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Sweet and Spicy Popcorn

8 Nov

A couple of summers ago, we happened upon a summer festival in the small coastal town where we were vacationing.  Though we were delighted by the showcase of old (and still functioning) steam engine trains, the thing that piqued my interest the most was the huge man with the even huger beard making old-fashioned kettle corn over a roaring pile of burning logs.

The kettle being stirred by the man was enormous, I swear you could have fit both me and my son inside of it and still had room for some popcorn.  When the fellow first dropped some handfuls of popcorn and sugar into the kettle, he kept the lid on top, flipping his stir stick around inside as best he could while still making certain to hold the lid close enough to the top of the kettle so the sizzling hot kernels of popcorn wouldn’t jump out and singe him.  As the pile of popped corn began to grow, the man dispensed with the lid all together, stirring the contents of the kettle as they grew taller and fluffier, the popped kernels on top keeping the actively popping kernels on the bottom from leaping out of the kettle.

Call me naïve, but this process had me enraptured.  Not because it seemed intoxicatingly complex, mind you (though that raging fire burning beneath the popcorn kettle presented many a challenge, I am sure), but rather because the opposite was very quickly becoming clear to me.  I could totally make that at home, I thought, and as soon as we get home, I am so going to do it.

Cut to over a year later, and we get to the part of the story where I realize that, though I have certainly contemplated the making of kettle corn ever since I saw it being made right before my eyes, I never actually got around to tackling the experiment.  Interestingly enough, in the intervening months of thinking about kettle corn, I had actually started to wonder if I could dress up the snack a bit, give it a bit more kick to offset the basic components of popcorn, oil, and sugar.  Kettle corn was all right, but somehow all those months of thinking about making it had made me realize that what I really wanted to make was something still related to kettle corn, but stepped up a tad.

So, please allow me to introduce you to my new friend, kettle corn’s cousin, sweet and spicy popcorn.  A tiny bit of cinnamon and nutmeg add a warm and savory touch to the taste of the lightly sweet and buttery popcorn, while the chipotle powder creeps in with a small punch of heat to keep every bite interesting.  The flavor profile of this popcorn is simply a delight.  There is a little bit of everything going at once, but not so much that it overwhelms your palette and exhausts your taste buds.  Sometimes, because I am nothing if not super classy (what now?), I’ll pair this popcorn with a nice, crisp glass of white wine.  And sometimes, because I am also a small child passing as an adult, I will eat this very combination of foods for dinner.  Oops.  I think I just killed the classy part.

Sweet and Spicy Popcorn

If you are making this treat for children or people who do not enjoy spicy food, feel free to omit the chipotle powder from the cooking process.  You can, as I do when eating this with my son, keep some chipotle powder handy and sprinkle it on your own individual portion, leaving the master batch unspicy.

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder or hot chili powder, adjusted according to your preference for spicy foods

pinch nutmeg

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon butter

½ cup popcorn kernels

½ teaspoon sea salt

Combine cinnamon, chipotle powder, nutmeg, and sugar in a small bowl and set aside.  In a large pot, heat butter and oil over medium low heat until the butter has melted.  Add popcorn and sugar/spice mixture to the hot oil and butter, stir to combine, then place a lid on top of the pot.

Wearing oven mitts so as not to run the risk of burning yourself, gently shake and swirl the pot on top of the stove to keep the kernels moving around in the hot oil and butter.  When the kernels begin to pop, continue to gently shake the pot until you can hear the popping subside.  Immediately empty the popped corn into a large bowl, then sprinkle with salt.

Makes one very large bowl of popcorn.

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Creamy Tomatillo and Avocado Salsa

24 Oct

Though an avid appreciator of salsa in its chunky, vegetable-laden form, I’ve never really been able to get behind salsas and dips of the creamy variety.  I don’t know if it’s a texture issue or what, but dipping a crispy fried chip into a bowl of creamy sauce has always felt sort of odd.  The two dispositions of the chip and dip are so different, and yet so uniformly rich, it just feels like gilding the lily to combine one with the other.  At least, that’s what I used to think, until I innocently whipped up a batch of this super creamy, super flavorful salsa and, oh, man, I now think there can never be enough of this salsa available in the world at any given time.  Mark my words, if I know this salsa is available anywhere, at any time, I am going on a one-woman mission to find it and eat it.  All of it.

This salsa is other-worldly.  The absolutely spot-on spiciness of the jalapenos is expertly balanced by the cool creaminess of the avocado and sour cream, and the tartness of the tomatillos and citrus works effortlessly to round everything out.  With bunches of fresh herbs and just the right amount of kicky garlic, I don’t think there is a more perfect creamy salsa in existence.  It’s cool, spicy, and complex, and it practically begs to dress up a crisp, cold salad.  I am also willing to bet that this salsa, folded into a pile of freshly poached or grilled chicken that has been shredded and combined with some punchy chunks of bell pepper, would make the best chicken salad known to all of humankind.  If I hadn’t already eaten all of this particular batch of salsa you see here, I would be making that exact chicken salad right now.  Which reminds me, I need to buy some more avocados.  And tomatillos.  And sour cream.  Excuse me, I have to go now.

