Every now and then I like to stuff a pepper and wrap them with a potato string crust. Never did a hot dog before so that is what I did today.
I got Anaheim peppers today and removed the core inside and stuffed each one with one hot dog and very thinly sliced onions. A few of the hot dogs didn’t fit in perfect so I had to cut them some to make them fit…and managed to get a whole hot dog in each one. I was one Anaheim short so I used a half hot dog each in smaller yellow chili peppers.
I got out my Paderno spiral cutter and did a potato.
Then I wrapped some potato around each pepper. I sprayed my baking sheet with non stick spray and sprayed the potatoes with the non stick spray. They went in a 450 degree F oven for 30 minutes.
My peppers got done at all different times. I turned the heat down to 350 and just left peppers in till done. some needed 10 minutes and two needed 20 more minutes.
I had a head of cauliflower that I had to use up and a few bell peppers, some homemade pickles and home made pickled serrano peppers. It seemed like Giardiniera was what I had to prepare. Since I used my already home made pickled serrano peppers my Giardiniera isn’t super spicy hot but does have heat to it. If you want your Giardiniera to be really hot you do need to use fresh hot peppers or a combination of fresh and pickled. After a few tastings I wanted the giardiniera to be a little spicier so I added a split hot banana pepper and in one day I thought it was a just right spicy. You are going to have to play around with the peppers the way I did to figure out how spicy hot you want this. This recipe make A LOT of Giardiniera….If you don’t can it then it will keep around 3 months in the refrigerator.
Ingredients for 30 servings
1 cauliflower – break into small florets
5 carrots – peel and slice
5 celery ribs – slice
1 red bell pepper – short slices
1 yellow bell pepper – short slices
2 home made pickles – cut into chunks
6 cloves garlic
1 cup home made pickled serrano peppers (or hot fresh peppers to taste) – sliced
4 cups. white vinegar
4 cups water
3 bay leaves
1/3 cup kosher salt
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon + 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon celery seeds
1 Tablespoon dried crushed red pepper flakes
Directions
The vegetables (cauliflower, carrots, celery, peppers, garlic) all get mixed together and either go into jars or sterilized containers.
The vinegar, water, bay leaves, salt, oregano, mustard seeds, celery seed, red pepper flakes go in a sauce pot and you bring it to a boil. Reduce to simmer for 5 minutes and pour the liquid over the vegetables. Leave out on the counter till it gets to room temperature. Then jar or refrigerate.
This will be ready to enjoy in about 1/2 a day. If you want it spicier add a split hot banana pepper will do the trick!
I got a lot of parsley and butternut squash to use so this is what I thought up today. If you have a Paderno Spiral Slicer it will be pretty easy to fettuccini cut the squash. I used the fettuccini size cuts and not the smaller spaghetti cut. Everything came out delicious…You might want to give it a try. It is slightly hard to do perfect because the squash noodles go from raw to over done and squishy. Serving size is difficult to judge here because it depends on the size of your squash and how much that you want to eat. Is this a meal for you or a side dish? My guess is that the average smaller sized butternut squash will make 4 side portions.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
1 butternut squash – (I used a smaller sized squash) peeled and cut into thirds (see photo)
2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon course sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup parmesan cheese – shredded
1 cup parsley leaves (packed tight) – chopped
1 large lemon – the fresh squeezed juice and zest
1 1/2 oz anchovies in oil
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 Tablespoon garlic confit (when you buy bags of garlic slice the heads across in half drizzle heavy with olive oil, cover and roast in 350 degree f oven about an hour. Squeeze cloves out of head with oil and blend smooth) This will taste much better than raw garlic that can turn bitter.
1/4 cup scallions – sliced thin
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 oz dried apricots – chopped
3 oz toasted walnuts – slightly crushed
Directions
Pre heat oven to 400 degrees f.
Cover a baking sheet (or sheets) with parchment paper.
Spiral cut the butternut squash and put in a large mixing bowl.
Add the olive oil and salt and pepper to the squash. Mix to distribute.
Spread out the squash noodles on baking sheets.
This goes into the oven for around 10 minutes or until you are satisfied. Ovens do differ and you might want a couple minutes less.
While the squash is cooking make the pesto.
