‘Tis the Season, Part 2: Smoked Paprika

In my previous post, I shared with you one of my favorite go-to seasonings, Everything Bagel Spice. Many of you offered up a lot of great tips and suggestions on the Dom’s Kitchen social media pages, and I thank you all for the comments! For today’s post, we’re going a little bit deeper into the flavor profile as I share with you another favorite seasoning of mine, smoked paprika.

Before we get into my recipe suggestions using smoked paprika, I’ll quickly explain the difference between smoked and traditional paprika. Paprika is a spice made of ground chili peppers, which has a bit of a ‘sweet-heat’ taste to it. Specialty spice shops offer different varieties of paprika, some being more sweet, and some bringing more heat. If you purchase paprika at a supermarket, it’s going to be a mild heat, semi-sweet version. It is a perfect accent to a variety of foods, such as soups, stews, poultry, fish, vegetables and sauces. It is a nice addition to dried rubs, and is often used as a garnish, sprinkled over potato salad and deviled eggs.

Smoked paprika is made with chili peppers that have been smoked before being ground. Smoked paprika offers up a bold and more outdoorsy flavor, reminiscent of a campfire. There is a lot more depth and flavor in smoked paprika, which also allows it to work well in recipes similar to the ones I mentioned above for traditional paprika…only on a more bold level. Make no mistake, there is a lot of difference between smoked and traditional paprika, and one should never be substituted for the other without expecting a different result in taste. Fore more in-depth reading on the comparisons between traditional and smoked paprika, visit www.pepperscale.com.

A lot of times when I use smoked paprika in a recipe, it is often a last minute decision. I’ll give my recipe a taste, and it’ll hit me that “oh yeah, smoked paprika will boost this up nicely!” However, two of my stand-by recipes that I used smoked paprika with are breakfast hash brown potatoes and Ground Turkey Sloppy Joes. We’ll start with the hash browns. 

Seasoned Hash Brown Potatoes

Whenever I make hash brown potatoes (I prefer the Ore-Ida frozen diced hash browns), I go with four basic seasonings – salt, pepper, onion powder and smoked paprika. The salt and pepper I add to taste, but I load up on the onion powder and smoked paprika. Sounds simple enough, right? But here’s the trick that I learned to really get the flavor cooked into the potato. I start by heating up a few tablespoons of canola oil in a pan (vegetable oil will work as well). Before I add the potatoes, I sprinkle some onion powder and smoked paprika onto the oil. As the oil heats up, it becomes infused with the flavors of the onion powder and smoked paprika. Once you add the potatoes, the flavor starts to cook into the potatoes immediately. I then add more seasoning to the top of the potatoes and let it cook over medium heat for a good 6-8 minutes, until the bottom starts to brown. As you flip the potatoes, the flavor will be well incorporated . You can adjust the seasoning to your liking until the potatoes are crips and golden brown.

Ground Turkey Sloppy Joes

If you cook with ground turkey, you know that it usually needs a little help in the flavor department. Even if you go with 93/7 mixture (meaning 93% lean and 7% fat), flavor enhancements are usually necessary. Not only does this recipe incorporate smoked paprika to help boost the flavor, it also includes fresh peppers, onions and garlic, along with some additional seasonings and spices. While I do enjoy a little bit of spice, my kids have a low heat tolerance. My workaround is to simply spice up my own serving with a few dashes of hot sauce. As always, I encourage you to adjust the flavor to your liking. Although it may be traditional to serve Sloppy Joes as a sandwich, we actually enjoy this meal topped with shredded cheddar, a dollop of sour cream, and a plate full of tortilla chips for dipping!

1lb ground turkey (93/7 mixture)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bell pepper (red or green), finely chopped (you can also use a hotter variety of pepper if you like)
salt and pepper to taste 
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground chili pepper (my preference is ancho chili pepper)
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
(you can add additional seasonings or flavoring of your choice) 

Heat oil over medium heat in a large pan. Add the diced onion, sauté until onions start to soften. Add garlic and chopped bell pepper, stir together. Once the mixture starts to become fragrant, add the ground turkey. Stir together, let cook until the ground turkey browns. Drain liquid from the pan. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Next, add the ground cumin, ground chili pepper and smoked paprika. Add the tomato sauce, stir together. Once the sauce starts to heat, stir in the barbecue sauce. Let simmer for about 10 minutes, until the sauce starts to thicken.

