Vegetables can be a matter of perspective. On the original Iron Chef, not the Alton-Brown-narrated Iron Chef America, fish heads received the biggest accolades from the Japanese judges when it was revealed that they were a secret ingredient.
The ingredient they were least excited about? Bell peppers. The lesson here is that you better learn like to peppers because you could be eating fish heads instead.
Bell peppers come in a wide variety of colors -- green, red, yellow, orange, purple, brown and black. Choose peppers with vivid colors that are uniform in texture. Avoid ones with soft spots or bruises and look to see that the stem is still green and not withered. If you're looking for hot or chile peppers, you want one with a shiny and firm skin. Smooth, straight sides will be easier to peel if you're roasting them.
Peppers will keep about a week in your vegetable crisper or a Ziploc bag inside the fridge. As long as they're not soft, you're fine. If you're only using half a pepper, start from the bottom, not the top. It will retain moisture longer.
The simplest (and sometimes best) way to prepare sweet peppers is to roast or grill them.
After that they can be anything from sandwich fillers to pasta toppings.
Roasted peppers can also be stored in oil or the freezer for use later.
As long as you've roasted the peppers, you should try making roasted red pepper hummus.
This is the kind of party food that will make people want to stay for
dinner. Roasted peppers also are nice in
dressings -- the right compliment to a steak salad.
Peppers and onions are a good combo -- ever smelled the sausage cart
outside the Power & Light District? And those are the two main
ingredients in black pepper chicken, a 30-minute meal that will bring some Asian flavors to your kitchen.
Peppers also make outstanding vessels for everything from beef to other vegetables. There are dozens of stuffed pepper recipes,
but the classic is essentially a meatball mix inside a cored-out pepper
with ground beef, rice and tomato sauce. This is what you serve to picky
eaters.
[Image via Flickr: rene ehrhardt]
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