I had a delicious salad at The Angel’s Trumpet Ale House in Phoenix that inspired this plate. It’s easy as can be to smoke food with a smoker. Most vegetables only take about 15 minutes in a smoker. You might prefer to use a mild wood for vegetables and also fish. I like to use mild woods all the time. That’s just how I roll. I got an inexpensive smoker called The Big Chief. In fact it’s the cheapest one that the Home Depot sells. It’s easy to use, holds more than I need and there is nothing to set. My idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size. I used 3 beets. I thought it should be 4 servings.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
1 lb beets – peeled – roasted in 400 degree oven wrapped in foil with water till fork tender (timing will differ. Mine took 75 minutes)
8 oz heavy whipping cream
4 oz goat cheese – room temperature
1 oranges – one peeled or supreme + zest
2 oz toasted almonds – sliced or whole but slightly crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried mint ( fresh mint would be better about 2 teaspoons)
2 Tablespoons champagne vinegar
1 orange – just the fresh squeezed juice
1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon canola oil
optional – some sprouts or greens
sea salt – to taste
black pepper – to taste
Directions
Smoke Beets – Cooked beets go in the smoker for 15 minutes.
Make Goat Cheese Mousse – Heavy cream and goat cheese get whipped together.
Make Orange Champagne Vinaigrette – Orange juice, oil, champagne vinegar, dijon all get mixed together. This only takes a minute. If you have more greens than I had you might want to double.
Toast almonds – if not already toasted.
Put it all together.
Beets and greens on the bottom. Next add oranges, almonds and the goat cheese mousse. Top it with some orange zest, mint and salt and pepper to taste.
Smoked Beets with Goat Cheese Musse, Orange, Almonds, Mint, and Orange Champagne Vinaigrette
I got a smoker and a little while back I made the FORKING BEST smoked pastrami ever. I only make a pastrami once or at the most twice a year. Smoked salmon a few times ….nothing fancy…just basic with a basic brine and leave in the smoker around 4 hours. I thought I should try to smoke other things.
I smoked some acorn squash, some beets and some seafood mushrooms. The beets came out really well and we enjoyed with the smoked salmon. The vegetables are super easy to smoke. You just put them in the smoker for 15 minutes with a mild wood. (alder is great for fish so I was using alder and it went extra well with seafood mushrooms!)
Smoked Beets with Goat Cheese Musse, Orange, Almonds, Mint, and Orange Champagne Vinaigrette
I had a bunch of food in my refrigerator so I had to freeze the acorn squash….I’m not sure what I will do with that yet but will think of something!
I tasted a mushroom. I thought it was a little too smoky for me……..Somehow I got the idea in my head to fry my smoked mushrooms. I used this kind of mushroom (seafood mushroom) I think it’s one of the very best buys at a supermarket. Seafood mushrooms usually only cost around a dollar a package and are amazing in soup and have a slight seafood taste to them.
After the mushrooms were smoked I dredged them in cornstarch and shallow fried them in a mix of unsalted butter and canola oil. (I tried the same thing with an un-smoked seafood mushroom and DO NOT GET THE SAME RESULTS AT ALL)
Smoked Crispy Seafood Mushrooms
OMG! These things are FORKING Amazing with my cheese sauce. My sauce was made with all the ends of white cheese I had in my refrigerator. I only use a small amount of butter (butter is what breaks the sauce), corn starch, milk lots of cheese, paprika, cayenne and Frank’s Red Hot Sauce. This combo is BOMB-DIG-IT-TY!
Smoked Crispy Seafood Mushrooms is a FORKING GREAT IDEA!
Someone named Gillian from a food group that I belong to made Indian Chicken. I asked her what spices that she used and wrote them down. I looked around to see what I had to use up and saw cucumbers so I wanted to make an interesting cucumber salad with Gilian’s spices for Indian Chicken. This is not an authentic Indian cucumber salad. It is Indian Inspired. My idea of serving size may differ from your idea of serving size.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
6 cucumbers – peeled – sliced long ways – (optional remove seeds and membrane) – sliced
1 small red onion – sliced extra thin
8 oz grape tomatoes – each tomato sliced in half
2 1/2 oz radish – sliced extra thin
1 carrot – sliced extra thin (peel if not organic)
1 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons Indian curry
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons honey
1/2 cup fresh cilantro (just leaves and tender stems) – chopped
Directions
Cucumbers, red onion, tomatoes, radish, and carrot all go in a large mixing bowl. Set it to the side and whip up the dressing.
