Photo by Kensie Wallner

Forgotten Spice Guide

By Micheal Ramirez
Contributing Writer

Super Bowl Sunday is a time for friends, beer and lots of food. And, oh yeah, a football game on TV. One of the things that never springs to mind is cleaning out our pantry on Super Bowl Sunday. Well, this past Sunday I was doing just that, and boy was I surprised to see so many spices and dried herbs I’ve hardly even used (come on, we all have at least one nearly-full container of ground cinnamon or ground nutmeg in our pantry).

I threw away all the stuff that was at least four months old. Spices tend to lose their flavor and essential oils after a few months; it’s always best to buy fresh or just a very small amount. After chucking all the old stuff, I was left with a pretty eclectic array of spices: red pepper flakes, sweet chilli sauce, ground ginger, garlic powder, salt and black pepper. The menu for the game was already set, so I didn’t need to cook, but what could I do with the spices I had on hand? After thinking about it, I came up with some simple recipes. Hopefully they will be of help.

Arrabiatta (a spicy pasta dish)

For this dish you will need:
Olive oil
Fresh minced garlic
Red pepper flakes
Your favorite marinara sauce
Crispy, cooked bacon
One small onion, finely diced
1 lb of linguini or spaghetti cooked to package directions

In a large pot over medium high heat, add 2 Tbsp of olive oil, the diced onion and 1 Tbsp of freshly minced garlic and sautee until the onion gets a bit of color and is nearly soft. Add 1 jar of marinara sauce, 6 strips of crispy bacon roughly chopped, 2 Tbsp of red pepper flakes and simmer over low heat for 10-15 minutes. Serve over hot cooked pasta noodles and garnish with parmesan cheese and fresh minced parsley.

Asian Chicken Rolls

For this recipe you will need:
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, fully cooked and finely diced
Half a cup sweet chilli sauce
1 cup finely shredded cheddar jack cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped jalapenos
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup diced green onion
1 pkg of egg roll skins

In a large bowl combine all ingredients except the egg roll skins. Finely mix until well combined. Now for the egg roll skins: you will need a small bowl of water to wet the edges of the skins. On a clean surface, place the egg roll skins so that they look like a diamond. Wet the outside edges with water, add about 2 heaping Tbsp of chicken mixture and roll according to package directions. Continue until you run out of filling. You should have enough mix for at least 15 rolls. Deep fry according to the package directions and serve with either more sweet chilli sauce or a spicy sambal garlic chilli sauce. Be sure to have plenty of beer to serve with this spicy appetizer.

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