Recently Robin Miller’s recipe for crispy parmesan garlic potatoes was in our local newspaper and I thought it looked good and sounded really tasty. Safeway had some really great sales on russet potatoes so I have a bunch of them to cook with. I had to make some changes to Robin Miller’s recipe in a few different ways. One I’m using russet potatoes instead of small red skin potatoes because that is what I have. I also added the seasonings and the cheese to the tops of the potatoes instead of all the seasoning and cheese on one side because that little Emeril Lagasse quote just kept rolling threw my head…….”I dunno where you get your (insert ingredient) ……”Where I get mine it don’t come seasoned on both sides.” So I thought that the potatoes might be a little better if I seasoned them the same on both sides. I also have a fully packed spice cabinet and I make up my own blends of spices so I had to change up the spices since I used my Italian spice blend. In the end this did come out delicious and it is a variation of Robin Miller’s recipe so I have to give her credit. My Italian spice blend makes around twice the amount of seasoning that you need for the recipe. But it is amazing in sauces and on chicken.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
1 Tablespoon sea salt – Italian seasoning
1/2 Tablespoon granulated garlic – Italian seasoning
1/2 Tablespoon granulated onion – Italian seasoning
1 Tablespoon dried basil – Italian seasoning
1 Tablespoon dried oregano – Italian seasoning
1 Tablespoon fennel seeds – Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons ground black pepper – Italian seasoning
1 small Calabrian chili – crushed – Italian seasoning
4 oz unsalted butter
2 pounds potatoes – If using russets Cut Diagonal in thirds and score one side 1/8-1/4 inch deep like a hash mark.
3/4 cup parmesan cheese – grated or shredded (divided in 1/2 cup + 1/4 cup) (it will stick better if grated fine)
2 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup scallions – sliced thin
Directions
Set oven to 400 degrees F.
Make the Italian seasoning. In a small bowl combine the sea salt, garlic, onion, basil, oregano, fennel seeds, black pepper, and Calabrian chili. Mix well and set to the side.
The 4oz of butter goes on a baking dish or pan with sides. This goes in the preheated oven until it’s melted and bubbling then take it out.
In a small bowl mix together the parmesan cheese with a heaping Tablespoon of the Italian seasoning. Put at least half on the pan.
Potatoes go on pan score side down. Spray or brush the tops of the potatoes with oil. Add the rest of the seasoned parmesan on top.
This goes on the middle rack for around 40 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked and soft.
Someone thinks they smell very good.
Crispy Parmesan Italian Potatoes
You should let them cool a little before you scrap them off.
Crispy Parmesan Italian Potatoes
A special THANKS!!!! To Robin Miller for her scrumptious recipe so I could make what I got here!
This is a collection of SOME of the better dishes that I have tried in Metro Phoenix Arizona from restaurants and food trucks in no particular order. I’m not mentioning stuff like a very good steak from Confluence or a perfectly prepared sea bass from Tarbell’s because that is predictable and expected. These are dishes that you might not know about. I haven’t been everywhere in Metro Phoenix and I haven’t tasted everything out there. This is a sampling of random better dishes. This also is mostly photos of the dish and name and address of restaurant. I tried to write as little as possible so you can fly threw the long list.
Up above is the bufalina pizza from Fabio On Fire. We have many great pizzas in Metro Phoenix but this bufalina stands out. There are several other dishes at Fabio’s that are also worth mentioning but we have a lot of food to get to here so I will cut it with Fabio’s Strawberry Gelato because it really is the best in all the land.