You can serve it as a sandwich, as a dip with tortilla chips, or even over pasta!

Slow Cooker Baked Meatballs with Seasoned Tomatoes

Meatballs are a very versatile food to use with a slow cooker. Whether you are serving meatballs and sauce at a party, or perhaps preparing a fresh pot of meatballs Swedish style or in a barbecue sauce, the slow cooker is a resourceful and easy-to-use kitchen appliance.

One of our favorite weekday meals is crispy baked meatballs, sans gravy or sauce (many of you may still prefer the more traditional frying method…either choice being perfectly fine). We recently decided to make baked meatballs on a day that we were also planning to head to a matinée movie with the kids. My original goal was to roll and bake the meatballs earlier in the day, and to reheat them in the oven when we returned home. Being a home cook who is always looking for new takes on the traditional, I started to wonder if and how I could put our slow cooker to use.

Normally, a slow cooker would be used to simmer a dish unattended at a low temperature as opposed to baking, boiling or frying. While you can use a slow cooker to prepare dry ingredients such as breads and cakes, a majority of slow cooker recipes incorporate some form of liquid, whether it is produced from a meat that is in the recipe or if the liquid is added by hand. Because the slow cooker operates at such a low temperature, the heated liquid helps the cooking process without actually burning off or evaporating.

However, the whole intention of making crispy baked meatballs was to enjoy them crispy, without having them simmer in a liquid or a sauce. If I were to put the already baked meatballs into a slow cooker without any additional liquid, I may risk having the meatballs dry out and/or burn. It’s doubtful that the already baked meatballs would produce enough juice to heat the meatballs without having them become too dry to enjoy. If I were to add liquid to the slow cooker, they may become soft and lose the desired crunchy taste and texture.

I needed to add something else to the pot that would either produce its own juices or would absorb any other liquid that I may have added, without the risk of having the meatballs turn soggy. The solution ended up being simple and practical. Because my family and I traditionally serve meatballs in Sunday Gravy, I decided to play off of the roots of the sauce ingredients and use grape tomatoes tossed with olive oil, fresh basil, salt and pepper, along with a half cup of broth. By adding the seasoned tomatoes to the bottom of the slow cooker, I now had a bed for the meatballs to sit on without having them come in contact with the broth at the bottom of the slow cooker. The broth would heat up and cause enough moisture in the slow cooker to keep the dish hot, without having to worry about the meatballs soaking in the broth and becoming mushy and losing the desired crunch factor.

Another plus to this solution was that we also ended up with a nice warm tomato salad to serve on the side. Not only was this solution easy and efficient, it also added a rich and flavorful coating to the exposed portions of the meatballs, with no lose of crunch appeal. Of course, you can use a number of different vegetables to achieve the vegetable bed. Seasoned zucchini or squash, or a combination with grape or cherry tomatoes would all work well.

Winner, winner, meatball dinner!

Slow Cooker Baked Meatballs with Seasoned Tomatoes

• 12-15 baked or fried meatballs (follow your favorite meatball recipe)
• 1 small container of grape or cherry tomatoes (zucchini and/or yellow squash would also work well)
• 1/2 cup broth (beef, chicken or vegetable would all work)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped basil
• Italian seasoning (optional)

Lightly drizzle the tomatoes with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and the chopped basil. Toss to evenly coat. Place the seasoned tomatoes on the bottom of the slow cooker pot. Place the cooked meatballs on top. Pour the broth over the meatballs. Season with additional Italian seasoning if you prefer. Set the slow cooker to low for 6-7 hours. Serve the meatballs along side the cooked tomatoes and enjoy!

Irish Cheddar and Ham Risotto

I realize that this recipe is a bit late to share for Saint Patrick’s day…truth is, I had no specific menu planned for this year’s celebration. This recipe came together in the last minute, and it was just too good not to share. Who says that a tasty recipe should only be enjoyed one day out of the year anyway?

