Cast Iron Skillet Roasted Frying Peppers

I tried a more hands off approach to cooking up a bunch of frying peppers by roasting them in a cast iron skillet and found that I like the end result even better. 

Mehmet's Turkish Sweet

About 1 1/2 pounds frying peppers (Mehmet's Turkish Sweet)

Olive oil

Salt

About 1 tablespoon salt packed Capers, rinsed

3 cloves Garlic

About 1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves

2 anchovy filets

Preheat a 12-inch cast iron skillet in a 350ºF oven. If the peppers are quite young you can leave them whole. For more mature peppers with hard seeds you may want to remove the stems, cut them in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. 

Chop the capers and put them in a small bowl. Chop the garlic and parsley leaves separately and then chop them together and then add them to the capers. Mince the anchovy filets and add them to the caper mixture. Thoroughly blend together the caper, garlic, parsley and anchovy mixture with a bit of olive oil. Set aside.

Toss the peppers with enough olive oil to coat them and salt to taste. Add them to the preheated skillet and roast for 30 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes or so. After 30 minutes add the caper mixture to the peppers and toss to combine. Continue roasting the peppers for another 15 minutes, tossing once or twice. 

Serve hot.

Makes about 4 servings as a side dish.

Lettuce Gazpacho

A surfeit of lettuce and extra warm weather inspired this refreshing mash up. It also proved to be an opportunity to raid my stash of dehydrated vegetables from last year. I've noted the varieties of veggies that I used for my own info only. I'm not sure if it is the lettuce or using dried peppers and tomatoes, but the soup has a nice texture and doesn't need something like bread to give it body.

For the soup:
1 ounce dried sweet red peppers (a mix of varieties)
1 ounce dried tomatoes (Pomme d'Amour)
16 ounces cold water
1 small sweet yellow onion (Yellow Granex), coarsely chopped, about 3.5 ounces after cleaning and chopping
2 anchovy filets
2 tablespoons salt preserved capers, no need to rinse
8+ ounces of fresh crisphead lettuce (Joker), washed but not thoroughly dried, torn into pieces
2 to 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 to 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 to 2 teaspoons sugar
1/3 cup extra virgin olive, a mild one that isn't peppery is good (California Olive Ranch)
1 to 2 cups ice water

For the garnish:
1 small avocado, diced
About 1/2 cup each diced fresh sweet red pepper, tomato, and cucumber
Fresh basil leaves, slivered
Extra virgin olive oil as needed
Small cooked cold shrimp

Soak the dried peppers and tomatoes in 16 ounces of water overnight in the refrigerator.

Drain the peppers and tomatoes, reserving the soaking water. Combine the peppers, tomatoes, onion, anchovy filets, and capers in a large blender (I use a VitaMix). Blend until coarsely chopped, drizzling in the reserved soaking water to help things along. Add the torn lettuce a few pieces at a time and blend until all the lettuce is incorporated. Blend in a couple of tablespoons of red wine vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and a teaspoon of sugar. Slowly blend in the olive oil and then a cup of ice water. Taste the soup for seasoning and add more vinegar, salt and sugar to taste (I adjusted to the full amounts noted in the ingredients). Blend at a high speed, but not the highest until the soup is very smooth. Strain through a fine strainer pressing on the solids (shouldn't be much, mostly tomato seeds) to extract most of the liquid. Add more ice water if the soup is too thick. Chill thoroughly.

Mix all of the garnish ingredients except the shrimp adding enough olive oil to moisten the mix. Chill. To serve pour some soup into a chilled bowl or cup, add a few spoonfuls of the garnish and top with a few shrimp.

Makes about 1 3/4 quarts without the garnish.

Green Chile Pudding Soufflés

I used a recipe for sweet corn pudding soufflés as a template for this preparation. This was a great way to use up a package of the frozen roasted Sonora Anaheim chile peppers from my garden. One thing that is really convenient about pudding souffles as opposed to regular poofy souffles is that most of the preparation can be done in advance. The pudding soufflés are baked twice, the first baking can be done hours in advance of serving them. For the final bake the puddings are removed from the ramekins that they were baked in, placed on a baking sheet or oven proof serving dish, then baked with some cream until they are warm and puffy. These make a great first course or a vegetarian main dish. We enjoyed them as a main dish accompanied by a green salad.

About 14 oz. roasted peeled seeded green Anaheim peppers, chopped
2 cups whole milk
6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons Oaxacan Green cornmeal, or use 4 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoon Oregano Indio, or dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, separated
2 1/2 ounces Mount Toro Tomme, finely grated, an aged dry Jack would be a good substitute
1/2 cup heavy cream or Crème fraiche
Smoked paprika

Blend half of the peppers with half of the milk in a blender or with a wand blender to make a smooth puree. Blend in the rest of the milk.

Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large saucepan, add the cornmeal and stir to mix, Allow to cook gently for a few minutes until the cornmeal becomes fragrant. Whisk in the pepper mixture until blended and smooth. Bring to a simmer. Allow the mixture to cook gently, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes, until thickened. Season with the oregano, cumin, and salt.

Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining butter. Stir in the egg yolks one at a time. Stir in the cheese and stir until the cheese has melted. Stir in the remaining chopped peppers. Transfer to a large bowl and allow the soufflé base to cool a bit.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Butter 7 or 8 ramekins, be sure to get the rims, and place them in a baking dish.

Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks and gently fold them into the soufflé base. Ladle the mixture into the ramekins, filling them to the rims. Pour in enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Place the dish with the ramekins in the oven. The little soufflés should take about 30 minutes to cook, but check after 20 minutes in case there are hotspots in your oven. When done, the soufflés should be puffed up and brown on top. Immediately remove them from the oven, take them out of the water bath, and allow them to cool. The soufflés will fall. They can be made up to this point several hours in advance of serving.

Ten minutes before the soufflés are to be served, turn them out of the ramekins and place them, right side up, in individual gratin dishes that have been smeared with a spoonful of crème fraiche or use one large baking dish. Top each soufflé with another spoonful of crème fraiche. Put the baking dishes in the oven for about 8 minutes, or until the cream is bubbling slightly and the soufflés have swelled up. Remove the soufflés from the oven. If they've been baked on one large dish place each one on a warm serving plate and pour the cream from the baking dish over the soufflés. Shake some smoked paprika over all and serve immediately. 

Note: The soufflés were looking close to finished at 20 minutes but were still quite jiggly. They continued to puff up over the next 10 minutes. At 30 minutes they were still somewhat jiggly but quite brown on top. Perhaps I'll cover them with a sheet of aluminum foil for the last 10 minutes the next time I try the recipe, either that or reduce the oven temperature to 375ºF. They seemed to be baked enough though and once cooled they came out of the ramekins fairly easily, I scooped out the little bit of souffle that stuck to the bottom and placed in the gratin dish and plopped the souffle on top.  It came out great.

20 minutes

25 minutes

30 minutes

The corn soufflé recipe called for 6 ramekins of an unspecified size. I guess my ramekins were too small, I had to enlist a 7th one of a different shape and still had a spoonful of mixture left. My ramekins hold 7 ounces when filled to the rim, that other one holds a bit more and it has a rim with an outward curving lip which made for a different shaped top. I like the effect with the straight rim. Next time I'll probably make eight slightly smaller souffles with the straight sided ramekins.

Grilled Peppers with Tuna and Egg

This is my adaptation of a recipe from Penelope Casas' book La Cocina De Mama. It's good with any sweet pepper that roasts well. I like to use a mix of red and yellow peppers and some times I add sliced fresh tomatoes to the salad.

6 medium red bell peppers or other thick fleshed sweet peppers, blackened, peeled, and seeded
Coarse sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons flaked tuna, preferably olive oil packed (I like Ortiz Bonito del Norte in jars)
1 large hard boiled egg, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
12 olives, pitted or not, green or black or a mix

Slice the peppers in long narrow strips. Arrange in a single layer on a platter. Season well with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the tuna and egg over the peppers and drizzle with the oil and vinegar. Taste for salt. Scatter with the olives and let sit for at least 30 minutes at room temperature before serving.

Red Pepper and Hazelnut Sauce (Romesco)

Romesco sauce is a fabulous accompaniment to nearly anything off the grill - meat, fish, poultry, or vegetables. The sauce is also great on pasta or slathered in a sandwich. It makes a great dip too.

1 1/2 cups (12 oz.) roasted red peppers (jarred or frozen work well)
1/4 cup hazelnuts, roasted and skinned
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon fresh marjoram or Italian oregano
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes or hot paprika to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, use part hazelnut oil for extra nutty flavor

Process all the ingredients except the oil in a food processor or blender until the hazelnuts are finely ground. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides. With the machine running, pour in the olive oil in a steady stream. The sauce should have the consistency of thick salad dressing. Taste and add more salt if desired. The sauce stores well in the refrigerator but will thicken when cold. Bring it to room temperature before serving or warm the sauce gently by stirring it in a stainless-steel bowl set over simmering water. Don't overheat the sauce or the oil will separate.

Makes about 2 1/4 cups.

Baked Tomatoes with a Crispy Sweet Pepper Breadcrumb Topping

Feel free to leave out the dried sweet peppers. I used to make this dish with a pinch of dried chile pepper flakes, but one time when I was making the crumbs I had a few newly dried sweet peppers sitting out and I threw those in instead of the spicy peppers and now I prefer the sweet pepper flavor in the crumbs. Maybe next time I'll add the spicy peppers as well. The last time I made these baked tomatoes I added the drizzle of pomegranate molasses for the first time and my husband remarked that the tomatoes seemed to be especially flavorful so I think that it may become a regular addition to the dish.

