Lemon Pepper

This spice mix is great sprinkled on scallops, fish, chicken, or pasta.

LEMON PEPPER

Ingredients
*
¼ cup black peppercorns
*dried lemon peels peels from approximately 4 lemons
* 2 teaspoons Pink Himalayan salt or Kosher salt
scant 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Preparation
1. With a good straight peeler, peel the lemons, leaving as much of the bitter white pith on the lemon as possible. Slice the peels lengthwise into thin strips. (This will help with the dehydration.)
2. Lay the peels on a food dehydrator tray, set the dehydrator to 135 degrees, and dehydrate for 1 hour or until the lemon peels are dried and brittle.

3. Add the dehydrated peels, peppercorns, salt, and garlic powder to a blender or a spice blender like a Magic Bullet. Blend to your preferred consistency.
4. Store in an airtight container in a spice drawer or add to a freezer for extended storage.

Adapted from: https://www.servedfromscratch.com/homemade-lemon-pepper-seasoning/

Butter Milk

Buttermilk

INGREDIENTS
4 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar, or fresh lemon juice
1 cup milk

PREPARATION
Place the vinegar in a glass measuring cup and add enough milk to make 1 cup total liquid. Stir to combine and let stand for 10 to 15 minutes (The mixture will begin to curdle).

Use as needed in a recipe or cover and refrigerate until needed.

Buttermilk recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2002

Coffee-Chile Dry Rub

Coffee-Chile Dry Rub

  • 2 tablespoons Mexican Chile Powder (highly recommended) or chile powder of your choice)

  • 2 tablespoons finely ground coffee beans

  • 5 teaspoons dark brown sugar

  • 1 tablespoon hot smoked Spanish paprika

  • 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano

  • 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder

  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger

  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt

Mix the ingredients in a small bowl. Store in a tightly closed glass jar in a cool dark place.

Mexican Chile Powder

This recipe is adapted from a recipe by Sonia Mendez Garcia and yields a flavorful, mildly spicy chile powder far superior to what you buy bottled at the market. Excellent used as part of the dry rub for Chile Crusted Rib Eye Steak, or any dish that calls for chile powder.


Ingredients
·  6 dried Chile Ancho
·  4 dried Chile de California
·  4 dried Chile de Arbol
·  ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
·  ½ teaspoon oregano (preferably Mexican) 

Directions
1.  Remove the stems and seeds from the dried chiles and discard them.
2.  Preheat a skillet to medium heat for a few minutes.
3.  Toast the dried chiles in batches. Using a metal, spatula, gently press the chiles to the hot surface for a few seconds at a time until they become slightly aromatic. Turn chiles over and repeat on the other side.
4.  Once chiles are all toasted, set aside to cool completely.
5.  In the same skillet, toast the cumin seeds and oregano for one minute. Remove from heat.
6.  Tear the dried chiles into smaller pieces. Using a clean spice grinder (like a coffee grinder or spice setting in a mini-food processor) add just enough chile pieces to loosely fill the grinder. Grind a few seconds at a time until it turns the chiles into powder.
7.  Repeat this process with all the toasted ingredients until complete. Mix all together and store in an airtight container in a cool place. It will keep for a longer period in the refrigerator.

Adapted from: https://hispanickitchen.com/recipes/homemade-chili-powder-using-dried-chiles/

Air-fried Crispy Shiitake (Vegetarian "Bacon")

A friend recently told me that even after 50 years as a vegetarian she still misses bacon. Here’s a recipe for anyone who loves umamiful, crunchy, chewy bacon. Air-frying thin slices of shiitake mushrooms tossed with a bit of olive oil and dusted with corn starch produces a vegetarian “bacon” that even avid bacon lovers say tastes like bacon. Use crispy shiitake as a garnish for pasta dishes, or atop your favorite salad, or soup, or baked potato...anytime you would use bacon bits. The crispy slices are also great snacks! “Where’s the bacon?” Crispy shiitakes! Prepare to be amazed!

