Sharing Mini - Roasted Red Pepper Cream Cheese Dip with Sriracha and Garlic

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Serves 6-12, takes about 5 minutes

Another mini post here, a quick, easy and delicious cream cheese based dip that's perfect for chips and crackers. I make this just about every time I host a party at my place, and it's always a hit. Roasted red bell peppers make the dip slightly sweet and smoky, while the sriracha adds some heat that is well-balanced out by the cream cheese. You'll know it's there, but it's not gonna hurt you.


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For this recipe, you will need a food processor or mixer; hand or stand with whip attachment. Doing this by hand would be tedious and exhausting. I used a food processor.

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Ingredients

8oz. Cream Cheese (1 block)
4 oz. Roasted Red Bell Peppers
1 Tbsp of your favorite Sriracha
1 tsp. minced garlic (2 cloves)

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Directions

1. If Cream Cheese is from a block, cut into cubes so it will blend easier. Add cream cheese to processor bowl.
2. Add Roasted Peppers, Sriracha and garlic.
3. Pulse to combine. Once it looks like it's come together, use a rubber spatula to clean down the sides and push everything to the center of the bowl, then pulse until thoroughly combined.
4. Use rubber spatula to remove all the dip from the bowl into a resealable container and enjoy!

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Tips/Tricks

This will last about 2 weeks in the refrigerator, but it will harden up sitting in there. So if making in advance or saving leftovers, take out about 15 minutes before you expect to use it.
You can use any sriracha sauce. I used a barrel-aged sriracha that is less hot but more sweet than your average bottle of Huy-Fong.

Bourbon Maple Syrup Brined Pork Tenderloin with a Bourbon Maple Syrup and Honey Mustard Glaze

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Serves 2-4I make Pork Tenderloin a lot for work, but I was actually nervous about making it at home because at work I'm making about 16 at a time and have never made just one. Truth be told, this recipe came about because I have roughly 7 different kinds of maple syrup at home and I wanted to use one for something that wasn't pancakes. While my usual go-to for pork tenderloin is an apple-based sauce (I'll be doing one for fall, don't worry!) I wanted to experiment with a slightly different style than I usually go for while still being an absolute flavor winner for pork. Brining the pork with maple syrup and a hickory smoked sea salt really make sure that hickory-bourbon-maple flavor was present throughout the meat and not just relying on the glaze to deliver that punch.

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Ingredients

1 Pork Tenderloin (1.5-2 lbs.)
1 Quart Cold Water
1/4th Cup Hickory Smoked Sea Salt
1/3 Cup and 2 Tbsp. Bourbon Barrel Aged Pure Maple Syrup
6 Cloves Garlic, minced or crushed
3 Tbsp. Fresh Ginger, Chopped
1 Tbsp. Black Pepper
2 Tbsp. Honey Mustard
2 tsp. Dried Rosemary
2 tsp. Dried Thyme
1 tsp. Red Pepper Flakes

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Directions

1.  Make the Brine. In a large bowl, combine Water with 1/3 Cup of the syrup, Garlic, Ginger, Black Pepper, Rosemary Thyme and Red Pepper Flakes and stir until thoroughly incorporated.
2. Add the Pork to brine bowl and make sure it is fully submerged in brine. Cover with plastic wrap or lid and leave in fridge 5-10 hours. More than 10 hours and it could end up being too salty.
3. Preheat Oven to 325 degrees and remove Pork from Brine and thoroughly rinse off in cold running water. Pat dry.
4. Quickly mix together in a small bowl the remaining 2 Tbsp. of Syrup and the Honey Mustard, set aside.
5. Heat up an oven-safe skillet on medium heat on the stove top and pour in just enough neutral cooking oil (Canola, Vegetable) to cover the bottom.
7. Season your pork on all sides with salt and pepper and place in your hot pan.
8. Sear your pork on the stove top on all sides, about 10 minutes, a nice golden brown color.
9. Once seared all the way around, take the whole skillet and place it in the oven. Cooking time will vary by size of the tenderloin, but we're looking for the perfect internal temperature of 145 degrees. For me, I had a 1.5 lb. tenderloin, and this took about 10 minutes.
10. Take your pan out of the oven and brush the Syrup and Honey Mustard mixture over the pork, return to Oven to let set, about 5-10 minutes. For me it was about 5.
11. Remove Pan from Oven, take pork out and place on cutting board, letting rest for about 10 minutes.
12. Slice pork into medallions and if you have any of the Syrup and Honey Mustard mixture remaining, drizzle over top of the sliced medallions.

