Your kitchen will be wonderfully fragrant if you toast and grind whole spices. It takes a little longer than just using purchased ground and roasted spices, but the richness and depth of freshly toasted spices is hard to beat.
It’s fitting that we titled this Laura’s Spice Rub, and not only because Moosewood’s Laura Branca developed it for this cookbook. The Moosewood Collective cooks have done a lot of cooking, tasting, and eating together, in both the restaurant and our home kitchens. Intense and interesting flavor is one of the qualities that Moosewood fans say is what they like about our food. Laura is the queen of “make it more flavorful.” She can take a perfectly acceptable, but somewhat ho-hum, stew (or whatever) to the next level, so that we say, “Now that’s really tasty.”
Yields 3 tablespoons
Prep time: 10 minutes; 20 minutes if toasting and grinding the spices from scratch
1 teaspoon ground toasted cumin*
1 teaspoon ground toasted coriander*
½ teaspoon ground toasted fennel seeds*
1 teaspoon smoked paprika**
⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon cayenne or roasted cayenne pepper (optional)
1 to 2 teaspoons fresh or dried thyme leaves (optional)
*To toast whole cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds, spread out the seeds on a toaster oven tray and toast at 325°F for 4 to 5 minutes until they begin to darken and become richly aromatic. Or, toast them in a dry skillet for 2 to 3 minutes, tossing or stirring once or twice. Do not allow the seeds to scorch. Grind the toasted seeds in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle. At home, many of us label one coffee grinder for spices and another for coffee.
**Smoked paprika has a distinctive flavor and aroma. It’s made of peppers dried by smoking. Available at most supermarkets.
Mix the ground spices with the smoked paprika, black pepper, sugar, and salt. For a hotter flavor, add the cayenne. Stir in thyme if you like its flavor.
A spice jar with a shaker top is an ideal way to store the mix and will allow you to evenly sprinkle on as much as you like.
In this cookbook, we use this spice rub for Spice-Crusted Roasted Carrots and Spiced Nuts. It’s also good on other roasted or grilled vegetables, and grilled or baked tofu. The aromatic spices used are favorite seasonings in parts of the Middle East and North Africa.