Smoked salt is very expensive no matter where you shop. I thought since we are smoking up a storm today that we should also try to do smoked salt.
Today we are smoking eggs, a brisket, corn, and sea salt today but I’m just talking about the salt here.
Our smoker doesn’t have any settings for heat. I think it smokes at around 160 degrees F. We left it in till we ran out of pecan wood (around 3 hours). I could have left it in longer for a stronger smoke taste but 3 hours the taste is there and I think is enough. The salt smells so good! Give it a try!
I was reading about Amish Onion Patties and found out that they are a scrumptious fried food that I have never had. I heard that they taste like onion rings. I figured out a baked version of and seasoned them a bit more. GOSH they are a BIG HIT because they are forking tasty and not so heavy. They have a crisp exterior and are light almost like an fluffy onion pancake inside. They are tasty the way they are but also would be great with any dip, dressing, or ketchup that you can think of….I think that they would be great as mini sandwiches too. This recipe makes around 16 patties. You need to eat at least two so that might be 8 small portions. I am certain that some will eat more than two patties so serving size is difficult to judge. I’ll guesstimate 6 servings.
Ingredients for around 6 portions
2 1/2 cups onions – sliced thin on mandolin and chopped (I used 1+ almost1/2 large onions)
1/3 cup scallions – sliced thin
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon corn meal
3/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon granulated onion
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 eggs – beaten
1/4 cup water
canola non stick spray
Directions
Set oven to 400 degrees F and spray two sheet trays with non stick spray.
In a large bowl add the onions, scallions, baking powder, cornmeal, flour, salt, sugar, granulated onion, pepper, Mix well.
In a small bowl mix together the eggs and water. Now add that to the big bowl and mix well.
I used a teaspoon and heaped it up with batter and placed them on the baking sheets like this.
My oven was preheated to 400 degrees F. One sheet pan went on the middle rack and the other sheet pan on the lower rack. In my oven I thought that the onions patties looked perfect to me at 30 minutes. Ovens can differ some so you might need slightly more or slightly less time.
About once a year I make my pastrami, rye bread or rolls, some sort of mustard and a slaw. This year I used sake instead of beer in my mustard so I did a little Asian Twist on slaw and it came out really great! Serving size is always difficult to judge because I don’t know if you want a tiny side cup or a true side order. This stuff really is tasty. You might eat more slaw than you normally do. I will guesstimate 6 large servings (large to me for slaw) but you might really get 8.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
1/2 small cabbage – shredded thin on mandolin
1 carrot – shredded
1/2 onion sliced thin on mandolin
2 small avocados – mashed
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
4 Tablespoons bonito flakes – split onto 2T& 2T (sold at Asian Markets) (2T for salad and 2T for finishing)
1 teaspoon dry dill
1/2 teaspoon granulated onion
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried chives
1/2 teaspoon dried parley
1 Tablespoon wasabi powder (or to taste..)
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice
2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon shiso fumi furikake (sold at Asian Markets) (for finishing)
1/4 cup scallions – either sliced thin or on a diagonal (for finishing)
Directions
In a large bowl mix up the dressing. Combine the avocado, yogurt, mayonnaise, dill, granulated onion, garlic, chives, parsley, wasabi, pepper, salt, lemon juice, and vinegar. Mix well. Mix in the cabbage, carrot, and onion. Mix well.
Serve
Finish with bonito flakes, furikake, and scallions
Avocado Wasabi Slaw with Furikake and Bonito Flakes
This recipe is by Gabriela Duhart who is a consultant with Humane Society International. I came across this recipe and thought wow it would be pretty cool to make carrot lox. I thought I’d give this recipe a try on my home made mini bagels (mini bagel recipe not published as of yet)
Ingredients for around 4 servings
4 carrots – boiled for 8 minutes and cooled
2 Tablespoons caper brine (liquid from a jar of capers)
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon miso paste
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely chopped dill
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
2/3 cup warm water
Directions
Slice the carrots into thin strips or sheets using a fine knife or vegetable peeler.
in a bowl (or a ziplock bag) combine the remaining ingredients and the carrots.
