fancy popcorn

Microwavable popcorn is fantastic because you can fancy it up in so many different ways.   Here are three of my favorite ways to dress it up:

All of these recipes start with a bag of plain microwavable popcorn.  (Tip:  always listen for the pops.  Once the pops become more than one second apart, stop the microwave.)

Garlic-infused melted butter and parmesan cheese
Smash and peel one clove of garlic.  Place it in a sauce pan with two tablespoons of butter.  As the butter melts, the garlic will infuse it.  Don't let the garlic burn or else it can make the butter taste bitter (bitter butter is no bueno).  Once the butter is melted, remove the garlic clove and drizzle the butter over the popcorn and sprinkle with parmesan cheese (parmigiano reggiano if you're super fancy).


Truffle butter
I think we can all agree that butter is great, but once you add truffles to it -- game over.  You can buy truffle butter at most gourmet food stores for about $12 a tub.  Since truffles cost hundreds of dollars, buying truffle-infused butter is much more palatable (zing!).  Just melt two tablespoons of truffle butter in a small saucepan, then drizzle it over the popcorn.


Olive oil, salt, and pepper
Drizzle the popcorn with olive oil, then sprinkle with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.  The olive oil spray bottles work really well for this.