sandwich bag with the ricotta mixture. Cut tip of bag and make rows of cheese. (I didn’t spread the cheese because I thought I’d rip the thin delicate pasta.)
Use plastic wrap and cover cheese so you can press with your hands and make a smooth cheese layer.
Add grated cheese mixture.
Add more sauce.
Roll up like a jelly roll. (from long side)
(next time I might add a sheet of plastic wrap for parchment paper under the pasta dough so it will be easier to roll?….If I remember………)
Here’s the hardest part. Get your biggest spatula and lift it up the best you can with your hand too and place in bundt pan and pat it down.
Add a small amount of sauce and some cheese if you care to…(you can save remaining cheese for reheating……but you need to add the sauce)
Add more sauce.
Spray aluminum foil with non stick spray. Cover pan tightly with non stick spray side down on the top of saucy top.
Use a pan under the bundt pan because it is likely that you will have some spill over and place on the middle rack of the oven and leave in for 75 minutes.
After 75 minutes in the oven leave out on counter till cool and then refrigerate to set the lasagna up.
After chilled slice up and heat. Serve with more sauce and grated cheese.
Someone won’t leave my feet.
“It smells so heavenly!” “I need a slice now!”Bundt Lasagna
I was inspired to create this recipe after watching a chef cooking competition show called Top Chef. One chef Bryan Voltaggio made potato cakes with shallots, gruyere cheese and thyme. I was meant to make them because those were the ingredients that I had to use up in my house. I don’t know for remember how the chef on TV make his potato cakes but mine also came out fabulous……They came out FORKING AMAZING! The whole house smelled FORKING AMAZING too! These are easy to make and come out incredible. A few oof the ingredients that I used are harder to find but if you don’t make this exactly the way I did it won’t come out as great. This recipe happened to make 12 smaller perfect potato cakes so I’d say that is about 12 servings but they are so delicious that some people might want to eat two servings.
Ingredients for up to 12 servings
1 lb shallots – peeled – sliced paper thin
1 1/2 lb red potatoes – peeled – cut in half depending on size -sitting in cold water -(salt)
2 Tablespoons sea salt (for boiling potatoes)
1 hot banana pepper – cut long ways in half (to boil with potatoes to give flavor)
2 oz unsalted butter
4 oz gruyere cheese – shredded
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 Tablespoon Calabrian Chili Oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
few grates nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 egg – beaten
1 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
non stick cooking spray
Directions set oven to 500 degrees F.
On one burner put your pot of potatoes on a medium high boil with the salt and the hot pepper. Cook till potato is tender (15-20 min.)
On your other burner add the oils to the pan on high heat. When the oil is hot add the shallots and turn down to medium high. Stir occasionally and cook till soft but not brown. (about 7=8 min). Take off heat and add to potatoes after potatoes are drained and the hot pepper is thrown away.
By now your potatoes are done. Mash them with the butter and add the 1 teaspoon sea salt, white pepper, few grates of nutmeg, black pepper, thyme and gruyere cheese. Mix well. Add the beaten egg and shallots and mix well.
Spray muffin pan with non stick spray and fill each cup with mixture.
Place in preheated 500 degree F oven.
After about 5 minutes the potatoes will be brown so turn down the oven to 350 F degrees. They will only need about ten more minutes for a total of 15 minutes in the oven. (about 5 minutes 500 degrees F , turn down to 350 degrees F about ten minutes more)
Remove from oven and let cool down. Serve when warm or refrigerate and reheat. Can be frozen and then thawed to reheat.
Baked Potato Cakes with Shallots, Gruyere Cheese and Thyme
During the coronavirus pandemic I did take out from FnB restaurant in the arts district of Old Town Scottsdale. I thought my past experiences at the restaurant are more of a taste of what they are really like.
The Chef and co-owner Charleen Badman is a James Beard Best Chef Southwest Award Winning Chef. She serves an ever changing menu of global farm focused contemporary plates that are meant to be shared. The menu usually features a few obscure vegetables and is mostly vegetables but also contains enough meat to please meat eaters. This restaurant also features Arizonian wines.
The restaurant has three small dining areas. (I don’t have a photo of the bar area that was once a store)
FnB also offers a small plant lined patio for dining.
They always start you off with locally made Noble Bread and high quality olive oil.
Bellow are a collection of some of the dishes we’ve enjoyed from FnB.
Tuscan kale falafelGilfeather rutabaga topped with onion ginger creamSnap peas, macadamia nuts, mint, tarragoncrispy chickpeas, beet falafel plate and famous award winning leek dishMy Half
This was half of the Langos. A sort of salad made with a fried Hungarian bread made with potatoes.
Melon SaladHouse Cured SalmonButterkin Squash
Broccoli with tangerine and pistachios
Trout rillette
Soft shell crab
Radishes, dates, pumpkin seeds, with caper anchovy dressing.
