Bacon Fat Fried-Triple Corn Hoecakes

Bacon Fat Fried Double Corn Hoe Cakes

I truly believe that classic, southern hoecakes have been far + widely overlooked by chefs/cooks around the country. This doesn't make a lick of sense to me because we made these on a weekly basis when we were growing up. Hoecakes are a part of my life... they taught me so many things, like: always use a heavy-duty cast iron skillet. This type of pan retains and holds in heat, so that the temperature doesn't drop down too low when you have loaded up the pan with blobs of batter. Ironically, I think it might have been one of my first foodie/culinary moment as a kid. I loved to put on one of my mom's aprons and just get elbows deep in the kitchen mess. Another vital life lesson, BUY A SPLATTER SCREEN. As many of my followers know, I fry a whole bunch, and a screen can save a trip to the E.R because of possibly retina damage (okay, maybe a little dramatic, but that's totally the case for making homemade caramel, PREACH). Lastly, I cherish this memory because it actually happened to help me learn how to flip a cake, of any sort, to utter perfection. For the life of me, I swear that my pancakes were so poorly made, that they made a Bisquick Mix look like a goddess. But, luckily, I have recovered and moved on from my fried cake-failing day. Now on to the recipe... these hoecakes are quite special to me because I found this hand-written recipe that my grandmother used to make when I was a young child. Although, it's hard to beat a simple, classic recipe... I had to give it a go and make with a little gourmet flair. It first starts with making "Self Rising Corn Flour", which is my own little concoction to double up on the corn-y flavor. The flour mixture includes some corn flour, baking powder, & salt. Then you make the second batch of dry ingredients... ground cornmeal, corn powder, buttermilk, seasonings, leavening agents, bacon fat, and fresh chives. *PS: I am obsessed with using Corn Powder; it's amazing how perfect the flavor. I'm also a sucker for adding milk powder + buttermilk powder for that extra-special little touch. So, shhhh, keep my secret ingredients, well, secret. After frying up the batter, you should have puffed hoecakes with a crusty + golden brown exterior. Now I'm not gonna lie, my recipe was THIS close to adding in some charred/grilled corn/sweet fresh corn. Wouldn't that be fab?? Next time we make these, I'm definitely going to add some of that in. Hoecakes are considered a way of life in the South, I would know because while living in Savannah, we stopped by Paula Deen's  restaurant, which is known for fresh-out-of-the-skillet hoecakes. But to no such luck, they were sold out every time we got there, boo :( So please y'all, don't let this unique southern staple vanish right before our very eyes, get to the grocery store, make them, tell friends, and share with everybody you can!! Enjoy :)

Bacon Fat Fried-Triple Corn Hoecakes

Date Night: Coca Cola Braised Pork Belly, Bacon Fat Fried-Triple
Corn Hoecakes, a side of my "Most Flavorful Braised Southern Collard Greens", Pink
 Pickled Shallots, Coca Cola Glaze + "BTFO" BBQ Sauce

For the Self Rising Corn Flour:

1C Corn Flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill Corn Flour)

1 ½t Baking Powder

¼t Salt

For the Double Corn Hoecakes:

1C Self Rising Corn Flour (the entire batch you just made in the previous step)

1C Southern Ground Cornmeal

¼C Corn Powder (this can be made by processing freeze dried corn kernels into powder)

2T Buttermilk Powder

2t Baking Powder (possibly just 1T of this instead)

½t Salt + ¼t White Pepper

1T Sugar, Optional

2 Beaten Eggs

¾C Well-Shaken Buttermilk

¼C + 2T Potlikker Stock (chicken stock or water may be substituted here as well)

¼C Rendered Bacon Fat (plus extra for frying)

1-2T Fresh Minced Chives (depending on your preference)

Directions:

1. For the Self-Rising Corn Flour: In a small mixing bowl, sift together the corn flour, baking powder, and salt until you have a thoroughly combined mixture. Pour it into a container or plastic bag for storing.

