Red bell peppers to excess

[Smithy]

I just bought about 10 pounds of red bell peppers...this on top of the 20-30 lbs of ripe tomatoes that need canning that I haven't got to yet. (As usual, my ambition exceeds my time.) I can cheerfully make up a fair number of stuffed peppers and freeze them; I can also roast a bunch, peel them, stuff them in olive oil and freeze. Still...my freezer only has so much space, and I'm supposed to be making more space for this fall's lamb and hog, not taking up space before the meat arrives. So what do I do with the rest of the peppers?

In case it's relevant, and at the risk of being a kill-joy, I should note that neither of us is big on chutneys or ketchup. We do love salsas. Maybe I can do something creative with the tomatoes and peppers together? My canning capability is limited to hot-water bath.

Ideas, anyone?

[Pam R]

soup. you can roast off a few pounds and make a delicious soup outta them. yum.

[prasantrin]

Penzey's sells dehydrated bell peppers, so I imagine you could dehydrate them, yourself. If you don't have a dehydrator (sp?) maybe you could oven dry them?

[John S.]

I would suggest a very fresh sauce (or two) for pasta or eggplant. Roast, seed and peel peppers. Put in blender with some tomatoes (proportion to taste - I like the peppers). Add roasted garlic, chopped yellow onion, a touch of balsamic vinegar, pinch of salt and black pepper, a little sugar to offset acid, chile flakes to taste. All into the blender and process. Then simmer this with more tomatoes, sugar and chile flakes for a few minutes. If you want to add herbs now is the time to do it (parsley, basil, cilantro) and only simmer for a second or two. Put over pasta.

There are a couple other good uses in Ornish's first cookbook (where this came from) for red bells.

Good luck. John S.

[Marco_Polo]

Hi Smithy,

A few years ago we found ourselves with a glut of red peppers. Here's what we did:

from Notes from a Devon Kitchen September 1999

Best of all, we now discover at Highfield that we're in the midst of a most fortunate glut of red peppers, sun-ripened, sweet and densely flavoured, not insipidly crunchy like the picture-perfect Dutch red peppers found in most supermarkets, but more like the knobbly red peppers you get at this time of year in the South of France, Italy or Spain. Ian is worried that he will not be able to sell them all, as the farm shop is the main outlet for all that he grows. Lynda suggests that he roasts them, then sells the roasted peppers in the shop, a way of adding value without excessive extra labour to seasonal produce that is plentiful.

It gives me an idea. I am reminded of autumn in the Rioja, around or perhaps just after the vendímia. Once many years ago when we were touring bodegas around Haro, we came across cellar workers in blue overalls, standing around fires made from old oak barrel staves during their breaks. It was indeed surprisingly cold, the fires a welcome means of keeping warm. But their main purpose was to enable the workers in their spare time to roast immense mounds of red peppers over a wood fire. The peppers were subsequently peeled by hand, then usually bottled, and these homemade conserves would be tucked away for use throughout the winter. Sometimes if you were lucky you could find them in the food shops of Haro: you could always tell the handmade conserves as there would still be bits of charred black pepper skin on the strips packed into the jars, the hallmark of the real as opposed to the industrially produced version.

And so right now I'm off to Highfield to purchase peppers, lots and lots and lots of them. The weather looks set to hold this afternoon, so I'll stoke up a charcoal fire in the garden, and we'll stand around this evening roasting peppers and drinking tumblers of young Rioja wine, enjoying the last of the summer sun as it goes down over the Haldon Hills to the west. Of course, once roasted, the real work starts, but no doubt we'll enlist the slave labour of our children Guy and Bella and of any other friends who happen innocently to drop by: the char-blackened peppers will go into plastics bags to facilitate peeling, then we'll strip off the skins by hand (there is no other way and little fingers are often the most nimble), seed the peppers, cut them into strips, then add to a large cooking pot together with copious amounts of olive oil and whole cloves of garlic. Thus stewed, we'll pack them into sterile jars and stash them away for the winter, pulling them out to enjoy in evenings around the fire together with roasted shoulders of lamb and not young but aged Reserva and Gran Reserva wines from favourite traditional producers like La Rioja Alta and R. Lopéz de Heredia.

As day into night, so autumn into winter, but somehow the thought of it right now does not seem all that bad.

Enjoy!

[Smithy]

Thank you very much, folks! Those are great ideas, and suddenly I wonder whether I have enough peppers after all! That pasta sauce will have to happen sometime in the next week, I think.

Marco Polo, your descriptions are wonderful and evocative. I do have a technical question about canning the roasted peppers with the oil and garlic. Is it all heated in the pot, then cold-packed into the sterile jars? If so, heated for how long and to what temperature? Or are the jars processed in a hot-water bath? Or is this one of those cases where nothing would grow anyway? I'm thinking there isn't any acid in that mix you describe, so I'm wondering how long it would keep without refrigeration or freezing.