Marinate the carrots in the refrigerator. One hour will add little flavor. I tried them after letting them sit overnight and I thought the dominate flavor was soy sauce. Then I let them go longer. I thought I got the most and best flavors around 5 days latter.
Remove carrots from marinade and serve.
Humane Society Vegan Carrot Lox on home made mini bagel
I think that if you are vegan that this is a good recipe………..but……. It doesn’t actually taste like real lox plain. But it almost taste like lox in the home made mini bagel all dressed up. Those were my FORKING Thoughts on The Humane Society Vegan Lox Recipe.
I sure learned a lot from Chef Claudette Zepeda’s recipe for Strawberry (and Radish…..online the radish is omitted from the name of recipe ) aguachile recipe. I had no idea that you can lightly cook strawberries and come up with such an amazing strawberry sauce that is truly amazing. I just had to do parts of the recipe different. I also didn’t want to throw out vegetable and fruit solids that tasted so good and added healthy fiber and nutrition to the dish. I cut out some of the straining. I also cut out picking out seeds from tiny chitepin peppers (who does that?), and icing up and drying chopped scallions before serving (it really is a nice touch but………). Also picking off cilantro leaves one by one. The big one that I couldn’t agree with was not using one third of a roasted pepper because it was just too much roasted red pepper…….(how could that that be?….the roasted pepper is so darn delicious. By not doing all those things I guess what I made is no longer aguachile and really is a cold soup. >>>>>>>>Also I think I simplified the cooking of the strawberries. It is also very hard to keep a simmering bowl of water under a bowl with 2 pounds of strawberries for an HOUR…..I made that easier by cooking them in a low oven. This recipe was based from chef Claudette Zepeda’s Food & Wine Magazine Recipe. It came out delicious anyway. You need to know that this is a very time consuming recipe…I cut out some steps and it still is very time consuming. You are welcome to strain everything all you want if you care to. If you strain everything you will have a true aguachile but you also will end up with much less.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
1 red bell pepper – roasted – stem, skin, seeds, removed and chopped
2 1/2 pounds strawberries – stems removed, quartered divided into 2 pounds and 1/2 pound that is reserved for topping the aguachile
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
3 medium scallions – root cut off – white and light green chopped – separate the dark green part and trim thin on a diagonal
1/4 cup fresh cilantro – leaves and fine stems – chopped and reserve 6 of the thicker stems, chop the stems but keep them separate
4 regular radishes sliced thin or use any radish you want. You just need a little to garnish each bowl.
radish micro greens for garnish
optional sea salt flakes for finishing
Directions
Set your oven to 180 degrees F.
In a large baking dish or pan add 2 pounds (remember you should have reserved 1/2 pound) strawberries. Sprinkle the strawberries with salt and sugar. Cover the pan and place on the middle rack of your preheated oven. This stays in the oven for an hour.
Take a break…or do the next step and put it off to the side and into the refrigerator.
Combine the cucumber, lime juice, lemon juice, chiltepin peppers, bell pepper, white and light green scallions, reserved cilantro stems. Blend till smooth.
By now your strawberries should be out of the oven. You need to place them in a colander over a bowl to catch the juices that leak out. This will take another HOUR.
All the strawberry juice gets added to the cucumber/strawberry juice mixture. Blend up the strawberries till smooth and add that also to the cucumber mixture till smooth.
This needs to chill in the refrigerator a few hours before serving.
Assemble – divide the aguachile into 4 servings. Top each bowl with the remaining strawberries, radish slices, cilantro, scallions, radish sprouts. Add flaked salt if you like.
Strawberry Aguachile Style Cold Soup
A Special THANKS!!! to chef Claudette Zepeda and Food & Wine Magazine for inspiring me to do my twist on their amazing recipe.