2. Making the Double Corn Hoe Cake Batter: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the prepared Self-Rising Corn Flour, cornmeal, corn powder, buttermilk powder, baking powder, salt, white pepper, and sugar until the components are distributed evenly throughout. In another bowl, whisk together the two beaten eggs, buttermilk, potlikker stock, and ¼C melted fat. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the center. Using a fork, gently whisk together the mixtures until a hoecake batter is formed. Gently fold in the fresh chives.

3. Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, and then add some fat to the pan for cooking/frying (I personally like to use bacon fat, but canola oil, melted butter, or duck fat will work as well).

4. Frying the Hoe Cakes: Once the fat is hot enough, scoop or drop ¼C of batter into the hot skillet to form small silver dollar cakes (I used an ice cream scoop for a round shape). Fry them until they are golden brown and perfectly crispy, about 1-2 minutes on each side. Remove the hoe cakes to a paper towel lined plate and briefly drain them of excess oil.

5. Serving the Hoe Cakes: Enjoy these special hoecakes with a big ‘ole bowl of collard greens + potlikker, chili, or you can use them like we did , and serve them along side some braised pork belly and my recipe for “The Most Flavorful Braised Collard Greens”.

reference links: the most flavorful braised southern collard greens. pickled pink shallots

Tailgatin' Thursday: Confit Chicken Wings with Homemade Sriracha-Bourbon Caramel Sauce, Buttermilk Bleu Cheese Dessing, + Italian-Style Shaved Carrot and Celery Slaw

Confit Chicken Wings with Homemade Sriracha-Bourbon Caramel Sauce, Buttermilk
Bleu Cheese Dessing, + Italian-Style Shaved Carrot and Celery Slaw

Tailgatin' Thursday is back and it's back with a bang, my friends!! I'm going to go ahead and tell y'all that this is an-honest-to-goodness-fancy-ass game day treat. Fried Chicken wings are a staple at any table on a Football Saturday. And it's not specific to any region. It is just good 'ole American comfort food at its' best. We don't feature many wing recipes around PLC, but when we do, it's always worth the effort. Wings are sometimes brined, most of the time coated with flour, and always deep fried in a vat of hot oil. What's not to love? Well then, how could these be any different from all the others, you may ask. Y'all, the answer is simple, and that is they are CONFIT CHICKEN WINGS. We are lovers, cough cough, obsessors of duck confit or anything confit (if we're gonna get technical). So, when I ordered a confit duck leg at one of our favorite local sandwich places, Muss + Turner's. It just suddenly clicked... I wonder if I could do this with chicken wings. I am positively, genuinely, and overwhelmingly happy to report that this oddity of an idea is completely + utterly deep fried perfection. To make cooking easier, we did most of the work the day before (a.k.a Friday afternoon and night), so that we wouldn't have much to do while the games were on. This meant we needed to place all the chicken into a deep pot, place it on the stove, cover with canola oil, and slowly bring it up to 200 degrees. Then you place it into a preheated oven to cook for roughly an hour. This will cook the meat, slowly but surely, making them super moist on the inside, yet leaving the skin slightly flabby + soft, rendering out a bunch of excess fat that isn't even needed. THIS IS A GOOD THING DO NOT FEAR.

the wings after slow-cooking in their big pot of oil, see the excess fat at the top??

After slow-cooking, remove the wings from the hot oil and drain on paper towels, making sure to remove access moisture and oil as much as possible. I actually let my wings sit on the paper towels at room temperature for about an hour or so to cool down a bit and aid in draining. Then y'all just pop those suckers into a container and refrigerate overnight. This is possibly the most important step in the entire recipe because, technically, you should be able to fry the wings after about an hour or two of resting & drying, BUT DON'T. When I did this, my wing skin just never ever ever ever got crispy. I believe it is was due to the fact that there was still so much leftover moisture. Now that the wings are-a-chillin', it's time to make the BEST part of the whole-damn-dish, and that's the Homemade Sriracha-Bourbon Caramel. Yes, I didn't mess that up... sriracha. caramel. bourbon. sea salt. All in one sauce. We were literally drooling over this concoction; our minds were racing with ideas of how to use it next (sriracha caramel over pumpkin ice cream... apple cider floats with sriracha caramel... sriracha caramel apple pie). This shit is gonna get weird. But, weird in a good way, believe you me. It's a salty-sweet-boozy goodness that must be kept in your fridge at all times, and if not, at least it should be made for these wings. 

