MEDITERRANEAN SEASONING BLEND~UPDATED 12/30/18

A few weeks ago I went to a friend's house on Labor Day and had dinner with them.  Karen and her husband, Floyd made a wonderful dinner for me.  It was so tasty.  Floyd took some Mediterranean salmon and smoked it.  Oh my, it was so darn good.  Since then I have wanted to duplicate the salmon.  

As usual, I did tons of research on a spice mix I thought I would like.  I took 3 different recipes and made my own blend.  Not to brag but I really rocked this recipe.  So much that when some friends dropped by and tried it they loved it.  Dusty said he did not like salmon but he still tried it and he LOVED it!!  I thought it was really good but with Dusty and Matt devouring it I have to admit it truly made me happy.  

While I tried this on salmon, I think it would be excellent on chicken.  I even put some on my potatoes I cooked that night.  Really you can use this on about anything you would wish to put it on.  

I keep a well-stocked spice and herb cabinet.  I normally have just about anything you would want.  I try to dry my own herbs and just put them in spice bottles I have kept.  I think it is important to keep various spices and herbs on hand.  

MEDITERRANEAN SEASONING BLEND

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons dried basil
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon ground sage
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon tomato powder

Directions:  Measure out all ingredients into a bowl and mix them together.  Store in an airtight container.  

I just recently made more and used my mortar and pestle I bought from IKEA for a whopping $15.  I love how I was able to ground down some of the spices to make the spice blend a bit finer.  

I sprayed my salmon with olive oil and then applied the spice blend rather heavily.  

I poured a bit more olive oil on top of the salmon.  Do not spray the salmon or whatever meat you might use after applying the spice blend because the herbs will go everywhere.  Yep, I made that mistake.  I also cooked the salmon in a foil pouch in my oven.  

For my potatoes, I used baby potatoes that I cut in half.  I put them in a bowl with some olive oil and the Mediterranean spice blend and tossed everything together.  I also put the potatoes in a foil packet and put them in my toast oven.  

I am honestly telling you this stuff is the bomb.  I can not wait to try it on chicken.  I bet it would be really good mixed with panko to bread chicken tenders in.  

Tomato powder is something I started making last year and it has changed my life and way of cooking.  OK, the life part might be an exaggeration but it has opened up a new way of cooking for me.  I can not imagine my spice/herb cabinet without some tomato powder in it now.  While I make mine you can buy this or order it.  If you do not have it and do not wish to make or purchase some you can def still make this recipe by leaving it out. 

I really hope you will make this seasoning mix.  I seriously doubt you will be disappointed.  

Hurricane Florence has hit our coastline.  My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in harm's way.  Please stay safe.  Instead of my normal ending with ENJOY, I will stay God Bless.  

UPDATE:  I made salmon again last night and I have to say the real winner and trick to using the seasoning blend is mixing it with oil.  Last night I made some more salmon and I first mixed the Mediterranean Seasoning blend with a small amount of olive oil and allowed it to rest in a small bowl for about 30 minutes.  Allowing both to marinate a while gives this even more flavor.  

I did try it on chicken and I think it would have been better if I had used my air fryer to give my chicken tenders more of a crisp.  It was good just not as good as I would have liked.  

Also using it with olive oil and some vinegar to make a vinaigrette dressing would be really nice. 

12/30/2018 UPDATE

I had to update this to add that last night I had made some sourdough bread and I wanted to dip the bread into an EVOO dipping sauce.  So, I poured a couple of tablespoons of EVOO into a bowl and put a few dashes of this wonderful Mediterranean seasoning into the bowl.  OMG, you talk about good.  I swear if you make this, you will not go work.  Also, I want to add, I have had other Mediterranean seasonings and this is by far the best I have ever had.