About once a year I make pastrami and about once a year I make rye bread or rye rolls and a mustard. I usually make a beer mustard but this year I didn’t have any beer at home so I thought what tastes like beer here?….I thought Sake! So I made one jar of Sake Mustard. It’s similar to the beer mustard but is a bit sweeter. You do need a spice grinder to make this mustard. I made it a mix of ground and whole seeds…This recipe makes the perfect amount to fill a small Ball 1/2 pint canning jar. I’ll guesstimate around 8 servings.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
4 1/2 Tablespoons black mustard seeds (reserve 1 Tablespoon to keep whole if desired)
3 Tablespoons yellow mustard seeds (reserve 1 Tablespoon to keep whole if desired)
2 allspice berries
7 juniper berries
2 Tablespoons honey
2 garlic cloves – ground to paste
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 Tablespoon ground mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
5 Tablespoons sake
2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon mirin
Directions
Grind up the mustard seeds except for the reserved seeds if desired. Grind up the allspice and juniper seeds and mixup everything that is left together (honey, garlic, pepper, turmeric, ground mustard, salt, sake, vinegar, mirin.
Enjoy!
Sake Mustard
Here’s this years rye rolls.
rye rolls with sake mustard
Here’s this years pastrami.
smoked pastrami
Did it only slightly different. Basically the same recipe November 2020 but separated the point from the flat of the brisket and used the flat for pastrami. Actually my husband separated them for me. He volunteered so I let him do it because I thought I might hack it up. He also did the beautiful slicing.
In my July/August 2022 Food Network Magazine that I just got was Kwame Onwuachi’s recipe for jerk chicken. Incase you didn’t know Kwame Onwuachi is a James Bead award winning chef and has been a Bravo TV Top Chef contestant. When I saw his recipe I knew it would be good. I can just tell by reading it. You do spend a day brining the chicken and another day marinating the chicken. You finish the chicken with jerk bbq sauce. The chicken was even delicious and flavorful even before the bbq sauce. I made two substitutions. I swapped out bone in skin on chicken for boneless chicken thighs. The other substitution was that I couldn’t find Scotch bonnet peppers so I substituted habanero peppers (they have the same exact heat but aren’t as sweet as Scotch Bonnets). ANYWAYS ….It’s a very good recipe. Delicious, spicy, full of flavors. Makes around eight servings.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
2 Tablespoons kosher salt – brine
1 Tablespoon sugar – brine
1 teaspoon allspice berries – brine
1 Scotch bonnet halved (I substituted an habanero) – brine
1 garlic head halved – brine
1 inch piece of ginger with skin on sliced – brine
2 1/2 pounds skin on chicken quarters legs and thighs (I used boneless skinless thighs….6 of them that weighed around 3 pounds)
1/4 cup soy sauce – marinade
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce – marinade
1 Tablespoon tamarind paste – marinade
2 Tablespoons chopped scallions – marinade
2 Tablespoons fresh thyme – marinade
1 Tablespoon garlic minced – marinade
1 Tablespoon ginger – minced – marinade
1 teaspoon ground allspice – marinade
1 teaspoon dark brown sugar – marinade
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon – marinade
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves – marinade
1 bay leaf – marinade
1 Scotch bonnet – minced (I substituted a habanero) – marinade
2 Tablespoons canola oil (plus more for grill pan) – jerk bbq sauce
1 onion diced – jerk bbq sauce
3 cloves garlic – minced – jerk bbq sauce
1 1/2 cups ketchup – jerk bbq sauce
1/2 cup dark brown sugar (this I used slightly less) – jerk bbq sauce
Make the brine. Combine 32 ounces of water with the salt, sugar, allspice, scotch bonnet, garlic, ginger Bring to a boil on medium -high heat. Cook around five minutes.Add 1/2 cup of ice and let it cool to room temperature. Add the chicken to the brine and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Make the jerk paste marinade.
Stir together the soy sauce, Worcestershire, tamarind paste, scallions, thyme, garlic, ginger, allspice, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf, Scotch bonnet, and salt. REMOVE 5 TABLESPOONS for the bbq sauce.
Remove the chicken from the brine and toss out the brine. Blot the chicken dry.
Toss the chicken in the jerk paste and massage it in. (I did this in a gallon ziplock bag)
Refrigerate 24 hours.