For this dish, I’m using a basic and classic risotto recipe and am enhancing it with diced ham and shredded Irish cheddar. Very simple and easy, yet the results make for a creamy and hearty risotto that could (and should) be enjoyed any day of the year!

A common ingredient in risotto is a bit of white wine, added to the toasted arborio rice just before you start to ladle on the chicken broth. For this particular recipe, a pale ale would also work beautifully. I opted to not use any alcohol in my version, and it was still amazingly tasty. But if you prefer to stick with the traditional method, a half cup of dry white wine or a pale ale is my suggestion.

Irish Cheddar and Ham Risotto

1 large shallot, minced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1.5 cups uncooked Arborio rice
5 cups of low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup cooked ham, diced
4 ounces Irish cheddar cheese, shredded

Heat the low sodium chicken broth to near boiling, set aside.

In a medium saucepan, add 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until translucent. Add the rice, sautéeing until each grain is coated.

Once the rice is coated, add one ladle of hot chicken broth to the saucepan. Stir constantly while simmering. Repeat procedure (ladle and stir once the liquid is mostly absorbed) for around twenty minutes.

When you are down to the final two ladles of broth, stir in the ham and shredded cheese. Continue to ladle and stir, the cheese will melt into the risotto, turning it into a creamy consistency.

When all broth is incorporated, remove from heat, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and stir well. Serve with crusty bread.

Stuffed Pork Chops

I can’t say that pork chops are an item that are served all that often in my house. I have nothing against pork chops. In fact, there are even a few pork chop recipes that could be found on this site from way back in my early days of blogging. I just don’t tend to gravitate towards the pork chop section of the super market. However, a recent sale on thick cut pork chops gave me the urge to experiment once again with ‘the other white meat.’

I actually had a stuffed pork chop recipe bookmarked from a while back that I found to be inspirational, yet never got around to working my own magic with it. A recent rare Saturday night with both kids out at birthday parties made for the perfect dinner date opportunity for my wife and I. Instead of using the recipe’s recommended spinach, diced capicola and provolone stuffing with bone-in chops, I decided to go with a stuffing made of cherry tomatoes, kale and feta cheese in the boneless chops (not that the original recipe sounded any less appealing…sometimes you just have to use whatever ingredients you have on hand). The stuffing ingredients proved to be a great choice. Nice flavor, not too overpowering, and a great complement to the chops.

If you would like to give this recipe a try, I would highly suggest that you soak the chops in a brine prior to stuffing them, even if just for one hour. Pork chops, especially thick cut, can tend to be a little tough and dry, regardless of how they are cooked. One hour in a simple brine will help make your pork chops all the tastier! My brine of choice could be found at the end of this post.

Stuffed Pork Chops

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 ounces (3 handfuls) chopped kale or spinach
6 cherry tomatoes, quartered
3 oz crumbled feta cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 thick cut pork chops (could use boneless or bone-in), soaked in brine*

Preheat oven to 375˚.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, 1 minute. Add kale, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper and the Italian seasoning; cook, stirring, just until kale is wilted, about 2 minutes. Remove the kale mixture to a medium-size bowl; let cool completely. When cool, add the chopped tomatoes, feta and egg; gently stir to combine completely.

Place the pork chops on a flat work surface; cut a slit horizontally to form a deep pocket. Stuff each chop with 1/4 of the stuffing. Secure chops with toothpicks.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet. Add chops; cook 2 minutes per side or until browned. Place chops in single layer in a baking dish just large enough to hold them. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Bake the chops in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the internal temperature registers 155 degrees on an instant-read thermometer when inserted in the pork. Timing may vary depending on your oven, so be sure to follow the suggested temperature reading if possible. Remove chops to a platter; cover loosely with foil. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

*Brine Recipe

4 cups water
4 tablespoons kosher salt
1.5 tablespoon sugar

Pour the water, salt and sugar into a small pot and heat over high heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the salt and sugar completely dissolve and the water starts to bubble. Do not bring to a full boil. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Place the pork chops into a bowl, then pour the cooled brine over the chops. Cover and place in the refrigerator for one to one and a half hours.

Remove chops from the brine and pat dry with a paper towel. Discard the brine mixture.