homemade sriracha-bourbon caramel wing sauce + confit chicken wings (pre-cornstarch)

Making the caramel is a cinch; however, I certainly recommend whipping it up while the wings are in the oven because it will be that much easier on you the next day... just make sure you refrigerate it as well. The last step of preparation is totally up to you and that's the making of the Buttermilk Bleu Cheese Dressing. It's is overly easy to prepare as well and letting the flavors meld for a little bit ain't neva hurt a thang, butter bean. OKAY OKAY, enough about the prepping, now onto the next day (a.k.a. Football Saturday). Pull the chilled wings out and once again dry as much as possible, and then toss them in a light coating of cornstarch. Bring the 1Q of Peanut Oil to 400 degrees that way the wings will get finger-lickin'-skin-pickin' crispy. 

deep frying, the south's favorite, and most famous, past time

While the wings are frying in the golden goodness that is oil, it's time to make the caramel sauce that will coat the wings. I simmered the prepared caramel, Asian chili-garlic sauce, red pepper flakes, and butter until a cohesive sauce was made and it was thick enough to coat a wing. I left the amount of spice + butter up to you, as we are so spicy-friendly that we tend to overdo it. So add a little bit of chili-garlic sauce and red pepper flakes at a time, tasting to your preference. If it does get a little too spicy, add a little more butter. If I could share one tidbit of life advice with you, it would be not to be afraid of butter, it's the elixir of life. Toss the fried confit chicken wings in your extra-special-it-should-only-be-used-on-special-occasions-it-is-so-good caramel sauce and garnish them with a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds and a pinch of red pepper flakes. 

fried + sauced + tossed

resist the temptation to gobble these down before you can even plate them

Serve the wings with some of the Homemade Buttermilk Bleu Cheese Dressing to cool the wings down a bit. And if one fancy ass twist on the original isn't enough, I decided to revamp the whole boring "side of carrot and celery sticks" into a slaw. I shaved carrots and celery, minced green onion, and then tossed it in a light vinaigrette. It is the perfect acidic component to partner up against the decadent wings and rich dressing. To seal the deal, I got a "these are the best wings I've ever had in my whole life" outta my Mountain Man. And that's one hell of a stamp of approval, y'all!! Enjoy :)

up close + personal of the fancy "carrot + celery stick" slaw

For the Homemade Sriracha-Bourbon Caramel:

1C Sugar + ¼C Water

½C Heavy Cream + 3T Sriracha Sauce

1T Bourbon

Heavy Pinch of Salt 

For the Confit Chicken Wings:

4lbs Chicken Wings + Drumsticks

2Q Canola Oil + 1Q Peanut Oil

Cornstarch, For Coating (after chilling)

For the Sriracha-Bourbon Caramel Wing Sauce:

1C Homemade Sriracha-Bourbon Caramel (room temperature)

1-2T Asian Chili-Garlic Sauce

½t-1t Red Pepper Flakes (depending on how hot your like it)

4-8T Unsalted Butter (the more better you add, the less spicy it will be as well)

For the Buttermilk Bleu Cheese Dressing:

½C Homemade Mayo + ¼C Sour Cream

2T Buttermilk Powder + 1T Well-Shaken Buttermilk

2T White Wine Vinegar

¼t Worcestershire Sauce

1t Sugar  

¼t Garlic Powder + Onion Powder

1T Fresh Chives + Fresh Dill

½C Crumbled Buttermilk Blue Cheese

 

For the Italian-Style Shaved Carrot and Celery Slaw:

