Make your own Spice Blend

By Katie Barreira

All this week, Special Fork bloggers are revealing what’s in their pantry, with tips for using pantry staples. To celebrate Pantry Week, Special Fork has teamed up with Zojirushi, the Japanese maker of top-quality kitchen appliances, to offer a fabulous sweepstakes prize: the 5.5-cup capacity Zojirushi Micom Rice Cooker & Warmer ($192 MSRP), which not only cooks rice flawlessly, but also steams foods and bakes cakes. Menu settings include: white/sushi, mixed, porridge, sweet, brown, cake, steam and quick cooking. Enter to win!

Dried herbs and spices are forever proliferating in my pantry, taunting me with their two-year shelf life. One great way to plow through those jostling jars is to make your own spice blends.

I knew my guy was a keeper when he coated chicken thighs with this all-purpose rub, which he employs on everything from bell peppers to skirt steak. Try it as a dry rub on a smoked pork butt, or mix it with a few glugs of olive oil for a wet rub that packs chicken breasts with flavor and seals in moisture.

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Eating Healthy? Punch up Flavor with These Ingredients

By Lori Powell

I have missed you all and hope you feel the same. Happy New Year!! Now begins a new year full of what I hope will be blogs that inspire you to cook and eat super-delicious healthy food in 2012.

I have never been a fan of New Year’s resolutions but for some reason I am into it this year and hopefully that enthusiasm will linger long enough to get me back on track and make me feel stronger.

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Weekday Company? Try this Easy Moroccan Chicken

By Sandy Hu

Recently, I came across this tattered recipe for Moroccan Chicken in a recipe folder. The recipe was from my friend Carol who was also my neighbor, living a few floors below us in the same high-rise on West 14th Street in New York City. It was one of the first things I learned to make when I started cooking.

This was long before the days when we were exposed to real Moroccan food, so today, we’d just say it’s loosely “inspired” by Moroccan cuisine. Nonetheless, it’s a great meal for company on a busy weeknight, since the chicken is marinated the night before and only needs to be floured, browned and popped into the oven to bake unattended while you set the table and tidy the house. Serve it with instant couscous, another quick-to-fix dish.

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