In a small bowl whisk together the vinegar, water, curry, garam masala, turmeric, salt, pepper and honey.
Mix the dressing into the cucumber and vegetable bowl. Toss in the cilantro. Let the flavors mingle for about an hour. Chill. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Then serve.
I was gifted with a shopping bag full of grey squash. I could tell by looking at them that they’d go bad if I didn’t do something with them in a day or two. I read Michael Solomonov’s recipe for Roasted Zucchini with Anchovies, Feta and Hazelnuts. This recipe is loosely based on Michael Solomonov’s recipe.I knew that recipe would be amazing to do to the squash but I felt that I could wing the recipe without measuring. It’s that kind of amazing type of recipe….Honest I think it comes out better if you don’t measure. I also changed up the recipe a little and added a few things. Serving size will differ…It all depends on how many squash you are using and how much you are eating. I had a whole bag of squash…I’m guessing that I had around 12 squash. After cooking up that whole bag the squash shrunk down to only around 5 cups…about 8 servings.
12 squash – trim – cut in any shape you like (I did planks)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 lemons (just the juice)
1/4 cup fresh parsley (just leaves) plus extra parsley to garnish
sea salt to taste (sparingly…it will reduce and be stronger than you think))
crushed black pepper to taste (sparingly it will reduce and be stronger than you think)
6 cloves garlic – ground to paste
2 lemons – just the fresh squeezed juice
1 cup tehini
1/2 teaspoon cumin
2 anchovies
1 ******cup of squash that was charred the most – chopped (around a cup…..I added a little at a time and guessed it to be a cup)
1/4 cup scallions chopped
1/2 cup feta cheese (preferably good quality) cut in small cubes or crumbled
urfa pepper – to taste
1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts (slightly crushed)
harissa (preferably home made (recipe is on www.TheForkingTruth) to taste
Directions
You need the top rack of your oven to be around three inches lower than the heating element.Set the broiler on to high.
The cut squash get a light spray of olive oil and a squish everywhere with lemon. The squash get broiled on both sides till charred. Timing will differ….(mine took 10-20 minutes a side)
Lightly season the squash with sea salt, pepper and half of the parsley.
Blend the garlic, lemon juice, sea salt, tehini, cumin, anchovies, scallions and parsley till smooth. Put to the side until you can blend some squash into it.
In a small mixing bowl add the feta cubes or crumbs and add urfa pepper and mix around till your cheese is crusted with urfa pepper.
By now you can add your extra charred squash to the tahini sauce and blend till smooth and a nice consistency.
Put everything together.
The tahini sauce goes on the plate and is topped with the squash. The squash gets topped with urfa peppered cheese, toasted hazelnuts, some parsley and harissa to taste.
Roasted Grey Squash with Hazelnuts, Urfa Peppered Feta, Harissa and Charred Squash Anchovy Tahini Sauce
Enjoy!
A special THANKS to Michael Solomonov. I ate at his AMAZING restaurant and everything there was fabulous! Seriously it was one of the very best meals that I have ever had. I also saw him do a similar recipe on the Rachel Ray Show and he Didn’t measure using Brussel sprouts. I followed along and also did that amazing recipe so this was easy for me.
I had around a cup of leftover cooked cabbage and around 20 wonton wrappers in my refrigerator. I also recently made Justin Chapple’s recipe from Food and Wine Magazine (minus the bacon) chili crisp condiment. You can also buy chili crisp from an Asian Market or on-line but it’s easy to make so do what you want.
All I did was chop of the leftover roasted cabbage and flavor it with fresh chives and chili crisp (around a heaping teaspoon I think.
Then I put a small amount into the center of a wonton wrapper. I wet the edges of the wonton wrapper with water.
Started pleating up the wrapper on both sides.
Some I did round shape. I just hand squeezed them.
Boiled the plated ones. Salted the water with Red Boat Salt.
Boiled the round ones and added a little beet powder to the water.
Dressed the dumplings with more chili crisp and more chives.