½C Shaved Carrots (using a vegetable peeler)           

½C Shaved Celery (using a vegetable peeler)

1 Green Onion, Minced

2T White Wine Vinegar

1T Olive Oil

1T Sugar

¼t Dried Oregano + Dried Basil

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

Directions:

1. For the Confit Chicken Wings: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 225°F. Place 2Q canola oil and chicken wings in a large oven-safe Dutch oven. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until it registers 200°F on an instant-read or deep-fry thermometer. Cover pot and transfer to oven. Cook until chicken wings are tender but not browned, 40 minutes to 1 hour (chicken should be tender but not falling apart). Remove pot from oven. Transfer chicken with a wire mesh spider to a rimmed baking sheet lined with paper towels. Allow chicken to rest in the fridge, covered, overnight or for at least 12 hours.

2. Making the Homemade Sriracha-Bourbon Caramel: Simmer sugar and ¼ cup water on medium heat, swirling pan (NOT stirring) for about 15 minutes, or until a deep amber color is reached. During that time, whisk together the heavy cream and Sriracha sauce until smooth and incorporated. Then turn off burner, remove from heat and slowly add Sriracha cream while stirring. Add pinch of salt and bourbon and place back on still-warm burner for another minute while stirring. Transfer to a heat-safe dish or bottle and let cool. Store covered in the refrigerator, and bring to room temperature or heat in a warm water bath before using (if needed).

3. For the Buttermilk Bleu Cheese Dressing: Combine mayonnaise, sour cream, buttermilk powder, and buttermilk in small bowl; mix until smooth. Stir in vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, seasonings, and herbs until well blended. Fold in cheese. Refrigerate until ready to use.

4. Frying the Wings: Once the wings have chilled, lightly coat them in cornstarch, making sure to shake off any excess. Meanwhile, heat the 1Q of peanut oil in a deep fryer to 400°F. Carefully add the wings, in small batches, and cook until golden brown + extra crispy, about 10-12 minutes (depending on your fryer). While the wings fry prepare your sauce.

5. For the Sriracha-Bourbon Caramel Wing Sauce:  When ready to serve, combine caramel, chili-garlic sauce, red pepper flakes, and butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until butter is completely melted and the sauce is smooth. Transfer to a large bowl and immediately toss the hot, crispy wings in the sauce until they are completely coated.

6. For the Italian-Style Shaved Carrot and Celery Slaw: In a medium mixing bowl, toss together the shaved carrots, shaved celery, and minced green onion. In a small bowl or Mason jar, whisk or shake together the vinegar, oil, sugar, and seasonings until fully incorporated. Right before serving, toss the slaw with the vinaigrette until coated. Serve on the side with the wings.

7. Serving: Place the wings onto a serving plate and drizzle over any excess or leftover caramel for extra flavor. Sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds and red pepper flakes on top for garnish. Spoon some of the homemade bleu cheese dressing onto the plate and finish with a pile of the slaw. Enjoy while the wings are still hot and crispy!!

source: homemade blue cheese dressing.

Read. To. EATTTTTTT :)

