SOME LIKE IT HOT!
How delicious is the marriage between sweet and heat
Hot honey is the swicy marriage between chili peppers (anywhere on the Scoville scale) and honey. The popular trend of infusing honey with chili heat has been spreading like syrup on a hot pancake. And the sweetness doesn’t have to come from honey—other sweeteners like agave, date and maple syrup are also very willing to marry a hot pepper.
Ingredients
- 2–3 medium golden beets, peeled and sliced thin (use a mandoline)
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup (homemade) hot honey
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon coarsely ground dried chilies or 1 tablespoon sliced fresh chilies (jalapeño, serrano, banana pepper, habanero, Scotch Bonnet)
- 1 full cup honey (or agave, date or maple syrup, etc.)
Preparation
HOT GOLDEN BEET ROLL
Rolled or stacked, these beets will find eager takers even among people who don’t particularly like beets.
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Cover a large baking tray with parchment paper. Lay out the beet slices in a single layer but overlapping, like shingles on a roof. Cover with aluminum foil and bake 30 minutes. Remove foil, increase temperature to 400° and bake for 15–20 minutes more. By now, the beet slices should be soft when tested with a sharp knife point and caramelized on the edges.
Take out and cool down enough to handle by hand. Proceed to make a roll: Start to carefully roll up the beet slices, using the parchment paper as a guiding tool to compress and shape. Proceed until you have a roll. Can be served hot or room temperature. (To reheat, place the roll on a baking tray in 350°F oven for about 10 minutes.)
Put the roll on a board, drizzle with hot honey and garnish with edible flowers and microgreens to taste. To serve, use a sharp knife to cut into slices.
TIP: Instead of a roll, you can bake the beet slices stacked in a greased 12-hole muffin pan. Proceed baking the same way. Turn out and serve as beet stacks.
HOW TO MAKE HOT HONEY
Add chilies and honey to a saucepan and heat on low. Don’t let it boil; just heat to the point where the honey is runny and hot to the touch of a finger (about 2 minutes). Remove from heat and cool. Infuse at least 24 hours.
Note: While you can leave in dried chilies, fresh chilies are best strained out after infusing (they shorten the shelf life of your hot honey).
About this recipe
HOW TO USE HOT HONEY
From honey-mustard dressing to savory honey buns, go for hot when the recipe calls for honey. Of course, it is always good on pizza and even popcorn. Here are some other suggestions:
- Use it as dip with aged cheese (like Old Amsterdam).
- Spoon onto corn on the cob, hot from the grill and dripping with melting butter.
- Glaze poultry (chicken, turkey, quail) with chili honey when roasting.
- Brush on lamb shoulder and roast on a bed of thyme and rosemary.
- Mix with miso and use to bake salmon.
- Spice up roasted root vegetables, from carrots to parsnip to sweet potato.
- Whip up with Greek yogurt for a kicking-good dessert.
photography: Raymond Franssen
