FIERY LITTLE CRACKERS

I recently saw a post inquiring about where to buy Savory Party Cracker Seasoning:

I’d never heard of this, but then someone responded with a recipe, and I was intrigued.  This is a quirky little snack, spicy and quite addictive, and an excellent example of factory-to-table cuisine.  You don’t even need a kitchen to make it.

The recipe has two key ingredients — Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix and Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing Mix:

These are mixed together with vegetable oil, garlic powder, and a healthy dose of crushed red pepper, then poured over mini Saltine crackers.

After sitting overnight, the crackers absorb the oil, yet remain crispy.  These are a snap to prepare and make a great game day snack.  I test drove them at my office, and brought home an empty container.  If spicy isn’t your thing, you can scale back on the crushed red pepper.

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FIERY LITTLE CRACKERS
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 tablespoons crushed red pepper
  • 0.7-ounce package Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing Mix
  • 1-ounce package of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix
  • 2 11-ounce boxes of Mini Saltines (or 1 16-ounce box regular Saltines)
Instructions
  1. Place the oil, garlic powder, red pepper, Italian dressing mix, and Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix in a small bowl, and stir together until thoroughly combined.
  2. Place crackers in a 2-gallon Ziploc bag. Pour the oil mixture over the crackers. Turn the bag over repeatedly to evenly distribute oil mixture, and then turn over every 5 minutes for 30 minutes. Allow crackers to sit overnight to soak up the oil.

 

Whoa, those are spicy!

Snack game on!

DATE WITH A PIG

Houston chef Monica Pope used to serve an appetizer called Date with a Pig — a chorizo-stuffed date wrapped in bacon and drizzled with chermoula sauce.

Monica Pope’s Date with a Pig

They are ridiculously good, and happily, easy to make (assuming you made a batch of red chermoula sauce).  We prefer to make them with the hard Spanish chorizo, not the soft Mexican chorizo.  You can assemble them a few hours in advance, and bake when you’re ready to serve.

DATE WITH A PIG
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetizer
 
Ingredients
  • 20 medjool dates
  • 1 Spanish chorizo sausage, casing removed, and cut into 20 1" x ½" pieces
  • 10 slices bacon, cut in half
  • Red chermoula sauce (see previous post)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Cut a slit lengthwise in each date and remove pit. Stuff each date with a piece of chorizo, and wrap with bacon. Place in a baking dish, and bake until edges of bacon are crispy, approximately 15-20 minutes.
  3. When dates are done baking, swirl 2 tablespoons chermoula sauce into drippings and spoon over dates. Transfer dates to serving dish and serve warm.

Ready for a date with a pig?

Dare you to eat just one