Fabio On Fire 8275 W Lake Pleasant PKWAY Peoria
Some of the other better dishes were-
Aloo Tikki Choley
Namaste Indian Restaurant 20851 N Scottsdale Rd Scottsdale
Nan Zhou – Hand Drawn Noodle House 111 S. Dobson Rd Mesa
The seared Hawiian Tuna Soba Salad
Wren & Wolf – 2 N Central Ave PHX
Chill King Chinese Food 4721 W Olive Ave Glendale
First & Last 1001 N 3RD Ave PHX
Pollo Asado (Chicken a little over and a little under….. but unusually great flavors)
Bacanora 1301 NW Grand Ave PHX
Confluence 36889 N Tom Darlington Dr Carefree (Confluence is a high quality restaurant that offers many superb detailed dishes and amazing desserts)
Mifan Claypot Kitchen 1616 N Central Ave PHX
Tortas CM 13971 N 59TH AVE Glendalr
Mrs Whites Golden Rule 808 E Jefferson St PHX
Collins Bros Chophouse 8220 N Hayden RD Scottsdale (This might be available at most if not all of the Collins Restaurants)
Honest to God this Pain Au Chocolat was maybe not as pretty but was much better tasting than the Pain Au Chocolat I tried from Dominique Ansel (Some consider best pastry chef in USA)
JL Patisserie 7342 E Shea BLVD Scottsdale
With Traditional sauce
Chick-A-Dee 49 W Thomas Rd PHX
Chula Seafood Greyhawk 20581 N Hayden Rd Scottsdale (Available at all Chula locations)
The Gladly 2201 E Camelback Rd PHX
Biryani Pot PHX 4030 E Bell Rd PHX
Red Ginger Food Truck – Good luck finding them – I found them once at Food Truck Friday West in Glendale.
Bro Bro’s BBQ Food Truck – Serving Phoenix
The Louisiana Hot Chicken Sandwich – Screaming Hot Chicken Food Truck – Serving Phoenix (This is part of Mingo’s Louisiana Kitchen Family)
The Chicken Potstickers
Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery 2340 West Bell Rd PHX
Buffalo Chicken Plate (He told us that this wasn’t enough from a smaller chicken and told us to come back for the rest….He was very generous. That is why two photos)
Que Chevere Food Truck (They do have a brick and morter Restaurant in Mesa too)
Everything is very good from Alzohour Market. But the stuffed grape leaves (on right) and the baklava really are the best that I have tried anywhere.
Alzohour Market 7814 N 27TH AVE PHX
The A.G. Burger – 8oz USDA Prime ground in house tenderloin burger topped with a prime rib and more.
The Arrowhead Grill 8280 W Union Hills Dr Glendale
This next one is one of my husband’s two picks.
The Volcano Pork
The Craftsman 20469 N Hayden Rd Scottsdale
My husband’s other pick.
Braised Veal Osso Buco (weekend only)
The Italian Daughter 23655 N Scottsdale RD Scottsdale
This year was a great year for Tia Carmen. I tasted many better dishes there this year. It’s very hard to narrow down to only two dishes. I picked the lunch fish torta sandwich because it deserves to be a top sandwich of metro Phoenix….It’s a YUM-Dinger that is crazy flavorful and different. (pictured below)
Maybe the one dish of the year that I tasted that was the most amazing was the Tuna Crudo from Tia Carmen. It’s a dish that can make your heart skip a beat and is worth driving across town to try.
Tuna Crudu
Tia Carmen 5350 E Marriott Dr PHX
These were just SOME of the better dishes that I tried in Metro Phoenix 2022.
