I needed some Old Bay seasoning in a hurry, so I just grabbed the first recipe I could find off the Internet. I had to improvise slightly due to limited supplies on hand, but I'm actually fairly happy with how it came out. I think it was a bit more vibrant than the commercial Old Bay I bought a few years back.

Update: Now that I'm not in so much of a hurry, I've had a chance to look at some other Old Bay recipes and I found one from Daring Gourmet that looks quite interesting. It includes most of the same spices as the Kitchn recipe, but in different proportions. Although it does swap out the ground cayenne for red pepper flakes and uses sweet paprika instead of hot paprika. It also includes several spices that the Kitchn recipe omits. These include: ground ginger, mace, allspice, and cardamom. I think these sound like interesting additions and may experiment with adding some or all of them to my current mix.

I've left the first recipe I used here to reflect what I actually did. But I am going to post an alternate recipe below it that leans a little more on the Daring Gourmet approach.

Ersatz Old Bay

Slightly adapted from The Kitchn

Ingredients

• 2 dried bay leaves
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. celery seeds
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp. white peppercorns²
• 1 Tbsp. hot paprika¹
• 1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
• 1/2 Tbsp. mustard powder
• 3/4 tsp. ground cayenne (optional)
• 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

Directions

1. If desired, lightly toast the bay leaves in a dry pan until they become brittle and fragrant. This will enhance the flavour slightly and, more importantly, should help them grind more readily.
2. Combine the salt, celery seeds, peppercorns, and bay leaves in a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder.
3. Add the paprikas, mustard, cayenne (if using), cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg and stir to combine.
4. Store in a cool, dry place, preferably in an airtight container.

Variations

Alternate Old Bay (milder, sweeter, more bay-forward)

Ingredients

• 5 dried bay leaves
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. celery seeds
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp. white peppercorns
• 1/8 tsp. cardamom seeds (from green pods)
• 1 Tbsp. sweet paprika
• 1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
• 1 tsp. mustard powder
• 3/4 tsp. ground cayenne
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder (optional)
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder (optional)
• 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. ground mace
• 1/8 tsp. ground allspice

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¹ The original recipe calls for a bunch of hot paprika and a little ground cayenne. I didn't have any hot paprika, but I did have ground Kashmiri chilies. So I just replaced the hot paprika with Kashmiri chilies and omitted the cayenne. It still seemed to come out a good deal spicier than commercial Old Bay, but I quite liked it. That said, I would use a light hand when applying it to recipes. I think that, given the increased spice level, you may end up finding you don't need quite as much as you would the commercial stuff. ^Back
2 The bag of peppercorns I had were a mix of black, white, and pink and I didn't have any separate white peppercorns, so I just used a full tsp. of the blend. Since the mix was mostly black peppercorns, this meant that the balance was slightly off, but I figured it'd be close enough. ^Back

Grilled Chicken and Zucchini

So... I messed this one up a little bit. It was supposed to be grilled chicken and corn. And I even got the corn for it. But then I took a little too long getting to it and the corn had gone off by the time I was making this. Okay, that sucks. But, no worries, I'll just ask TF to run out and get some more. Except apparently no, no I won't. Because she hit up just about every grocery store in town and they were all out of corn. After making five unsuccessful attempts to purchase corn, I told her to just get me any grillable vegetable. So, in the end, we ended up having grilled zucchini, not corn with our chicken. It was still pretty good. But definitely not nearly as good as the corn would have been.

Also, I only belatedly realized that I completely forgot to add the lime zest and thyme after everything was cooked. Whoops!

Grilled Chicken and Zucchini (or Corn)

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
• 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds¹, ground
• 3 Tbsp. lime juice
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 4-6 zucchini, halved lengthwise or ears of corn, husked
• 680g skinless boneless chicken breast
• 1 Tbsp. lime zest
• 1 Tbsp. fresh thyme

Directions

1. Set up a grill for direct heat cooking and allow to preheat.
2. Combine the paprika and cumin and stir to combine.
3. Mix in the lime juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper.
4. Brush the vegetables all over with the paprika mixture.
5. Toss the chicken with the remaining paprika mixture.
6. Add the vegetables to the grill and allow to partially cook (5-10) minutes.
7. Add the chicken and grill until cooked through (3-5 minutes per side).
8. Remove from heat and sprinkle everything with lime zest and thyme.

