Tag: tabascotastemakers

Spicy Habanero Blistered Tomato Dip #TabascoTasteMakers

Spicy Habanero Blistered Tomato Dip #TabascoTasteMakers

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the wonderful Tabasco family. It is my pleasure to be a Tabasco Tastemaker. The recipe and opinions are my own.

Spicy Habanero Blistered Tomato Dip #TabascoTasteMakers

Oh yeah, the summer is still lingering. Even though my mind is completely consumed with “back to school” my kitchen is still telling me it’s “hot in here.” I guess I’m hanging on to the last couple of weeks of longer days, eating on the patio, and entertaining guests all in a very simple easy style.  I want to enjoy these last moments of the summer of 2014 with easy to make snacks, refreshing drinks and a gaggle of family and friends.

Since the clock is ticking, carpe diem…. I started with this spicy yet cool dip. I imagine myself outside in the patio with a slight breeze blowing through, good music from the 70’s creating a heartfelt ambiance, a tall drink on ice, my nearest and dearest hanging out in comfy clothes, and a big bowl of spicy habanero blistered tomato dip with chips to bring it all together.

I used sour cream as my base, spiked it with a nice helping of Tabasco Habanero Sauce, and added a tribe of blistered tomatoes. Mixed it all together, served it with corn chips, and sat down to enjoy my afternoon. The dip has a amazing contrast of flavors going on, from very cool and creamy to spicy with a slight hint of sweet. It is very addicting and could be eaten by the spoonful or poured over rice, but I should warn you now it is fiery hot with a vibrant intensity and delicious tangy taste! Enjoy the rest of your summer!

ingredients for spicy habanero blistered tomato dip

Ingredients for spicy habanero blistered tomato dip:

  • 2 – tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 1/2 – cups cherry tomatoes (cut in half)
  • 1 – teaspoon Tabasco Spicy Salt
  • 2 – cups sour cream
  • 4 – green onion stalks (chopped)
  • 1 – tablespoon Tabasco Habanero Sauce

Directions:

  1. In a large frying pan over a medium high flame add in olive oil and allow to get hot.
  2. Add in tomato halves and sprinkle with tabasco spicy salt. Blistered tomatoes sprinkled with Tabasco Spicy Salt
  3. Cook on each side for about 7 to 8 minutes. Remove pan from flame. Set to the side and allow to cool. blistered tomatoes
  4. In a bowl combine sour cream, green onion, and Tabasco Habanero Sauce. Sour cream green onion and Tabasco habanero sauce make the base of this dip
  5. Add blistered tomatoes to sour cream mixture. Mix to combine and serve with chips.
  6. Enjoy!

 

Spicy Sangrita Completo For National Tequila Day

Spicy Sangrita Completo For National Tequila Day

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the spicy Tabasco family. I am proud to be a Tabasco Tastemaker. Opinions and recipe are my own.

spicy sangrita completo #TabascoTastemakers

There have been many partners in crime throughout time. I think of the great ones like chocolate chips and cookies, or Bonnie and Clyde, or bacon wrapped hot dogs, or Tom and Jerry, and find it important not to over look the precious pair known as “Sangrita Completo.” For those of you that are not familiar with sangrita, it is a beautiful spicy tart slightly sweet chaser/accompaniment served with a shot of tequila, when you serve the two together they are called “completo.”  You have the option of either sipping them side by side or going for the gusto and shooting the hard stuff back first, then following it with a delicious sangrita.

In celebration of National Tequila Day (July 24th), I decided to prepare a batch of Tequila’s best friend Sangrita. Since it is a special day I added the smokey kick of Tabasco’s Chipotle Hot Sauce to the sangrita, and rimmed the shot glass with Tabasco’s spicy salt. These two additions made for the most wonderful flavor, and really made the pair COMPLETO!