#instagrub : The Most Flavorful Braised Southern Collard Greens

The Most Flavorful Braised Collard Greens

Today, I'm going to introduce y'all to one of my soon-to-be-favorite weekly feature called #instagrub. The idea of this started when I really got into the nitty-gritty of food blogging... often you're cooking too much, too long, or too quickly and there isn't a good enough space to capture the dish. I swear I'm so busy with adding the right amount of this and the right amount of that in order to make the recipe perfect, that I will cook from sunrise to sunset and not even get a hot meal myself. It's crazy how used to I am to eating room temperature or cold food. This is okay sometimes, but not blessing when fried chicken is coming hot out of the fryer. Nope, not gonna work. So, when stuff is just to good to wait or it's too dark to capture a picture in natural sunlight, I turn to my iPhone + Instagram. The convenience of my phone or an app is wayyyyy too appealing... and ya'know a girl has gotta EAT. Once Haute + Heirloom starts up, this will be on the rotating schedule every week. I really like it because I take a picture of almost everything I make (or do) on Instagram and some of them get left behind the gutter. No more of that, mmk?? Well, this recipe is tried + true to any Southerner, Braised Collard Greens. Now this girl doesn't turn her nose up at any collard green recipe because I don't discriminate against a tender green cooked with ham hocks and other classic ingredients, but I have over the years, developed a recipe of my very own. This has been done through watching the Food Network, cooking with family, or just doing a little research. I will say though that I like braised collard greens to be super flavorful and on the rich side of things. And that can be hard to come by because most consist of stock, hocks, and simple seasonings. I pull flavor from bacon fat, smoked ham hocks, chicken stock, hot sauce, vinegar, mustard, and tomatoes. Some unique items I include pickled jalapeno juice, maple syrup, caramelized onions, fried garlic chips, and a little bit of chicken base. I love the aromatic qualities that caramelized onions + fried garlic chips add to the dish (they are added at the very end), while I also adore the richness of maple syrup, bacon fat, and smoked ham hocks. These greens are so complex that they really serve as a entree over a side dish. But don't worry they go great along almost anything... but I'm partial to the Date Night meal I made last week: Coca Cola Glazed Pork Belly with Bacon Fat Fried Corn Hoe Cakes. It was the perfect accompaniment. To add some acidity to the dish, I topped them with pickled shallots and everything was great!! Enjoy :)

Homemade Pink Pickled Shallots

For the Collard Greens:

2T Melted Bacon Fat or Unsalted Butter

1 Medium Vidalia Onion, Minced

5 Cloves of Garlic, Minced

4 Smoked Ham Hocks, Slashed (in order to pierce the outer skin for more flavor)

2Q Chicken Stock (or enough to cover the ham hocks completely; buy unsalted stock)

1-2C Water, Room Temperature

¼C Pickled Jalapeno Brine & Maple Syrup

1t Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, & Red Pepper Flakes

2T Texas Pete Hot Sauce + 2T Green Tabasco Sauce

2T Pepper Vinegar + Apple Cider Vinegar

1T Soy Sauce + 1T Worcestershire

2T Stone Ground Grainy Mustard + Chicken Base

1 Large Tomato, Diced into Small Chunks (I actually like unripe tomatoes for this recipe)

2lbs Chopped Collard Greens (cut into roughly ½inch strips)

Salt & Fresh Cracked Pepper, To Taste (sugar can be added as well to sweeten if you like)

For the Caramelized Onions:

8 Strips of Thick-Cut Applewood Smoked Bacon, Cut into Cubes or Lardons

1 Large Vidalia Onion, Thinly Sliced

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

¼C Finely Chopped Garlic

Directions:

