Sheng Jian Baozi with Chile Oil

We rarely have come across a dumpling that we wouldn't eat, regardless of what cuisine that dumpling is from!  We were very happy to find Andrea Nguyen's classic Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More, which certainly took care of our obsession with all dumplings, and finger food, too! From the Author: "If you like pot stickers and steamed buns, you’ll love these spongy-crisp pan-fried treats from Shanghai, where typically they are cooked in humongous shallow pans (much like large paella pans) with wooden lids. These buns are made of yeast dough that is filled with an aromatic pork mixture and then fried and steamed in a skillet. Cooking under cover with a bit of water delivers plenty of moisture to puff up the buns. Ground beef chuck or chicken thigh can stand in for the pork in this recipe. A bāozi is a mini bāo (bun) and for that reason, I like to keep these true to their name and shape small ones. However, you can elect to form sixteen medium-size (23/4-inch) buns. Roll the dough circles out to 3-1/4 inches in diameter and use about 4 teaspoons of filing for each bun; increase the water and cooking time a tad.Many Asian cooks employ—to great success—a cakey, snowy-white Cantonese-style dough made from low-gluten cake flour or from a quickie flour and baking powder blend. This dough is different; it has more depth, and its loft and resilience comes from combining yeast and baking powder; fast-rising yeast works like a champ. All-purpose flour with a moderate amount of gluten, such as Gold Medal brand widely available at supermarkets, is what I prefer for this dough. Use bleached flour for a slightly lighter and brighter finish.Used in Chinese, Japanese, and Southeast Asian cooking, chile oil is easy to prepare at home, and it’s infinitely better than store-bought. Its intense heat enlivens many foods, especially dumplings, which benefit when chile oil is part of the dipping sauce or used as a garnish. Some cooks add aromatics, such as ginger, star anise, and Sichuan peppercorns, to the oil, but I like to keep the chile flavor pure. While you may use other cooking oils, such as canola oil, my preference is for the kind of peanut oil often sold at Chinese markets, which is cold pressed and filled with the aroma of roasted peanuts. It is texturally light, has a high smoking point, and offers a wonderful nuttiness that pairs well with the intense chile heat. Lion & Globe peanut oil from Hong Kong is terrific. Use just the infused oil or include the chile flakes for an extra brow-wiping experience.

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Heavenly Hawaij Mushroom Soup

This Heavenly Hawaij Soup is the perfect starter for a long holiday feast. Combining aromatic spices, earthy mushrooms and velvety cream, it is as decadent as holiday fare should be. Cardamom, turmeric and saffron are the essential spice elements of the Yemenese blend Hawaij, and they play wonderfully in this exotic mushroom soup. Serve as elegant soup shots to start a meal or by the bowl as a first course. It's a leftover that will have you sneaking back to the kitchen in the middle of the night!

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Get Your Sausage-Making on with Chorizo Bomb!

World Spice's  Chorizo Bomb spice blend has been a favorite of our restaurant clients for years, so it was no surprise that it started flying off the shelves as soon as we started offering it to our retail family. This versatile blend can be used to make a Mexican-style chorizo, or even a North African-style merguez sausage, as links or patties. It pulls double, triple, and quadruple duty as a great grill seasoning, taco and fajita spice, or in simple beans and rice. A little smoky from the Pasilla Oaxacas, sweet smoked paprika, and Chipotle flakes, a little herbaceous from the generous dose of oregano, thyme, and marjoram, and a bit sweet from the Hungarian paprika... well, you'll see. There's a reason we call it the "bomb!"So, how do you use it? We're testing additional recipes right now, but in the meantime, here are easy patty-making recipes for both Mexican chorizo and North African mergeuz sausage. P.S. If you decide to go all D.I.Y. homemade, here's a great article explaining how to grind your own meat for patties as well as case up your sausage links: how to make your own sausage.

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Salmon Gravlax with Dill Pollen

I love making gravlax because it is such a versatile dish. The cured salmon slices can be used to make elegant hors d'oeuvres, they can be served with a few simple sides to make a nice cool lunch on a hot day, the scraps are great in an omelette for breakfast, and being "cured-but-not-cooked" makes gravlax perfect for coaxing a timid diner into trying more adventurous raw dishes. Most recipes call for fresh dill and while that works just fine, using Dill Pollen creates explosive "pops" of dill flavor that are hard to imitate with other methods. Using some Beet Powder in the sugar mixture adds a beautiful reddish hue to the outer crust of the filet, and the transition from bright salmon orange to deep beet red allows a creative cook to arrange the slices into stunning displays. So this summer when you come home from your fishing trips, try a salmon recipe that just can't be beet.

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Ancho Chili Beef Empanadas

Who doesn't love food that you can hold in your hand? The beauty of empanadas is that the rich, buttery dough can be filled with almost anything - sweet or savory. Our Ancho Chili Powder is mild-medium in heat and adds magnificent depth to the beef and vegetable filling we chose. Ancho chiles have a wonderful, darkly sweet flavor, so we added a little Alderwood Smoked Salt for just a touch of smoky contrast. They can be served either hot or at room temperature - we like ours with salsa, sour cream and a Hibiscus Margarita.

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Pacific Seafood Halibut Escabeche

The first of the season Alaskan halibut has arrived, and we are thrilled! Considered the world’s premium whitefish, first of the season halibut are the best quality because the fat content of the fish is at its absolute peak. To celebrate the arrival of this delicacy from the icy north, we created an escabeche using our Pacific Seafood. What is escabeche? It's the name for a number of dishes Latin American cuisines where the fish or veggies are cooked or pickled in a vinegar-based sauce, and may also include citrus, paprika and other spices. This simple, but delicious, preparation is a luscious showcase of some of Spring's first fresh flavors.

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Elliott Bay Seasoned Crab Cakes

The first time I ever had a crab cake, I was thirteen and accompanying my dad on a business trip to San Francisco. We dined in the fanciest restaurant I'd ever been to, and I ordered the crab cake appetizer. It was tender, moist, perfectly seasoned, and it blew me away. I've attempted many times since to recreate it, with varying degrees of success. However these beauties, elegantly spiced with our Elliott Bay Seasoning and a generous handful of tarragon, put that first memorable cake to shame! Do be sure to use Panko, the Japanese bread crumbs, for this recipe to get that lighter-than-air crust.

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Caribbean Curry Carrot Soup

A word of advice from a novice gardener: Carrots are much bigger than carrot seeds. Somehow, fifty-odd square feet of garden space doesn't seem like that much when it's being planted, but it can produce a surprising haul, most especially in the carrot department. Praise be that carrots are delicious, so their being excessively plentiful is a problem I'm thankful to have! This soup is hearty and delicious, made velvety by the soft puree of carrots, and the sunny flavors of Caribbean Curry. We've dressed it up a little with the prawns, but this soup can easily be made vegan by omitting them and using red miso paste in favor of the Worcestershire powder.

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Kofte Spice Stuffed Zucchini

Zucchini season has officially begun in the Pacific Northwest, and boy is it a successful one this year. The markets are full of this fine summer squash and I was recently gifted a zucchini from the family garden which is about the size of my torso. I needed to find something delicious to do with my bounty, and stuffed zucchini was just the thing.This Turkish-influenced recipe looks and tastes impressive, but requires little effort to make aside from tossing a few things together and leaving it to cook. Of course since this is a Turkish recipe, my favorite spice blend to pair it with is Kofte Spice - the peppermint and savory are a refreshing addition on warm summer days. A filling dinner for three or a starter for 6, all you need is three medium sized zucchinis (or one monster one).

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