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Serious Heat: Padma Spices Things Up With Chili Honey Butter

Posted by Andrea Lynn, June 25, 2009 at 10:00 AM

Editor's note: On Thursdays, Andrea Lynn, associate editor of Chile Pepper Magazine, drops by with Serious Heat.

Chile Honey Butter on toast

In the beginning (back before it was one GladWare commercial after another), I was a raging Top Chef fan. When you don’t have cable, this requires hunting for an equally dedicated friend, so you can come over to watch.

In 2007, to promote the release of her new book, Tangy Tart Hot & Sweet, Padma Lakshmi was speaking at a local bookstore. My friend and I went, vowing not to be pressured to buy the cookbook and just enjoy the talk. We weren’t prepared to be dazzled so much by Padma's charm. We both left with a photo of us and Padma, as well as a signed copy of the $34.95 book. “How did this even happen?” we asked each other outside the store, still semi-giddy from our meeting.

While I still haven’t made enough recipes from the book to justify the $35 expenditure, one of my favorites is Chile Honey Butter. Yes, yes. It’s just soft butter swirled with honey and spiked with cayenne—one of those simple recipes that you wonder how you didn’t come up with it yourself. I spread it onto toast, dot it onto my fried eggs, and use it as a garnish for fish. I’ve even been known to eat it straight-up, licked off a spoon Paula Deen-style. Whether it's chile honey butter or chipotle purée and sour cream, what are some of your favorite kicked-up easy concoctions? Padma's recipe, after the jump.

Chile Honey Butter

Zest Factor: Medium

- makes about 1 cup -

Recipe adapted from Tangy Tart Hot & Sweet: A World of Recipes for Every Day by Padma Lakshmi. She recommends using it to sauté green beans and carrots or to baste a whole chicken.

Ingredients

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon cayenne
Salt

Procedure

Combine all ingredients, and whip in a blender or processor, or just by hand with a fork, until they form a smooth sauce. Spoon into a rigid plastic container, and keep covered in the fridge.

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Tags: chile honey butter, Chile Pepper magazine, Padma Lakshmi, Serious Heat, Top Chef