By Sidonie Maroon, Culinary educator for The Food Co-op

On Saturdays, our neighborhood gang would head down to VanWay’s market to buy candy. They’d head for the Gobstoppers and Hot Zotzs, but I’d always meander into produce and buy a green pepper. I wasn’t health conscious, but the crisp crunch was more appealing.

At thirteen, as a summer usher at The Britt Music Festival in my hometown of Jacksonville, Oregon, our neighbor, a jazz pianist, brought Count Basie and Dave Brubeck in for a concert. The music was splendid, but it was at the reception that I had a sea change. Standing at the long table filled with fancy hors d’oeuvre, the likes of which I’d never encountered, I picked up a red vegetable cut into a stick and tasted it. It was sweet, like candy and crunchy, but I couldn’t place the flavor, a completely unfamiliar taste but so magic. Only much later did I realize that green peppers, if allowed to ripen, turn red.

Since then, my favorite treat is always the biggest sweet red pepper I can find. This time of year I pay homage to them, the long Italians, pimentos, cherries and bells in all their range of colors. Did you know we can grow ripe sweet peppers here, with some forethought and protection? There are wonderful varieties suited for our climate, like Carmen, a sweet and productive red Italian pepper, and Jimmy Nardello, a super sweet frying pepper, which is a favorite of both cooks and gardeners. 

Besides eating sweet peppers raw, and adding them to every imaginable dish, I like to make pastes, refrigerator pickles and roasted spreads.

Pastes

This is a popular and seasonal way to preserve a bounty of peppers in the Mediterranean, but you can still enjoy the heightened flavors using three large sweet red peppers, one small hot pepper, ½ teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of olive oil. Chop the peppers and roast until soft and sweet, about 30 minutes at 425 F, or another simple approach is to use an air fryer at 400F for 5-7 minutes. Puree the peppers with a little liquid or more olive oil and add apple cider vinegar to taste. Refrigerate and use within a few days. 

Refrigerator Pickles

Small batch refrigerator pickles are easy to make without the time or equipment involved in canning, and fabulous to pull out and share. All you need to make a couple of quarts is two pounds of sweet peppers, with a few mildly hot ones added, herbs and spices like garlic, basil, parsley, bay and peppercorns. Tuck these into your jars, with three cups of water, one and a half cups raw apple cider vinegar, and two and a half teaspoons fine grained sea salt. Store in the fridge with a non-reactive lid and allow them to develop for a week.

Book Recommendations

The Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich

This is definitely my favorite pickling book, because she knows her pickles. The diversity of methods, ethnic varieties, and types of produce used in her recipes is fabulous. 

The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean by Paula Wolfert is on my top ten list, and there’s a section in the back detailing red pepper pastes.

Red Pepper Spread with Walnuts and Pomegranate

Muhammara  

Makes 3 cups

Ingredients

3 pounds sweet red peppers, cut into a medium dice

2 mildly hot red chilies, like Anaheim, topped, seeded and cut into a medium dice

6 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste

1 teaspoon cumin seed, toasted and ground

1 ½ cups walnuts, toasted and chopped

3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses, or to taste

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Water as needed 

Directions

1)   Preheat the oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Gather and prepare all ingredients. In a small heavy-bottomed skillet, toast the cumin over a low heat until fragrant and then grind in a spice or coffee grinder.

2)   Mix the peppers and garlic together on the baking sheet with the olive oil, cumin and salt. Roast on a middle rack for 20 minutes. With a spatula, mix the vegetables and bring the bottom parts to the top. Return to the oven and continue to cook for another 15 to 20 minutes or until soft and sweet with some crisping edges.

3)   Using a food processor, pulse the roasted veggies with the walnuts, pomegranate molasses and lemon juice. The spread should be chunky-smooth, but add a little water if needed. Taste and correct the flavors with more pomegranate molasses, toasted cumin, lemon or salt as needed. Serve at room temperature. Best if given a day to develop its flavors.

Sweet Pepper Quick Pickle

Makes 2 quarts

Flavored with basil, bay, parsley and black pepper, this makes a refreshing pickle to pull out for snacks, salads and sandwiches. 

Ingredients

2 pounds sweet bell peppers, yellow and red

4 parsley stems with leaves

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 cup whole basil leaves

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

3 cups water

1 ½ cups raw apple cider vinegar

2 ½ teaspoons fine grained sea salt

Directions

1. Divide the peppers, parsley, garlic and basil between two quart mason jars.

2. Combine the water, vinegar and salt into a brine. Pour the brine over the vegetables, seal with a nonreactive cap, and refrigerate. The pickles will be ready in about eight days. Refrigerated, they will keep for up to 8 weeks.

Air Fryer Quick Red Pepper Paste

Makes ½ cup

Try this with eggs, on toast, or by the spoonful.

Ingredients

3 large red bell peppers, seeded and diced

1 small hot pepper, seeded and diced

½  teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons olive oil

Apple cider vinegar and a pinch of sugar to taste

Directions

Combine the peppers, wearing gloves when working with hot peppers, and rub in the olive oil and salt. Roast the peppers in the air fryer at 390 F for 5 to 7 minutes, checking and shaking or stirring halfway through. Don’t overcrowd the fryer and work in batches as necessary.

You can also use a conventional oven, use 1 tablespoon of olive oil, lay the peppers on a parchment lined baking sheet and roast at 425 F for about 30 minutes. Start checking and stirring for 15 minutes.

In a food processor, reduce the peppers to a paste, adding apple cider vinegar, 1 teaspoon at a time, with pinches of sugar and enough olive oil to bring it together.

Use within a few days, or freeze.