"The only real stumbling block is the fear of failure. In cooking, you have got to have a what-the-hell attitude." ~ Julia Child

New Year, New Spices

by Julie on January 12, 2013

in Green Goddess

Let me say that it all started with a cookbook I didn’t get for Christmas.

To be fair, I didn’t even know I wanted this cookbook myself until I stumbled upon it in a Barnes & Noble recently while killing time waiting for the next showing of Les Miserables.

But dang. Such a cookbook like I never knew existed. Such a cookbook, I will probably just have to pop for myself, and why not? This cookbook of my desire, Flavors of Jerusalem, is by an Israeli chef (Yotam Ottolenghi) and a Palestinian chef (Sami Tamimi) who both grew up in Jerusalem, eating the kinds of foods that make me sigh. It waxes passionate about pretty much all my most favorite flavors and recipes, including a salad that, in my mind, anyway, is the taste of the Levant.

The humble tomato and cucumber salad. You’ll find it from Iran to Israel to Cyprus. Tomato and cucumber salad, which is very straightforward and simple and involves chopping up a few vegetables, juicing half a lemon…and adding some sumac.

old sumac

For you, my friend…ancient spices you can’t use anymore…

Now, for someone who professes utter lack of skill in the kitchen, I do have a pretty kickin’ assortment of spices. Some of that is from my love of Indian, Middle Eastern and Japanese cuisine, which means I have plenty of cumin, coriander, tumeric and bonito flakes and sesame seeds in my pantry. Part of it is because when Bab’s died unexpectedly, I took home half of her kitchen, including all of her spices.

But the years have clicked by. Babs has been gone almost 10 years already. I don’t have little kids anymore I have teenagers who are both taller than I am.

spice bin

…And I have a bin full of aging spices.

…And I don’t have any sumac.

The common wisdom is that ground spices have a shelf life of about 8 months (that’s if they’re kept optimally, in a cool pantry away from light or heat), while whole versions might last a bit longer. Longer than that, says the guy at Serious Eats, and what you’ve got is basically lightly flavored dust.

I realized this because I when I realized I didn’t actually have any sumac myself, I took to Facebook to find some. A neighbor generously offered her jar of sumac, but when I went to retrieve it today, I took one sniff and realized that it was way too past its use-by date to be of any use. I looked in vain for some at the Fresh & Easy, I briefly contemplated driving 20 miles to the Persian market in Torrance, (nah), looked feebly through my own spice bin for some Za’atar, another Middle Eastern spice I could use…

...my bag of za'atar from 2006...

…my bag of za’atar from 2006…

So yeah. I have a bin full of dust.

 

The simplest of ingredients...

The simplest of ingredients…

But I went ahead and made this salad anyway, and didn’t use any spice. Here’s the recipe, which I got off Smitten Kitchen (where else?), but is pretty universal, I’d imagine.

1 English cucumber, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
half of one Spanish onion, diced
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 teaspoons sumac
salt and pepper to taste

 

Chop chop!

Chop chop!

I’m also going to go through the old spice bin tomorrow and toss most of it, and make a list of replacement spices (how uncharacteristically organized of me…). And I will include sumac on that list.

Refreshing!

Refreshing!

Here’s to a spicier new year for us all!

 

 

{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }

Susan Hawkins January 14, 2013 at 8:33 am

I found sumac , strangely enough, at Ralph’s on Carson at Cherry.
They also have it at Whole Paycheck, er Foods.
I use it in a fabulous pomegranate roast chicken
recipe.

Reply

Noel January 14, 2013 at 2:06 pm

note to self…..go through spice CABINET….i swear there is stuff in there from when i moved out of my parents’ house! 🙂

Reply

Julie January 14, 2013 at 2:22 pm

LOL! I betcha there is! (now if I went through my MOM’S spice shelf I bet I would find stuff from 1981!)…

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Jamie January 15, 2013 at 10:51 am

Sounds like a trip to Penzey’s! I’ve bought Zatar and Sumac elsewhere (including Bristol Farms) and they were horribly stale and/or moldy. Where can we get Susan’s Pomegranate Chicken recipe?

Reply

Julie January 15, 2013 at 10:53 am

Road trip to Penzey’s! I’ll get the recipe from Susan as well…stay tuned…

Reply

Dorothy at ShockinglyDelicious January 16, 2013 at 11:05 am

I second Penzeys. I pray there regularly.

Reply

JulieR January 19, 2013 at 5:36 am

I love sumac…

Reply

Laura Fromm January 19, 2013 at 12:36 pm

Julie, I just bought Jerusalem because of you. Thank you for the recommendation! This is going to lead me in a whole new cooking direction. Thank you!

Reply

Chris July 26, 2013 at 3:27 am

I have to agree with Laura. I just bought Flavors of Jerusalem. I’ve been introduced to a whole new world of cooking and my creativity with cooking has just been rejuvenated. Thanks for the suggestion Julie!

Reply

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