4 medium to large ripe but firm tomatoes of any color (beefsteak tomatoes are excellent)
Pomegranate molasses (unsweetened syrup), optional
4 thick slices of stale rustic bread
2 cloves garlic, minced
fresh or dried herbs of your choice, such as fresh basil, thyme or tarragon, dried oregano, a couple tablespoons of fresh or a teaspoon or 2 of dried, chopped or crumbled
1 or 2 dried sweet peppers without seeds, such as Sigaretta Dolce, Jimmy Nardello, or Melrose, broken into a few pieces
a pinch of hot pepper flakes (optional)
salt and freshly ground pepper
extra virgin olive oil


Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Remove the stems and cores from the tomatoes and cut them in half horizontally. Arrange the tomato halves in a baking dish that will hold them all without crowding them, I like to use one of my terra cotta cazuelas. Season them with salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle a bit of pomegranate molasses on each slice for a bit of additional tanginess.

Cut the bread into chunks and grind it in a blender to make coarse crumbs. Add the garlic and herbs and blend in. Add the dried peppers and blend just until the peppers are finely chopped and mixed in but not ground into a powder.

Mound some of the breadcrumb mixture onto the top of each tomato half using all the crumbs, don't worry about crumbs that fall into the dish. Drizzle olive oil over each mound of crumbs to thoroughly moisten them and drizzle a bit into the baking dish as well.

Bake for about 30 minutes, more or less depending on the size and ripeness of the tomatoes, they should hold their shape when they are done and the breadcrumbs should be crisp. Serve immediately.

Tomato Gazpacho

This is my own version of tomato gazpacho that I've come up with after adjusting and refining various versions. Some versions are thickened with bread and I find that I prefer breadless versions. Other recipes make a rather piquant soup with lots of vinegar and I prefer mine more mellow so I use a sweeter vinegar and less of it. I also like less bite from alliums so I use sweet onions and no garlic. This gazpacho is all about the vegetables. I also discovered that it's a great way to use up the tomatoes that I threw into the freezer whole at the end of the season when I was sick and tired of dealing with tomatoes or just didn't have time to deal with them before they went bad. Just run the frozen tomatoes under warm water which will loosen the skins, peel them and cut them into chunks, the frozen tomatoes are surprisingly easy to cut through. Puree the vegetables without thawing out the tomatoes and the soup will be cold enough to eat right away.

1 1/2 lb. fresh tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped (whole frozen tomatoes work well also)
1 large cucumber, about 8 oz., peeled and coarsely chopped
1 large sweet red pepper, about 8 oz., cores and seeds removed, coarsely chopped
1/2 large sweet onion, about 6 oz. coarsely chopped
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tbs moscato or late harvest sauvignon blanc wine vinegar
1 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
fresh ground black pepper

Garnish:
about 3 oz. each finely chopped cucumber and sweet red and/or green pepper
about 8 ounces finely chopped tomatoes, add some quartered cherry tomatoes to the mix
diced avocado (optional)
fried bread cubes (optional)
extra virgin olive oil for drizzling


Combine the chopped tomatoes, cucumber, sweet pepper, and sweet onion in a large bowl, stir to combine. Blend the chopped vegetables in batches with the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper until quite smooth. Strain into a large bowl and refrigerate.

Mix the finely chopped cucumber, sweet pepper, and tomatoes together and refrigerate.

Taste the chilled soup and adjust the seasonings if needed to your preference. You can mix in the vegetable garnish and serve the soup with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil or serve the soup with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil with the garnishes on the side to be added as desired by the diners.

Makes about 4 to 6 servings.

Queso Fundido

This is a hybrid of recipes that I culled from books and online that suited what I had on hand last night. Basically, it seems that you can just melt cheese in your favorite version of Tomatillo sauce. There were various recommendations for cheeses to use such as white cheddar, Manchego, mozzarella, goat, or more authentic Mexican cheeses such as Oaxaca or Chihuahua (don't know anything about those). Optional ingredients are sauteed chorizo sausage or fire roasted strips of poblano chiles. I decided to roast some of my glut of Pimento de Padron peppers and include those. Here's what I came up with and it was delicious, you take it from here....

1/4 cup raw pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)
1 thick slice of sweet onion such as Walla Walla
3 cloves garlic, not peeled
1/2 pound tomatillos, husks removed and rinsed to remove stickiness
olive oil, about a tablespoon
5 ounces soft goat cheese, crumbled
1 large ball of buffalo mozzarella (8 oz?), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
12 roasted Pimento de Padron peppers, stems and caps removed (optional)


Preheat the oven to 400F.

Toast the pepitas in a dry skillet until lightly browned and they stop popping. Remove from the skillet and let cool.

Brush the onion slice, garlic cloves, and tomatillos (I cut the giants in half) with olive oil and place on a baking sheet. Roast in the oven 12 to 15 minutes until softened and the tomatillos are starting to release their juices. Peel the garlic cloves. Puree the vegetables along with the toasted pepitas in a blender until smooth. Add salt to taste.

Smear a shallow baking dish with a little bit of olive oil. I used a 10-inch terra cotta cazuela that I preheated over a low flame on the stove. Pour the warm sauce into the baking dish, scatter the cheeses evenly into the sauce, top with the peppers if using. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the cheeses are just runny.

Serve immediately with warm flour tortillas or tortilla chips, be prepared with plenty of napkins for a cheesey gooey mess.

My husband and I managed to devour most of this all by our porky selves... but it should be enough to serve 4 people as an appetizer.