Got some peppers, what to do

Seems like anybody who grows a garden ends up planting some of those waxy long light green peppers, which always grow in great quantities whether or not you actually have a need for that many. David Hammond did, and I am the recent beneficiary of several.

I'm going to make a pico de gallo-ish salsa, but anybody have any other brilliant suggestion, or a particularly good salsa recipe, or anything?

If they're the big waxy long green peppers (anaheim), I slit them open and stuff them with cheese and/or pulled pork (or whatever else catches your fancy), then put them on the smoker for an hour or so.

If they *are* Anaheims, it's worthwhile to char and freeze them: they can make an awfully nice addition to anything vaguely New/Old Mexican that way.

Geo
edited once by Geo

OTOH, if they are the cubanelle variety, they are unmatched as the pepper portion of gazpacho, as my Spanish friend showed me last summer. Might work with Anaheims, too.

I like to clean, slice and saute them in olive oil and garlic

Mhays, that's a neat use for cubanelle-type peppers (along with frying them, as choppcs notes), I'll have to try that. My fave of this type of pepper is the Gypsy, which is a great producer of lovely fruit which changes from light yellow to orange to red during ripening. I prefer to use it when orange.

Geo

Another thing to do with all of these types of peppers is to simply grill them along with some knob onions and serve atop (or next to) some grilled skirt steak.

Melrose peppers. This is actually the name for a variety of pepper developed in Melrose Park, but it's also used for a typical use, which is stuffed with Italian sausage and cheese, pan fried and topped with red sauce.

They do a very good version of this at 200 East in the Seneca Hotel.

200 East Supper Club
200 E. Chestnut St., Chicago
(312) 266-4500
http://www.200eastchestnut.com

LAZ, tnx sooo much for that seed catalogue cite! They've got some peppers I've never seen before... And it's nice to see that Aconcagua is still available. I used to grow it before I stumbled across Gypsy. Tasty pepper, but not nearly so productive as Gypsy.

Geo

PS. Here's another good pepper source, a small company up here in Quebec. http://solanaseeds.netfirms.com/sweetpeppers.html

stevez wrote:If they're the big waxy long green peppers (anaheim), I slit them open and stuff them with cheese and/or pulled pork (or whatever else catches your fancy), then put them on the smoker for an hour or so.

Along these lines, I like to stuff them with Oaxaca cheese, wrap them in bacon, secure with toothpicks, and throw them on the grill.

So Mike, what did you wind up doing?

I usually use poblanos for this, but any pepper should work okay, so far as it's not too spicy. I'd just make a roasted pepper-and-corn chowder-type dish. Roast peppers, skin. Fry onions and garlic in a pot (you can also roast these if you want). Add stock and chopped up roasted peppers. Add corn (frozen is fine.) Cook for 30-45 minutes. Blend. Press through sieve. Depending on the resultant thickness of the soup, either add straight cream, or a slurry of cream and flour or masa harina. I also like to add a tiny pinch of freshly grated nutmeg. Now, I don't like completely smooth baby-food type soups, so to this smooth, sieved soup, I add either more corn or a bag of frozen "Southwestern mix" vegetables (corn, onion, green and red peppers). Salt and pepper to taste. I garnish with cilantro and sometimes a toritalla chip with melted quesadilla cheese.

You can riff on this basic idea lots of different ways, but that's how I usually do it.

LAZ wrote:Melrose peppers. This is actually the name for a variety of pepper developed in Melrose Park

That is the coolest piece of pepper trivia I've heard in a long time. I'm a big fan of Melrose Park (see: Taste of) and I've got four bushes of Melrose peppers. I did give MikeG some Melrose peppers, as well as a Hungarian "hot" and, as I recall, a poblano or two.

I just had a Melrose pepper sandwich, which was quite good: just pan-fried peppers on crusty Italian bread. Unlike sweet bell peppers, the Melrose variety is thinner and appears to contain less water and, thus, more concentrated flavor (or so it seems to me).

HI,

I bought three pounds of those small less-than-golf-ball-sized peppers.

At least half of them were stuffed with fresh bratwurst sausage mixed with eggs and uncooked rice, then cooked on the stove in a flavorful tomato sauce.

It took a little while to find a technique for stuffing these peppers. I found by clipping off the top, then I used the peppers to scoop in the filling. Sure some filling fell out during cooking, though most stayed intact.

These peppers cook quickly, which is exactly why I used them. I like the process of cooking, though I want to add the least amount of heat during the summer period.

The remaining peppers will go to pepper and egg sandwiches plus some salads.

Regards,
Cathy2

Had about a dozen peppers from my CSA - some green/bell, some poblanos. Rather than trying to find room for them in the fridge, I immediately roasted them under the broiler, then skinned and seeded them. From there, in a large saute pan with a teaspoon of olive oil, I seared a ~1-pound link of spicy Italian sausage until it was brown on both sides, then removed it from the pan and set it aside.

Added a touch of olive oil to the sausage renderings in the saute and threw in 6 cloves of finely minced garlic. Once it started to brown, I added the roasted peppers (cut into ~2-inch pieces), a bit of red wine vinegar, some red wine and some oregano. Let that all bubble up and reduce a bit, then cut the sausage link into 6 large pieces and put them back in the pan. Let it all cook over low heat, partially covered, until the liquid was mostly gone and the sausage was 155 F.

Sausage & Peppers . . . yum!

=R=

Got some melrose peppers at our local Pete's. Used them in a Bittman "green chile stir fry" recipe. Turned out pretty darn good. A whole jalapeño in there for some heat.

Cathy2 wrote:At least half of them were stuffed with fresh bratwurst sausage mixed with eggs and uncooked rice, then cooked on the stove in a flavorful tomato sauce.

Sounds good, Cathy. What kind of rice? How long do you have to cook the peppers for the rice to be done? Do you cover them?

bobbywal wrote:Got some melrose peppers at our local Pete's. Used them in a Bittman "green chile stir fry" recipe. Turned out pretty darn good. A whole jalapeño in there for some heat.

Is that chicken, shrimp or both? Looks good.

=R=

They are starting to roll now. I make many things with them. Including hot sauce in later Sept when all of the hot varieties are red or Orange in color. Man, the Jalapeno's fresh off the vine sure have a lot more punch than the commercial varieties. Made salsa last weekend with all fresh ingredients from the farm market. Had a little more punch than expected.

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food ... mara-10982

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/201 ... ecipe.html

Ahhh, Ajvar. I make it when I make Cevapcici. Good combination.

ronnie_suburban wrote:Is that chicken, shrimp or both? Looks good.

=R=

Chicken thigh. I'll give it a go with some Hatch chiles if/when I get my hands on some soon.

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:At least half of them were stuffed with fresh bratwurst sausage mixed with eggs and uncooked rice, then cooked on the stove in a flavorful tomato sauce.

Sounds good, Cathy. What kind of rice? How long do you have to cook the peppers for the rice to be done? Do you cover them?
=R=

Covered pot on the stove for perhaps 45 minutes. I really wasn't standing over it. I went back from time to time when it needed a stir. After a while I took a piece out to sample for doneness.

I either used Arborio or glutinous sweet rice I keep for making rice wine. Regular long grain rice of any type was not in the house.

Regards,
Cathy2