My dad is really hard to shop for. Every year when I ask him what he'd like for his birthday or Christmas, he says "Don't get me anything." Well, I don't work that way. My loved ones always get gifts, damn it!
This year, though, I told him I'd make him something, and he seemed pretty excited about this idea. This was before I'd actually thought about what I would make.
Googling "gift ideas for dad" is pretty much useless in my case. My dad doesn't have a favorite sports team, he doesn't wear ties or cuff links. I don't have the extra cash for any super amazing techie gifts (something he'd probably appreciate. Someday, Dad, someday.) He's not a griller or a gamer, he's not a hunter or a fisherman anymore and he only occasionally drinks beer.
Growing up in Alaska, we ate a lot of fish. Mostly salmon, sometimes halibut. Being vegan, I don't eat this anymore, but my dad is still quite carnivorous, and, although he isn't an avid cook, I thought maybe I'd encourage him to eat at home a little more if I made him something delicious to doctor up his fish dishes.
Enter flavored salts.
Super easy to make, all you need is coarse sea salt, dried spices, a food processor or grinder and some jars.
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| Lime, lemon, and orange zest ready to be mixed. |
Ingredients needed:
Citrus Rosemary Salt
For every 1/4 cup sea salt add:
1/2 teaspoon dried lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon dried orange zest
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
Chipotle Lime Salt
For every 1/4 cup sea salt add:
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp dried lime zest
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
Lemon Garlic Salt
For every 1/4 cup sea salt add:
1/2 tsp dried lemon zest
1/2 tsp garlic powder
The jars I used held almost 3/4 cup of salt, so I tripled the recipes.
Directions:
1. Dehydrate your citrus rinds.
If you don't have a dehydrator, using a conventional oven works as well. To dehydrate the citrus rinds in an oven, preheat oven to 200. Place rinds on cookie sheet and bake for 3 hours. Turn off oven after 3 hours but leave cookie sheet in overnight.
2. Grind your spices/dried citrus.
3. Grind coarse salt if necessary before adding flavors. You want some texture, but don't need huge salt granules.
4. Stir and add to jars. Leave in jars for at least 24 hours before using. This way the flavors really saturate the salt.
Helpful hints: For approximately 3/4 cup of salt, it took almost 5 limes worth of zest. I used a carrot peeler to remove the rind from the bitter white part.
Dehydrating citrus rinds in the oven: plan to do this the day before you're ready to make your salts.
Use a grinder or food processor to grind up rinds. Clean out grinder between rind types, so as not to mix your flavors.
I also ground the red pepper flakes slightly before mixing into the salt.
Final product: Chipotle-Lime, Citrus Rosemary, and Lemon Garlic salts
You could do a ton with making cute labels or decorating the jars, but I preferred the simplicity of these handwritten minimalist labels.
P.S. My dad loved these :)
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