The underdog of my crisper drawer becomes a champion when roasted.
Scanning through Trisha’s Table: My Feel-Good Favorites for a Balanced Life for a post we did a while back, I landed on Sausage and Peppers after skipping past the other recipes (at the time I had never had fried chicken, and I'm not entirely clear on what a chicken biscuit is).
As instructed, I cut the peppers into bite-sized pieces, snacking as I went along, and layered them into a baking dish with quartered potatoes and spicy sausage. But I didn't fully realize their potential until they came out of the oven—as soon as I took one bite of the bell peppers, charred from a high oven temperature, and cooked for over an hour, I experienced something akin to what the nostalgic critic experienced in Ratatouille. The caramelized peppers tasted sweeter than I could have imagined, and their slightly charred skin created a bitterness that meant that not only did I eat all of the peppers out of the dish, but I couldn't stop talking about them. (And here I'd been roasting broccoli every night.) Thus began, to my California boyfriend's delight, the Era of Fajitas.
Whenever we're looking for an easy dinner, I suggest fajitas made with lightly toasted tortillas, forever-roasted bell peppers, pulled chicken, and sour cream—but it's all a front. I usually end up with a plate piled with just bell peppers topped with Jane's Krazy Mixed Up Salt (which is an obsession worthy of its own post).
Serves 1 pepper and salt addict
3 to 4 red bell peppers
2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons coarse salt
Jane's Krazy Mixed Up Salt, to your heart's desire
See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.
Photo by Bobbi Lin
A New Way to Dinner, co-authored by Food52's founders Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, is an indispensable playbook for stress-free meal-planning (hint: cook foundational dishes on the weekend and mix and match ‘em through the week).
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Written by: Leslie Stephens
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13 Comments
I've even done some of the small peppers like padrons and shishitos on the grill; these are always skewered (two parallel bamboo skewers about an inch or so apart so they don't spin around).
When I am lazy, I pan fry them.
Here's someone's pic of grilled shishitos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/79353812@N05/7312012256/
I can't wait to get my hands on some of the red ones.
They're always the first thing to go on mine when the mesquite is blazing hot and I cook them until the skin is completely charred (no color left, you can only see black).
After peeling, I find they can easily last a week in an airtight glass container; sometimes I add some olive oil. They also freeze well.
The ones done over a gas stove burner or a gas grill are inferior to the ones from a wood-fired grill.
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