1. Preparing the Collards: Melt the butter or bacon fat in a deep pot over medium heat. Once it is hot, add in the minced onions and garlic. Sauté the veggies until they start to become translucent and caramelized (without burning them). This should take about 3-5 minutes. Meanwhile, using a sharp serrated knife, slash the four smoked ham hocks. This will help extract the maximum amount of flavor from the meat, fat, and bones. Now that the onions and garlic have cooked, add in the slashed ham hocks and cover with the chicken stock (at least by an inch over the hocks), water, pickled jalapeno juice, and maple syrup. Stir and simmer for about 10-15 minutes.
2. For the First Cooking Portion: Next, add in the hot sauce, vinegars, soy sauce, Worcestershire, grainy mustard, chicken base, and diced tomatoes. Bring this mixture to a boil, and then reduce the heat to simmer the potlikker liquid for an hour. While they reduce, make sure to strip, wash, drain, and chop the cleaned collard greens. Set them aside.
3. Shredding the Ham Hocks: After it has cooked down for the required period of time, remove the ham hocks from the liquid to a cutting board. Let them cool slightly, and then shred off any ham meat from the smoked ham hocks (discarding any fat pieces, cartilage, or bone). Place the meat into a bowl and save them to add in at the end of cooking.
4. For the Second Cooking Portion: At this time, whisk in the garlic powder, onion powder, and red pepper flakes. Throw in the prepared collard greens, making sure to push them down with a cooking spoon, so that all of them are submerged in the potlikker. Reduce the heat to low and cook the greens down, covered, for roughly an hour to an hour and a half (60-90 minutes). Throughout the cooking process, make sure to stir them every so often, that way they will wilt evenly.
5. Tasting and Seasoning the Collards: Now that the second cooking period is finished, taste & season with additional salt, pepper, and possibly sugar as needed (or really any other ingredient that is listed in my recipe). The flavoring is purely up to your tastes! If the potlikker broth is too rich, add more water to dilute it.
6. For the Caramelized Onions & Garlic Chips: In a large sauté pan, over medium-high heat, cook the bacon pieces or lardons down until all the fat has rendered and the meat is crispy. Strain the crispy bacon onto a paper towel lined plate and leave them alone while you finish your other tasks. Add the sliced onion into the hot bacon grease (if you need more fat, you can add a little here too). Caramelize or fry the onion slices until they are just starting to turn light golden brown, but still have some texture to them. Using a slotted spoon, scoop out the sautéed onions and add them into the collard green pot. With the remaining fat in the pan, reduce the pan to medium-low heat and fry the finely chopped garlic until just lightly toasted, crunchy, and fragrant. During this portion, do not leave the garlic alone; they can burn quite quickly and need to be stirred frequently. This should only take a few minutes (it all depends on their color).
7. Serving the Collards: Since all of the steps have been completed, it is now time to serve the greens for eating. Spoon the warm collards into large serving dish, making sure to include some of the potlikker liquid as well.  To finish the dish, garnish the top with a sprinkle of crispy bacon lardons and fried garlic chips. These toppings give off amazing flavor, and more importantly, texture! Serve with more pepper vinegar, red pepper flakes, and cornbread for your guests at the table.

Fancy Southwestern Marinated Cheese Dip with Whipped Feta, Colby Jack + Pepper Jack Cheese Cubes, + Marinated Herby Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette

Fancy Southwestern Marinated Cheese Dip with Whipped Feta, Colby Jack + Pepper Jack Cheese Cubes,
Marinated Herby Roasted Red Pepper Dip

There is something about this dip that everyone just adores... and I'm not sure I get it. Well, I didn't until I made a schmancified (adjective of shmancy) version of it. That's what I like to do, so deal with it. The original recipe comes from here and involves a task-worthy cutting & stacking of cream cheese and cheddar cheese. I hated it. You have to practically freeze the cream cheese in order for it to look correct after cutting or it gets all schmeary (adjective of schmear). Also, that means you had these clunky blocks of cheese and drippy dressing that you have to handle with your hands, which is NOT good for a party. Lemme tell y'all, that shit gets all over your dress. Nonetheless, it was still the hit of the party and my family couldn't stop raving about it. I decided to revamp it some to make it more party-friendly. It did the trick and is even more of a success than the first recipe. Instead of boring cream cheese, I made a whipped feta cheese and spread it onto a plate to form cloud-like piles of fluffy cheese. You could also just use whipped cream cheese or even some yummy Boursin Cheese (or my version of whipped goat cheese would do it all up just fine). In replacement of creating blocks or stacks of cheddar cheese, I cut up some Colby Jack + Pepper Jack Cheese into tiny cubes, which makes it impossibly easy for dipping!! YAY for easy dipping. Then here comes the best part... the Marinated Herby Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette. In a large mixing bowl, you just toss in some olive oil, red wine vinegar, lime, fresh parsley + cilantro, green onions, garlic, finely diced roasted red pepper, minced candied jalapeno, honey, and spices... and it's all done! I let the mixture marinate overnight at least, but it gets better with age. The other recipe suggests marinating the cheese in the vinaigrette mixture, but whenever I did that it made our cheese uber-rubbery and chewy. But, even then, it was still gobbled up at every chance. Thus, I decided to make the vinaigrette and marinate it, then the next day, I added the small cubes of cheese to it and let it soak for about an hour so that it absorbs some of that delicious flavoring. Then you just top your whipped feta schmear with the marinated vinaigrette + cheese cubes, making sure that you get as much of the peppers, herbs, and onions you can. It's really up to you if you want to add some of the "juice" to the dip. While it certainly adds a whole bunch of flavor, it also gives way too much moisture to the whipped feta and can get a little deflated. We serve our dip with some toasted pita chips or Triscuits because it seems to match the flavor profile. You can easily change that up though if ya want. So get on to the store, grab the ingredients, and make the dip... tonight. Or tomorrow if you can. Because it's perfect for any occasion honestly!! Enjoy :)