(Hoists a glass of Rioja) Here's to you all, with your fine ideas.

[k43]

Mouhamara (Red Pepper, Pomegranate and Walnut Dip)

2½ lb. red bell peppers

1 small hot chili,

1½ cups (6 oz.) walnuts, coarsely ground

½ cup wheat crackers, crumbled

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses or more to taste

½ tsp ground cumin

¾ tsp salt

½ tsp sugar

2 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons toasted pine nuts

A drizzle of olive oil

A good pinch of ground cumin

1. Make a day in advance. Roast the red bell peppers and the chili either over coals or a gas burner or under an electric broiler, turning frequently until blackened and blistered all over, about 12 minutes. Place in a covered bowl to steam 10 minutes (this loosens the skin). Rub off the skins, membranes, and seeds. Spread the bell peppers, smooth side up, on a paper towel and let drain 10 minutes.

2. In a food processor, grind the walnuts, crackers, lemon juice, molasses, cumin, salt, and sugar until smooth. Add the bell peppers; process until pureed and creamy. With the machine on, add the oil in a thin stream. Add the chili to taste. (If the paste is too thick, thin with 1-2 Tb water.) Refrigerate overnight to allow the flavors to mellow.

3. When ready to serve transfer to a serving dish. Sprinkle the pine nuts and cumin on top and drizzle with oil.

Red Pepper Puree - the perfect condiment/sauce

4 large red bell peppers (2 lb.)

salt

1/2 cup EVOO

1. Preheat oven to 475. Line a roasting pan with enough foil to fold over the top later. Put peppers in the pan and roast, turning every 10 minutes, until they collapse, about 40 min.

2. Remove pan from oven, fold foil over peppers, and allow to cool.

3. Working over a bowl to catch the liquid, remove and discard the core, seeds and skin.

4. Put the pepper pulp in a food processor with about 2 tablespoons of the liquid and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Turn on the processor and add the oil slowly through the feed tube. Taste and add more salt and oil as necessary.

Store in refrigerator for a few days. Freezes for about a month.

Uses and variations:

- sauce under roasted or grilled chicken, red meat or fish, with fresh herbs

- add cumin, chili powder, caramelized onion or chopped raw garlic

- add 2 T. to simmering liquid of rice or couscous

- add to tomato sauce at the end, or use instead of tomatoes

- add to omelets or scrambled eggs

- quick pesto with basil, grated Parmsan and garlic

- w/ lemon juice, salt and pepper for salad dressing

- on toast or pizza

- in stew or soup just before serving

- as an appetizer dip, with more oil, garlic, cracked pepper and salty cheese (feta, goat)

- finishing sauce for roast eggplant or zucchini

[russ parsons]

back in teh day, in between walking miles to school uphill in driving snow storms and watching network television, red bell peppers were a once-a-season special event. you couldn't just go to the grocery story any day of the week and pick them up. early september, i'd order a case from my specialty produce guy then spend part of the weekend grilling them, peeling them, and dividing them up into little baggies for freezing. they freeze and defrost magnificently. for a convenience step, you don't even need to peel them. roast them, cool them, and freeze them and they are even easier to peel. one can NEVER have too many roasted red bell peppers.

[Smithy]

These are wonderful. Now I'm beginning to wonder if I should get more peppers!

[russ parsons]

These are wonderful.  Now I'm beginning to wonder if I should get more peppers!

←

that should never be a question when it comes to red bell peppers.

[Smithy]

And so right now I'm off to Highfield to purchase peppers, lots and lots and lots of them. The weather looks set to hold this afternoon, so I'll stoke up a charcoal fire in the garden, and we'll stand around this evening roasting peppers and drinking tumblers of young Rioja wine, enjoying the last of the summer sun as it goes down over the Haldon Hills to the west. Of course, once roasted, the real work starts, but no doubt we'll enlist the slave labour of our children Guy and Bella and of any other friends who happen innocently to drop by: the char-blackened peppers will go into plastics bags to facilitate peeling, then we'll strip off the skins by hand (there is no other way and little fingers are often the most nimble), seed the peppers, cut them into strips, then add to a large cooking pot together with copious amounts of olive oil and whole cloves of garlic. Thus stewed, we'll pack them into sterile jars and stash them away for the winter, pulling them out to enjoy in evenings around the fire together with roasted shoulders of lamb and not young but aged Reserva and Gran Reserva wines from favourite traditional producers like La Rioja Alta and R. Lopéz de Heredia.