Make the jerk bbq sauce. Put a medium size fry pan with the canola oil on medium low heat. Heat the oil till shimmering. Add the onion, garlic ginger, reserved marinade. Simmer till onion is clear (5-8 minutes). Add the ketchup and brown sugar and heat till the mixture is red and caramelized (around 30 minutes). Take off heat and blend till smooth.
Cooking the chicken. Preheat the oven and oiled grill pan to 325 F. are sure the grill pan gets hot and let it roast for ten minutes. Remove the chicken from the marinade ****BUT SAVE THE MARINADE*****If you are using skin on chicken it goes for around ten minutes a side. I used boneless skinless thighs and I did 15 minutes on each side.
It didn’t char like I wanted maybe because of the lower heat but it did come out really great and very juicy. I thought about grilling the chicken on my bbq grill but I would have made a mess out if it that would be hard to clean in the over 100 degree temperature that we have in Phoenix.
Chicken is not done yet.
You put the chicken in a pan and pour the marinade on it.
Cover the pan. Cook till the chicken is done. 45 minutes was suggested for bone in skin on chicken that you can crisp up under the broiler. The chicken thighs only needed 15 minutes and before serving got brushed with the Jerk bbq sauce.
Jerk Chicken Thigh
A special THANKS!!!! to Kwame Onwuachi and Food Network Magazine for such a FORKING AMAZING Recipe! This one is truly a keeper.
I recently did one of Kwame Onwuachi’s recipes for jerk chicken and I thought that was an exceptionally good recipe. So it made sense to do his braised cabbage and carrot recipe to go with the jerk chicken. Incase you don’t know Kwame Onwuachi is a James Beard Award Wining Chef and also was a competitor on Bravo’s Top Chef TV Show. This recipe is very easy. Also the cabbage comes out all melted and very soft. You might want to serve something like rice with it. It’s not very seasoned but is tasty. It will help to cool you off after the fireworks from the jerk chicken. I cut his recipe in half so depending on your portion size it will make 4-6 servings. The cabbage does shrink a lot as it cooks.
Ingredients for around 5 servings
1/2 head medium cabbage – core removed julienne cut
2 carrots – shredded
1 1/2 Tablespoons garlic – ground to paste
1 1/2 Tablespoons ginger – ground to paste
1 onion – diced
6 oz coconut milk
1 tablespoon sea salt
6 Tablespoons butter – cut in slices
1/2 lemon – just the fresh juice (this gets added at the end for finishing)
Directions
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
In a small bowl mix together the coconut milk, ginger, garlic, salt.
Get a large pan and the cabbage, onion, carrots, and butter slices. Give it a little mix. Add the small bowl of liquid. Try to pour it all over.
Cover the pan.
Put on middle rack of the oven for one hour and forty minutes.
Braised Cabbage & Carrot
A Special THANKS!!!! to Kwame Onwuachi for sharing this family style recipe.
I watched the Foodnetwork show Big Restaurant Bet where the winning chef made these faux crab cakes out of Lions Mane Mushrooms. Everyone was raving about how great they were. I couldn’t find the winning chef’s recipe on the internet but I did find this James Beard award wining blog called Forager Chef. I thought that his recipe seemed pretty solid. A few minor things I did change to make the recipe a little more foolproof.
This recipe makes 4 servings
12 oz lions mane mushrooms (Whole Foods sells them in 6oz tubs cheaper than anywhere else I’ve found them ($5.99 a tub))
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 Tablespoons water
1/4 cup scallions – minced
1/4 cup red bell pepper – minced
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs (plus a small amount more ( 1/4 cup) to finish cakes)
1/4 cup high fat mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons cilantro chopped (or tarragon or parsley leaves)
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire
1 teaspoon Old Bay
1 large egg – beaten
sea salt to taste
non stick spray
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 shallot minced
1/4 teaspoon prepared horseradish
lemon wedges for serving
optional chives for serving
Directions
Break down the lions mane mushrooms into shreds. Add the mushrooms to a covered fry pan with the water and salt and simmer till the mushrooms are cooked. Take off the heat. When the mushrooms are cool enough to handle squeeze all the water out of them. I put mine in a colander over a tub to catch the liquid.
