Several months ago I was complaining on facebook that I can't seem to find a curry seasoning blend that I actually like. And I want to like it! I love vegetarian meals and many cookbooks recommend curries for a vegetarian main course.
As I was complaining, a young lady named Lisa G. contacted me and said she worked for a company called "Victoria Gourmet" and she'd love to send me some seasoning blends to try to see if I liked them. She really hoped their personal curry blend would knock my socks off.
A week later a GINORMOUS box arrived on my doorstep and while I was trying to figure out what in the world I purchased that was so huge.. the scent of spices greeted me as I opened the box. Oh my. The aroma was heavenly and so fresh! Unfortunately we were traveling a lot during that time and I didn't really have much time to play around with cooking and using the spices.
We kept the spices in their cute tin boxes in the guest room until I could figure out how to store them in my tiny kitchen. (Which is a fun story for another post!) Once I had them in the kitchen within arms length, I was eager to try them! There are so many!!
Slowly but surely over the past few weeks we've been using Victoria Gourmet spice blends. And I really am blown away. These herbs and spices are so incredibly fresh (not to mention naturally gluten-free) that the aroma (literally as soon as you open the lid) makes you smile! I've never been a huge fan of using lots of different spices, because honestly, I don't feel like I'm "food-educated" enough to truly understand how each component of different spices works best. Also, considering you generally need to use herbs & spices that complement what food you're specifically cooking (pork vs. chicken vs. beef vs. non-starchy veggies vs. root veggies, etc...)... and I'm not very good at that!
But I'm learning that these mixes from Victoria Gourmet completely take the guess work out of proper seasoning!
The one-pot meal we made a few nights ago was simple enough:
- 1 pound of grass-fed ground beef
- 1 pint of button mushrooms, sliced
- 1/2 cup (already cooked) caramelized onions -- which amounts to probably 1 1/2 fresh onions?
- 1 large bunch of kale, stems removed, leaves torn into bite size pieces, and rinsed with cold water
I basically sauteed the above and then added about 1 tbsp. of the cinnamon chile rub seasoning mix to the blend. It mentioned being good with "steak" on the label, so I hoped it would pair well with the beef & kale. It was delicious! The cinnamon chile mix gave the beef & veggies a kind of southwestern flavor. The meal had just a hint of sweetness from the "Sumatran Korintje" cinnamon and subtle heat from the blend of chiles. Considering I'm not one to use many "hot" spices in any meal, I was pleasantly surprised by this dish and how the seasoning blend worked with it. And it made me realize I could take the same basic ingredients and simply add a different spice blend next week for a completely different, but easy meal.
We served the meal over 1/2 cup of cooked brown basmati rice and topped it with peach salsa. This meal was definitely a win!
Over the next few weeks I'm going to share several more posts about Victoria's Gourmet seasoning blends and how I've used them. For my final review there will be a Victoria's Gourmet seasoning giveaway to one lucky winner! I'll share those details later, so stay tuned for how you can win a trio of spice/seasoning mixes from VG!
Meanwhile... what would you do with the Cinnamon Chile Rub Seasoning Mix?
GLG Disclosure:
Victoria Gourmet provided me with free samples of all their seasoning blends, in order to do an online review if I chose to do so. This is not a sponsored post and I did not receive compensation. The opinions in this post are completely my own.
Meanwhile... what would you do with the Cinnamon Chile Rub Seasoning Mix?