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¹ The recipe called for cumin. And that's what I used this time. But I think it might actually be quite good with dhania-jeera masala either instead or as well. I think I'd be tempted to try using 1/2 Tbsp. of masala + 1/2 Tbsp. of ground cumin next time. ^Back

I was originally planning on doing a turkey sausage and barley stew for dinner the other night, but then I found a whole chicken on sale. I had intended to cut it up and freeze it for later use. But I kind of ran out of time. And decided that rather than thawing out the sausages, making dinner with them, and then breaking down and freezing the chicken, may be it just made more sense to eat the chicken right away and save the sausages for another time. So, I ended up going with this chicken stew, which not only used up the chicken, but also the bell peppers that we had in the fridge going begging.

Spanish Chicken Stew

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 (1.5-2kg) chicken, cut into 8 pieces
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 Tbsp. butter, olive oil, or schmaltz
• 2-3 red or yellow bell peppers, finely chopped
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small (~400mL) tin diced tomatoes
• 2 tsp. smoked paprika
• 1 tsp. hot paprika
• ~2 c. cooked chickpeas
• 3/4 c. pitted green olives¹
• 3/4 c. sliced almonds, toasted and divided

Directions

1. Season the chicken with the salt and pepper.
2. Heat the fat over medium-high heat.
3. Place the chicken pieces, skin-side-down, in the pot and sear until crispy. Flip and sear briefly on the other side. Transfer to a plate.
4. Pour off all but 1 Tbsp. of fat from the pot.
5. Return to medium heat and add the onion and bell pepper. Cook until softened.
6. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two.
7. Add the tomato and both kinds of paprika and stir to combine.
8. Nestle the chicken pieces into the sauce, skin-side-up.
9. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until chicken is cooked through (30-40 minutes).
10. Uncover and add chickpeas, olives, and 1/2 c. of the toasted almonds. Simmer for 10 minutes.
11. Sprinkle with remaining almonds and serve.

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¹ I didn't have enough green olives on hand for this, so I ended up using a mix of green and kalamata. I do think the green olives went with the dish slightly better, but they were both good. ^Back

This is just going to be a quick post because I am very tired. But I decided to try making some salmon tacos today. It was one of those "30 minute meal" recipe cards from Cook's Country. Except the recipe called for "blackening seasoning", which I didn't realize was a thing. I always assumed that "blackened <whatever>" just meant that you cooked it in a way that tended to result in an all-over char. I didn't realize that there were specific spices or flavours associated with it.

It turns out that "blackening seasoning" is pretty similar to cajun seasoning. There are many different recipes, of course. But it seems to run heavy on the paprika and onion. It's usually a bit spicy too with a fair dose of cayenne. Garlic and pepper (usually black, but sometimes white) also play a role. And then a few herbs to round out the mix. The recipe I was following used basil, oregano, and thyme, but noted that other combinations were possible.

Blackening Seasoning

Slightly adapted from Chili Pepper Madness

Ingredients

• 6 parts dried onion
• 2 parts black peppercorns
• 2 parts coarse sea salt
• 1 part dried basil
• 1 part dried oregano
• 1 part dried thyme
• 12 parts paprika (smoked or sweet)
• 4-6 parts ground cayenne
• 2 parts garlic powder

Directions

1. Place the dried onion, peppercorns, salt, basil, oregano, and thyme in a spice grinder and grind very fine.
2. Stir in paprika, cayenne, and garlic powder.
3. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.

