Last night’s bounty of red peppers - Red Pepper Paste. At least that's what I call it. After the peppers are peeled I put them in the a big bowl of the lemon, vinegar, oil and salt mix and stir them around a bit to get them well coated, then throw them in the blender and puree them. The peppers get just enough of the liquid to help preserve them but not enough to change the wonderful red pepper sweetness.
This all gets used to made soups like red pepper and onion or red pepper and butternut or anything else I have on hand or a few spoons full go into sauces like spaghetti sauce or chili to add a natural sweetness that people love but without adding sugar. Also makes a nice additive to BBQ sauce, hot sauce, salad dressing or even salsa. Use it like a spice it all your foods you'll like it.
There are several cultures that take this one step further and dehydrate it in the sun and make a real dry paste adding spices to make too hot. You'll find this alot in Korean, Ethiopian, Portuguese, Turkish and Thai cooking. I don't do this. I have found it is better for me to leave it plain then I can do whatever I want with it later without be restricted by a predetermined flavor profile. You can always reduce the liquid in a skillet with whatever spices you need as you need it if you choose to.
Here are a few more pictures to help make it clearer what I am doing. It’s really simple just a bit time consuming.
Here are the peppers I canned tonight – 2 coolers full I think it was 59 peppers. I forgot there were 4 more in the fridge I couldn’t fit in the coolers – oh well. I’ll get them tonight with the next batch!
Put them under the broiler, or on your grill turning them so they burn on all sides. If you are doing just a few the flame on the stove top works well but I am doing too many to do that right now.
Don’t be afraid when they char and blister that is what you want. It gets the skin to come away from the peppers so it practically falls off. This is what they look like when they are done. They are very hot so dip your fingers in cold water before touching them are let them cool a bit before touching them. They peel best hot.
The skins will practically fall off by themselves
I just grabbed the skin front h pointed end and see how it pulled right off? I like the separate the peppers into their natural sections kind of like oranges. Most will have 4 or 5 sections depending on how many bumps are on the bottom. Just peel the skin off and wipe away the seeds. I also like to wipe off the white vein as it is bitter in comparison to the fleshy part.
This is what the first cooler looked like when it was done, a nice big bowl of cleaned red peppers.
And this is the end result – 8 pints and 6 ½ pints of red pepper paste. Mmmmmm!
I think you'll find this a great addition to your pantry!
