Parade, Bobby Flay and Cumin Chips!
February 4th, 2010Is it just me, or is Bobby Flay everywhere these days? I lived in NYC long ago, just when he was catching some fame as the hip and hot owner of the Mesa Grill. Now he owns a boatload of restaurants, has a branded product line, is an Iron Chef, and picks fights with local chefs in his “Throwdown” series. (And I am sure I am missing something…)
But I don’t mind, and I am not even jealous, because he revealed his true soul to me (and the rest of the country) this past weekend in Parade Magazine.
You may ask yourself, Parade Magazine? Isn’t that the part of the newspaper we normally throw away with those icky-sticky glossy inserts?
Yes, it is; but where else can you learn that Harrison Ford has a multitude of airplanes, or that Sigourney Weaver is really, really tall? You just have to read Parade if you want to understand popular culture and the true state of our Union.
I especially like Parade because they have always had really good food writers bringing us ideas and inspirations that are not too difficult. Dorie Greenspan on baked goods, and, for many years, the late Sheila Lukins wrote about the way Americans ought to cook.
Now Bobby Flay has joined the fray, and at first I was afraid it was going to be all macho hamburgers and Buffalo wings, especially since his kick-off article was about food for the Super Bowl. But he had a GREAT idea in there.
“Cumin scented hot potato chips. “
Before you say, “I can’t make potato chips, and why should I when I can buy them…” In Bobby’s recipe you do buy a big old bag of chips. (Gotta love THAT!). All you just warm them up in the oven after sprinkling them with a teaspoon or two of cumin. Bobby suggests a dip–which I thought was completely superfluous—especially when you crunch on that big deep flavor of chip and cumin, warm and toasty.
My only quibble with Bobby’s recipe is that he suggested 1 ½ teaspoons of cumin for a big bag of kettle chips. It was not nearly enough.
You need at least 2 teaspoons of cumin (and, in my household, 3). The chips will be inhaled!
But why stop there? Next time I plan to add some mild chile to the cumin, and the after that, I plan to dust those chips with some Italian Seasoning. A bag of chips and spices….
YUM. You go, Bobby!
Katie