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What I Could Do Differently

As previously mentioned it in my Apple Cider Brined BBQ Pulled Pork recipe, I picked up this Hickory Smoked Sea Salt from a specialty store. I believe if you have a cooking specialty store it might be available there, and I am sure you can get some online. However, I feel like this recipe will work just as good without it and you can just substitute in Kosher Salt in the brine instead if need be.

The bourbon barrel aged maple syrup is another craft specialty item, which I got from Costco. This recipe can be made without it as long as you have a good pure maple syrup, but if you're on the fence about buying a specialty-flavored pure maple syrup, you can just add regular pure maple syrup and put a shot of Bourbon in your brine instead.

As with most of my recipes, this is really just an excuse for me to play with different flavors I have laying around in my kitchen. If you know you like a flavor that goes well with pork, feel free to try out different variations. For example, I also happen to have a locally produced Apple Cider syrup from a nearby farm and while it's not going to give you the same flavor combo, I could see subbing in that Apple Cider Syrup and a shot of bourbon in the brine in place of this bourbon maple syrup for a similar profile and just as tasty tenderloin.

This recipe easily scales, as most of the ingredients are just in the brine. I know in my bowl I had room (and enough liquid) for at least a second tenderloin of similar size. More than that and you'll probably need to double the brining amounts however. As for glaze, just double the amounts of Syrup and Mustard for each additional tenderloin and for cook time probably add another 10-ish minutes per loin, but you should be using a meat thermometer to be the ultimate judge of time for pork. As long as you're pulling them out when they hit 145 degrees, you're good.

Sharing Mini - Cinnamon Honey Butter

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Originally I intended this to be part of a larger series of compound butters, but it didn't come together in time. Instead, I decided I'd break these compound butters down into their own mini posts as I make them, so that I don't have like...6 different butters in my fridge at one time.

So today's recipe is very easy and delicious. A butter infused with cinnamon, vanilla and honey. Compound butters, sweet and savory, are an easy way to impart flavor on something without doing much work. Make the butter ahead of time and wham! you have it ready to use whenever you feeling like adding some to a meal. This butter, a cinnamon and honey butter, is my most made and used, as my breakfast most weeks includes English Muffins. Perfect as a topping for my Mexican Chocolate Banana Bread as well as cornbread and even melted and tossed with carrots. Without further ado, let's get down to it.

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Ingredients

1 8oz Stick Butter, room temp
1/4th Cup Honey
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract

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Directions

1. Take your room temp Butter and place it in a small mixing bowl and whisk
2. Once butter is broken down a bit and whipped up, add your Honey, Cinnamon and Vanilla
3. Whisk together to combine, making sure no butter has gone un-mixed
4. Transfer your butter to a sealable container. Can be stored room temp for about two weeks or in the fridge for about a month.

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What Could I Do Differently

Really in this case, you can play around with what kind of honey you're using to great effect, as each one has it's own flavor. I'm using a hyper-local wildflower honey, made about 7 miles from my house. Want more floral notes, use a lavender infused honey. Want more citrus notes, use an orange blossom variety
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Three Layer Chicken Enchilada Casserole

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Serves 6-12

I've been playing around with this recipe for a few years and I think this version hits all the notes I'm looking for in this Mexican-flavor inspired casserole dish. Like a lasagna, you're building the layers up and then baking until it's all one nice set rectangle. Brining the chicken before cooking gives the chicken just a little bit more of it's own character instead of being a filler in this dish. If you like enchiladas and/or ugly cheesy messes, this casserole is for you. 

