[Captain Jack]

I'm a terrible cook but over the last year I've been practicing a lot. As a result I've amassed a large amount of herbs, spices, sugar, flour and other cooking ingredients (see attached pic). I barely use them but don't want them to go to waste.

I'd love it if people could recommend any dishes or recipes that use a lot of herbs and/or spices so I can work through them all.

[I<3LAMP]

What kind of things did you use them for in the first place. I have a pretty full cupboard full of spices and herbs I use and also one for baking itself as I do it so much.

Oregano goes well in tomato based sauces and you can sprinkle it on salads like Greek salad.

Tarragon is lovely with chicken though I never use it that often.

Chives goes well with fish, potatoes and cream/creme fraiche. Or cheese & chives?

Cloves are warming and I either use it to stud a gammon/ham joint after boiling and before putting in oven with honey glaze, add to curries/rice or even crush the little buds on top of the stalks and add to cakes.

Ground Mixed Spice-known as All Spice and you can use in cakes/biscuits and even jerk chicken marinades.

Chillies-use whenever but dried chillies are better in sauces/marinades/curries/even scrambled eggs. Save the fresh ones to add to baked fish or chicken for extra bite & flavour.

Cayenne pepper is hot. I add it to chips/wedges before putting in the oven as I like them hot and served with mayo/salad cream. I also add it to cajun spice and bbq seasoning when I make my own fajita mix when I've not got any in the house. I also add a tiny bit to gingerbread biscuit dough for a little heat.

Cinnamon goes well with apples or in chilli con carne. Add chillies for spicy chilli. You can even add dark choc to chilli con carne.
Nutmeg goes well sprinked into the white sauce in lasagne or in cake/biscuits.

I add garlic to everything.

Vanilla extract/essence used in cakes/biscuits/muffins etc and I use the peppermint extract when I make choc mint cupcakes.

Icing sugar-icing or buttercream topping to cakes
Granulated for crunchy toppings to apple crumble/in tea/in recipes
Caster sugar/golden caster sugar for lighter cakes and recipes
Light muscovado when you want your cakes a little denser and dark
Dark muscovado I use in dense fruit cakes with golden syrup to make sticky.

If you have coriander and cumin seeds I crush these and add to garam masala, mustard seeds, curry leaves, ground/root ginger, chillis, turmeric etc to make curry. I also crush cumin and coriander seeds to make falafel or anything with a subtle curry flavour or even thai marinades.

With the stuff you have in. You can make spicy rices, pasta sauces, chillis, cakes, muffins, falafel, curry and many other things as you have a lot of good stuff there.

Anything specific and I'll try to help.

[Gofre]

Buy yourself a proper Indian cookbook, not one of those "Curry made easy" cop-outs. You'll burn through them in no time.

[Captain Jack]

(Original post by I<3LAMP)
What kind of things did you use them for in the first place. I have a pretty full cupboard full of spices and herbs I use and also one for baking itself as I do it so much.

Oregano goes well in tomato based sauces and you can sprinkle it on salads like Greek salad.

Tarragon is lovely with chicken though I never use it that often.

Chives goes well with fish, potatoes and cream/creme fraiche. Or cheese & chives?

Cloves are warming and I either use it to stud a gammon/ham joint after boiling and before putting in oven with honey glaze, add to curries/rice or even crush the little buds on top of the stalks and add to cakes.

Ground Mixed Spice-known as All Spice and you can use in cakes/biscuits and even jerk chicken marinades.

Chillies-use whenever but dried chillies are better in sauces/marinades/curries/even scrambled eggs. Save the fresh ones to add to baked fish or chicken for extra bite & flavour.

Cayenne pepper is hot. I add it to chips/wedges before putting in the oven as I like them hot and served with mayo/salad cream. I also add it to cajun spice and bbq seasoning when I make my own fajita mix when I've not got any in the house. I also add a tiny bit to gingerbread biscuit dough for a little heat.

Cinnamon goes well with apples or in chilli con carne. Add chillies for spicy chilli. You can even add dark choc to chilli con carne.
Nutmeg goes well sprinked into the white sauce in lasagne or in cake/biscuits.

I add garlic to everything.

Vanilla extract/essence used in cakes/biscuits/muffins etc and I use the peppermint extract when I make choc mint cupcakes.

Icing sugar-icing or buttercream topping to cakes
Granulated for crunchy toppings to apple crumble/in tea/in recipes
Caster sugar/golden caster sugar for lighter cakes and recipes
Light muscovado when you want your cakes a little denser and dark
Dark muscovado I use in dense fruit cakes with golden syrup to make sticky.

