My mom does a dip that is a blend of hot pepper jelly and cream cheese. That sounded like it would great with the rest of the food -- as well as being able to work with the chips we had on hand -- so we reached into the pantry for the pepper jelly to go with the block of cream cheese in the fridge. Problem. We have pesto. We have aioli. We have jam. We even have a wine jelly. But no pepper jelly.
Back at the drawing board, Christopher noticed a jar of mild banana pepper rings (the pickled vinegary kind) on the shelf. Now, in my family, those are normally kept aside to become the titular ingredient in a Banana Pepper Casserole (which also includes cheese and stuffing). Because I always have that casserole in mind when I look at the peppers, I hadn't thought of them. But, with Christopher's suggestion, I started to ponder.
I grabbed the food processor, the jar of peppers, and the cream cheese, and headed for the counter. I started by chopping (okay... pulverizing) about 2/3 of the 16oz jar of pepper rings. Then I dropped in the 8oz block of cream cheese and mashed the heck out of it. It was a good start, but not quite right.
I added a couple of tablespoonsful of the juice from the pepper jar, and whirled it around for a while longer. It was a much better consistency. Tangy from the vinegar and peppers, but creamy. It needed some heat, though, so I shook in about a teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes and pushed the button one more time.
Okay. So it came out looking a little like egg salad (yellow and white with just a few pepper flakes), but it also came out really tasty. No. Really. It was probably one of the fastest disappearing items of the evening.
I have about a quarter cup of it left in the fridge and I'm debating what to do with it. It was suggested that it would be good on a turkey sandwich. Or on more chips. Or, in a pinch, simply by the spoon.
Now I just need a name for it. Ideas?
2 comments:
Christopher's Epiphany
I can't match that!
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