Oh popcorn. What a long and tumultuous relationship we’ve had.
There was, of course, the early childhood stage: occasionally that unmistakable smell and sound of kernels popping on the stove would fill the house and I knew a special treat was on the horizon.
Then there was the teenage stage. I was responsible for more of my own meals by then and hey! Popcorn can totally be a meal, right??
As often as I could get my hands on it, I ate popcorn. Breakfast, lunch, snack – didn’t matter. I basically ate it until I never wanted to see it again.
And then for a while… I just didn’t eat popcorn at all. Sad times.
Now that I’ve developed some self control, I love whipping up homemade popcorn before hubs and I sit down to watch a movie.
The best part of making popcorn from scratch: you can throw in any ingredients you have hanging around and make it your own.
I usually try different flavor combinations each time, but I made this version with lemon, thyme and parmesan cheese recently and I’m hooked!
Salty, cheesy, herby, lemony… and gone 5 minutes into the movie.
Maybe I should start making larger batches?
Or I guess I could just stick to that whole self control thing.
We’ll see.
Cheesy Lemon Thyme Popcorn
Serves
2
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
- zest of 1/2 lemon
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup popcorn kernels
- vegetable oil
- fine grain sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Combine the cheese, thyme and lemon zest, set aside. Melt the butter in a small microwavable dish, set aside.
- In a medium pot, pour in enough vegetable oil just to cover the bottom and set over medium heat. Throw in a couple of popcorn kernels; when they pop, you know the oil is ready. Pour in the rest of the kernels and place a lid on the pot, leaving it cracked so steam can escape. Shaking the pan almost constantly to keep the kernels moving, cook until the popping slows to a few seconds between each pop. Pour the popcorn into a large bowl.
- Pour the butter over the popcorn, stirring to combine. Stir in the parmesan mixture, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Devour!
