Enchiladas with a kicked up Chili Con Carne Sauce from Robb Walsh’s Texas Eats

After more than 20 years of judging the Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Contest, Robb Walsh set out to write The Hot Sauce Cookbook, but realized there was a whole world of hot sauce recipes out there waiting to be discovered. Sure, there’s the Anchor Bar’s Buffalo Chicken Wings and the original Bloody Mary, but what about adding hot sauce to a spicy Vietnamese crawfish dip or flavoring pulled pork with Sriracha?

So Robb, the author of Texas Eats and The Tex-Mex Cookbook among other books, is throwing another kind of contest. The most inventive recipes for pepper sauces or dishes using hot sauce submitted to the contest page at The Recipe Club’s Facebook will get their recipe published in his cookbook–slated for Spring 2013–among other prizes. See below for more info!

For inspiration, check out our Hot Sauce Pinterest board with loads of creative ways to cook with hot sauce. And good luck!

Grand Prize:

-Publication in Robb’s upcoming book, The Hot Sauce Cookbook

-Three  (3) signed copies of the book

-Congratulatory certificate

Prize for Five Runners-Up: A library of Robb Walsh’s books

Details and to enter: click here.

Deadline: June 22, 2012

Anna Mintz is a Publicist for Clarkson Potter, a division of Random House, and is an editor for The Recipe Club. Originally from Atlanta, she now lives in New York City and loves exploring NYC’s restaurant scene and trying out new recipes in her own kitchen.

One of my favorite places to eat in New York City is ABC Kitchen, Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s farm-to-table restaurant located in ABC Carpet & Home. The culinary team at ABC Kitchen creates menus based on local, sustainable and organic seasonal produce (and therefore, each time you go, you’ll see a different lineup, based on what is fresh and available), but there are several “star” dishes that are regulars on the ever-changing menu. One of these is the Crab Toast with Lemon Aioli appetizer.

When I first got my hands on Home Cooking with Jean-Georges (Clarkson Potter, 2011), I was absolutely thrilled to see this recipe for Crab Toasts with Sriracha Mayonnaise. Finally, I could attempt a homemade version of my favorite dish from the restaurant! I might even like this take on crab toast better than the one on the restaurant menu; at once creamy and spicy, I think this is the perfect appetizer.

Crab Toasts with Sriracha Mayonnaise
Recipe from Home Cooking with Jean-Georges by Jean-Georges Vongerichten
Serves 4

Crab Toasts
4 slices good sourdough bread
3 tablespoons Sriracha Mayonnaise (recipe follows)
8 ounces picked lump crabmeat, preferably peekytoe, picked over for bits of shell
Crushed red chile flakes, optional
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Toast the bread until golden brown. Cut each slice into 2-inch pieces.

Gently fold the mayonnaise into the crabmeat until well mixed. Spoon the crab mixture into a serving bowl and set inside a larger serving bowl filled with ice to keep cold if desired. Garnish with chile flakes if desired. Serve with the lemon wedges and toasts.

Sriracha Mayonnaise
Makes 1 cup

1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup grapeseed or other neutral oil
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons sriracha

Whisk together the yolk, mustard, and salt until well blended. Continue whisking while adding the oil in a slow, steady stream to emulsify the mixture. Whisk in the lemon juice and sriracha until well blended. The mayonnaise can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.

Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha Cookbook (Ten Speed Press), and a graduate of the California School of Culinary Arts. He has written for numerous food publications including Gourmet, Saveur, Wine Enthusiast, Imbibe, Los Angeles, Draft, Edible Los Angeles, and BeerAdvocate.

It’s no secret that Sriracha is amazing on just about everything. But it turns out that it’s also amazing in just about everything, which is exactly what I set out to show in The Sriracha Cookbook. And beyond its addictively spicy twang, Sriracha is also incredibly versatile. Using it as an ingredient in some of your favorite dishes can lend all sorts of complementary flavors to your cuisine.

Proof and point? Piquant Pulled Pork. It’s my take on a quintessential barbecue favorite. As any North Carolina native can tell you, traditional pulled pork takes years to perfect out in the smoker…which is exactly why we’re bucking tradition and making ours in a crock pot. And while those Caroliners will no doubt call it blasphemy, it doesn’t make it any less delicious.

I like to let it slow cook for 8 to 10 hours while I’m at work. Then, when I get home, I can just give it a quick shred, stick it in a bun, slap on a pile of creamy Sriracha Slaw, an extra drizzle of Sriracha for good measure, and dive into a damn fine sandwich.

I like to pair it with a pint of craft beer, especially a rich smoked porter or a relatively hoppy pale ale. If vino is more your thing, you’ll find a friend in a full-bodied, jammy California Zinfandel. (No, NOT the white kind.) Either pairing is perfect for a game-day gathering. Super Bowl party, anyone?

Recipes from The Sriracha Cookbook by Randy Clemens

Self-described “professional hedonist” and cookbook author Randy Clemens tells us in The Sriracha Cookbook (Ten Speed Press), “A frittata is a thick Italian-style omelet that is chock-full of goodies.” We love the approach, we love Randy’s tasty recipes, and of course we love Sriracha, so here we present to you the Veggie Sriracha Frittata recipe from Randy Clemens’ The Sriracha Cookbook:

Think of it as a quiche without a crust. Rather than cooking up a large version and cutting it into wedges as is often done, I prefer to make individual frittatas in a muffin pan. It cooks a bit faster, makes a great presentation, and couldn’t be easier to serve to your guests.

Makes 12 servings:

• 12 eggs
• 4 tablespoons water
• ¼ cup Sriracha
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• ½ cup diced sweet onion
• ½ cup grated russet potato
• ½ cup diced zucchini
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 4 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
• Diced tomato, for garnish
• Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick spray or a mist of olive oil.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, water, and Sriracha with some salt and pepper until slightly frothy. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large nonstick or cast- iron skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, potato, zucchini, bell pepper, and mush- rooms, stirring to evenly distribute the oil. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until the vegetables soften, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Divide the vegetable mixture evenly among the muffin cups, filling each no more than halfway full. Any vegetable mixture remain- ing can be kept warm in the oven and used as a topping for garnish. Divide the egg mixture evenly among the cups.

Bake until the eggs are firm and fully cooked in the center, 25 to 30 minutes. Turn the frittatas out from the pan and plate, garnishing with diced tomato, Parmigiano- Reggiano, and any extra vegetables that were set aside, if desired.

• Download this recipe as a PDF: Veggie Sriracha Frittata from The Sriracha Cookbook by Randy Clemens