It's Oscar time! And, whether you like popular movies or not, it's fun to look at all the fancy clothes and fanfare. Gather some friends together and make a party out of it!
Popcorn is the iconic movie watching snack--and what better way to enjoy the Oscars then with a red-carpet spiced-up version?
POPCORN 5 WAYS!
The basic concept: Melt butter, add your favorite spices or spice blend, toss well. I began my experimentation with 2 tsp of spices to 4 TBL of butter for 1/2 Cup unpopped popcorn and moved on from there. The big exception for this is the Butter and Vanilla Sugar popcorn (detail below).
THE SPECIFICS:
HOT & SPICY: HARISSA
- ½ Cup Popcorn (un-popped)
- 4 TBL Unsalted Butter
- 2 tsp ReginaSpices Harissa
- ½ + tsp Kosher Salt, to taste
Pop the popcorn, I like to use an old fashioned hot-air popper.
Over low-medium heat, melt the butter, add the Harissa and let it cook in the butter for 30 sec. or so.
Quickly pour butter mixture over popped popcorn (this is a good place for a helper, someone to pour and scrape and someone to stir the popcorn).
Add Kosher Salt.The Harissa is super spicy and needs a good amount of salt to balance it.
HERB-Y & CHEESE-Y: CLASSIC ITALIAN
(this was my husband’s and brother-in-law’s favorite)
- ½ Cup Popcorn (un-popped)
- 6 TBL Unsalted Butter
- 2 tsp ReginaSpices Classic Italian
- ½ tsp Kosher Salt OR
- Freshly grated Parmagian or Romano Cheese
Pop the popcorn, I like to use an old fashioned hot-air popper. The Classic Italian has some big pieces of rosemary which I thought would be too big for snacking, so I quickly crushed the blend with the back of a spoon.
Over low-medium heat, melt the butter, add the Classic Italian and let it cook in the butter for 30- 60 seconds.I think it’s nice to give the herbs a chance to soften up.
Quickly pour butter mixture over popped popcorn (this is a good place for a helper, someone to pour and scrape and someone to stir the popcorn).
Add Kosher Salt OR for a truly decadent snack grate some Parmagian or Romano on the popcorn.
SWEET & SAVORY:MAINE SWEET PEPPER
- ½ Cup Unpopped Popcorn
- 4 TBL Unsalted Butter
- 1 ½ tsp ReginaSpices Maine Sweet Pepper
- ½ tsp Kosher Salt
Pop the popcorn, I like to use an old fashioned hot-air popper.
Over low-medium heat, melt the butter, add 1 tsp of the Maine Sweet Pepper and let it cook in the butter for 30 sec. or so.
Quickly pour butter mixture over popped popcorn (this is a good place for a helper, someone to pour and scrape and someone to stir the popcorn).
Add ½ tsp Maine Sweet Pepper and the Kosher Salt and toss.
TANGY:JALAPENO-LIME SALT
(this is not as spicy as I was expecting, the lime really come through and gives it a kind of Thai flavor)
- ½ Cup Popcorn (un-popped)
- 4 TBL Unsalted Butter
- 1 tsp ReginaSpices Jalapeño-Lime Salt
Pop the popcorn, I like to use an old fashioned hot-air popper.
Over low-medium heat, melt the butter, add the Jalapeño-Lime Salt and let it cook in the butter for 30 sec. or so.
Quickly pour butter mixture over popped popcorn (this is a good place for a helper, someone to pour and scrape and someone to stir the popcorn).
If you want it stronger, dust with Jalapeño-Lime Salt; but since it’s made with a coarse salt, I recommend pulverizing it first.
SWEET & BUTTERY : VANILLA SUGAR
(WARNING: DANGEROUSLY DELICIOUS!
My favorite! I made this in the shop and would have eaten the whole batch by myself! But, fortunately a customer came in who was taking her kids sledding for the afternoon—they were happy to take it off my hands!)
- ½ Cup Popcorn (un-popped)
- ½ Cup Unsalted Butter (one stick)
- ½ Cup ReginaSpices Vanilla Sugar
- 1 TBL Water
- Kosher Salt to taste (OPTIONAL)
Pop the popcorn, I like to use an old fashioned hot-air popper.
Melt the butter, add the sugar and bring to a boil.Boil about 2 min (the sugar should be dissolved and a syrup starting to form).Add the water and stir well.
Quickly pour butter mixture over popped popcorn (this is a good place for a helper, someone to pour and scrape and someone to stir the popcorn.)
Let the mixture cool!!!! Give it a good 5-10 mins.Then break up any chunks (if you want, I love the chunks!) and add Kosher Salt to taste, if you want.