For the Southwestern Marinated Cheese:

1C Olive Oil

1C White Vinegar, Red Wine Vinegar, or Apple Cider Vinegar (whatever is your preference)

1 Lime, Zested & Juiced

4T Fresh Parsley, Minced

4T Fresh Cilantro, Minced

5 Green Onions, Minced

4 Cloves of Garlic, Smashed into a Paste (using a little sea salt will help this along)

2C Roasted Red Pepper, Drained & Diced

¼C-½C Candied Jalapenos, Finely Chopped

1-3T Sugar or Honey

½t Cumin & Dried Oregano 

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

1 8oz Block of Pepperjack Cheese, Cut into Small Cubes (about ½-inch pieces)

1 8oz Block of Colby Jack Cheese, Cut into Small Cubes (about ½-inch pieces)

For the Whipped Feta Cheese:

8oz Creamy Feta Cheese, Room Temperature (or very soft)

2oz Cream Cheese, Room Temperature (or very soft)

3T Cold Heavy Cream

Pinch of Salt & Pepper

For the Southwestern Marinated Cheese Dip:

Prepared Whipped Feta

Prepared Southwestern Marinated Cheese Cubes

Any Extra or Excess Marinade, For Spooning Over the Top of the Dip

Crackers or Chips, For Serving

Directions:

1. For the Southwestern Marinated Cheese: In a large mason jar, add in the olive oil, vinegar, limejuice & zest, parsley, cilantro, green onions, garlic paste, roasted red peppers, candied jalapenos, and sugar. Cover the jar tightly and shake vigorously until well mixed and incorporated. Taste to see if it needs some salt & pepper, to your liking. Place the small cubes of Pepper Jack & Colby Jack cheese into a Ziploc bag. Pour the prepared marinade over the cheese cubes and let them marinate in the refrigerator overnight or at least 6-8 hours.

2. For the Whipped Feta Cheese: In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat together the softened cream cheese and salt until thoroughly mixed. Scrape down the sides and turn the mixer to medium-high speed and add in ¼C heavy cream. Continue whipping, while continuously adding a little bit of a crumbled feta cheese at a time, until the feta cheese is combined throughout. Add in the remaining ¼C heavy cream and beat on high until it is light & fluffy. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Spoon this mixture onto a serving plate.

3. For the Southwestern Marinated Cheese Dip: After the cubed cheese has marinated, beat together the two cream cheese blocks until whipped. Place the cream cheese into a serving platter or dish in a thick, even layer. Strain out the marinated cubes of cheese and arrange them over the cream cheese (pressing the cubes in slightly, so they adhere to the cream cheese). Using a spoon, spoon over as much or as little of the marinade as you like, just make sure to get all of the roasted red pepper, candied jalapeno, herbs, and green onion (that’s all the good stuff that adds a delicious flavor a beautiful pop over color). It is up to you how much of the liquid marinade that you want to pour over, some people don’t want all of it on there because it can make the dip a little runny or messy, but I like to spoon almost all of the marinade, just because it has too much flavor to waste! It’s all up to your preferences.

4. Serve the dip cold or at room temperature with some crackers for dipping!