Merican / Principal Chef

Blackened Salmon

We love Salmon in our house, and we have a variety of ways to prepare it. Blackened salmon is one of our favorites, and I would say we eat it twice a month! It’s spicy, and such an easy preparation. If you make extra spice mixture, then there’s hardly any work at all in the preparation when you make them the next time.

You can buy salmon fillets from your market. This may sound crazy, but we love the Costco frozen salmon farm-raised salmon fillets. They are so easy, and with just 1 hour of soaking them in water, we are ready to make this any time. I know fresh is better, and we do that sometimes too, but this is a great recipe, whether you use fresh or frozen fillets. I think one of the keys to finishing the salmon is a liberal lemon squeeze on it when you plate it. It makes it sparkle and you can taste the difference.

Enjoy! – Mike

Ingredients

2 tbsp Paprika (I used Smoked Paprika)

1 tbsp Black Pepper (Course is better than Shaker Grind)

2 tsp Brown Sugar

1 tsp Kosher Salt

2 tsp Garlic Powder

2 tsp Onion Powder

1 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Thyme

4 Salmon Filets

Butter or Olive Oil

1 Lemon, Cut into wedges for squeezing

Directions

Mix all spices together. This should be enough for two dinners at least. I keep a spice jar of it in my spice drawer so I am ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Coat salmon fillets with a little olive oil or butter, then spoon or shake spice mixture onto salmon. Press into the salmon to make sure it is affixed. Let sit for 10 minutes or so. Do not add additional oil or butter. You don’t need it!

On your stove or on your outdoor grill, heat a cast iron skillet until it begins to smoke. Without adding any oil to the pan, place salmon, spice side down, into the skillet. You don’t need to press down. You don’t need to move it around at all. Let it sizzle for 4 minutes.

With a metal spatula, slide under the salmon, keeping the edge as close to the pan as possible, and flip each piece over. You are going to want to cook it until it is 130 to 135 degrees internal temperature. It’s probably another four minutes, depending on the thickness of the filets.

Plate the salmon, spice side up, and squeeze a lemon wedge over it, and serve. You will love it!

Belgian Waffles

Waffles for breakfast! Chicken and waffles for dinner! Invest a few bucks in a waffle iron and you are ready!

Ingredients

2 cups All Purpose Flour

2 tbsp Sugar, Granulated

2 tbsp Baking Powder

1.50 tsp Kosher Salt (1 tsp regular salt)

2 Eggs, Beaten

1.50 cups Milk, Warmed

6 tbsp Butter, Melted

1 tsp Vanilla

Directions

Mix dry ingredients together.

Add milk and eggs and stir in.

Add Melted Butter and Vanilla

Stir together and let it sit for 5 minutes. The consistency should be like of a thick batter, but still thin enough to pour without clumping. It should slowly ooze to fill in the bottom of the waffle iron. If you need a spoon to spread it, it’s too thick. If it quickly fills, it’s too thin. Add milk as needed.

Follow your waffle iron’s directions. Use as little batter as you can while still filling the bottom. When it comes out, if the batter is right, it will be crispy on the outside and a little airy in the inside.

There’s so much butter, I don’t add more, but I get if if you want it. Add syrup, pecans, fruit or whatever floats your waffle!

Dawson’s Favorite Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

It’s a great day for all of us when Jill makes these amazing muffins for Dawson. There are two uses for old bananas in our house. Most of them get peeled and put in the freezer to use in a smoothie. But some of them, the lucky ones, live to a ripe old age, and get privilege, nay, the honor, of being the start of Dawson’s favorite Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. Old bananas, we salute you!

Ingredients

3 Ripe Bananas

⅓ cup Butter, Melted

1 tsp Baking Soda

¼ tsp Salt

½ cup White Granulated Sugar

1 Egg, Beaten

1.50 cups All Purpose Flour

½ cup Chocolate Chips (More does’t hurt – make it a rounded 1/2 cup!)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 (I prefer 325 convection), and spray muffin pan with oil.

Melt butter in Microwave. Let it cool for a minute or two.

Add bananas to the buttery goodness.

Mash until smooth.

Mix in baking powder, vanilla, beaten egg, and salt.

Stir in sugar and flour.

Stir in chocolate chips.

Using a spoon, get enough batter to make them 2/3 to 3/4 full (12 muffin cups sort of evenly), and scrape into muffin pan with small spatula.

They are ready to go into the oven!

Bake for 20 minutes at 350 (or 325 Convection), take out when it looks perfect and a butter knife comes out clean!

