Hamptons Lane Subscription Box Review & Coupon: Taste of the Southwest Box

Hamptons Lane is a monthly subscription box catering to foodies and cooking enthusiasts. Each month Hamptons Lane sends out themed recipes along with 4-7 curated artisanal ingredients and a kitchen tool that you can use to make delicious food at home. Once you sign up, each month you’ll receive an email describing that month’s new box. You can choose to skip that month without any penalty (no later than the fifth of the month), substitute another box for the current offering or, if need be, you can cancel at any time.

The theme for September was Taste of the Southwest! The box arrived full of things to help you produce a delicious taste of the southwest: a molcajete, carnitas seasoning, ancho chili peppers, salsa and beans.

The recipe book included gorgeous color photographs of all of the box’s ingredients along with a number of delicious sounding recipes that utilized the enclosed ingredients.

IMUSA’s Natural Granite Molcajete ($16.99 on sale) is an essential utensil in Mexican kitchens. That’s because “granite’s nonporous qualities prevent it from absorbing oils while its rough surface promotes an ideal grind that brings out the deepest flavors of the food.”

Unfortunately, though, the molcajete requires seasoning before its first use, and the seasoning process is arduous. If you choose to forgo the traditional method which requires an entire day of grinding nonstop, you can opt instead to pick up a small wire brush at your local hardware store and get to work. Even this easier process is not easy!

After scraping your molcajete for 15 minutes, taking time out to rinse out the molcajete regularly, you’re ready to grind rice. Grind a few tablespoons of rice into a powder once or twice, or until you no longer see any grey on your rice.

Next, grind a paste of garlic cloves, salt and cumin and let it sit overnight in your molcajete.

Rinse out your molcajete, and you’re finally ready to grind up your ancho chili powder (this is used in most, but not all, of the recipes in the recipe book)!

I was delighted to see Rancho Gordo’s Santa Maria Pinquitos ($5.95) in this month’s box, not only because they’re produced in Napa, my childhood summer home, but because I tried their black beans in my Mouth Indie Ingredients box and loved them!

These meaty beans were delicious on their own. Still, I saved them to make this month’s bean dip and chili recipes.

I enjoyed Zukali’s Cilantro Pineapple Salsa with Fire Roasted Peppers and Tomatillos ($6.95) very much. This mild salsa verde was slightly sweet and smoky.

Melissa Guerra’s Carnitas Seasoning ($8?) is a custom blend of spices made especially for Hamptons Lane! Containing cumin, chile  powder and oregano, this mix has a lovely, inviting aroma.

The Spice House’s Ancho Chili Peppers ($2.52 based on the cost of 4 oz.) were dry and earthy. They had a hint of a raisin-like taste.

This month Hamptons Lane enclosed a card advertising a number of additional tools and condiments that subscribers may be interested in to augment what they received in the Taste of the Southwest box. Note: you could also get the tortilla press and masa harina by subscribing and ordering the taco party box!

Here’s what I made this month:

I enjoyed the heirloom tomato salsa very much. I actually ate it straight out of the bowl. Shh! Don’t tell.

The mangoes in Hamptons Lane’s guacamole recipe added a sweet freshness to the dish which was a nice change from the usual guacamole. This one required more salt, however.

I served the chicken enchiladas alongside the bean dip for dinner one night making a couple of substitutions: turkey bacon for the real thing as I don’t eat pork (as a result, I had to add more olive oil) and flour tortillas for corn in the enchiladas (I do sometimes make concessions for my husband!). I liked these recipes. Next time, though, I’ll prepare the chicken in the same manner and just eat it off the bone. It was delicious!

This meaty, earthy, smokey chili was the highlight of the dishes I cooked this month. My husband has invited me to make it whenever I please. It’s his favorite chili of all time. Yay!

As always, I thought this installment from Hamptons Lane was a fun box that contained a number of delicious recipes. Estimating a value was a little tricky this month since the carnitas blend was custom made. I’m guessing it was just over $40, which is slightly below the cost of the box. I love Hamptons Lane’s recipes, though, so that brings the value up for me. Overall, I love Hamptons Lane! Their recipes are great, and the suggested techniques and tools always make for nice date nights at home with my husband.

Do you subscribe to Hamptons Lane? What did you think of this month’s box? If you haven’t tried it out yet, save $10 off your first box with coupon code hellosubscription10.

Visit Hamptons Lane to subscribe or find out more!