Blend together the parmesan, parsley, lemon juice, lemon zest, anchovies with oil, balsamic, garlic confit, scallions, red pepper flakes. When ready to serve this mixture suits in the bottom of serving plate. Top with noodle cut squash and top with apricots and walnuts.
Butternut Squash Apricots, Walnuts with Lemon Anchovy Pesto
I was reading an article about the different types of tacos. I had no idea that a growing popular type of tacos are called deli tacos. I happen to have some FORKING Amazing home smoked pastrami in my freezer that I’m pulling out for tomorrow. As far as I know nobody makes rye tortillas so I’m making up my own today. I winged it and they came out pretty darn good. Whoo Hoo! I also made chef Alex Stupak’s recipe for pickled cabbage and mustard seed salsa to go with them. This recipe is only for the rye tortillas. This made me around 12 medium-ish size tortillas (around 6 inch diameter so that is either 6-12 servings depending if you eat one or two.
Ingredients for around 12 servings
1 cup flour + extra to roll dough
1 cup dark rye flour
2 Tablespoons canola oil + smalll amount of extra oil to fry tortillas
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
3/4 cup water
2 Tablespoons pickled cabbage brine (you can substitute pickle brine)
Instructions
Get a medium mixing bowl and add the flours, oil, salt, baking powder, caraway seeds, water and brine. Mix well. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let dough rest about 30 minutes.
Scoop out a piece of dough that is around a meatball in size. Roll it up in your hand and then place it on a piece of plastic wrap that has been sprinkled with a small amount of flour. Sprinkle a very small amount of flour over the dough ball. Cover the dough ball with another piece of plastic wrap. Squish the ball flat with your hands over the plastic wrap. Now get a rolling pin to roll out the dough better.
Get a non stick pan on medium high heat and drizzle a few drops of oil.
When the pan seems hot add your tortilla. You have the perfect amount of time to get another tortilla rolled. By the time you are done making your tortilla hit will be time to flip the tortilla. Leave it in the pan a short time till slightly browned or slightly charred. Wipe out the pan with a towel drizzle with a few drops of oil and repeat till you are out of dough.
Rye Tortillas
I made mine with my last batch of home made Forking Amazing Smoked Pastrami, chef Alex Stupak’ recipe for pickled cabbage and mustard seeds salsa, avocado cream (recipe is on site) Russian dressing (ketchup, mayo, Amora dijon mustard) laced with fresh home made zhoug (Micheal Solomonov recipe) Of course they were FORKING AMAZING!
home made smoked pastrami, home made rye tortillas, pickled cabbage and mustard seeds salsa, avocado cream, Russian dressing laced with zhoug
I was gifted with many bunches of parsley so I got on a roll with parsley recipes. I made chipotle lime chili chimichurri, parsley pesto and tabbouleh salad so far. (BTW they all came out FORKING Delicious) I had around a cup of leftover rice and peas from a Caribbean take out. You can add a cup of regular rice or any grain you like for something similar. Then I got the idea to change it up a little and made another sort of tabbouleh salad but with added jerk spices. My GOSH this came out FORKING AMAZING!!!! This recipe makes around 4 servings. Chopping up 2 packed cups of parsley is a lot of work. I have no idea on how Mediterranean Restaurants serve all that tabbouleh.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
2 cups parsley leaves – packed tight and well hand chopped
1 English cucumber – seeds removed – small dice
1 small red onion – fine chopped
1 Tablespoon fresh thyme – chopped
3 red jalapeño peppers – fine chopped (or to taste…red one look pretty and usually are never too hot)
1 cup prepared rice or another grain
2 limes the fresh squeezed juice and all the zest
3 garlic cloves – ground to paste
1 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground black pepper (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon course sea salt (or to taste)
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
Directions
In a large mixing bowl add the parsley, cucumber, onion, thyme, jalapeño, rice or grain, lime zest and mix.
In a small mixing bowl add the lime juice, garlic, allspice, black pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, salt, oil, honey, paprika, cumin cayenne and brown sugar. Mix well. Pour dressing on salad and mix well. Chill a few hours or over night. Adjust seasonings if necessary.