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Ingredients

15-ish Corn Tortillas
1 Can Refried Beans, 16 Oz
1 Can Mild Diced Green Chiles, 4 Oz
1 Can Medium Red Enchilada Sauce, 12 Oz
2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, Shredded
4 Cups Mexican Cheese Blend, Shredded
1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1 Container Mexican Style Sour Cream, 16 Oz
Taco Seasoning, to taste

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Directions

1. Start by brining the chicken breasts. In a medium sized bowl, bring 1 1/2 quarts of very cold water together with 3 Tablespoons of table salt and once mixed together, add in Chicken Breasts and let sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour. Any longer and the chicken will absorb too much salt water.

2. Once Chicken has been brined, wash off breasts and pat dry. Cover chicken breasts in Taco Seasoning and some ground black pepper, heat skillet, and begin to cook chicken breasts in a lightly oiled pan.

3. While doing step two, also pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees, pull out a 9x13 (or similar sized) pan, lightly grease it and prep your other casserole ingredients (Tortillas, Refried Beans, Chiles, Enchilada Sauce, Cheese) so that layering the casserole can be quick.

4. Once chicken hits 165 degrees F, take out of pan and shred with your preferred method. I use my stand mixer with a paddle attachment. You can also use a hand-mixer and also the ol' two-fork separation method. If you use the fork method, best to let it sit for like five minutes so you don't burn yourself. Once chicken is shredded to your liking, put (or keep) in bowl and bring it over to your other prepped ingredients.

5. Now the assembly. Essentially you just want to cover as much space in the bottom of your casserole dish with tortilla as possible, without a ton of overlap. This will be different for everyone based on what your pan looks like, but with mine, I was able to fit 5 standard six inch corn tortillas in the bottom layer of the pan; one full tortilla in each corner and then one ripped in half and laid in the center. If you want to cover more space you can rip them up smaller, but the smaller you make them, the harder the next step will be.

6. Next, use a spoon to drop about half of your can of refried beans into the center of the tortillas. Use a rubber spatula to gently push them around until you have them covering as much of the tortilla layer as possible. The beans are our glue in this casserole.

7. Once beans have been spread, layer your other ingredients evenly across the beanfield like so; half your can of Diced Green Chile, half of your shredded chicken, one cup of shredded cheese and about a third of your enchilada sauce.

8. Once your first layer is complete, start anew with tortillas, trying to cover as much space as possible with as few tortillas as you can. For me, that was once again 5 tortillas. Then layer your ingredients the same as in step 7.

9. Time for the top "crust" layer. Cover your second layer of toppings with your favorite tortilla covering pattern. Then distribute remaining two cups of shredded cheese across the top as evenly as possible. Next, try to evenly drop the last third of your enchilada sauce. Then pour the Heavy Whipping Cream across the top, trying to get it as evenly distributed between the top and the sides.

10. Time to bake. Set the casserole on your middle rack and let bake. Exact time will vary based on what dish you used, but I think a good rule of thumb is to check it at 20  minutes and check again every 10 minutes after that until the cheese starts to brown. For me, it was about 40 minutes.

11. Once cheese is sufficiently golden, pull out of oven and let sit for about ten minutes before serving. Cut yourself a slice and top with a dollop of Mexican Style Sour Cream and voilà.
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What Could I Do Differently

This is another recipe that will hold up to experimentation if you keep your flavor base in the same wheelhouse. You can swap your red enchilada sauce for green or for a hotter red sauce. You can choose your own blend of shredded cheeses, hotter diced chiles, adding a layer of a mexican hot sauce in as well.

You could swap the chicken out for a Mexican style pulled pork to I think great effect. I'd be really interested to try a Cuban Mojo Pulled Pork in place of the chicken.

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