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 jalapeƱos 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 jalapeƱos – 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)
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.
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.
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 š
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.
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 PepperThe Forking Truth
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.
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.
Ramen eggs are very easy to prepare and are delicious! You can enjoy them many ways. You can enjoy them plain, to dress up a vegetable dish, any soup dish, a salad, a burger or sandwich or even a dinner. I didn’t create this recipe but found it on the web years ago and can’t find the same one again to give the author credit. I did find that many recipes are similar. You have some flexibility with the recipe and adjust it to your needs. You cook the eggs the way I did and you just need to remember to marinate the eggs over night in a solution that is 1/3 soy sauce, 1/3 mirin and 1/3 water. I wrote the recipe in 1/3 cup measurements but I used a 1/3 cup dry measuring cup because that is easier to eyeball. It doesn’t have to be exact but the measurements are meant to be even.
Ingredients for 6 servings (I did 7 eggs and it was enough)
Water to cover eggs well in pot
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup mirin
1/3 cup water
Directions
1- Bring a pot of water to boil with enough water to cover eggs well.
2 – Add eggs slowly with a spoon and don’t drop them in or they will break
In our local Phoenix Newspaper (The Arizona Republic) our food critic Dominic Atmato highly recommended this mail away frozen ramen called Ramen Hero. After I read the article I wanted to try Ramen Hero. I went to the site and they were all sold out of all the flavors except for two Vegan Ramen varieties that come in a four pack so I ordered them. I got two called “Hippy Van” and the other two are called “Miso Impossible.” I got the four pack at around $73.00 that includes the shipping. They arrived about a week later and were packaged very well with dry ice.
They come in vacuum sealed bags with easy boil in bag directions. Each bag is filled with a frozen bag of soup, a bag with protein and vegetables, a bag with a sheet of seaweed (that you add at the end) and a bag of noodles.
Everything is heated up and I give it a try.
The soup is very good. It’s rich, developed with flavors and it’s good. Taste like I could have gotten it out from a restaurant.
The noodles are also very good and chewy. Not as good as the last ramen I had at a restaurant but nearly as good.
But WOW the protein is POLARIZING.
In the one bag with the protein I got strips of pepper, a squishy strip of zucchini, a chewy sun dried tomato slice. The protein has a nice texture that is similar to meat…..BUT WOW……. the protein taste like something that is IMPOSSIBLE to describe. (now I know why it’s called Miso Impossible) It’s FORKING INEDIBLE and is AWFUL to me……I can’t eat it. It doesn’t taste like food……and it’s painfully salty too like salt water. It’s like a combination of LOTS of salt, something burnt, something like coffee grounds and something funky. Even my husband can’t eat it. Thank God I made delicious ramen eggs so I’d have something good in this soup.
It’s not a total loss.
Well the soup and noodles really are very good….and the sheet of seaweed adds that just right flavor to it. Maybe the meat varieties of Ramen Hero are better?
I would NOT recommend the Vegan Miso Impossible many because I couldn’t stomach the protein it came with and wasn’t thrilled with the squishy and chewy vegetables. (now I’m afraid to try the other one…….I am hoping it’s better…..If it is I’ll write about it when I get the nerve to try it.
I think this soup would have been much better if it came with cubes of tofu instead of the vegan protein. Maybe a different vegetable like a mushroom would have worked out better here I’m thinking……
Those were my Forking Thoughts on Vegan Miso Impossible Ramen Hero and your Forking Thoughts may indeed differ.
www.RamenHero.com
Everything is subject to change and your experience may differ.
We are supporting restaurants as much as we can. These are the worst of times and all restaurants are hemorrhaging money. While nothing is for certain these days chances are that take out food is safer than food you purchased at a grocery store. Remember that you are suppose to avoid contact with as many people as possible and keep at least a six foot distance. I don’t know if the news is factual but on channel 3 news they reported that you are very unlikely to catch coronavirus from food anyway. They reported that even if the person preparing your food has coronavirus that you are unlikely to catch the virus that way. I hope that is true…….
Our first take out this week was from Taco Fusion in Glendale. I’ve been there a couple of times before this second take out. The Tacos really are the best that I’ve come across in this part of town.
Pastor and Shrimp tacosbarbacooa tacoMild habanero chicken, grilled chicken, fish and Tijuana asada
The handmade tortillas are different and also delicious. The flour tortillas are very thin but tasty and the corn tortillas are a little smaller but have a nice corn flavor to them. I still think all the tacos are excellent but the mild habanero chicken taco on corn tortilla is my favorite. It is extra delicious with any salsa on it but my favorite salsa the first time was the pineapple salsa. First take out they didn’t have pineapple salsa but this time the pineapple wasn’t mixed up or something and it was just juice but all the other salsas were flavorful and amazing.
We shared some with our furry companions.
Next take out was from Chino Bandido in North Phoenix. They are a casual Chinese/Mexican Restaurant mixed with a little Caribbean. You get a BIG PAN of food with a fresh baked snickerdoodle cookie there for around $10.00 a pan or less depending on what you get.
Pan on the left is a chile relleno quesadilla with red jade chicken, black beans and steamed white rice. Pan on the right is a pollo diablo quesadilla, carnitas, refried beans and steamed rice. In-between the pans are the fresh baked snickerdoodle cookies. For most people each pan is two or more meals each. Our furry friends love to taste the foods.
We also did take out from Rocket Burger in North Phoenix. This is a casual sandwich shop with a wall of 100’s of sodas. When they first opened the sodas were mostly root beers but after a few years they now offer all kinds of flavors.
On the left is a double Santa Fe Burger that is made with a giant fried green chili, veggies, cheese, bacon and it normally comes with (DELICIOUS) Rocket Sauce (but my husband won’t eat creamy sauces so it was ordered without). On the right is the Pescado de Cohete (Mexican Fish Sandwich). It’s a cornmeal crusted mild white fish topped with DELICIOUS, slightly spicy Mexi-Slaw and pico de Gallo. These sandwiches only cost less than $9. each.
Next take out was from Tratto the fine Italian restaurant from the James Beard Award Winning chef and the famous Mastro of pizzas Chris Bianco.
We got the family meal take out special that included a salad, hand made pasta, creamy chick peas, a loaf of Bianco bread and chicken sauce. Everything was prepared to perfection. Everything was amazing.
Last take out of the week was Grassroots Kitchen and Tap in Scottsdale. The food is always delicious from Grassroots Kitchen and Tap.
I got the house smoked salmon and orzo salad. My husband got the bbq brisket with cheese grits and beans. A MUST GET is the key lime pie because 40 yes FOURTY key limes get squeezed into every pie making it THE BEST Key Lime Pie in Metro Phoenix and maybe beyond.
“That’s all Folks!”
We tried to support as many restaurants as we could this week. This week we did take out from-
Taco Fusion in Glendale
Chino Bandido in North Phoenix
Rocket Burger in North Phoenix
Tratto in Phoenix
Grassroots Kitchen and Tap in Scottsdale
Everything is subject to change and we hope it does for the better.