Biscuits with Black Pepper and Cheddar Cheese (or without!)

The Arkansas kid in me still loves biscuits. I have tried a variety of recipes, but now I have the one I’m sticking with. Yes, it has an obscene amount of butter in it. But maybe you just shouldn’t worry about it for this one thing? I adapted it from Joanna Gaines Magnolia Table cookbook, and I just love it. The black pepper and cheddar cheese make them savory additions to breakfast, brunch, or dinner. You can make the dough ahead and cut the biscuits up to 3 days ahead, then pop them in the oven when you absolutely need to have them. I think you’ll love them!

Ingredients

4 cups All Purpose Flour

4 tbsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

1.50 tsp Kosher Salt (or 1 tsp regular salt)

2.50 Sticks Cold Salted Butter, each stick sliced into 8 pieces then quartered

2 Eggs, beaten

1.50 cups Buttermilk

1.50 cups Cheddar Cheese (or mix of Cheddar and Parmesan)

2 tbsp Black Pepper, Course Ground

Directions

Mix together all dry ingredients.

Add cold butter pieces.

Using a pastry blender (or a couple of forks if you don’t have that), blend the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter is in pea-sized pieces.

Add in shredded cheese and black pepper and stir in.

Add beaten eggs and stir in.

Add buttermilk and stir in, then mix with hands. It should be sticky, but not wet. Add flour or buttermilk to dry out or moisten. Refrigerate from 1 to 24 hours.

Spread some flour on a clean surface. Take dough out of the fridge and flatten with hands until you have a circle/square/rectangle/odd shape that is a little more than 1/2 inch thick.

Cut with biscuit cutter/glass/measuring cup/knife.

Cook at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until tops are golden brown.

Take out and serve immediately! We you see how much butter goes into these, you know you don’t need to addd butter. But just a little bit won’t hurt, will it?

Split Pea Soup

I’ve had this recipe for over 30 years, written on a note card. I can’t even remember where I got it. But I love it and it’s a staple in our house in the fall and winter. I serve it with my Irish Soda Bread recipe and it always feels like a wholesome, healthy, and very tasty meal.

Ingredients

2 tbsp Olive Oil

2 tbsp Butter

1 Onion, white, yellow, or sweet, chopped.

4 Carrots, choppedI love carrots and always add more – they add color and contrast.

4 stalks celery, chopped(More if they are smaller stalks)

3 cups Cabbage, shredded

1 lb Dried Split Peas

8 cups Vegetable Broth

2 cups Water(It's 10 cups of liquid – any combination of broth and water will do)

1 tsp Basil

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp Marjoram

½ tsp oregano

¼ tsp sage

¼ tsp tarragon

¼ tsp celery seed

1 tsp Salt (more if broth is unsalted)

2 tsp Pepper

Fresh Parsley or other fresh herbs for garnish, if desired

Directions

Heat butter and oil in large dutch oven.

Tip – drop a few pieces of onion in there when you add the oil and butter. Forget about it until you hear them start sizzling, then you can add the remainder. Great tip for multi-taskers!

Add vegetables (onion, celery, carrots, and cabbage) and sauté seven to ten minutes until soft.

Add broth, water, and split peas.

Add spices and stir in.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a a wide variety of spices, and I don’t keep all of them in my drawer. Don’t go out and buy the ones you don’t have. This recipe would be great with just salt and pepper. Use what you have. My last round I used salt, pepper, basil, oregano, sage, and tarragon. And it will be different next time!

After it gets to a boil, cover and simmer for 90 minutes, until the consistency is what you like.

Not That Bad for You Banana Cream Pie

That pie shaped empty space that’s been in my life so long? It’s all good now.

When I was in my mid-forties, I remember telling Jill that I missed the days when I could eat anything and my weight just remained constant. I told her, “I was living the good life and I didn’t even know it.” Well, those days are long gone, but, to quote Joel Goodson’s dad in Risky Business, “Every once in awhile you just got to say, ‘what the heck’ and take some chances.” It’s a pretty sad testament to my risk taking at this point in life that banana cream pie is up there. But there you have it. I just have repeat my Stuart Smalley mantra, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it people like me.”