←

I did several jars, more or less like this, this weekend. Lacking the gumption (or the romance of good company) to go get a charcoal fire burning during a driving rain, I settled for roasting the peppers until quite limp and somewhat charred in a 450*F oven, then peeling and deseeding them and cutting into, oh, quarters or eighths. Those pieces and most of their juices went into a pot with olive oil to cover, the whole lot was heated to a simmer (but not to smoking), and then packed into sterilized jars with more olive oil added as necessary to cover the peppers. I did not add garlic, salt or acid. I did not process the cans in a hot water bath. They did seem to seal.

My question is, do these jars still need to go into a refrigerator or freezer, or can I trust them as is for some months? Up to a year? Will anything grow in that? Need I worry about botulism, for instance?

The remaining peppers will no doubt become dip or be blistered and frozen, as time permits.

[Adam Balic]

Combine them with a few hot chillies, blend well add back some diced peppers and an equal weight of pectin sugar and white wine vinegar to 1/2 the weight. Boil until gelled. Great with boiled meats or roast pork or duck or...

[Marco_Polo]

I do have a technical question about canning the roasted peppers with the oil and garlic.  Is it all heated in the pot, then cold-packed into the sterile jars? If so, heated for how long and to what temperature? Or are the jars processed in a hot-water bath?  Or is this one of those cases where nothing would grow anyway?  I'm thinking there isn't any acid in that mix you describe, so I'm wondering how long it would keep without refrigeration or freezing.

←

We've simply packed the stewed peppers into sterile jars then sealed with olive oil and kept in the refrigerator. But believe me they don't last long - we're talking days and weeks here at most, not months. If I were looking to be ultra-safe or to keep in a pantry until deepest winter (when, at the lowest point of the year - ie February- it would be wonderful to pull out a jar and remember the bounty of September), then I'd do as you say and seal the jars properly in a hot water bath.

Incidentally, we just returned from a weekend in the wine hills of Barolo. For lunch last Sunday at a winemaker friend's house, we enjoyed the most magnificent peppers - pepperoni di Cuneo - massive, dense, heavy red and yellow peppers purchased in the Saturday market of Alba. These had first been roasted over a wood fire and peeled, then slowly stewed. The strips were served dressed with pungent bagna cauda - made from slowing stewing salted anchovies with lashings of garlic and olive oil to make a dense and flavourful paste (the secret here, says Mario's mother, is first to blanch the garlic in vinegar to make it less harsh).

Bagna cauda also makes a great dip for fresh strips of pepper and other crunchy vegetables such as fennel, carrots, celery and cardi (a deliciously bitter edible thistle).

MP

[John S.]

Thank you very much, folks!  Those are great ideas, and suddenly I wonder whether I have enough peppers after all!  That pasta sauce will have to happen sometime in the next week, I think.

Marco Polo, your descriptions are wonderful and evocative.  I do have a technical question about canning the roasted peppers with the oil and garlic.  Is it all heated in the pot, then cold-packed into the sterile jars? If so, heated for how long and to what temperature? Or are the jars processed in a hot-water bath?  Or is this one of those cases where nothing would grow anyway?  I'm thinking there isn't any acid in that mix you describe, so I'm wondering how long it would keep without refrigeration or freezing.

(Hoists a glass of Rioja) Here's to you all, with your fine ideas.

←

Marco is right about the hot water bath. A pressure canner would be even better. Peppers have much too high a pH. If you don't add vinegar or lime juice, (there are some good recipes for salsas with enough of these to keep the final product safe without heating) then they need to be frozen.

Marco, those peppers you found on your trip sound great. This is the perfect time of year.

For those interested here are links to the four sections of a great book about what to do with all of your peppers at harvest time. Some very good ideas in here. It's written about chiles, but bells can be treated the same (without any heat of course).

http://www.fiery-foods.com/dave/fresh_chiles.asp

http://www.fiery-foods.com/dave/drying.asp

http://www.fiery-foods.com/dave/canning.asp

http://www.fiery-foods.com/dave/pickle.html

John S.

[sazji]

Here they make both a hot and a sweet red pepper paste. Think tomato paste, but with peppers. They first roast them and remove the skins, then grind and boil them down. The ones in the stores are not very salty and are thinner but don't keep well; the one they make in the villages are quite salty, very thick, and keep for ages in the fridge. I have become addicted to pepper paste; it's a wonderful way to add a strong pepper flavor to a dish or a sauce.

[gourmande]

Here they make both a hot and a sweet red pepper paste.  Think tomato paste, but with peppers.  They first roast them and remove the skins, then grind and boil them down. ...

I'm liking this already! Any more hints/suggestions on the preserving side besides just packing in salt and oil?

(Our market is overflowing with peppers right now... but I'm reluctant to indulge unless I have a safe, quick and easy way to preserve them)