I was gifted with several bunches of parsley and Tabbouleh is a parsley salad so here it is but a little different. I added a cucumber because I was gifted with a bunch of them but the most different thing is the rice. Tabbouleh is traditionally made with soaked bulgar. I used rice because I had leftover take out rice taking up room in my refrigerator. It made sense to use the rice. Tabbouleh uses an incredible amount of parsley that you hand chop as small as possible. I have no idea how Mediterranean restaurants serve so much of this. This recipe makes around 4 salads.
Ingredients for around 4 salads
2 cups parley leaves (packed very tight) – chopped fine
1 cup cooked rice (or substitute any grain you want or have)
1 large tomato – chopped into small pieces (mine was small but that was all I had)
1 hot house cucumber – remove seeds – chop into very small pieces
1 small red onion – small dice
1/2 cup mint leaves – chopped
1/2 cup scallions – sliced thin
1 large Meyer lemon – the zest and fresh juice
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon course sea salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Directions
All the ingredients go in a large mixing bowl. Mix, chill a few hours or a day and serve.
I had some beets and I saw a chef make beet chutney on Food Network TV. I usually don’t do Food Network TV recipes so I looked up other vegetable chutney recipes and got ideas on how to make the dip a little more complex. I have to say this came out amazing. You will want to try this. It came out so good that I will in the future use this as a filling in pastry or another creation. This is NOT an authentic Indian chutney recipe but is Indian Inspired. Serving size may differ. This make around 8 small servings.
Ingredients for around 8 small servings
1 lb beets – peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 medium sized red onion – diced
2 red hot peppers – minced
2 bay leaves
2 branch curry leaves
2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon fenugreek
1/2 teaspoon nigella (also called black cumin seeds)
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
5 garlic cloves – ground to paste
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 Tablespoons tamarind paste
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar – (or to taste)
sea salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh cilantro – torn or chopped
optional – pomegranate seeds
Directions
Set oven to 400 degrees f.
In a pan that you can cover add the beets, onion, hot peppers, bay leaves, curry leaves, sugar, ginger, fenugreek, nigella, cumin seeds, brown mustard seeds, garlic, turmeric, & tamarind. Cover and put on middle rack of pre-heated 400 degree f oven until beets are fry tender. ( I left mine in for one hour)
Next when done – remove the bay leaves and curry leaves and add a splash of apple cider vinegar and blend. Add salt and pepper to taste. Finish with some fresh cilantro. Add pomegranate (if using) Serve with something to dip.
I was gifted with many bunches of parley. So far I made tabbouleh, parsley pesto, chipotle lime chimichurri, Jamaican jerk inspired parsley salad (like tabbouleh but jerk flavored). Now here is sun-dried tomato and walnut parsley pesto. Everything I made with parsley is delicious so far. Had no idea that parsley can be so great! Portions are difficult to judge because you will use a lot if you are using this pesto to dress pasta. But you will only use a little if you are spreading this on bread. I think it will be at least 4 pasta servings and 8 or more servings for bread.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
4 cups parsley leaves – packed tight hand chopped fine
3/4 cup crushed walnuts
1 teaspoon garlic confit – fresh garlic might turn too strong (roast garlic cloves in olive oil covered for about an hour at 350 and blend…..I make a big bath every time I buy a bag of garlic)
3 oz sun dried tomatoes – chopped
1 cup parmigiano reggiano – shedded
1 Meyer lemon – zest and fresh squeezed juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon course sea salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
optional – a splash of Calabrian chili oil (or Calabrian peppers)
some water or oil to thin to desired consistency
Directions
All above ingredients get blended together. Thin with water or oil to desired consistency. Adjust salt and pepper.
I’m always looking for new ways to do cauliflower. So here is something new and different that is flavorful and easy to prepare. Serving size may differ.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
1 cauliflower – break down to florets
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
fresh crushed sea salt – to taste
Aleppo pepper – taste ( you can substitute black pepper or Urfa pepper)
1/4 cup black olive puree
1/4 cup poppy seeds – ground
1/4 cup black garlic – ground to paste
1 Tablespoon reduced balsamic vinegar
1 Tablespoon honey
4 oz feta cheese – crumbled or cubed
2 Tablespoons barberries (I bought mine at Asiana Market) (when barberries get old they turn sweeter. you might want to add a little lemon or sumac if your barberries turned sweet)
2 Tablespoons chives or scallions
1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts – lightly crushed
Optional sumac or lemon to taste if too sweet
Directions
Set oven to 400 degrees F.