Air Fried Crispy Shiitake
Yield about a cup

Ingredients:

  • 5 ounces shiitake mushrooms stems removed, sliced very thin

  • 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil (you can also just spray the sliced mushrooms with Pam or olive oil)

  • 2 teaspoons of corn starch

  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt

Method:
Preheat your air-fryer to 400 F.

  1. Toss the sliced mushrooms with olive oil (or spray with Pam) and salt.

  2. Sprinkle on the corn starch and toss gently to coat the slices. Don’t break up the mushroom slices.

  3. Spread the sliced mushrooms in your air fryer basket so you have a single layer of slices.

  4. Air fry for 15 minutes and check. The sliced mushrooms are done when they are golden brown and look crunchy. If you need more time, air-fry the slices for an additional 5 minutes or more until they are golden and crunchy.

  5. Cool the golden crispy slices to room temperature. They will become crunchier as they cool.

The crispy mushroom slices can be used in place of bacon as garnishes for salads, pasta dishes, or soups. Enjoy!

Photo: c. foodblogchef 2021 Spinach Ravioli with Brown Butter and Crispy Shiitake

Peachy Habanero Hot Sauce

Photo: c. foodblogchef 2021

Photo: c. foodblogchef 2021

My brother-in-law sent me a bag of Habanero and Carolina Reaper peppers from his garden in Georgia. Most of us are familiar with Jalapeño peppers which are rated at 2,500-8,000 Scoville heat units. By way of comparison, the Habanero pepper is rated at 100,000-350,000 Scoville units and the Carolina Reaper comes in at a whopping 1,400,000-2,200,000 Scoville units making it one of the hottest peppers in the world and 560 times hotter than the common Jalapeño and not a pepper to be taken lightly! This hot-sauce recipe was inspired by the Papaya hot-sauce made by Flavor Pirate. Compared to most store-bought hot-sauces, if the Flavor Pirate hot sauce is a moderately hot sauce, this Peachy-Habanero sauce is a hot hot-sauce. Fruit and acid mitigate the heat of hot peppers and along with spices add complexity to hot-sauce. For this recipe, fresh local peaches add an extra delicious fruitiness to the sauce. To moderate the heat of the sauce, you can omit the Carolina Reapers and a couple of the Habaneros. If you like hot-sauces and you’re looking for something new, give this recipe a try.

Peachy-Habanero Hot Sauce
makes about 3 cups

Ingredients:

  • 10-12 Habanero peppers (use rubber gloves to seed the peppers or suffer the painful capsaicin consequences)

  • 2 Carolina Reaper peppers seeded

  • 4-6 carrots chopped

  • ½ onion chopped

  • 4-5 roasted garlic cloves

  • 1 cup apple cider vinegar

  • water

  • juice from ½ lemon

  • 1 bay leaf

  • ¼ teaspoon each of allspice, cumin, and coriander

  • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

  • 1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt to taste

  • 2-3 ripe, medium peaches skinned, pitted, and chopped (ripe peaches will add more flavor to the sauce)

  • 1 tablespoon honey

Preparation:

  1. Roast the garlic until soft and set aside (a cast iron skillet on your stovetop works well)

  2. In a covered saucepan, over medium heat, sauté the carrots, onion, peaches, peppers, cider vinegar, lemon juice, spices, and bay leaf until the carrots are fork-tender. (Add water as necessary if the pan starts to become dry. Don’t scorch the veggies.)