I hope you enjoy this gorgeous sangrita this National Tequila Day or make it any time your tequila needs a friend.

all ingredients needed for sangrita completo

Ingredients for spicy sangrita completo:

  • 5 – ounces vegetable juice
  • 1 – cup clamato
  • 3 – limes (juiced) + 1 extra lime cut into wedges
  • 1/3 – cup tangerine juice
  • 7 – dashes Tabasco Chipotle Hot Sauce
  • 1 – tablespoon Tabasco Spicy Salt
  • Tequila (reposado) (I used Don Julio)

Directions:

  1. In a pitcher or carafe combine vegetable juice, clamato, lime juice, tangerine juice, and Tabasco Chipotle Hot Sauce. Stir to combine.
  2. Place sangrita in the fridge to chill.
  3. With a lime wedge, rub it along side the rim of the shot glass.
  4. Place Tabasco spicy salt in a shallow bowl, then dip the rim of the shot glass into the salt.
  5. Fill the salt rimmed shot glass with sangrita.
  6. Fill a different shot glass with tequila.
  7. Serve both shot glasses side by side for a completo pair.
  8. Happy National Tequila Day! sangrita and tequila meet and become completo #TabascoTastemakers collage of spicy sangrita completo #TabascoTasteMakers
Kickin Cherry Peanut Butter Blondies

Kickin Cherry Peanut Butter Blondies

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the wonderful Tabasco family. It is my pleasure to be a Tabasco Tastemaker. The recipe and opinions are my own.

kickin cherry peanut butter blondies

Are you ever surprised by a secret ingredient? A few months ago I spent some time on Avery Island, the home of Tabasco. Like most food trips I was able to taste some of the best foods I’ve ever experienced. At the time of the trip I was very ill with a bad cold and cough, but I was still able to appreciate what I was eating. Even though it was only at a fraction of it’s full capacity, it was still marvelous. I can only imagine had my palate been 100% those days… it would have knocked me off my feet.  Never the less the experience was not wasted on me. I learned from some of the best chefs in Louisiana how to combine tabasco into foods I would never expect to find it in. For instance we had a delicious sweet potato hand pie served with bourbon ice cream and candied pecans that was glazed in a sweet tabasco sauce. I could taste the undertones of the tabasco, but was so surprised at how well it worked against the other flavors. This odd but successful pairing made me want to experiment with the hot sauce in a dessert of my own.

Last week I pulled up along side a road at the sight of a cherry stand. I got off the car and sampled a few sweet cherries before buying a few bags to take home. When I arrived in my kitchen, I wondered what I was going to make with the divine fruit? Then I thought the time to combine a spicy element to a sweet one was now upon me. I started off by pitting a few cherries then boiling them in a sugar water base, smashing them with a masher, and adding tabasco and jam. The mixture was sweet with a bit of a kick to it. Once I had my kicking cherry base, I wanted to spread it in a peanut butter sandwich, but thought it to be too simple. Before long I was making a batter for a batch of peanut butter blondies, and added the kicking cherry base right on top. I baked them and was thankful my tastebuds were not plagued with a cold, because I was able to savor every nuance of my blondies and they were quite amazing.

cherries and tabasco

Ingredients for kickin cherry peanut butter blondies:

  • 1/2 – cup cherries (pitted and stems removed)
  • 1/4 – cup sugar
  • 2 – tablespoons water
  • 1 – teaspoon Tabasco Original Red Sauce
  • 1/4 – cup cherry jam
  • 1 – stick butter (8 tablespoons) (melted)
  • 1/2 – cup peanut butter
  • 1 – cup dark brown sugar
  • 1 – egg
  • 1/2 – tablespoon vanilla
  • 1 1/4 – cups unbleached flour
  • 1/4 – teaspoon salt

Directions:

