Dennis' Mango Habanero BBQ Sauced Salmon Roll-Ups By: Bryanne Salazar

 Hot Licks® sent me this delicious BBQ sauce a few weeks ago and I'd been meaning to give it a whirl. I finally had my chance this afternoon when I spied a gorgeous filet of wild sockeye salmon in my fridge eager to be cooked. 

I tasted the sauce ala carte to see what kind of flavor it was packing. Whoa! You get the tart-sweet mango followed by a blast of hot with the habanero. Just like Dennis' Key Lime BBQ Sauce, you are definitely walking outside the line of traditional BBQ flavor.

The sauce was delicious, but leave it to me to add on to a good thing. 

I minced up about a teaspoon of fresh ginger on my microplane and then added three sliced scallions to about 1 cup of Dennis' Mango Habanero BBQ Sauce. Then I stirred!

I spread the sauce over the entire top of my salmon filet. But - before I get ahead of myself, I want to add that I should have sprinkled my salmon with a light dusting of salt to amp up the flavor. I didn't, but you should. Trust me.

I placed the sauced up salmon, skin-side down, in a preheated 350F oven for about 20 minutes, until it was just tender.

The sugars in the sauce caramelized on the sides of the fish and tasted amazing on my finger. Let it cool a minute before you try.

While the salmon rested, I pulled out some accoutrements, namely, a fresh burrito-size flour tortilla, about 1/4 cup of baby arugula leaves, a few slices of English cucumber and 1/4 of an avocado.

We are lucky to have a gas stove, and I tend to throw my tortillas directly on the fire (medium-high) for roughly 8-10 seconds per side, until they are lightly charred around the edges.

Once the tortilla was done, I added my baby arugula right down the center, followed by a few thin slices of English cucumber.

Then I decided to try Dennis' Mango Habanero BBQ Sauce mixed with equal parts Best Foods Mayo to make a luscious, creamy sauce to coat the veggies. It worked! For one burrito I used 1 tablespoon of each and stirred until smooth.

After the sauce was made, I sliced 1/4 of a ripe avocado and layered the slices across the English cucumber.

Then, I drizzled the sauce over the veggies. Mmmm.

  

Finally, I flaked a few chunks off the cooked salmon and layered them on top of the sauced up veggies.

Then, I rolled that bad boy, sealing one side for maximum holdage.  To make it pretty, I sliced the roll in half and did a chef-stack to make it look amazing. Doesn't it?

Give this recipe a spin and see what you think. You can find Dennis' Mango Habanero BBQ Sauce® on the Hot Licks® website by clicking Here!

Bryanne Salazar

A foodie of the worst kind, Bryanne has a passion for searching out unique cuisines across the globe. Her motto, "Always try it twice," means she is not afraid to bite down on whatever life puts on her plate. Currently Bryanne freelances for the Fredericksburg Freelance Star's Healthy Life Virginia eNewsletter; writes product reviews for Hot Licks®; is a contributing recipe author for www.whattheflicka.com; and is working on her first novel, a nonfiction murder mystery. In her free time she enjoys competition circuit cooking and spending time with her husband and two sons.

By Bryanne Salazar

Spicy Green Chile Venezuelan Arepas featuring Hot Licks® Spicy Green Hot Sauce

My twelve year old son Jorge opened the bottle before I did. I came home from a long grocery shopping trip to his excited face telling me, "Oh Mom, you have to try this sauce! It's so good!"

He already had a corn tortilla ready for dippage. The sauce smelled and looked similar to a spicy tomatillo salsa. But the taste surprised me. It was robust and smooth, a perfect balance between the garlic and vinegar that carried the pepper from the green chiles.

My son was right, it was so good. So what could I do with an incredible Spicy Green hot sauce? Make Venezuelan arepas, of course.

 

Now you might be thinking, "What's an arepa?" and if you are, you're  not alone. I first heard of them on a cooking show that combined delicious dining with world traveling. The host of the show oohed and aahed over the griddled maiz pita that was stuffed with various toppings like shredded meat or even seafood. 

Always up for an adventure, I decided to look up the recipe for making arepas at home. The corn pita was amazingly simple. Water, salt, and  precooked corn flour. I've made Mexican tamales for years to satisfy my husband's holiday cravings, and made the huge mistake of thinking masa harina, or Mexican lime treated corn flour would be the same thing. It wasn't and I made corn bricks. Yuck!

Instead, it's easy to visit any local Latin market in your area and ask for masa precocida or masarepa. I found that Goya, a well known Latin-foods producer sells both white and yellow masarepa that works perfectly for this recipe.  So if you'd like to take a journey South with me, try this delicious, simple and surprising recipe for Venezuelan Arepas with spicy, creamy green chile shredded chicken and fresh tomatoes.

Ingredients

Arepas:

2 cups of masarepa or masa precocida (white or yellow are both fine)

1/2 teaspoon of salt

3 cups of boiling water

1/4  oil for pan frying

Filling:

1 & 1/2 cups of shredded chicken (I used 2 small chicken breasts, boiled and shredded)

1/2 bottle of Hot Licks® Spicy Green Hot Sauce

1/2 cup of sour cream

1 cup of shredded Mexican cheese

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup freshly chopped cilantro

1 sweet ripe tomato, cut into thin slices

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, mix the masarepa with salt until well combined. Stir in 3 cups of boiling water and stir immediately with a wooden spoon until the mixture turns into a dough. Once it is completely mixed, remove the spoon and cover the mixture with a damp hand towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes. The dampness in the towel helps prevent the masarepa mixture from drying out while it rests.

In a saucepan, add shredded chicken and Hot Licks® Spicy Green Hot Sauce. Bring to a simmer and then stir in sour cream, cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Allow to heat through so the cheese melts and the mixture looks creamy. Turn off the heat and cover the saucepan until it's time to stuff the arepas.

To make the arepas, heat your oil on medium heat in a large skillet. Using wet hands, break off large golf-ball sized pieces of dough and roll in your hands to form a smooth ball. Gently flatten the ball into a disk that is at least 1/4 inch thick. Depending on the size of your dough-balls, you can yield anywhere from 5-10 arepas. Fry the arepas in the oil for roughly 5 minutes per side, until they are golden and crisp. When cooked on both sides, remove and place on a paper towel to collect excess oil.

To stuff the arepas, use a knife to separate the cooked corn circles into two halves. Remove a little bit of the interior breading. If your chicken mixture is too runny, you can crumble the excess breading and mix it into the chicken to thicken.

Slather on a few nice spoonfuls of the spicy, creamy, green chile chicken onto one side of the arepas. Layer a few slices of thinly sliced tomatoes and some fresh cilantro. Put the other half of the arepa on top and serve like a sandwich!

Arepas can be served with any number of fillings. They are amazing with mayonnaise, Hot Licks® Spicy Green Hot Sauce, avocados and lunch meat too. Be creative! See what kind of fun you can have with Hot Licks® and Venezuelan arepas!

You can find this sauce and others at Hot Licks® Spicy Green Hot Sauce