If you have coriander and cumin seeds I crush these and add to garam masala, mustard seeds, curry leaves, ground/root ginger, chillis, turmeric etc to make curry. I also crush cumin and coriander seeds to make falafel or anything with a subtle curry flavour or even thai marinades.

With the stuff you have in. You can make spicy rices, pasta sauces, chillis, cakes, muffins, falafel, curry and many other things as you have a lot of good stuff there.

Anything specific and I'll try to help.

Wow! You are a legend, what an incredible amount of advice, thank you so much I'll start with some muffins, biscuits and a cake this weekend plus some chicken dishes I think, particularly some curries...

(Original post by Gofre)
Buy yourself a proper Indian cookbook, not one of those "Curry made easy" cop-outs. You'll burn through them in no time.

Will do - I'll grab one ahead of the weekend.

I ended up with so many of these because of Jamie Oliver recipes. He uses lots of different herbs in his recipes but very little of each. They are nice but I find his recipes expensive and wasteful (because I don't cook from scratch often) because of this.

[Joeyboy 12]

If you have cumin seeds make cumin rice. All you need to do is cook the rice, fry a chopped onion, add a teaspoon of cumin seeds, season and mix. Its so nice and really easy for a quick lunch, not to mention that its cheap to make!

[mel0n]

I always wonder what you use Thyme with that's quite a collection of spices you have got there. As already said, oregano is good in tomato based sauces and I think Basil is too, if you have that.

I see paprika there goes well with chicken. If you have chilli flakes they're meant to go nicely with prawns + a bit of lemon juice + garlic but I haven't personally tried it so don't quote me on it!

[I<3LAMP]

(Original post by mel0n)
I always wonder what you use Thyme with that's quite a collection of spices you have got there. As already said, oregano is good in tomato based sauces and I think Basil is too, if you have that.

I see paprika there goes well with chicken. If you have chilli flakes they're meant to go nicely with prawns + a bit of lemon juice + garlic but I haven't personally tried it so don't quote me on it!

Thyme goes with virtually anything.

You can use it in tomato pasta dishes, homemade bread, potatoes with rosemary, goes amazing with oven baked chicken, marinades, casseroles, soups and roasted veg.

I second your paprika chicken. Smoked paprika is awesome too.

Your prawn suggestion is also really good too. Lemon, garlic & chilli is a classic with prawns & scallops and serve with a peppery rocket salad.

[Captain Jack]

(Original post by I<3LAMP)
I second your paprika chicken. Smoked paprika is awesome too.

Your prawn suggestion is also really good too. Lemon, garlic & chilli is a classic with prawns & scallops and serve with a peppery rocket salad.

These both sound great, they're making me hungry

I can report that I've made a start, last night I made crumpets. A small start, only denting the strong flour and yeast, but a start nonetheless!

[I<3LAMP]

(Original post by Captain Jack)
These both sound great, they're making me hungry

I can report that I've made a start, last night I made crumpets. A small start, only denting the strong flour and yeast, but a start nonetheless!

Ooh crumpets! I've never thought to make them. How did they turn out?

[Captain Jack]

(Original post by I<3LAMP)
Ooh crumpets! I've never thought to make them. How did they turn out?

I've made three batches now and these tasted the best but they didn't rise enough. They're easy to make and the critical stages are first definitely activating the yeast in warm milk - it's hard to get the temperature right to do this. Then secondly in the frying pan they require about 4 - 5 mins on the first side which can easily lead to burning the bases. I'll have another stab tonight and try to get the yeast right

[James A]

(Original post by Captain Jack)
I'm a terrible cook but over the last year I've been practicing a lot. As a result I've amassed a large amount of herbs, spices, sugar, flour and other cooking ingredients (see attached pic). I barely use them but don't want them to go to waste.

I'd love it if people could recommend any dishes or recipes that use a lot of herbs and/or spices so I can work through them all.

get some tabasco sauce. That's the only thing missing from the bottom shelf.

Man power!!!!

[twinlensreflex]

I get through a heck of a lot of cloves/nutmeg/ginger/cinnamon making gingerbread

[Kate.]

Looks like my cupboard!

The herbs/spices I use most are:
- basil, oregano and thyme in bolognese or similar pasta sauces
- cumin, chilli powder/cayenne pepper and paprika in chilli con carne
- paprika, cayenne and thyme in paella-type dishes
- I use loads of cinnamon when I make snickerdoodles - they're amazing cookies!

I do love paprika and anything spicy - all those red-ish hot spices tend to go well with loads of things IMO...chicken, fish, roast vegetables, potato wedges, etc. Just chuck things together and see what smells and tastes nice!

I can't stand cloves, not a massive fan of nutmeg and I've never really used tarragon or chives so can't help you there.