Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to take a look at McCormick’s Global Flavor Forecast for 2013. With no surprise, the trend that immediately caught my eye was Empowered Eating. Basically, McCormick recognizes that more and more people are starting to take control of their health and what they are eating to support good health – this includes enhancing food that is already good for you to elevated flavors through spices and flavors.

I am all over this trend for so many reasons.

One of the recipes that McCormick featured under their Empowered Eating profile is a spice blend called Dukkah. When I saw this recipe, I immediately knew I was going to make it and probably love it and use it often. I was right.

What is dukkah? (I had no idea either.) Dukkah is a Middle Eastern aromatic spice blend made from a combination of nuts, seeds and whole spices. It can be eaten as shown here, added in olive oil along with bread for dipping – or as a spice rub to enhance fish and meats or to sprinkle over vegetables. After making a batch of dukkah earlier this week, I’m saying yes to all of the above. I personally can not wait to enjoy a piece of dukkah crusted fish very soon (cooked similar to this Almond Crusted Tilapia that I love). Not a bad way to incorporate healthier eating into the new year is it?

I prepared a batch of this dukkah in just a few minutes. All you need is a few spices, sesame seeds and your favorite nut (hazelnuts are traditionally found in this recipe, but I wanted to use pistachios – next time almonds?). After toasting up all the components, I crushed and blended them together in small batches using a mortar and pestle. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, the end of a large wooden spoon and a sturdy bowl would work well. You could also always use a clean coffee grinder (set aside for just spices), or run a rolling pin over everything tucked into a large ziplock bag.

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The post Empowered Eating: Recipe for Dukkah Spice Blend appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

Last summer, on a hike with my dear friend Sandy during some down time at a conference in Park City,  I came to the realization that I have a love and passion for cooking with spices. This may or may not be something obvious to someone who reads this blog, but discovering new flavors through spices makes me kind of … giddy.

On that same hike, I told Sandy that I have always wanted to start a series of some sort on this blog where I would talk about spices that I love to cook with or that I’m just learning about, spices that might intimidate people or spices that might be renting space in your cabinet that you have no idea what to do with.

This all goes hand in hand with what keeps me writing this blog – my love of talking about food with other people, sharing ideas, and ultimately inspiring someone to cook!

So here we are one year later…a first of hopefully many Spice Kitchen posts.

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The post Aggie’s Spice Kitchen: Cumin Seed appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

I asked Bev, from Bev Cooks over today to cook for you. If you don’t know Beverly yet, then you must get to know her. This girl makes me smile each and every day…she’s hysterical and can cook her butt off. I’ve been hanging out on her blog a lot the last few months and have enjoyed the heck out of it. Her cooking style is very similar to mine and I think you are going to really enjoy her Spicy Shrimp and Avocado Lettuce Cups. I can’t wait to make them myself…the photos alone are making me drool.

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When the fabulous Aggie came to me about being a guest poster on her blog, I: A) Immediately ran down the street singing “What a Feeling” at the top of my lungs. B) Shaved my legs because in my head, IT TOTALLY MATTERS FOR THIS. And C) Threw on a red sequin gown and stilettos so high, I could give you a separate weather report.

So I got a teensy bit excited. What?

Thank you, Aggie.

. . . . .

It’s the end of summer and we’re all desperately clinging to the last bits and pieces of the relaxing, sun-soaked days of the season. The pool has closed. Pencils are sharpened and the smell of notebook paper wafts through the hallways at school. Echoes of the high school marching band and football team make their way through our windows in the early hours of the morning. New sitcoms prepare to air and entertain us weekly throughout the chilly months. And best of all, comfort food will be flying through our mouth holes for approximately the next 6 months. This time of year RULES IT, YOU GUYS.

With that in mind, I decided to post a light, end-of-summer meal with a kick. And when I say, “with a kick,” I mean go ahead and set up the sprinkler system to blast your eyeballs every 5 seconds. No, I mean it.

I love this type of meal because anything shrimp makes me giddy, anything with spicy, fiery, blow-your-face-off heat makes me sing love songs, and anything in the form of a wrap makes me dance the cha-cha.

I do hope I haven’t frightened you.

