As promised, here' the spicy oil recipe. This is a staple ingredient n our house; one that I can use for many things.  When I don't have any, I just sprinkle some chili flakes on my pizza, but the little extra time this takes to put together makes for such a better overall flavor.  The oil is spicy and flavorful without being too hot.  Instead of drizzling a little olive oil over the top of a piping hot pizza, I love to add this instead.

This recipe is right out of Peter's "American Pie:  My Search for the Perfect Pizza".  As with everything, once you make it a few times, you can start to wing it.  I almost always have some of Peter's Herb Oil, but by now, there's no need to go back to the recipe.  You start to understand the flavors that each ingredient provides so that you can soon make these recipes by feel.

For this version of the recipe I used my home made Srirachi Seasoned Salt.  I will post about that soon as well.  Regular salt works just fine as well.  I was just looking for a little something to make it my own!

Spicy Oil

- 1 cup Olive Oil

- 4 teaspoons sweet or hot paprika

- 4 teaspoons chili flakes

- 1 large clove, garlic, peeled

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

*This is the recipe out of "American Pie".  I don't need 1 cup of this oil so I cut it way back generally, but it also keeps forever in the refrigerator so there's no problem if you make the full batch.  You will figure it out as you get comfortable with it.  It's just about finding the balance of the ingredients as you like them.  As I said above, I also substituted for the salt with my homemade Srirachi Seasoned Salt.

In a saucepan, add oil, paprika, chili flakes, and garlic.

Bring it to a boil (yes, really!).

Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Set aside to cool for about 30 minutes.

Strain the oil and add the salt.

*I added the salt during the boil this time in the photos which worked out.  I usually

add it after per Peter's instructions.

Drizzle it on everything!