Lẩu (Vietnamese Hotpot)

I've never made or eaten hotpot before, but I was suddenly overcome with the desire to try it. We don't have a portable burner or hotpot... pot. But we do have an InstantPot. It's not ideally shaped for the task, but I figured it would due in a pinch just to try it out. If we really get into doing hotpot often I might consider buying a dedicated burner and pot for it. In the meantime, the InstantPot worked quite well.

There are loads of different hotpot recipes. Many different countries and regions have their own versions of hotpot and there are often several different types and/or flavours common within a single region. I found a recipe for vegan Lẩu and decided to give that a go. The broth smelled delicious while it was cooking. And that was before adding the vibrant red, garlic-y aromatic oil!

I didn't have a lot of the suggested dippers, but I did my best to put together a nice spread with what I had. We all enjoyed the meal and came away full, so I'm gonna call it a success. I've put in a grocery order so hopefully we can heat up the broth again tonight and enjoy some different things cooked in it. I've got a bunch of mushrooms, bean sprouts, yard-long beans, and dumplings on the way!

The broth (Not the best lighting or pot for it but, trust me, it was delicious!)

The dippers: baked tofu, blue pearl oyster mushrooms, baby mustard greens, and dried seitan. Also available but not pictured here: spinach rice vermicelli and buckwheat-sweet potato soba noodles.

Lẩu

Slightly adapted from The Viet Vegan

Ingredients

Broth

• 3L water
• 1 daikon, peeled and very roughly chopped
• 4-5 carrots, peeled and very roughly chopped
• 2-3 onions, peeled and halved
• 1 c. dried mushrooms, soaked for 10 minutes and rinsed¹
• 4-5 ears of corn²
• 7-8cm piece of ginger, peeled and very roughly chopped
• several leek tops/leaves (optional)
• 2 Tbsp. frozen chopped lemongrass or the white parts of 3 stalks of lemongrass, sliced thin
• 2-3 Tbsp. mushroom stock concentrate, to taste

Aromatic Oil

• 3 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 bulb garlic (~6-12 cloves), minced
• 1 Tbsp. frozen chopped lemongrass or the green parts of 3 stalks of lemongrass, minced
• 2 Tbsp. sweet paprika
• 1-3 tsp. red chile flakes, to taste

Dippers

These are just suggestions/ideas. Use as many or as few as you'd like!

Vegetables

• bok choy
• yu choy
• pea sprouts
• bean sprouts
• kale (mature or baby)
• mustard greens (mature or baby)
• broccoli
• green beans and/or yard-long beans
• nappa cabbage

Protein

• tofu puffs
• vegan shrimp
• seitan (dried or fresh)
• yuba
• sliced tofu (baked or fresh)

Mushrooms

• cremini
• oyster (regular oyster mushrooms or any of the "colour" varieties)
• king oyster
• enoki

Noodles

• rice noodles (vermicelli or ribbon)
• udon
• shirataki noodles
• bean thread noodles
• wontons/dumplings

Sauces

Again, use as many or as few as you'd like.

• sambal olek
• hoisin
• sriracha
• light soy sauce
• black vinegar
• dumpling sauce
• laoganma
• peanut sauce
• Vietnamese spring roll sauce

Directions

Broth

1. Combine all broth ingredients in pot.
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for at least an hour and up to 5 hours. (I used the InstantPot slow cook setting on high for this.)
3. Strain the broth. Solids may be eaten with dipping sauce or discarded.

Aromatic Oil

1. Heat oil over medium heat.
2. Add garlic and lemongrass and cook until garlic starts to turn golden.
3. Remove from heat and add paprika and chile flakes.
4. Scoop a ladel-full of the strained broth into the pan to loosen any stuck on bits.
5. Dump the broth and oil into the main broth pot. Broth is now ready to go!

Serving

1. Prepare all your dippers by slicing thin and/or cutting into bite-sized pieces as appropriate.
2. Set out your dipping sauces and utensils. (Chopsticks, tongs, spider/strainer, etc.)
3. Set the broth pot (and a portable burner) on the table and bring to a boil.
4. Diners can now drop in their desired foodstuffs to cook in the pot. Retrieve them with the spider when they're done.
5. Dip in desired sauce(s) and enjoy!