Strawberry AguachileAvocado Wasabi Slaw with Furikake and Bonito Flakes Rye Rolls and home made mustardHumane Society Vegan Carrot Lox on home made mini bagelMoroccan Style Turkey Meatballs with Harissa Vinaigrette Pistachio PestoRoasted Vegetables with Poppy Seed Black Garlic Kalamata Olive Condiment and Urfa Peppered Feta Cheese Roasted Broccoli and Onions with Tomato Butter and Crushed Taralli Crackers Roast Cauliflower & Carrots with Pickled Onions, Smoked Cheese Sauce & Toasted Nuts EASY FORKING Delicious Acorn Squash with Mostarda & Taleggio Cheese Side Dish Baked Corn Patty with Sofrito Frosting, Pachamanca sauce, Huancaina sauce, Achiote oil and Sherry Soaked FigsCitrus and Beet Aguachile Cold SoupKombu Roast Chicken with Acorn Squash and RadishesSpice Roasted Cauliflower and Carrots with DatesPistou Sauce (Original Style) Japanese Style Potato Salad with Ramen Eggs and Bonito Flakes Potato String Wrapped Mexican Style Tuna Stuffed Peppers Potato Topped Peruvian Style Turkey Meatloafs with Onion Salsa Spiced Custard Filled Acorn Squash with Maple Bourbon WalnutsChocolate-Hazelnut Crostata Middle Eastern Mac & Cheese with Za’atar Pesto & Crisp Onions Pretzel BunsItalian Inspired Carrots Spinach Cheese Potato Pie with Seeded CrustPotato Cannoli Roasted Broccoli with Orange Aioli and Almonds Ful Mesdames with Malawach Style flat BreadSake Butter Scorched Cauliflower with Yuzu Marmalade Soy Butter Sauce Vietnamese Inspired Turkey Meatballs in home made Vietnamese style Turkey Soup
That was part 2 of the 2022 recipes on The Forking Truth
Eggplant Wrapped Baked ZitiSpicy Asian Inspired Eggplant Cheesy Corn Pasta Corn Pasta Pie Fig, Ricotta, Beet Relish, topped Caraway, Parmesan Potato Tuile Chipotle Lime Butter Green Beans with Black Beans and Pickled Reed Onions Okonomiyaki Style Baked Cabbage Cakes with Tofu Mustard and Black Garlic Sauce Morita Chili Salsa and Radish Pico de Gallo Tomatillo Salsa (suggested serve)5 Spice Turkey Meatball Stuffed Cabbage Mexican Flavored Meatballs with Guajillo Tomato Sauce Perilla Leaf Thai Style Treats with Tamarind SauceRoast BeefCalabrian Chile Brown Butter Pasta and Creamy Leeks Parsnips two ways with whipped Carrots Tomatillo Avocado Salsa Recipe FORKING Crispy Breaded EggplantSweet Potato Ravioli with Beet Puree Harissa Hasselback Zucchini with Dukkah & zucchini white bean dip Healthy Delicious Quick Kimchi Potato Salad Beets with Orange, Mint, Cheddar Cheese, and Salsa MachaRoasted Carrots in Honey Miso Butter with Roasted Spiced Carrot Peanut Crumbs Tomato and bean salad with home made Italian Chili CrispItalian Chili CrispFeta Stuffed Corn Cakes with Beet-Apple SaladBraised and Crispy Leeks with Tarator Sauce & Date Brown Butter beef osso buco Miso Sake Blistered Shishito Peppers with Ginger-Miso Sweet PeasGrilled Pickled Carrots with Charmoula and Almonds Lions Mane Mushroom faux Crab CakeJerk Chicken Thigh Braised Cabbage & Carrot Strawberry AguachileBeet Pudding with Yuzu Cream
Just Some of the Recipes from 2022 on The Forking Truth Part 1
I had a cauliflower that I had to use and I wanted to do something new with it. I just typed into my computer BEST CAULIFLOWER RECIPE. I saw a few list of cauliflower recipes and one of them was chef Scott Hallsworth’s Scortched Cauliflower Recipe. It’s a very easy recipe with very few ingredients….When I got done roasting the cauliflower I still had a lot of DELICIOUS sake butter on my sheet tray.
So I got the idea in my head to USE THE FORKING GREAT BUTTER SAUCE and add yuzu marmalade and a little bit of soy sauce.
Chef Scott Hallsworth uses just 40ml dark soy sauce mixed with 20ml yuzu salted juice over the cauliflower. You do what you want.
Ingredients for around two servings
1/2 a large cauliflower – cut into florets
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoons sake
1 pinch sea salt
4 oz unsalted butter – melted
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
2 Tablespoons yuzu marmalade
1/4 cup scallions – sliced thin or use chives
Directions
Set oven to 500 degrees F.
In a medium mixing bowl toss the cauliflower with the butter, oil, sake, and salt. Spread out the cauliflower florets in an even layer on a sheet pan (one with sides). Leave in till golden and charred. (in my oven this took 30 minutes)
Pour the extra sake butter from your sheet pan with the cauliflowers into a small mixing bowl and add the yuzu marmalade and the soy sauce. Serve the sauce either over or under the cauliflowers and top with thin cut scallions or chives.
