Spicy and crunchy

  Unlike sweet and salty, these two words are not what you normally hear paired together.  But let me tell you right now, this is going to be the new trend in food.  You heard it here first.  I made this Chile and Garlic Crunch, and the spicy and crunchy combo, was FIRE.  I'm talking heat and popularity.  Loving this right now, I wish it didn't take me so long to get around to making it.

   Let's see...that blog was posted about 11 months ago.  I bought the ingredients about 6 months ago, and now I wish I had never waited!!  Because I am HORRIBLE at following directions in the kitchen, my measurements were approximate, and now i just re-read it and she said to let it sit 24 hours and NOW IT MAKES SENSE.  We weren't super excited about it right away, but now I am dripping the oil and scattering the flakes over everything I can.

Lindsay's Hot Chile Crunch (slightly adapted from In Praise of Leftovers)

heaping 1/2 c. dried minced garlic (not garlic salt or garlic powder)*

heaping 1/2 c. crushed red pepper flakes

2 Tb. granulated onion**

2 tsp. salt 

1 c. canola oil 

Mix everything in a heavy bottom or cast iron pan over medium heat, constantly stirring, until garlic slightly turns color, about 2 minutes.  Let cool and refrigerate.

*This was hard to find for me, but I found some at Sprouts

**I never read the recipe fully and didn't realize I needed onion flakes.  I want to try it this way next time, but the one plus about doing granulated onion was that it cooked faster and gave the slightest smoky flavor to the crunch.

  

I put ours over salmon and it was delicious.  And the texture makes it so interesting!

  We had salmon at my birthday BBQ and my friends could not get over this stuff!  I was passing out "party favors" aka jam and marmalade that I knew we'd never use and they said they wanted a jar of the Hot Chile Crunch next time.  Haha!  Way easier to make than jam and definitely marmalade!  Done.

Happy monday!!