  3. Remove the bay leaf and put everything including the peeled roasted garlic into the blender.

  4. Add the salt and honey to taste.

  5. Blend until smooth, add enough water to make the consistency you want.

  6. Pour into a small saucepan and bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

  7. Allow the sauce to cool and bottle. 

To bottle:
1. Put your bottles into boiling water for ten minutes.
2. Remove from hot water and cool.
3. Fill with sauce and cap.
4. Keeps refrigerated up to a year. 

https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/how-to-make-quick-roasted-garlic-article
https://preparedcooks.com/freeze-hot-sauce/

Tonnato with Stuffed Pork Loin

Traditionally served with marinated cooked veal (vitello tonnato), this versatile sauce from the Piedmont region of Italy is deliciously flavorful and pairs well with veal, turkey, or pork. It also makes a great dip for fresh veggies or savory spread on sandwiches. You can also thin it out a bit and use it as a creamy salad dressing. Traditionally egg yokes are used to create a creamy mayonnaisey sauce, but this version, adapted from Bon Appetit, uses mayonnaise in place of egg yolks without losing the briny creaminess of the sauce. Serve as an elegant dinner with Stuffed Pork Loin Roast, or as a light lunch/picnic with cold thinly sliced roast pork or turkey and a green salad.

Photo: c. foodblogchef 2021 Copy and paste to print the recipe.  EASY TONNATO SAUCE 2 cups Ingredients: 1 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1- 6-ounce can tuna in olive oil (not drained) 2 anchovy fillets (if you love anchovies add an extra fillet!) 2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (to taste) 3 tablespoons drained, rinsed capers  Preparation: In a blender, purée all ingredients, including oil from tuna can, until smooth and season with salt and pepper.https://www.bonappetit.com/story/tonnato-sauce-recipe

Photo: c. foodblogchef 2021
Copy and paste to print the recipe.

EASY TONNATO SAUCE
2 cups
Ingredients:
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1- 6-ounce can tuna in olive oil (not drained)
2 anchovy fillets (if you love anchovies add an extra fillet!)
2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (to taste)
3 tablespoons drained, rinsed capers

Preparation:
In a blender, purée all ingredients, including oil from tuna can, until smooth and season with salt and pepper.

https://www.bonappetit.com/story/tonnato-sauce-recipe

Kansas City Dry Rub for Pork

This is a good dry rub to season pork roast or ribs. It can be used for smoking ribs or seasoning meat prior to basting with a good barbecue sauce like Bourbon-Brown Sugar Barbecue Sauce.

Kansas City Dry Rub for Pork
(Copy and paste to print the recipe.)

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup brown sugar

  • ¼ cup paprika

  • 1 tablespoon black pepper

  • 1 tablespoon salt

  • 1 tablespoon chili powder

  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder

  • 1 tablespoon onion powder

  • 1 teaspoon cayenne

Preparation:

  1. Mix all the ingredients well and store in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. The spice mix will keep stored in a cool dark place for several months.

  2. Rub the spice mix onto your meat several hours (preferably overnight) before cooking.

Adapted from: https://www.thespruceeats.com/kansas-city-rib-rub-recipe

Chinese Style Duck Sauce

There are many Chinese Duck Sauce recipes online and in cookbooks; many of them include an equal amount of Chinese Plum Sauce to the fruit jam. This version omits the plum sauce and suits my taste: complex, fruity, and tangy with a hint of heat, but without the weird artificial coloring you get in the packets of take-out Chinese duck sauce. Play with this basic recipe until you have the version you like. It makes a great dipping sauce for chicken wings, fried spring rolls, or egg rolls. Mix it 50/50 with Bourbon Brown Sugar Barbecue Sauce for a terrific basting sauce for barbecue ribs. Give it a try.

Homemade Chinese Style Duck Sauce

Ingredients:
• ¾ cup apricot jam (or peach jam)
• 4 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• ½ teaspoon low sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger (or grated)
• a pinch of cayenne powder (optional, to taste)

Preparation:
1. Combine all of the ingredients in a small food processor and pulse a few times until you have the consistency you desire.
2. Allow to rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving so the flavors can meld.
3. Bring to room temperature 30 minutes to an hour before serving.
4. Will keep in an airtight glass container in your refrigerator for up to 1 month.