Chili Crisp is this amazing condiment that adds textures, flavors and crunch to different foods. It’s great on grilled meats. It makes plain old vegetables special. Some people add chili crisp to pizzas, snacks or even ice cream. I tried a few different jars of chili crisp and thought WOW! Why haven’t I tried it before? I recently came across this Chili Crisp recipe by Justine Chapple from a Food and Wine Magazine. The original recipe has you glazing 1 1/2 pounds of bacon with this chili crisp. The recipe is so good that you should use it on anything that you like. The only hard part is wearing gloves so you don’t burn your eyes from handing peppers. You will need a spice grinder. This recipe makes around a cup of chili crisp that I am guessing might be around 8 servings.
1 oz dried whole peppers (recipe calls for japones chilles )
1/4 cup honey roasted peanuts chopped
2 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (I used course sea salt…tastier)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds – crushed
1/2 teaspoon Szechuan peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 whole star anise
1 cup peanut oil
1/2 cup shallots – slice extra thin on mandolin
1 cup garlic cloves – sliced very thin (I used a truffle shaver)
1 inch fresh ginger cut in thin matchsticks
Directions
USE GLOVES and break open each chilli pod and discard the seeds and throw stems if you have any. Process the pods until they are chopped and not ground (about 15 seconds). Stir together the chilies, peanuts, salt cumin, Szechuan peppercorns, black pepper and star anise in a large heat proof bowl. Place a strainer over the bowl. Set to the side.
Heat oil in a medium sized saucepan on medium high heat till shimmering. Add shallots, garlic, and ginger. Stir often till everything is golden crisp (about 5-6 minutes). Immediately pour mixture threw the strainer. Spread the solids on paper towels to drain. let cool 30 minutes and add it to the bowl contents. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours or over night.
Chili Crisp Chili Crisp
It’s DELICIOUS!!!!!!
A Special THANKS!!!! to Justin Chapple and Food & Wine Magazine for this amazing recipe.
Today I am mentioning the black owned restaurants that I can personally recommend. I do note that I haven’t been everywhere in metro Phoenix so other great black owned restaurants are out there that you should want to visit too. The restaurants mentioned are not in any particular order.
I had dishes that were to die for from The Larder + The Delta in Downtown Phoenix.
It’s a cute little casual restaurant in Phoenix that offers high quality Southern American Inspired Modern Cuisine.
This Hoppin John is like no other. It’s FORKING SCRUMPTIOUS! It’s earthy, spicy, deeply flavorful with interesting textures. It’s a Hum-YUM-Dinger!
A LONG While back I had the very best of the hot chicken sandwiches that I have tried anywhere. It was like a religious experience.
I had many delicious hot chicken sandwiches before but this one had the best and most delicious flavors of any hot chicken sandwich that I’ve ever had. One thing that really stood out was that the chicken was the only one that still tasted like it was on the bone. Then this one also had many layers to it that were the most delicious. It was so amazing that I wonder why this sandwich isn’t often found on the menu.
During the pandemic The Larder + The Delta did hot chicken take out.
They did re-opened for dine in service but these are uncertain times so you must contact them for up to date details.
I only got to eat at Mingo’s Louisiana Kitchen once (because this place is pretty far for me) but everything we tried was delicious. My husband said that the red beans and rice were really great. He usually only eats this dish in New Orleans…because usually it is usually only good in New Orleans.
He also enjoyed the Shrimp Po Boy.
Hot Chicken Sandwich
I had some sort of hot chicken sandwich that was different but delicious. If I remember correctly I think it was made with his own hot sauce and specialty remoulade sauce. The fries were seasoned with Old Bay.
Currently Mingo’s Louisiana Kitchen operates out of a food truck so you have to look up their schedule.
At a food festival in Peoria (Devour The World) I enjoyed the food from Abyssinia Restaurant and Cafe very much.
I decided that I should try the Ethiopian Restaurant Abyssinia Restaurant and Cafe myself. (PHX)
We got a couple dishes on one large platter lined with injera bread and served with rolls of it. Everything was DELICIOUS! There were three kinds of lentil dishes, vegetable dishes…..a couple meat dishes and in the middle was this insanely delicious dish called Doro Wat. It was a great experience.
We enjoyed many dishes from Carribbean Cuisine in Glendale. I do note that this is a very small place that is mainly open for take out. (possibly only take out during the pandemic)
Red Snapper
Jerk chicken
Curry chicken
Oxtail (not always ready because this takes hours to prepare)
Escoviitch
Everything was delicious from Caribbean Cuisine.
We enjoy Desert Island Eatery and Cafe very much. This is a Caribbean Restaurant that also serves Vegan foods. Inside is only three tables but they recently added a patio. Currently during the pandemic they are Take Out only and the patio is not in use.
