Not Your Mother's Spice Rack

One of my colleagues told me her father stated that good food did not need spices. Interesting.

My grandmother, on the other hand, told me that poor food would kill me. In other words, spice it up. Now mind you, grandma did not have a lot of spices, salt, pepper, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cayenne pepper and a few others.

Fast forward and I have a cabinet full of spices. I took grandma's advice to heart. While I will always use cinnamon, I also have coriander, cumin, Aleppo pepper, black peppercorns, chipotle pepper, and the list continues. I like to experiment with spices and other food cultures.



And this is only part of the collection!

 

It seems that more Americans are joining me in my quest for a wider variety of spices. We don't want just more spices, we also want more spice blends. Standing along side the standard Italian and poultry seasonings are ras el hanout, a spice used North African cooking, especially Morroco, harissa another North African spice, Indian inspired curry powder, and za'tar from the middle east. Needless to say, the list continues. Americans are on a spice roll. And I say we are the better for it. It is always wonderful to experience the food of another culture.

For this post, I am going with ras el hanout, a Moroccan spice mixture. You can purchase ras el hanout or make your own. Ras el hanout loosely translates to "head of the shop" and refers to the best spices the shop has to offer. Each shop has its own blend, but typically contain cardamom, clove, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, paprika, mace, nutmeg, peppercorns, and turmeric.

Ras el hanout is flavorful, but not hot. Since it is a spice blend, it can be used in marinades, as a rub, stews and braises. Check out The Kitchn for ways to use ras el hanout and other spice blends.


Ras el Hanout

Makes about 2 tablespoons.
 
Ingredients:

1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon cayenne
½ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
 
Directions:

Whisk together in a small bowl until well combined. Mixture can be stored in a jar at room temperature for several weeks.
 
I have used this mixture on chicken and fish.  Both are equally good.