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¹ I filled the measuring cup most of the way with Chinese black mushrooms and then topped up the last little bit with some black fungus. ^Back
2 I can't really get corn on the cob here right now, so I substituted 2 c. frozen corn kernels + the empty cob left over after popping some popcorn on the cob. ^Back

Smoked Chicken

Hey! I made something that didn't come out of a Cook's Country magazine! This one's from the Internet. Specifically, I spent a while browsing the Amazing Ribs site and decided to try the smoked chicken recipe posted there.

Sweet Georgia's Brown Smoked Chicken
From AmazingRibs.com
1 chicken (mine was ~1.2kg and came already spatchcocked and injected with brine)
1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt per lb. of meat (only if bird is not pre-seasoned/brined)
4-5 Tbsp. Meathead's Memphis Dust

1. If chicken is fully in tact, either spatchcock it or cut it in half with kitchen shears.
2. If chicken has not already been brined or seasoned, rub with salt (dry brine).
3. Dust chicken on all sides with spice mix.
4. Preheat grill, adding desired wood chips/chunks. (I used a divided smoker box full of whiskey barrel chips. Half dry, half wet.)
5. Adjust burners to achieve a temperature of ~325F and indirect heat.
6. Cook chicken, skin side up, over indirect heat for ~2 hours with legs pointing toward the hotter side of the grill.
7. If desired flip skin side down over direct heat for a few minutes to crisp the skin just before serving.
8. Chicken can be cut into parts or pulled for sandwiches.

This chicken smelled heavenly while cooking and tasted even better! We served it with creole potato salad, oil and vinegar coleslaw, grilled corn on the cob, and some old-fashioned lemonade for a complete summer barbecue meal. Phenomenal!

Meathead's Memphis Dust
6 Tbsp. firmly packed brown sugar
6 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1/4 c. sweet Hungarian paprika
2 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. ginger powder
2 Tbsp. peppercorns
2 Tbsp. dehydrated onion
1 1/2 tsp. rosemary

1. Grind peppercorns, onion, and rosemary into a fairly uniform looking powder.
2. Add remaining ingredients and stir until well-combined, breaking up any chunks of sugar or other clumps that form.

Slow Cooker Hungarian Goulash

Goulash is one of those foods that I love, but have always had trouble with recipe-wise. I'm used to recipes with lots of seasonings and spices. How can something so simple, with only a handful of seasonings possibly come out tasty and flavourful! I know it's delicious, but I always find it hard to trust the recipe.

I've made goulash before. I'm pretty sure I've even made crockpot goulash before. But I don't have a really good "go-to" recipe. I usually just Google around until I find something that looks plausible. I've been impressed with the results from the Cook's Country recipes so far -- as long as I remember to reduce the salt! -- so I figured their goulash was worth a try too.

Hungarian Goulash
Slightly adapted from Cook's Country February/March 2015
4 lbs. stew beef
1 tsp. coarse sea salt
12 oz. jar roasted red peppers, rinsed
1/3 c. sweet Hungarian paprika (don't skimp or substitute on this!)
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 Tbsp. distilled white vinegar
5 Tbsp. water
2 Tbsp. canola oil
4 lbs. onions, chopped (recipe says 6 c., I got closer to 10 c.)
4-6 carrots, peeled and chunked
8 oz. sliced cremini mushrooms
3 Tbsp. flour
1 bay leaf
1/2 c. lactose-free sour cream (or whatever type of sour cream you prefer)
2 Tbsp. fresh parsley

1.  Season beef with 1/2 tsp. salt and place in slow cooker.
2. Blend (or process) the red peppers with the paprika, tomato paste, and vinegar. You may need to use some of the water to thin it out enough to blend smoothly.
3. Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the onion, carrot, mushrooms, and remaining 1/2 tsp. salt. Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the pepper mixture, flour, and bay leaf. Stir to coat the vegetables then allow to cook, without stirring, for at least 2 minutes.
5. Scrape the bottom of the pot and deglaze with any remaining water that was not used in the blending step.
6. Add the vegetable mixture to the slow cooker and stir to coat the meat.
7. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours (or 6-7 hours on high).
8. Turn off slow cooker and let stew rest for at least 5 minutes. Skim any fat from the surface.
9. Stir 1/2. c. of broth from the stew into the sour cream to temper it. Then stir the broth-y sour cream into the stew.
10. Adjust seasoning to taste. Sprinkle with parsley and serve! (Preferably over egg noodles or spaetzle.)