Sake Butter Scorched Cauliflower with Yuzu Marmalade Soy Butter Sauce
ENJOY!!!!!
A Special THANKS!!!!!! To Chef Scott Hallsworth for sharing his FORKING GREAT Recipe so I could come up with what I got here.
We were dining at our favorite Moroccan Restaurant in Phoenix Arizona called Alzohour Market. I picked up dried fava beans there.
The owner and chef Zhor told me that fava beans are a popular breakfast dish in Morocco. Latter I read that the fava bean dish called Ful Medames is the national breakfast dish of Egypt but is very popular across North Africa and the whole Mid East.
There is a recipe on the back of the bag that I was going to try until I came across Chef Helen Graham’s recipe. I picked her recipe because it also involved making a pesto topping for the fava beans and even included a recipe for a Yemenite type flatbread called malawach so it seemed like a much more special recipe…….To be honest I did have a slight issue with the recipe. When I went to make the malawach (flat bread) I had a feeling that my dough was too dry. But I resisted changing the recipe because for this one I really didn’t know what I was doing….and I measured and weighed everything to the exact. I’m also making a dough that I am not familiar with. The recipe also states that you might not need all of the water……..So I thought that I shouldn’t add extra water?………The problem I had was that I couldn’t fold the dough as much as it should have been folded. So I folded as much as I could.
You are suppose to roll the dough as flat as you can. Brush it with butter. Sprinkle with nigella seeds and Maidon salt.
Then roll it up.
Coil the dough.
Roll it flat again. Butter it and nigella seeds and salt……Then you repeat two more times …By rolling it up and coiling again but I couldn’t……My dough was too dry…….Maybe my flour was ground different?……Sometimes that is an issue in recipes……..so I folded it less. Still came out FORKING GREAT!!!!!!. Maybe I just need to be stronger to make this dough to fold it more?
Malawach is supposed to be a fried bread but I knew my dough was off and thought that it might fall apart in the fry pan so I baked it instead……and the flat bread came out crispy and really different. It’s kinda like a cross between a cracker and a croissant.
I think that it is really great anyway……… Don’t know..I never had or heard of malawach before. This was my only real issue with the recipe but it all came out delicious!
This makes around 4 servings
280g dried fava beans – soaked over night in cold water in the refrigerator – ful medames
1/2 teaspoon baking soda – ful medames
splash olive oil – ful medames
1 large onion finely chopped – ful medames
5 cloves garlic finely chopped – ful medames
2 teaspoons ground cumin – ful medames
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon – ful medames
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper – ful medames
2 teaspoons sweet paprika – ful medames
1/2 a large lemon – the zest and the juice – ful medames
2 tomatoes – fine chopped – ful medames
4 Tablespoons yogurt (for serving)
200g AP flour + more for dusting – malawach
10g sugar – malawach
1/2 teaspoon sea salt – malawach
100ml water – malawach
1 Tablespoon nigella seeds – malawach
Maldon salt – to taste – malawach
125ml clarified butter – melted to brush and fry malawach
5 cloves garlic – rough chopped – pesto
45g parsley leaves – rough chopped – pesto
20g basil – rough chopped – pesto
10g preserved lemon – blended – pesto
1 teaspoon lemon juice – pesto
150g olive oil – pesto
Maldon salt to taste – pesto
neutral non stick spray.
Directions
Drain the fava beans and add them to a sauce pot with the baking soda. Cover at least with over an inch of water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer….You will need to add more water every so often. Drain the beans when they turn tender (usually 2 hours set to the side when done)
Make the Malawach. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. gradually add the water and knead it for 5 minutes. Then cover it and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into 4 balls. Dust your surface with a little flour. Start with one dough ball. Roll it out as thin as you can. Brush it with butter and sprinkle it lightly with nigella seeds and Maldon salt. Roll it like I described in the beginning if you can…….If not just fold in half and roll as thin as you can. Then butter it again and add another sprinkle of nigella seeds and Maldon salt. If you can repeat again. Roll as thin as you can. Butter again, spring again with nigella seeds and Maldon salt. Fold one more time and roll as thin as you can. If you can fry yours in butter that is what you are suppose to do but I thought mine would fall apart so I baked mine at a pre-heated 350 F oven on a non stick sprayed sheet pan. I also gave the flat breads a brushing of melted butter. They went in for 15 minutes and then I flipped them over for another 10 minutes. I thought they came out nice.