Our mutual favorite dish here is the Curry/Jerk Chicken combo that comes with cabbage and your choice of rice and peas or yellow rice.
Combo with Jerk Chicken and Curry Chicken
We are both crazy about this curry and jerk chicken. Many other people in town love it too and this restaurant has been expanding the menu and their hours.
D’s Jerk Hut recently opened in Phoenix. They offer Caribbean and some vegan foods sort of cafeteria style. It’s sort of like a buffet behind the cashier and your order is kept warm in a warming oven.
We tried a number of things there.
Above is small sized jerk chicken and curry chicken. The jerk chicken his less spiced and less hot than all the other jerk chickens that I’ve tried. I really liked the curry chicken here. It was very flavorful and falling off the bone.
Here’s medium sized brown strew chicken. It’s very flavorful and really good but this one gets the developed flavor from the bones and there are lots of bone fragments in it.
D’s Jerk Hut is the only place that I have found Jamaica’s national dish Ackee (a fruit) and Salt Fish. It’s VERY Unique….You have to go to D’s Jerk Hut to try it.
The Breadfruit and Rum Bar is another place for Jerk Chicken and other Caribbean foods.
Friday night jerk chicken for two special from The Breadfruit & Rum Bar in Phoenix
We’ve enjoyed numerous dishes from the Breadfruit and Rum Bar from Festivals that we’ve been to. Often The Breadfruit and Rum Bar served us our favorite bite from various food festivals. Each Jerk Chicken that I tried taste different and the jerk chicken here is also very unique. Ours that we took out was more breast meat with all kinds of flavors that danced on the exterior of the chicken. There also was this WICKED mighty nuclear HOT sauce to pour onto it (If you dare). Ours came with nicely prepared farm fresh vegetables.
These were the Black Owned restaurants that I can recommend personally recommend.
The Larder + The Delta (PHX)
Mingo’s Louisiana Kitchen (Food Truck)
Abyssinia Restaurant and Cafe (PHX)
Caribbean Cuisine (Glendale)
Desert Island Eatery (N.PHX)
D’s Jerk Hut (PHX)
The Breadfruit and Rum Bar (PHX)
Again I haven’t been everywhere and I know that there are other great ones out there.
Everything is subject to change and we hope it does for the better.
Traditionally Eggplant Caponata is made with fried eggplant. My version is just as delicious and is made with roasted eggplant. Did you know that this dish originated in Capon Italy in the area where they do fishing. This dish was originally made with a tuna-like fish. Italians who couldn’t afford fish made this dish with eggplant and that is how caponata came to be. I had 5 smaller eggplants. They cooked down to only about 4 cups. So I an guessing around 1/2 a cup a person so you will get at least eight servings. It is traditional to serve caponata with delicious crusty bread.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
5 eggplants – diced – I used smaller sized eggplants)
1 Tablespoon garlic – ground to paste
1 red onion – diced
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup capers – drained
3 Tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 cup green olives – chopped
1 cup red wine (preferably a chocolatey cabernet)
14 oz Italian crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon bomba (I used Coluccio Stuzzichino) or substitute pepper to taste…but it won’t be as delicious.
1 cup toasted pine nuts – to finish
1 cup fresh torn basil leaves – to finish
optional 1 cup pomegranate seeds – to finish
optional around 8- 16 anchovies – to finish (one or two a serving)
Directions
The diced eggplant gets to soak in salt water for one hour. Then you put the eggplant in a colander and squish out all the water that you can.
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
The diced eggplant goes on a baking sheet spread out till brown. (timing may differ but mine took 40 minutes)
While the eggplant is in the oven put a sauce pot on medium high heat with the olive oil. When the oil is hot add the onions. Stir occasionally and cook till translucent. Turn down to medium heat and add the wine and let reduce till about half. Turn heat down to simmer. Add garlic, raisins, capers, sugar, olives, crushed tomatoes and bomba (or pepper). Only needs about 5 minutes.
Stir in the eggplant when it is ready.
Now you are ready to plate.