Ingredients

Filling Ingredients

3 cups Whole Milk

3 Eggs Yolks

¾ cup Sugar, White Granulated

⅓ cup Flour, White

¼ tsp Salt

1.50 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 tbsp Butter

4 Bananas: 3-4 Large Bananas; 4-5 Small Bananas

Whipped Cream Topping

1 cup Whipping Cream

1 tbsp Granulated Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

Graham Cracker Crust

1.25 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs

¼ cup Granulated Sugar

5 tbsp Melted Butter

Directions

Making the Crust

Mix Graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a bowl with a spoon. Placed buttered crumbs in a nice pie plate. (This pie deserves a nice pan!) Note: At some point, I’m going to try smushing a banana into this mixture. I’ll keep you posted!

With your fingers, press down the crust and do your best to make an even crust that pushes up the sides of the pie plate. Bake the crust at 375 for 7-8 minutes. Do not overbrown!

Making The Filling

Pour 3 cups whole milk into sauce pan and scald. Stir to make sure it does not brown. Turn off heat.

Mix sugar, salt, and flour together. Slowly whisk into milk. Turn heat back on. Cook for five minutes, stirring regularly. The mixture will thicken and start to turn pudding-y. But you’re not done yet! Cover for two minutes over low heat, stirring occasionally.

Beat the egg yolks. Take a few large spoonfuls of the warm milk mixture, and whisk into the eggs. Whisk constantly to keep the eggs from cooking. Pour egg mixture into milk, whisking continuously. Mix in vanilla and butter as well. Cook for one more minute. Then turn off the heat and let it sit. Nice work!

You are ready to spoon this into the pie once it cools down to luke-warmish and not scalding hot. 120 degrees is just fine.

Whipping the Cream and Assembling the pie

Slice bananas thinly – 1/4″ slices. I like a more banana-y pie, but go with your preference. Lay the 2/3 of the sliced bananas at the bottom of the pie.

Spoon 1/2 of the pudding mixture over the bananas, spread the remaining bananas over that mixture, then spoon in the rest of the pudding. Chill. (Both you and the pie!)

Using a Kitchen Aid Mixer or whatever you have, whip whipping cream, slowly adding sugar and vanilla, until solid peaks form. (Note: My next time I make this, I’m using the leftover egg whites to make a merengue. I’ll keep you posted)

Spoon whipping cream over pie filling and smooth out evenly. If you just use half the whipping cream, it does a nice job and saves you a whole lot of calorie guilt. Or . . . Go for it and use it all! Chill for at least two hours.

Cut beautiful slices and serve, immediately achieving hero status!

Skillet Apple Blackberry Pie

I adapted this recipe from the amazing chefs at Cooks Illustrated. It’s fun to use when you have fruit, and you ALWAys have apples and frozen blackberries. It’s super tasty, it’s easy, and it’s one more chance to showcase your cast iron skillet.

Ingredients

Fruit

6 Granny Smith Apples, peeled and cut into 1/2″ thick slices

15 Blackberries, or dried cherries, or something to mix well with the apples

Apple Cider Mixture

½ cup Apple Cider

⅓ cup Maple Syrup or Honey

¼ tsp Cinnamon

2 tsp Cornstarch

2 tsp Granulated Sugar

1 Egg White

Crust

1 Pie Crust (Pillsbury or homemade)

3 tbsp Butter

Directions

Melt butter in cast iron skillet. Throw in apples and start to sauté. Don’t over-stir.

Mix Cider, Honey or Syrup, Cinnamon, and Corn Starch together. Set aside.

As apples get close to ready, add blackberries or other fruit.

After 7-8 minutes, when apples have softened, turn off heat and gently stir in in cider mixture.

Lay crust over apples. Brush with egg white. Sprinkle sugar over the top. Sprinkle a little extra cinnamon if you like it as much as I do.

Bake in a 500 degree oven for 20 minutes. Let cool for at least 15 minutes, and serve with ice cream! Show off that cast iron piece or art before you start serving. You deserve the artistic credit!

BBQ Chicken with Balsamic Glaze

BBQ Chicken. It’s a pretty perfect food. The only food more perfect than BBQ chicken may be fried chicken. And I don’t have that perfected yet. But it will be mine. Oh yes. It will be mine.

Where was I? Oh yes, the virtues of BBQ chicken! You can serve it at a dinner, a lunch, a picnic, or anything, and if you do it right, it makes great leftovers. Don’t be that chef who cooks the chicken over a hot grill, ending with the outside burned and the inside raw. You’re better than that! Here’s my version.

Ingredients

Chicken

4 Chicken Thighs with Skin (my favorite, but use the pieces you like)(I put 4 here, but choose your number folks. Leftovers are always good!)