Make the pesto. Garlic, parsley, basil, preserved lemon, lemon juice all get bended. Slowly add the olive oil and blend that in too. Add Maldon salt to taste.
The Ful Medames (fava beans) go in each bowl with a Malawach (flat bread) cut in half, topped with pesto and a tablespoon of yogurt.
Ful Mesdames with Malawach Style flat Bread
A SPECIAL THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!! To Chef Helen Graham for sharing her FORKING FANTABULOUS Recipe so we all can enjoy it!!!!!!
I was sort of gifted with a lot of yellow squash and I wanted to do something interesting and different with them. Often I use my spiral cutter and make spaghetti strings with the yellow squash that kind of cook its self from being marinated. Then I heat it up and it isn’t so squashy and it is stringy instead. Today I thought that I would try shaving the squash instead. But what flavors should I do today?…..For inspiration I was searching the internet for Top Chef recipes, a few other chefs, and award winning chef, restauranteur and cook book author Yotam Ottolenghi recipes. I do Ottolenghi recipes a lot because he is one of the most gifted vegetable chefs in the world. Yotam Ottolenghi does a COLD marinated yellow squash salad with kiwi salsa. I changed it up a little and I thought a spicy apple salsa just when real nice with squash this time of year. I used 3 pounds of yellow squash. So that makes 6-8 servings depending on how big you make the servings. This takes a few hours for the squash to marinate or just do the squash the day before.
Ingredients for around 7 portions
3 lbs yellow squash – ends cut off and sliced very thin like a shave
1 teaspoon fennel seeds – toasted – ground
1/2 teaspoon dark brown sugar
1/2 lemon – juice and zest
6 cloves garlic – ground to paste
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup pecorino romano cheese – grated
2 apples – coarsely grated
3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 red chile – fine chop (I used a Fresno that was spicy)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro – chopped
2 Tablespoons fresh parsley leaves – chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground dry mint (if you have fresh mint use about 2 Tablespoons)
2 Tablespoons fresh basil – chopped or torn
optional 1/2 cup of either dried corn kernels or 1/2 cup toasted salted pepitas
Directions
Put the shaved yellow squash in a gallon ziplock bag. Keep in the refrigerator or set to the side.
Put a small fry pan on medium high heat and add the oil, sugar, garlic, and the toasted and ground fennel seeds. Cook only a minute or two till the garlic is cooked and take off heat. Add the vinegar, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Mix well. When this is room temperature add it to the bag of shaved squash. Squish it around to distribute. This needs to marinate at least 1/2 a day or overnight.
Make the apple salsa. In a medium bowl mix together the apples, vinegar, ginger, chile, cilantro, mint, parsley, and basil.
To serve – you can serve either cool as a salad or heated up as a side dish. The original recipe adds toasted hazelnuts….For the salad version (cold)……If I had those dried corn kernels I would have added them to this recipe for a little crunch.
Shaved Yellow Squash with Spicy Apple Salsa and Pecorino Cheese
This recipe is GREAT cold or hot……I think I actually like it better hot with added pepitas. Below is warmed up with pepitas.
Shaved Yellow Squash with Spicy Apple Salsa Pecorino Cheese and Pepitas (hot)
A SPECIAL THANKS!!!! To Yotam Ottolenghi for sharing his amazing recipe so I could come up with what I got here!
This is just an easy marinated chicken thigh recipe. I was inspired by restaurant that I go to in Carefree AZ called Confluence. They make delicious fried chicken and serve it with a Chiltepin Mustard Sauce that really makes it POP! Chiltepin pepper is hard to find if you don’t go to Mexican Markets. It’s an extra delicious but very HOT heat. The chiltepin are around the size of black peppercorns and should be a reddish pink. You can find them on-line but I haven’t seen reasonable pricing for them on-line. Try a Mexican market first. This recipe makes around 6 servings.
