Help!!! Hot Pepper Overload!!!

Okay, we planted a few peppers in pots on the back deck and seems everything has ripened up at the same time.

My guess I now have:
40 Habaneros
50 Cayennes
20 Hot Red Cherry
15 Hot Banana Pepper

Other than give away, anyone have any good recipes to use these things up? WOuld be nice to pickle the banana and red cherries. Maybe hot sauce from habs and cayennes?

Jamie

I was thinking harissa, or a variation thereof - but I'm not coming up with any recipes that look trustworthy...

A thin-walled chile like the habanero, or the bananas and cayennes, will freeze pretty well, so long as you're not expecting a crisp texture afterward.
Roasted chiles will also freeze well, as a fair amount of the water leaves, and, well, you've already dropped the crispy requirement.

The cayennes should dry well: crumbled or ground they're useful in a lot of places.

I've used a few of these recipes before and they are all delicious. Play with them and the variety of pepper and you'll find some good combinations.

The Hot Smoke Finishing Sauce is amazing!

I echo what Joel sez. Peppers are some of the easiest things to dry--basically do nothing. They cayenne's will give nice local heat all winter. I love roasting and marinating hot banana peppers. In fact as I type, I have a batch sweating, getting ready to be peeled.

I roast on the gas burner top. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Sweat. Peel. Douse with vinegar, I think white wine works best, maybe some thinnly slice garlic. Let marinate at least a few hours before serving. Right before serving, give a splash of olive oil.

Assuming you actually like to eat hot peppers, it sounds like you have a perfect start to making a batch of either:
"gardinara"
or
giardiniera

I would wholeheartedly recommend you making a batch if you enjoy the storebought stuff. I will never buy that stuff again. Save a few (a good handfull) for making your own hot sauce as well. I'm still awaiting my peppers to come in so I can make my stuff this year. I am envying you a little bit - sounds like you had a good crop!

Back when we were lucky enough to have a garden, we were also lucky enough to have a bounty of wonderful hot peppers. We made many tasty hot sauces in unbelievably bright colors.

My favorite dish for banana peppers is to cook them with hot Italian sausage and onions, and make a wonderful red sauce to pour over pasta. I also enjoy banana peppers sliced on a turkey sandwich with a little mustard.

Bottom line, though - - we had more peppers than we could use, so we dried them on a low temp in the oven. We're still enjoying last year's bounty this summer. Sure, the peppers may not be as potent. But, when you have a ton of them, it's not hard to adjust.

REB wrote: We're still enjoying last year's bounty this summer.

Yep. Once dried, they'll last a long time and are great to grind up and add to spice mixes and rubs.

The aforementioned bounty:

I sometimes make piri piri when my window sills produce too many peppers. I found several recipes on Google. One that I like at:

http://www.gumbopages.com/food/piripiri.html