Csirkepaprikás Tarhonya (Chicken Paprikash with Tarhonya)

So I tried making chicken paprikash for the first time today:

It was delicious!

Who'd've thought that a pot of paprika and sour cream smothered chicken could taste so wonderful! I'm used to all the really delicious stuff containing lots of different spices and seasonings; this recipe didn't even call for garlic! And yet, it is still so very good.

I will admit that, before tasting another Hungarian dish that used paprika as one of the main ingredients, I really only thought of that lovely red powder as a garnish. Paprika is the stuff you sprinkle over deviled eggs or potato salad, right? It looks pretty but doesn't have much flavour of it's own. Unless maybe you get smoked or hot paprika, then you have some noticeable flavour and aroma, but still... I didn't really consider it a key component, just a mild, supplementary seasoning.

Once I'd tasted a few paprika-heavy dishes, I started to reconsider, but I'd still never really done anything myself that focused mainly on paprika. TF said he liked the idea of trying out a chicken paprikash recipe this weekend though, so I figured we'd give it a whirl.

This recipe is dangerous! It's delicious, fattening, and easy. Sauté some onions, toss in a bunch of paprika -- high quality paprika is crucial here! -- add your chicken and water. Cook, thicken up the sauce with some roux and sour cream while you bone the chicken. Toss the meat back in the pot and voilà! Really, dangerously easy.

The page I got the recipe from also had instructions for cooking tarhonya, which I'd never hear of before, but sounded pretty tasty. I decided to give that a try as well since paprikash really needs a substrate and tarhonya sounded both more delicious and more interesting than just boiling up some plain egg noodles. (Not that I have anything against egg noodles, they're wonderful, but it's always fun to try something different.)

I was expecting to find a package of pasta that was actually labeled "tarhonya" when I went to my local eastern European grocery store. If they had anything with that name, I certainly couldn't find it though. They did have a pasta section filled with neat little parcels of adorably tiny egg noodles. I found some that looked roughly the shape and size of the ones pictured on the recipe page in the hopes that they'd do the trick.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a picture of them before cooking, but here's what they looked like after:

They cooked up quite nicely and made for a perfect substrate for the saucy csirkepaprikás. The little, slightly irregular nuggets of pasta cooked up into savoury round beads of deliciousness, roughly the shape and size of Isreli couscous, but much firmer. They have a really nice mouthfeel and a bite somewhere between al dente pasta and brown rice. I thought they worked really well with the chicken and they'll definitely be my go-to side/substrate for it in the future!

The same brand of pasta was available in a bunch of different shapes. As I said, I got the one that seemed closest to what I'd seen in the online photos, but I think it'd be interesting to use the same method with some of the other shapes and see how they come out.

I also braised a little cabbage to go with this. Just so that I could at least pretend it was something like a balanced meal. The cabbage wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't anything to write home about either. Especially not after the sheer wonderfulness that was the rest of the meal. I just wanted to have a vegetable to go along with the rich, creamy sauce and buttery tarhonya.

This made for a wonderfully satisfying and tasty dinner and we had (and still have) plenty of tarhonya to go around, but I think I'd make a double batch of the paprikash next time. We did end up with leftovers, but not as many as I would've liked for such a delicious dish. Then again, there were three of us eating, and we sent some of the leftovers home with A, so we probably actually had ~8 servings of that succulent, saucy chicken all told. It just disappeared really fast!