3 lbs chicken thighs (I used boneless skinless but it really doesn’t matter)
1/2 cup honey – marinade
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil – marinade
1/4 cup dijon mustard – marinade
2 Tablespoons whole grain mustard – marinade
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice – marinade
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt – marinade
4 Tablespoons dijon mustard – sauce
2 Tablespoons whole grain mustard – sauce
2 Tablespoons honey or date syrup – sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice – sauce
5 chiltepin – or to taste (you might want less or more hot….start with three and taste) crushed with fingers – sauce
non stick spray
optional splash chicken stock – heated – sauce
Directions
In a medium mixing bowl mix together the honey, olive oil, mustards, allspice, and salt. Pour it into a gallon ziplock bag and add the chicken *****NOTE if you are doing chicken with bones you might want to split the sauce and chicken into TWO bags. Give the chicken a good massage in the bag with the sauce and be sure to spread the sauce all around the chicken. Squeeze out all the air and then ziplock the bag(s) shut. refrigerate over night.
The next day it doesn’t really matter how you cook the chicken as long as you bring the thigh meat to at least 165F degrees. I did mine on the oven because I felt that this might make a great mess on the grill. I did mine on non stick sprayed grill pan in the oven preheated at 400F degrees. My chicken was done in around 25-30 minutes. I browned one in the pan for the picture because mine didn’t brown much.
The sauce mixes up fast in a bowl. Just add the mustards, honey or date syrup, allspice, and do the chiltepin to taste….Start by trying three of them…I did 5. Add a splash of heated chicken broth if you happen to have any around.
SERVE
Honey Mustard Marinated Chicken Thighs with Chiltepin Mustard Sauce
I got the idea for this from dining out at a James Beard Award Wining chef’s restaurant called FnB in the arts district of Scottsdale Arizona. The chef and co-owner Charleen Badman had Grilled Broccoli with Tangerine Aioli and Pistachios on her menu that I tried. Today when I went to prepare my broccoli I thought about it and came up with something similar with what I had around the house. I learned that there are a lot of different ways to make aioli. It really isn’t just a mayonnaise. Some chefs thicken it up with soaked bread. I used potato as my thickener. Serving size might differ….For me this made two servings.
Ingredients for around two servings
1 large broccoli crown – break down to florets
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (split 2T + 2T)
1/2 cup almonds toasted (mine were whole that I crushed and toasted but you can use sliced)
sea salt – to taste (I used my home made smoked pecan sea salt)
fresh ground black pepper – to taste
ground Aleppo pepper – to taste
1 potato – peeled – cut into 8 pieces
2 1/2 oz sweet roasted whipped garlic – (I buy a Costco bag of garlic split the heads in half, generously olive oil them and roast them covered at 375F for an hour. Squeeze the cloves out and blend them. I portion cup them at 2 1/2 ounces and freeze them)
2 oranges – the juice and zest
1 egg yolk
sea salt – to taste
fresh ground pepper – to taste
Directions
Fill a medium sized sauce pot with water and a palmful of salt to boil. When the water is boiling add the potatoes. When the potatoes are soft (10-15 minutes) take them out to drain. Add the broccoli to the boiling water. They only need about three minutes. Then put the broccoli in an ice bath.
Set oven to 425 degrees F.
Put the potatoes threw a ricer. Mix in the egg yolk, sweet roasted whipped garlic, 2 Tablespoons oil, orange juice and zest. Add salt and pepper to taste.
The broccoli goes on a sheet pan in a single layer. Spray with olive oil. Add salt and peppers to taste. Put the broccoli on the top rack. Turn the broccoli over in 10 minutes…….Maybe 5 or a few more minutes and they are done. If your almonds need toasting put them on a sheet pan and give then a little spray of oil and put them on the bottom rack for less than ten minutes. Take the broccoli out when lightly charred.
Put aioli on bottom of plate. Top with broccoli and almonds.
Spicy Roasted Broccoli with Orange Aioli and Almonds
ENJOY!!!!!!
A Special THANKS!! To FnB Restaurant so I could come up with this!
