Continuing our march down the path to the perfect fish taco, we’ve been asked a number of times lately to share our recipe for our Cajun-inspired Never Fail Blackening Spice Mix.
There are hundreds of blackening spice recipes out there, and you’ll need to fine tune yours to suit your clan’s palate, though we really love the layers of flavor in this one.
It’s easy as pie to stir together, and if you want a sharper red pepper than paprika you can easily sub in the ground red pepper of your choice. The smoked paprika adds a very nice depth to this one, try a run making it as written and see what you think.
Note this recipe uses a fair amount of thyme and oregano, more than many we’ve seen; our chef friends suggest this is more authentically Cajun though we’ll leave that to the experts.
This recipes makes up over 1.5 cups at a time and will keep for six months if you start with fresh ingredients; you’ll use it up once you start cooking with it a bit. One of our favorite quick weeknight dinners is to blacken chicken breasts or thighs and serve over a big green salad.
And if you’ve never blackened a rib eye (using the traditional cast-iron techniques) you have to put that on the short list.
Summer is a great time to hone your ‘blackening skills’; using the traditional hot, dry, cast-iron technique generates a fair amount of smoke – better have a great inside exhaust fan or better yet, hit the deck outside and drive the neighbors crazy with the aroma.
1/2 cup smoked paprika
1/4 cup paprika
1/4 cup onion powder
1.5 tbsp. garlic powder
1.5 tbsp. salt
1.5 tbsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 tbsp. cayenne
1 tbsp. dried thyme
1 tbsp. oregano
1 tbsp. cumin (optional)
Mix all ingredients and store well sealed in an airtight container. Good for six months or so pending how fresh your spices were to begin with.
Now you’re ready for that blackened redfish, chicken, prime rib and fish tacos!
Enjoy.