Now mix up the mix that you mix into the mushrooms.
In a medium bowl combine the scallions, bell pepper, 1/2 cup panko, 1/4 cup mayonnaise, herbs, Worcestershire, Old Bay, egg. Mix well and adjust seasoning if necessary.
When the mushrooms are drained and cool you can mix them into this mixture. Everything needs to chill very well. You need to let this sit in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours or over night.
This is when you might want to make the remoulade. In a small bowl mix together the mayonnaise, vinegar, soy sauce, smoked paprika, dijon, shallot and horseradish. Refrigerate and use when serving.
When you are ready to cook. Set your oven to 350 degrees F. and spray a baking sheet with neutral non stick spray. Make 4 even size patties and dredge them lightly in panko and place on baking sheet. Sprinkle each side lightly with sea salt and pepper.
They go on a middle rack for 20 minutes. Finish them and get them crispy by placing under the broiler a couple minutes on each side.
Look how flaky they come out. They have the texture very similar to crab.
Serve with lemon, remoulade, and chives if you have any.
Lions Mane Mushroom faux Crab Cake
A Special THANKS!!! To Forager Chef for his amazing recipe so I could come up with what you see here today!
I happened to have some avocados and some herbs to use up. Yesterday I made the crisps……because I was mad when I followed a high end chefs recipe for crisps and they didn’t come out right…..(I KNEW something was wrong with THAT recipe….it sure didn’t sound right)…Anyways This pesto is delicious don’t worry about measurement exactly for the pesto because avocados run different in in size and so to the herb bunches……The crisps here also do come out but that you have to measure exactly. I did a variation on Epicurious Flatbread Recipe…same recipe but I swapped out 3/4 cup of flour for whole wheat graham flour ( Avery tasty sweet nutty tasting flour) because I KNOW THAT RECIPE COMES OUT. I seasoned the flatbreads with fancy salt flakes, fresh crushed black pepper, poppy seeds, and sesame seeds. It is so yummy with the Avocado Walnut Pesto. Either you won’t stop eating it or you can impress people with it. Serving size is hard to say. I don’t know if you want this as an appetizer or a lunch. I’d say it makes 4- 8 servings. I’ll say a conservative 4 servings based on the amount of avocado I used but you really have enough crisps for eight.
Ingredients for at least 4 servings
1 cup AP flour
3/4 cup whole wheat graham flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
flake sea salt for finishing
poppy seeds for finishing
fresh crushed black pepper for finishing
sesame seeds for finishing
2 avocados – just the flesh
1 cup basil leaves – rough chopped
1 cup parsley leaves – rough chopped
5 oz walnuts
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 garlic clove – ground to paste
1/2 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
crushed red pepper to taste (I used 4 Calabrian piri piri peppers)
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
a small amount of water to get things blending
Directions
Set oven to 450 F. You need three parchment papers to cover sheet pans.
In a big bowl mix together the flours, baking powder salt, water and oil. Once you’ve got it mixed well make it into three balls. Cover the balls with plastic wrap so they don’t dry out.
You have to cover the dough with plastic wrap and roll each ball out thin with a rolling pin. (make sure the dough is at least as thin as a tortilla.)
Then sprinkle the sea salt flakes, fresh ground black pepper, poppy seeds, sesame seeds and pat them in slightly so they don’t roll off. Remove the plastic wrap and put in the preheated middle rack of a 450 F oven for about ten minutes.
To make the avocado walnut pesto I used a stick blender and blended together the avocado, basil, parsley, walnuts, parmesan, garlic, lemon juice, salt, crushed peppers, olive oil and after it was hard to blend I added a small amount of water that might have been 2 or 3 tablespoons. It’s so delicious with these flatbreads.
Avocado Walnut Pesto with Flatbread Crisps
A special THANKS!! To Epicurious for a reliable flatbread recipe that we can customize.