Seasoned Salt

¼ cup Balsamic Vinegar

Balsamic Glaze

½ cup Balsamic Vinegar

⅔ cup Brown Sugar

2 tbsp Dijon Mustard

½ tsp Salt

Directions

Season chicken liberally on both sides with Seasoned Salt. Sprinkle balsamic vinegar on them and place in plastic bags for 1 to 8 hours.

I use a reverse sear process here. I put them on the Big Green Egg at 300 degrees or so first. I use some apple wood with that. You could use indirect heat on a grill, or you could do this part in the oven. (See note below). Flip over every 10 minutes or so. Cook until they are done – 175 degrees for thighs; 165 for breasts. Cooking the dark meat a little more is fine, but you have to be pretty exact with white meat. Remove the chicken when it hits the right temp and cover tightly with foil until ready to sear. You can hold it here for at least an hour – for safety reasons, don’t let the chicken temperature dip below 140.

Note: Indirect Heat is the key to good BBQ. Big Green Egg people put a “platesetter” over the coals to turn the BGE into an oven. Traeger people flip a switch. If you have a gas grill, you can turn on the burners on one side of the grill, close the lid and let the oven heat up, then use the side of the grill where the burners are off. Real outdoor chefs use indirect heat!

While the chicken is indirect cooking, prepare the glaze. Add all ingredients in a sauce pan, whisk together and simmer for 10 minutes. It will thicken. Do this while the chicken is cooking.

Using direct heat, heat up your grill to a high temperature. Apply oil to the grill grates. You can spray it or wipe it with a paper towel dipped in canola oil and held by tongs. Move the chicken to the hot grill, basting with the glaze and flipping every two minutes until it looks perfect. A little flame is not going to hurt you! You’ll have a nice beautiful charred glaze on there and be ready to serve!

Garlic Chicken

Having a variety of high quality chicken recipes is essential After I wrote that, I decided to add Yardbird to my categories list, just so I can see how many chicken recipes I have. This one is outstanding! So easy, so inexpensive, and pretty darn awesome! How can you not like it if if has garlic chicken gravy?!?

Ingredients

8 Chicken Thighs and/or DrumsticksAs many as you can fit in your large skillet!

Seasoned Salt

20 Peeled Garlic Cloves (I buy them pre-peeled)

3 tbsp Olive Oil

1 tbsp Butter

2 tsp Herbes de Provence

1 tbsp Flour

½ cup Chicken Stock (maybe more)

½ Lemon

Directions

Season Chicken liberally with Seasoned Salt – at least 30 minutes before cooking if you can. Salt does great things for poultry!

Heat Olive Oil and Butter in a cast iron pan (something that can go in the oven). Sauté whole garlic cloves for 5-10 minutes, until they turn light brown. Remove and set aside.

Place chicken, skin side down, for 5 minutes until golden brown on skin side.

Turn over and season with Herbes de Provence. Sprinkle garlic cloves over the chicken, then place whole pan in the Oven. (Note: If you are making a large amount, you can take it out and place in larger serving dish, and put that in the oven)

Baker for 30 minutes (at 350 degrees), or until meat temperature reaches 175. Remove from oven, and remove chicken and garlic from oil/butter/drippings. Place on serving dish.

Heat oil/butter/drippings. Whisk in flour. Add stock and lemon juice. Add more stock if you want it. Now you have awesome garlic chicken gravy.

Pour gravy over chicken and serve!

Ham on the Green Egg

Ham on the Green Egg is a perfect brunch food. It’s hard to screw up! The ham is already cooked. You’re just giving it some extra flavor and showing off your smoking passion and skill. This recipe is a perfect Easter Recipe. And if you don’t have a big enough crowd to finish the ham, you can freeze the leftovers in small bags, and use them in omelettes, quiche, and a wide variety of recipes. A little ham (or bacon) never hurts any recipe.

Ingredients

1 9-12 Pound Spiral-Cut Ham

½ cup Maple Syrup

Rub Ingredients

2 tbsp Maple Syrup

2 tbsp Black Pepper

2 tbsp Mustard (Whatever Style You Eat with Ham)

1 tbsp Bourbon

1 tbsp Vegetable/Canola Oil

1 tbsp Paprika

1 tbsp Kosher Salt

Glaze

¼ cup Maple Syrup

¼ cup Honey

½ cup Brown Sugar

2 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

2 tbsp Instant Coffee

1 tbsp Dry Mustard

¼ cup Orange Juice

2 tbsp Bourbon

Directions

The Night Before . . .

Insert 1/2 cup maple syrup between spiral ham slices. Using a turkey baster works here, but you have to get your clean fingers in there to separate the slices.

