Occasionally, I remember some random bit of food trivia while I am in a store and I buy some oddment that I think I'll use on the rare day when I feel like diversifying my cooking skills. Actually, I think in my case, concocting is a better term than cooking.
Since it was, once again, frigid and windy, I found myself procrastinating about venturing out and I actually read the recipe, which sounded simple enough even for my limited culinary ambitions (and I do know that my foodie friends are, right this moment, rolling their eyes and shuddering in horror - you know who you are). The recipe only required three ingredients, one bowl and no real effort, just my kind of thing.
You're supposed to combine onion powder and paprika in a bowl, toss in the peas and then stick them in the oven for an hour. Hard to mess that up. I actually had the chick peas (because of one of those aforementioned spree-of-the-moment purchases that never amounted to anything) and the onion powder (ditto the aforementioned spree-of-the-moment thing). Then there's the paprika.....seems like I've seen some of that around here....
I started rummaging around in the cupboard and in a small box, up on the top shelf, full of miscellaneous spices, I struck gold...
I think it is only because of Carson's blog post a few days ago that I gave it any thought at all, but I started thinking about where this paprika had to come from. It's the bottle that gave it away for me.
Once-upon-a-time, I gave my mother (who passed away in 1990) a spice rack with a bunch of spices sometime in the mid-to late 80's. This was one of them. That means that this has traveled from Maine to Vermont to California to New York and six (or is it 8?) moves within NY over the span of 25-30 years. It was in the custody of my brother through at least one of those moves while I was in college and more than a bit homeless. That little box of miscellaneous kitchen stuff has just gone from one cupboard to the next. A tiny, odd remnant of a household so scattered and long gone that that it no longer exists clearly even in memory.
This little bottle of paprika has outlived numerous animals and people. Which does beg the question:
Just how long does Paprika last?
And:
What the hell is Paprika anyway?!? (I went and looked it up just in case anyone else is as ignorant as I am)
Phooey, whatever. It worked just fine and the roasted chick peas aren't half bad.
Don't be bringing that stuff to my house! Of course, maybe if you put a little mayo on it....
ReplyDeletenothing ventured, nothing gained springs to mind......
ReplyDeleteI love chick peas! So versatile! And that looks like a nice simple recipe for something to nimble on.
ReplyDeleteSo, we are sisters-under-the-skin-from-afar. I find the assembling of ingredients and preparation of food quite tedious and mysterious. When my mother came to live with me, many years ago, we would finish with breakfast and mother would ask, "What are we going to have for dinner?" It was quite a shock to my system! "Gee, I don't know ---"
ReplyDeleteYou are not crazy. In my bedroom right now are two bags of fabric remnants my mother kept through her last 20 years (she couldn't sew because of arthritis). She passed away, my sister kept them an additional three years. My sister died... i unpacked a box over the weekend and there were the fabric remnants and hundreds of buttons. You are NOT alone! (Please tell me chickpeas weren't your ONLY thing for dinner!)
ReplyDeleteHahahahaha. I read Carson's post too and wondered what exactly might be in my traveling shelf of spices. Since I don't cook much either though, I'll probably never bother to find out. ;)
ReplyDeleteSome of the smoked paprika would be good on that. But I'm not a chickpea fan so I'd do some more changes...
ReplyDeleteThat is actually what the recipe calls for. As if I'd have that in the cupboard. Maybe I can start a new trend.....Aged Paprika. It's a rare delicacy.
DeleteYou actually have parchment paper in your cupboards? Now that's culinary!
ReplyDeleteI know, crazy right? It's all because of RB and her mom, they swear by the stuff and kept telling me how life could not be complete without it. I'd always thought that parchment was that mouldery old stuff ancient tomes were written on and the idea of putting paper in the oven is just so wrong. I bought it sometime last year when I saw it in the store and heard RB's voice in my head telling me I needed it, I think this is the first time I've used it . And hey, the house didn't burn down!
DeleteThey don't look too bad either! Good for you for going outside your "culinary box"!
ReplyDeletemade me smile. :)
ReplyDeleteJust think how much better those peas would be if the paprika was fresher. But ,as pack rat myself, I would never throw out that old stuff. It is a treasure meant to be with you. Just get a new jar to use. m
ReplyDeleterb's
I've kept spices beyond their useful years ... you know what? I recognized that bottle from my younger days when I had a spice rack!
ReplyDeleteI am not fond of cooking. I admit it. Because I cook for just one person 95% of the time, deli salads are one of my favorite standbys. Spices? Around here they stay a lot longer than they should be kept ;-)
ReplyDeleteI was thinking when I saw the picture, before I read the post "Wow, haven't seen a McCormicks label that looks like that in a long time"
ReplyDeleteThe only way I like chickpeas is HUMMUS!! Homemade using roasted red peppers, lots of garlic, salt and pepper and olive oil, along with the peas of course. Yummy stuff.
ReplyDelete