Please, try it!

Spicy Shrimp and Avocado Lettuce Cups:

Here are the roasted peppers. You can’t see it with the human eye, but they are secretly plotting all kinds of sexy hotness for your taste buds.

The toasted cumin and coriander. Seriously, scents so beautiful you’ll forget your own name.

This is where it gets dangerous. And awesome. And you might need to open a window. Or stick your head in the freezer.

This is where it gets pretty. And even more awesome-er. You can pull your head out of the freezer now.

Toss the spicy, fiery hot-as-a-mama marinade with the shrimp for a few minutes.

Crisp lettuce cups. You just wanna pet them, don’t you?

Aaaand the finished dish. Go ahead, wave to your fans. They’ll understand if your face is melting off and your head is back in the freezer.

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Spicy Shrimp and Avocado Lettuce Cups and a visit from Bev Cooks

• Author: Bev Cooks
• Yield: serves 4
• Category: Fish
• Method: Oven/Stovetop

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Spicy Shrimp and Avocado Lettuce Cups – you will love EVERYTHING about these flavorful low carb, shrimp lettuce wraps.

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Ingredients

• 1 pound extra large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 heads butter lettuce, rinsed and leaves separated
•  4 jalapeno peppers
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbs. cumin seeds, toasted
• 1 Tbs. coriander seeds, toasted
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish
• 4 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1 Tbs.
• 1 tsp coarse salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1 lime

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the peppers with a little oil. Roast for 20 minutes, or until pretty charred on all sides.
3. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Give them a rough chop.
4. Using a mortar and pestle, crush the toasted cumin seeds and coriander until finely ground. Add the minced garlic, and toss in a pinch of salt. Grind away, until it becomes slightly pasty. Toss in the peppers and grind grind grind again. It become a firey paste that will blow your face off. Add the cilantro and olive oil and grind more. Seriously, so hot. So awesome.
5. Toss the marinade with the shrimp and let sit a few minutes.
6. Heat skillet over medium-high. Arrange the shrimp in a single layer and sear 2 minutes. Flip and sear 30 more seconds. Remove from pan and set aside.
7. Add a little more oil if needed and add the red bell pepper. Saute 2 minutes.
8. Stuff each lettuce cup with shrimp, red bell pepper and diced avocado. Spritz with lime and  get ready to cry. And I mean, from the heat. Seriously, have that sprinkler system ready and aimed.

Thank you so much, Aggie, for letting me blab my face off on your blog today!

The post {Guest Post} Spicy Shrimp and Avocado Lettuce Cups and a visit from Bev Cooks appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

One of the recipes that was shared with us during the Bush’s Beans Culinary Event was these delicious scallop tacos.  I will admit, I was not a huge scallop fan until I tried these.  I have ordered scallops a few times out at restaurants and I just wasn’t thrilled with the texture or taste.  I never say never when it comes to food, so I was excited to try them again.  Jeffrey Saad created this recipe for us and demonstrated how to perfectly sear the scallops during his presentation.  I learned how important it is that your seafood (or any meat that you are going to sear) is dry before putting it into the hot skillet.  This ensures that the scallop (or whatever you are searing) gets that crisp outer crust that searing is all about…if water is left on the scallop then the result is more of a steamed scallop…and that is not what you want when you are searing.  Make sense?

(touch your food…best way to when to know the scallops are done is when they bounce a bit after being poked.  If they are mushy then they still need more time.  Let them spring back at you a bit…and don’t overcook.  Keep in mind they will continue to cook for a bit after you take them off heat.)

I made these the weekend after I got home from my trip for my hubby and a couple of friends.  I think it’s safe to say they were a HIT.  They were pretty easy to put together once I got some of the prep work out of the way earlier in the day.  I shredded the cabbage, made the beans, the chipotle sour cream, the green chile chutney earlier that afternoon…which left just searing the scallops and toasting up the tortillas when it was time to eat.  I set it up as an assembly line on the kitchen counter and we all had fun putting our tacos together.  They were DELICIOUS.