  1. In a small sauce pan over a medium flame add cherries, sugar, and water. Mix to combine allowing sugar to dissolve, then smash with a potato masher. cherries boiling in sugar watercherries being mashed
  2. Pour tabasco into cherry mixture, and allow t cook for another 3 minutes. adding tabasco to cherry mixture
  3. Then mix jam into mixture. Remove from flame and set to the side to cool.
  4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  5. Line an 8×8 baking pan with aluminum foil (allow a 1 inch overlay to hang out of the pan for easy removal of the blondies) and spray with a non-stick baking spray. Set to the side.
  6. Place butter and 1/4 cup of peanut butter (reserve the other 1/4 of peanut butter for a later use) in a bowl and microwave for 30 seconds to melt. Then stir the two together. The liquid should be smooth.
  7. In a mixer, add brown sugar and peanut butter/butter mixture together and mix until fully combined about 2 minutes.
  8. Add in egg and vanilla. Mix to combine.
  9. Slowly pour in flour, and mix until batter comes together. Do not over mix.
  10. Scoop batter into the 8×8 prepared pan, and with the back of a spoon smooth it out evenly to each corner of the pan. peanut butter blondie batter in pan
  11. Drop by heaping teaspoons 1/4 cup peanut butter onto the top of the batter.
  12. Then use 1/4 cup of cherry mixture, and drop by teaspoon by the peanut butter. scoop cherry mixture on top of blondies batter IMG_2497
  13. Using a knife swirl the two together. peanut butter and cherry mix swirled together
  14. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Or until the edges pull away from the sides of the pan.
  15. Allow blondies to cool for 2 hours.
  16. Remove from pan and cut into squares. yumz
  17. Enjoy!

 

Buffalo Cauliflower Made With Tabasco

Buffalo Cauliflower Made With Tabasco

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the lovely Tabasco family. It is my pleasure to be a Tabasco Tastemaker. The recipe and opinions are my own.
Crunchy Cauliflower Drenched In Tabasco Buffalo Style Sauce

The first time I had buffalo cauliflower I thought it was the most brilliant thing ever. My Mom who is a vegetarian and use to love buffalo wings could now partake in a non carnivore version. The buffalo cauliflower is slowly swooping in and stealing the hearts of   vegetarians and meat eaters alike. I know it has it’s grips on me.

Back in March of this year I was invited to Avery Island, the home of Tabasco, as one of the #TabascoTastemakers . I spent a few magical days there taking in the bayou and all the charms of the south…. especially the food. Can you say the best crawfish….ever? In those days I tasted all the different Tabasco sauces “Tabasco” makes, and of course I had few favorites. I will be posting more about my trip and the different flavors I tried over the course of a handful of posts, but I’d like to start with the Buffalo Tabasco. The second it touched my tongue, I knew I would  recreate buffalo cauliflower paired with blue cheese, carrots, and celery. That’s exactly what I did. My Mom loved it, and so did my man. Not only that… so easy to make when the buffalo flavor comes in a bottle.

ingredients for buffalo cauliflower using buffalo tabasco

Ingredients for buffalo cauliflower:

  • 1 – head cauliflower (cut into pieces)
  • 1/2 – cup flour
  • 1/4 – cup bread crumbs
  • 1 – teaspoon garlic powder
  • 3/4 – cup water
  • 1/2 – bottle Tabasco Buffalo Style Sauce
  • carrot sticks
  • celery sticks
  • blue cheese dressing

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit.
  2. Cut cauliflower into pieces, removing most of the stem.
  3. In a bowl, whisk flour, bread crumbs, garlic powder, and water together until smooth. Set to the side.
  4. Line a baking tray with a non stick baking mat. I also lightly greased it.
  5. Dip each piece of cauliflower into the flour/water batter. Just enough to coat each piece.  coat cauliflower in batter
  6. Place the cauliflower on the lined baking tray. all cauliflower coated on baking mat
  7. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from oven and flip each piece over, place back in the oven for an additional 10 minutes.
  8. Remove cauliflower from oven. Using a pastry brush, coat each cauliflower generously with tabasco buffalo style sauce. buffalo cauliflower brushed with Tabasco Buffalo style sauce
  9. Place back in the oven for 5 minutes.
  10. Let cool for 10 minutes, then serve with carrot sticks, celery sticks, and blue cheese dressing. serve buffalo cauliflower with blue cheese, carrots, and celery
  11. Enjoy!