Get the cauliflower florets on a baking sheet and drizzle or spray with the olive oil. Put them in the middle rack and cook until they get tender and a little brown. Timing will differ mine took 25 minutes.
While the cauliflower is roasting mix together in a small bowl the olives, black garlic, poppy seeds vinegar and honey. Spread this on bottom of cauliflower plate for serving.
When cauliflower is done sprinkle it with salt and pepper. then top the black garlic sauce with the cauliflower and top the cauliflower with feta, hazelnuts, barberries and chives or scallions.
Cauliflower Feta Barberries Hazelnuts and Black Garlic Olive Poppy Seed Sauce
My husband went out to the supermarket to pick up one thing. He came home with a pack of Impossible Meat (vegetable based plant meat). I was really surprised because he isn’t into plant based meats. He is usually anti to them. I said why did you pick that up and he said it was on sale and you cooked Impossible burgers really well (not to brag but…I did….better than Impossible burgers I ate out). I happened to already have a bunch of those yellow guero chile peppers that they use in Mexican Foods so I thought I’d stuff them Tex Mex Style hoping that they would come out good and they came out FORKING DELICIOUS! I make various meatballs and meat loaves all the time so I had an idea on what I was doing. The big surprise to me was that the Impossible meat doesn’t need as much binder or liquid as the other real meats out there. The big secret for these stuffed peppers coming out great is that you have to make them. Let them cool and refrigerate them. When you reheat them the pepper is well cooked and the Impossible meat is just like real beef. You can’t tell the difference. Serving size is difficult to judge. All the different peppers out there come in all different sizes. I used 14 assorted peppers of different sizes and my little 12 ounce Impossible meat package gave us 6 meals.
Ingredients for around 6 portions
14 peppers -*******AMOUNT OF PEPPERS CAN DIFFER ******(You can use any pepper that you feel like stuffing that you like…I used mostly yellow chili peppers. Anaheim, bells, poblanos, milder jalapeños would be good too)
1 onion – (medium – small) diced
1 bell pepper (I used red) diced
I Tablespoon canola oil
2 Tablespoons garlic confit (I buy bags of garlic from Costco and roast up half the bag with olive oil and make garlic confit. but you can substitute fresh garlic cloves ground to paste…..you will need between 3-5 cloves depending on size and taste)
1/4 cup scallions – sliced thin
1/4 cup cilantro – chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon mild chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground achiote also called annatto (Asian and Mexican Markets sell this or buy on-line)
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle powder (Sprouts sells this or substitute around a teaspoon of chilies in adobo ((mince any chili)
2 eggs – lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon low sodium vegetable base (this is instead of salt but with more flavor)
12 oz Impossible Meat Package
1/3 cup masa flour
1/3 cup peas
oil for spraying.
Directions
Set oven to 350 degrees F and oil a baking sheet.
The rest is pretty easy.
In a fry pan on medium high heat add the canola oil. When the oil is hot add the bell pepper. Let it go around 5 minutes and then add the onion string occasionally. Lower heat to medium and cook till lightly caramelized. Take off heat. When room temperature add to your big mixing bowl.
In a big bowl mix together the onion, bell pepper, garlic, scallions, cilantro, pepper, cumin, oregano, chili powder, achiote/annatto, chipotle, eggs, vegetable base, IMPOSSIBLE meat, masa flour, peas and mix well.
Prep the peppers.
Before the peppers get stuffed you have to make a “T” shop slit at the top of the chili shaped peppers. You have to remove the core and membrane and seeds so you can fill them. Then pack in the filling the best you can.
These go the preheated 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes.
Then let cool on the counter.
Refrigerate over night. (they will have a better texture this way)
Reheat at 350 degrees F covered for 30 minutes to serve.
Maybe ten minutes before you take them out of the oven you might want to melt shredded pepper jack and cheddar cheese on them?
You also might want to top the peppers with fresh cilantro, scallions, pickled onions and a little chopped pickled jalapeños? ………..Maybe some sour cream?