Top your caponata with toasted pine nuts and fresh basil. You might want to add pomegranate seeds and anchovies too! (I made waffle cut potatoes they were oiled and cooked at 400 degrees for 25 minutes then I added salt and pepper)
I was watching Diners Drive Inns and Dives on Food Network. They visited a restaurant in California that serves a killer fried chicken sandwich with fish sauce caramel. It turns out that fish sauce caramel is FORKING AMAZING! You will WANT TO MAKE IT! I didn’t know how to make fish sauce caramel so I looked it up and found Andrew Zimmern’s from Food & Wine Magazine so I thought that would work. I called this recipe idea because I didn’t exactly measure my batter and kind of winged it. It was only the seltzer and beer that I didn’t measure…but it is pretty easy to make batter……I made more batter than I needed….But I think if I cut the batter recipe in half you might not have enough batter….so get ready to do some onion rings or chicken bites!
Ingredients for around 8 servings
2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
4 large shallots – sliced very thin on mandolin
1 dried hot chili – crumbled
3 star anise pods
1 -2 inch cinnamon stick
2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper
1/2 cup Asian fish sauce
1/2 cup water divided into two quarters
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup corn starch
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon old bay seasoning
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 egg – beaten
1/2 can beer (around 1/2 a can)
1-2 cups seltzer (this one I really guessed)
1 large cauliflower trimmed into florets
Oil for frying (canola, vegetable, peanut or other clear)
Directions
Make fish sauce caramel.
In a good sauce pan combine the sugar and lemon juice with 1/4 cup of water and bring to a boil. boil without stirring it on low heat till it’s looks like a deep amber color (around 20 minutes).
Stir in shallots, chili, star anise, cinnamon and pepper. Take pan off of the heat and stir in fish sauce with another 1/4 cup of water. Stir over moderate heat till caramel is dissolved. Pour sauce in a heatproof bowl and let it cool. Remove star anise and cinnamon stick.
While sauce is cooling you can do the beer battered cauliflower.
Put about 3 inches of oil in a good sauce pot on medium heat. While the oil is heating mix up your batter. In a large bowl combine the flour, corn starch, cumin, onion powder, granulated garlic, paprika, cayenne, Old Bay, salt and pepper. Add the beer, add the egg and keep adding seltzer till it looks something like pancake batter. Dip one tester cauliflower and decide if you thinned it down enough. As soon as you are happy fry them up with a paper towel line baking sheet or a cooling rack.
Enjoy as soon as you can with the fish sauce caramel.
Beer Battered Cauliflower with Fish Sauce Caramel
These really are FORKING AWSOME!
A special THANKS!!!!! To Food & Wine Magazine and Andrew Zimmerm for this amazing Fish Sauce Caramel recipe!
I had a bunch of really tiny acorn squash and Huitlacoche that needed to be used so this is how I came up with this recipe. Huitlacoche is hard to come by. The closest substitute in taste to Huitlacoche might be a shiitake or black trumpet mushrooms in taste. Your acorn squash will not be as tiny as mine were. I used 5 that were between a peach and apple size. You can dress them up a little more with sour cream or some grated Mexican cheese if you like but I think since I used butter that I have enough creamy fat in them for my taste. Serving size is difficult to judge here since the size of the squash will differ.
Ingredients for around 8 servings.
3 pounds acorn squash – cut however you like and remove seeds and seed membranes
4 oz unsalted butter – melted
non stick spray
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 small red onion
5 garlic cloves – ground to paste
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup peppers – diced (something like bell peppers or a mix with something mild-medium heat)
1/2 cup corn kernels
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 + 1/2 Tablespoon chipotle in adobo (I had one whole pepper in mine that I fine chopped)
1 cup huitlacoche
1/4 cup cilantro – chopped (leaves and only the fine stems)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (fresh epazote would have been better but I didn’t have any today)
optional – some fried pumpkin seeds
Directions
Set oven to 475 F. Spray a baking sheet with non stick spray. In a small mixing bowl combine the butter, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper and paint it on the squash twice.
Put the squash in the oven for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes turn the squash over. If you have leftover butter paint them again and put the squash back in the oven till soft and slightly browned.
Make the Huitlacoche Corn Salsa.
In a medium sauce pan on medium high heat add the oil. When the oil is hot add the onion and peppers and cook till soft but not brown. Now turn down to medium heat and add the garlic corn, huitlacoche, dried oregano and apple cider vinegar….turn down to simmer and let it reduce a little. Add salt and pepper to taste. Served over squash and add fresh cilantro. Some fried pumpkin seeds if using.
Spice Buttered Acorn Squash Stuffed With Huitlacoche Chipotle Corn Salsa