(Team Scallop:  Kristen, Sandy, Cheryl and Laura cooking alongside Jeffrey Saad)

The green chile chutney was the star of the show in my opinion.  Wow, I’ve never tasted anything like it.  I didn’t have a jalapeno so I substituted a red onion to balance out the heat with more sweet.  It was amazing.  During the cooking event, I picked Jeffrey’s brain about pickling and chutneys so I was excited to try this out.  Once made it can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 weeks…it would make a great topping for just about anything…sandwiches, eggs, salads, rice….seriously anything.

If you watch Cooking Channel then you may have seen that Jeffrey has a fun new show coming out…United Tastes of America actually premieres today!  I’m excited to watch as he explores food on a whole other level!

BUSH’S® Seared Scallop Tacos with Black Beans and Green Chile Chutney

Ingredients:

For Scallop Tacos:

• 8 large sea scallops
• Salt and pepper
• 1 Tbsp  canola oil
• ½ cup  cabbage, shredded
• 6 each  corn or flour tortillas

For Black Beans:

• 1 clove  garlic, chopped
• 1 can (15 oz)  BUSH’S® Black Beans, drained and rinsed
• ½ cup  chicken broth
• 1 tsp  smoked paprika

For Green Chile Chutney:

• 6 each Anaheim green chile
• 1 tsp  cumin seed, toasted and ground
• 2 tsp  oregano, toasted and ground
• ¼ cup  apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup  sugar
• ½ tsp  kosher salt
• 1 each  red onion, chopped  (original recipe uses jalapeno)

For Chipotle Chile Sour Cream:

• 1 can (7 oz) chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• ½ cup sour cream
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• ¼ cup fresh lime juice

Directions:

1. To roast peppers:
   Blacken Anaheim chiles over an open flame (holding chiles with tongs) or broiler.  Place chiles in small bowl and cover with aluminum foil to allow skin to steam loose.  After 10 minutes, wipe off skin with fingers.  Seed and chop into ½" pieces.
2. For Scallops:
   Pat scallops dry and remove rubbery lip from side of each scallop.  Season with salt and pepper.
   Add oil to medium sauté pan over medium high heat.  Once oil is hot (you see a haze coming off the oil), add scallops to pan.  Sear until you have a nice golden crust.  Flip scallops over and continue cooking until you see the side of the scallop go from translucent to opaque.  Remove from pan and set aside.
3. For Black Beans:
   Add garlic to the same sauté pan.  Stir briefly just to soften then add beans, chicken broth and paprika.  Turn to low and cook 5 minutes.  Set aside to cool.
4. For Green Chile Chutney:
   In a medium size skillet (non-stick is ideal) over medium high heat add cumin and oregano.  Toast for 1 minute just until you can smell the cumin and oregano.  Immediately add vinegar, (don't breathe in as the vapor of the vinegar rises) sugar and salt.  Bring to a boil.  Add Anaheim chiles and red onion (or jalapeno) and simmer until a thick sauce consistency (about 8 minutes).  The chutney will thicken as it cools so stop cooking when the chutney is still saucy (easily flows from side to side as you tilt the pan).  Using a rubber spatula move chutney into a small bowl and let cool. The remaining chutney will last for three weeks in the refrigerator.
5. For Chipotle Chile Sour Cream:
   Puree chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in a blender or food processor.  In a medium bowl mix together 1 teaspoon of chipotle puree, sour cream and salt.  Squeeze in lime juice and mix well. (Tip: store rest of chipotle puree in small ziplocks in freezer. I portioned out 2 tablespoons into snack size baggies.)
6. Toast tortillas over an open flame (using tongs), in a non-stick pan or under the broiler and lay on plate.
7. Place three tablespoons of black beans across each tortilla.
8. Cut the scallops into rough ½" pieces and lay on tortilla.
9. Top with the chutney, cabbage and chipotle chile sour cream mixture and serve.

Created for BUSH’S® Beans by Jeffrey Saad, Chef, Culinary Entrepreneur and Host of “United Tastes of America” for the Cooking Channel.

Good luck with the new show Jeffrey!

All of these fantastic culinary event photos were taken by Faith Echtermeyer of St. Helena, CA.  Thank you so much Faith!

The post Seared Scallop Tacos with Black Beans and Green Chile Chutney appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.