Mix all ingredients for the rub together. Spread over entire ham. Tie up the ham with kitchen twine to keep the slices together.

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Putting the Ham on the Green Egg

Heat the Egg or your smoker to 250 degrees.

Bring out the ham 30 minutes prior to adding to Egg. Add some soaked apple wood chips just before you add the ham.

Put the ham on the Green Egg! (I love saying that!)

Keep heating until you reach an internal temperature around 120 degrees. This should take a little less than an hour.

Finishing it Up!

Mix all glaze ingredients together. Heat in a sauce pan or microwave to mix.

After the ham reaches 120 degrees. Start basting every 15 minutes with the glaze.

Take it off the egg at 145 degrees. Cover tightly with foil until ready to serve.

Ham on the Green Egg.

Chimichurri Sauce

Pesto sauce is to Italian cuisine what chimichurri sauce is to Argentinian and Uruguayan cuisine. But this sauce is meant to accompany the amazing meats served at South American asados. Want to make almost anything better? Add chimichurri sauce! It’s beautiful on the table, and spectacular on almost anything. It features parsley and garlic, and as much heat as you want to add. And it’s better after it’s been sitting and blending for a few days. Try it out at your next event where meat is a feature of the meal!

Ingredients

2 Bunches Italian Flat Leaf Parsley (1.5 – 2 Cups)

1 Bunch Cilantro (0.5 – 0.75 Cups)

1 tbsp Dried Oregano

10 Cloves Garlic (In a pinch, you can use 1 tsp dried minced garlic in place of each clove – just add it to the water)

1.50 tsp Salt

1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

⅓ cup Red Wine Vinegar

¾ cup Olive Oil

Directions

Mix Dried Oregano and Salt with 1/3 Cup Hot Tap Water and let sit for 15 Minutes

Pick leaves off cilantro and parsley, eliminating any large stalks.

Place parley, cilantro, garlic, and red pepper flakes in a food processor or blender, give it about ten pulses, until coarsely chopped.

Pour water/oregano/salt mixture into food processor/blender. Pulse until mixed in.

Pour mixture into a bowl, and stir in olive oil. I’ve seen chimichurri sauce made where it is thick and green, or I’ve seen it where it has much more olive oil, and it looks like an infused olive oil. I prefer the thicker version, but I love both!

Sit at room temperature for one hour. Hold for up to 5 days, but it won’t last that long. Take out of refrigerator 1 to 2 hours prior to serving.

Tomahawk Steaks

I had been eyeing the Tomahawk Steaks at our local grocery store for sometime. They were the showcase feature of the butcher’s display case. A few years ago (when Dawson was just 14), I decided it was time and invited our friends Steve and Karen – great cooks themselves – over to enjoy. Steve, who burns about 17,000 calories a day biking all over the Santa Monica Mountains, thinks that one of these is just about a perfect serving size!

These super big and super thick steaks are quite a show and really fun to cook, serve, and eat! Cooked low and slow, then seared at the end, they are super tender and just amazing.

Ingredients

1 Tomahawk Ribeye Steaks – With the bone, they weigh about 3 pounds. Serves 2 to 3.

Soy Sauce

Montreal Steak Seasoning

Directions

You may need to ask your butcher for these. These were choice grade (fantastic), and I got them from Pavilions. I have heard they can be found sometimes at Costco.

Try to stop your son from playing with the food. Another parenting failure on my part.

I only use two seasonings on steak: soy sauce and Montreal Steak Seasoning. I went heavy on the Montreal. Please let this sit with the spices for at least 30 minutes. You can go up to 12 hours. Letting the salt do its magic is worth the time.

The key with these steaks is that they are almost roasts. They are almost 3″ thick. I think the best way to cook them is to use low, indirect heat (250 degrees) for an hour or so until they reach the desired temp. Then sear them to get a crust and make them look beautiful. My indirect heat source is our course my Big Green Egg, but Traegers are wonderful too. If you are using the cool side of the grill, make sure to rotate the steak every 20 minutes or so.

I am using my new Thermopro probes in there to monitor the temp. I’ll take them off when they hit 128.

I used a small amount of pecan wood for a hint of smoke flavor. Don’t over do it!

Turn them over once during the cook.

Take them out of the Big Green Egg/Oven when they hit your desired temp, and let sit for 10 minutes.

Prepare a high heat grill, and sear each side for 1 to 2 minutes. You’re just looking for a beautiful seared finish here. Turn the steaks 90 degrees halfway through to cross hatch it.

Plate it up!

Serve it up!