I still can’t say I am a convert to all creamy salsas and dips (my preference still sits firmly in the chunky vegetable camp), but this entry into the fray certainly goes a long way towards persuading me that perhaps I should pay a little more attention to the world of creamy salsas.  If they taste half as good as this salsa, I can only imagine what I’ve been missing out on all these years.

Creamy Tomatillo and Avocado Salsa

From Claire’s Corner Copia Cookbook

2 fresh jalapeno peppers

4 fresh tomatillos (or green tomatoes, if you’re looking for a use for them)

2 ripe avocados, peeled and pitted

½ small yellow onion, chopped

1 cup chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley

¼ cup chopped cilantro

4 large cloves garlic, chopped

juice of 1 lemon

juice of 1 lime

1 cup sour cream (the original recipe called for low fat, but I used full fat and it was just fine)

salt and pepper to taste

In a small saucepan, cover the jalapenos and tomatillos (or green tomatoes) with water and bring to a boil over high heat.  Cook at a simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from the heat, drain, and allow to cool slightly.

In a blender or food processor, combine the cooked jalapenos and tomatillos, avocado flesh, onion, parsley, cilantro, garlic, and lemon and lime juice.  Blend or process on low speed for 20 seconds until pureed, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed.  Pour the mixture into a medium bowl and stir in the sour cream.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

If you desire a less spicy salsa (though this is not what I would call a super spicy salsa, it definitely has a bit of a kick to it), you can cut open the jalapenos after cooking and scrape out the seeds.  Your salsa will still have some spice to it, but it will be markedly less so than if you had left the seeds intact.

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Everything Flatbread

22 Sep

There need only be the mere mention of a get together or activity, and the very first words blurted out of my mouth are, “What can I bring?”  It’s beyond a habit at this point, I fear, for recently I have been faced with the rather challenging situation of not really having much to physically contribute beyond my ability to create things in the kitchen .

This is, of course, rather perplexing for me.  As someone who has remodeled a kitchen or two, landscaped her own yard, and once tiled a bathroom floor while six months pregnant, the recent realization that I can no longer lift heavy things or reliably handle a shovel has proven to be somewhat sobering.

Of course, it should be pointed out that, technically, I should have stopped lifting heavy things and swinging construction implements long before I made the decision to actually stop doing so, but sometimes it takes me a while to learn.  Maybe not learn, but, you know, listen to my body.  The short version of this story proceeds as such: Ten years ago I was hit by a truck while riding my bike.  I lived to tell the tale, but my back and neck have never been the same.  It took me a while to admit it, but it has finally come to pass that me and physical labor?  We’re no longer friends.  Sure, I still want to lift heavy rocks to build a retaining wall, but I also want to be able to stand upright without crying, so those rocks are just going to have to be moved by someone else.

It’s a hard pill to swallow, but it’s a predicament that I find I can overlook somewhat if I just make every effort to contribute in a different way.  You need someone to demo your kitchen?  How about I bring over some snacks and share them with whomever you get to do that with you?  Need to dig up some bushes and move them?  I will make you lemonade.  Over the summer, determined to help my son’s school beautify their new play area without simultaneously crippling my body, I made a similar offering.  You need help moving those wood chips?  Here come the snacks!

The good thing is, as much as people appreciate help with laborious physical tasks, there is hardly a project that does not have room for snacks.  A simple flatbread sprinkled with seeds and a bit of dried onion and garlic will go a long way on a hot afternoon.  Offering a light bite with a familiar taste (in homage to everyone’s favorite standby: the everything bagel) is a good way to pep up spirits that have grown weary with work.  Pair it with some mango lemonade and you might feel just as welcome as someone arriving with a bit more muscle and a lot less neck pain.

Everything Flatbread

Good news!  This flatbread is made from the exact same dough that I use to make pizza.  This means that you can make a batch of flatbread, then have enough dough leftover to pop in the fridge and save for making pizzas another day.

1/3 of a batch of this pizza dough

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

sesame seeds

poppy seeds

caraway seeds

dried onion flakes

granulated garlic

sea salt

Preheat oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit.  Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Sprinkle a very small amount of flour onto the paper.  Place the dough onto the parchment paper, then, using your hands, gently stretch the dough across the entire surface of the baking sheet, coaxing the dough as you go and making certain not to tear it.

When the dough has been sufficiently stretched, drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the dough and, using a spoon or a brush, coat the top of the dough.  If you find that 1 tablespoon of oil is not enough to cover the dough, add the remaining tablespoon.  Sprinkle the top of the dough with the seeds, onion, garlic, and salt.

Bake the dough on the lowered oven rack for 10-15 minutes, until the edges have browned and the top is bubbled and golden in spots.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

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