Chili-Lime Peanuts

Put a spicy, salty snack in front of me, and a pint of cold beer in my hand and I’m pretty much a happy camper. Unfortunately, I won’t stop eating the snack and might spoil my dinner. Despite my own personal weakness, my intention for making these zesty peanuts was to have something to offer before our Mexican BBQ without spoiling my family’s appetites! When I saw the recipe in the February 2009 issue of Bon Appetit, I know I had to make them. Okay, fine. It was an excuse to use my current obsession: Sriracha hot chile sauce. The combination of that and the lime will excite your taste buds! Because my grocery store only had roasted & salted peanuts (instead of the raw, Spanish peanuts the recipe called for), I had to modify it a bit — cutting the time in the oven from 30 minutes to 12 minutes, and using only 1/2 a tsp. of salt. Oh, and I probably doubled the amout of hot sauce, knowing me! The recipe below is the original version.

2 cups raw Spanish peanuts (about 10 1/2 ounces)
1 TBS. olive oil
2 tsp. coarse kosher salt
1 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. fresh lime juice
1 tsp. hot pepper sauce
3/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, toss the peanuts with the oil, salt, and sugar.

• Scrape nuts onto a rimmed baking sheet in a single later.

• Roast until fragrant and beginning to darken, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

• Transfer nuts to a large bowl. Add the lime juice, hot pepper sauce, and cayenne pepper and toss to coat.

• Allow to cool completely. Then serve. Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.