Simmering Sunday - Blackened Fish, Scallops, Shrimp, Chicken Recipe

Blackened Shrimp

I love spicy food and I love trying new things in the kitchen. I came across this awesome recipe for Blackened Fish. Basically, it is a recipe for a mixture of spices that makeup the blackening process. I played around with it on different foods and found it to be great on fish, chicken, scallops and especially on shrimp. I haven’t tried it on oysters, crab or lobster yet but I am sure it will be yummy. That is the great thing about this spice mix. It is great on almost anything.

Blackened Fish

What I like to do is to make a big batch of the spice mixture and keep it in a plastic container in my spice cabinet. Instead of blending all the spices each time you cook (which takes a little time) - you can just pull out the container, sprinkle the mix on some food and voilà...you have a very tasty meal in no time. It saves so much time! :-)

Blackened Chicken

Blackened Scallops

This spice mixture recipe will take you about 5 -10 minutes to prepare (bulk or individually). Enjoy!

Ingredients:

* To make it in bulk just double up on every spice (i.e. – 10 tbsps. of paprika, 20 tsps. of dried mustard, 10 tsps. of cayenne pepper, 10 tsps. of ground cumin and so on.)

1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon Cracked Pepper Melange (combo of black/white/pink/green peppercorns)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt (regular, kosher salt or sea salt)

Preparation:

Melt 4 to 8 tablespoons of butter in a pan over medium heat.

Add as much or a little butter as you need to completely coat the fish, chicken, scallops or shrimp that you are cooking.

Add your meat or seafood of choice and stir well. If using chicken, cut the chicken into 2 inch cubes. It will cook faster and the spices will soak into the meat better than larger pieces.

Add the blackening spice mixture and stir until every piece is completely coated. You can add as much or as little spice mixture as you like to your dish.

Cook until done. Add your blackened meat or seafood to salads, pasta dishes or by itself. Don't forget to share it with those you love. Bon Appétit! :-)