Lemon & Pepper Grind

I was putting some rubs together for my proteins and dressings. There’s a particular jerk, not so jerky rub I make that I’m kinda obsessed with. I have been implementing it in everything.  It goes over really well with the skwad(my fam) but I wanted to try something different.

We love, love, love a lemon pepper anything. I’ve never bought lemon pepper seasoning from a store because we mostly order it when we’re out. There were a few times we made lemon pepper on the fly for Superbowl or a barbecue. We’d use fresh lemons and McCormick Pepper, it worked.  I wanted to make something that would last a little longer and have several uses.

I enjoy a grilled seafood salad with a nice creamy vinaigrette. This is the perfect opportunity for me to make a lemon pepper dressing.

 I go to my spice bowl and I grab the spice box also to see if I had any dry lemon peel I’m sure I picked up at some point from Winco.

I came across some lemon peel and some peppercorn, a good start.  There are different kind of peppercorns, I used black and pink. Pink is still peppery with a mild sweetness to it. I will grind all this together to see what happens….

…and what happened was I had a pepper, pepper slight lemon blend. Okay, okay so I underestimated the power of the peppercorn. I’ll just have more lemon pepper than originally planned, not a bad thing.  The factor I hadn’t anticipated was(you know you gotta zest 10x’s more lemon now)I ended up zesting lemons like never before. I used 10 total, you won’t have to, I think.  I had to quiet the pepper down. And it is delicious.  I made a meat platter seasoned with this yumminess and dusted it over it afterwards too. YUM!!

Lemon Pepper Grind

• 1/3c peppercorn(I used black and pink)
• 1/3c dried lemon zest
• 1/4c sea salt or Himalayan
• Zest of 3 lemon.

I ground the first three ingredients in a blender. Put them in a bowl and add the lemon zest. The longer you grind it the ‘dustier’ it becomes. That makes for a good rub and smoother vinaigrettes

I buy my spices in bulk at places like Winco, Rainbow or any co-op you have in your town. It’s a time saver to create your spice box, cabinet or bowl. Saves time and money.

Lemon Pepper Vinaigrette