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Category Archives: Peppers

Shishito Peppers – Culinary Memories from Spain

15 Tuesday Jul 2014

Posted by in Appetizer, Cooking, Five Ingredient Dish, Gluten Free, Grilling, Healthy, Meatless Monday, Mystery Ingredient, Peppers, Snacks, Spain, Spanish, Vegetables, Vegetarian

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The other day, I picked up a package of shishito peppers at a local Asian supermarket. It’s somewhat amusing, because to me, padron peppers are associated with Spain. That’s where I had them for the first time, on my first trip to the country. In fact, they were part of the first meal my sister and I enjoyed in Madrid. The memory has stuck, and I have often ordered these relatively small and mild green peppers at Spanish tapas restaurants.

Back to the pack I bought. It has been sitting in my refrigerator for a bit too long. Every time I’d see the green peppers staring at me, I thought I should roast them or perhaps broil, but preheating the oven on these hot summer days is just unbearable. And so, today I cooked them in my trustworthy cast iron skillet. Boy, were they delicious!  I could almost taste Spain as I ate one, by one, finishing up almost the entire skillet.

Note: the same could be done with padron peppers.

Padron Peppers from Spain

Ingredients

1 tablespoon avocado oil
1 pack shishito peppers, 2-3 cups
coarse sea salt, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat cast iron skillet to high. Add oil and wait for it to start shimmering.
2. Add peppers to the skillet and cook, stirring often, until the skins begins to char and blister, about 5 minutes.
3. Season immediately with salt and eat (seeds and all!)

My smoke alarm went off several times as the peppers were cooking and continued to sound off after the peppers were off. You might want to open your windows and turn on the exhaust fan (fair warning!).

Enjoy 🙂

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Breakfast for Dinner: Chorizo Chicken Sausage with Peppers and Eggs

11 Monday Jul 2011

Posted by in Breakfast, Chicken, Cooking, Dinner, Eggs, Peppers, Recipe

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Good evening!  Hungry?  Let’s eat!  I was cleaning up the refrigerator today and came across a container of bell peppers that have been cored and fillet-ed (leftovers from a knife skills class I taught).  There was also half a jalapeno in the container.  To my surprise, the peppers were still fine. But to be on a safe side, I decided to cook the peppers for dinner.

What shall go with the peppers?  I had half a link of cooked chicken chorizo sausage, an onion,garlic, and eggs.  Breakfast for dinner!


Simple enough, you really don’t need a recipe for this – I have faith in you!

Be sure to saute bell peppers (I had both red and yellow), onion, jalapeno and garlic over medium heat – you want to take your time here and make sure the vegetables really soften and caramelize.

Once the vegetables are tender, add sliced chorizo chicken sausage.  Now, carefully break the eggs over the vegetable and chicken.  Lower the heat slightly, cover the pan with a lid and cook until the egg whites are set and the yolk is still runny.  Season with a little bit of pepper.

This is a gorgeous plate of quite healthy and definitely delicious dinner.  You could go with pork or turkey sausage instead of chicken.  Enjoy!

What’s your favorite Breakfast for Dinner?

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Back in the Pages of Fitness: Dinner in 20 May 2011 Issue

29 Friday Apr 2011

Posted by in Beans, Beef, Fitness, Mexican, Peppers, Recipe, recipe development, Writing/Publishing

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I was a bit worried that I might fall into “3 strikes and you are out” category!  Afterall, I have been lucky to have three of my recipes already published in Fitness Magazine (September 2010 Curried Shrimp with Mango Couscous, November 2010 Chicken Soba Bowl, and April 2011 Lemon Thyme Chicken).  Boy, was I happy to get an email from Fitness asking me to develop another recipe.  


This time, I reached down to my Texas roots and came up with with this recipe for Tex-Mex Beef Stir Fry with Avocado Salad.  Will you give it a try?



I love developing this healthy and delicious recipe that takes 20 minutes to make – no more excuses for not having enough time.  Feed your body, feed your soul – you are worth it!

Go get your copy on the newsstand.  Page 168, May 2011, Fitness Magazine.

I would love for you to try out the recipe and get your feedback!  I hope you enjoy it.
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Brunch Time – Southwestern Quiche with Cornbread Crust and Linguica

27 Wednesday Apr 2011

Posted by in Brunch, Cheese, Cooking, Eggs, Mexican, Peppers, Pork, Recipe

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Hungry for brunch?  Tired of the same old quiche, fritata, or poached eggs?  Boy (or girl!) do I have a recipe for you!  My sister and I were hosting brunch at her place in Washington DC.  We decided on potluck and promised to provide eggs and potatoes – THE staples of brunch.  I chose to do the eggs.  After some brainstorming, compromising (creative culinary back and forth), and debating, I settled on a Southwestern Quiche.  Honestly, I wasn’t sure how it was going to come out, but having developed and tested quite a few recipes, I thought this one (my original creation) was worth a try.

Southwestern Quiche with Cornbread Crust and Linguica


Ingredients
1 cornbread mix
1 large red onion, diced, divided
1 bunch cilantro, chopped, divided
1 teaspoon of sugar
dash of hot pepper mix
2 poblano peppers
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 Linguica links
6 eggs
1/2 cup milk (or Half & Half if you are feeling extra decadent)
salt and pepper to taste
8 ounces Pepper Jack cheese, shredded


Directions
1.  Pour cornbread mix into a large bowl.  Add 1/4 onion, 1/4 cilantro, teaspoon of sugar and hot pepper mix.  Follow directions on the package, adding milk and egg.  Whisk together and pour into a spring form pan.  Bake according to directions, cutting the baking time by 1/3.

 

2.  If you are lucky enough to have a gas stove, use it to roast poblano peppers.  Place the peppers directly over medium-high heat, and continue to roast until the skin is black and blistered.  Use a pair of long tongs to rotate the peppers while roasting, to ensure even cooking.  Once done, place the peppers into a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap.  Why? you might ask.  Covering the peppers with plastic will create steam inside the bowl, separating the skin of the peppers from the flesh and making them very easy to peel.  Do not rinse your peppers – along with the water, you will wash away all the delicious flavor you just worked so hard to create!  Instead, pull the skin off the peppers using a paper towel.  Seed the peppers and roughly chop.

 

3. Remove the skin from linguica links and dice into 1/4″ pieces.  Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add linguica and the rest of the red pepper.  Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often.  Add diced poblano peppers and cook for another 3-5 minutes.

 

4.  In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, milk and the remaining cilantro.

 
5.  Spread the linguica and pepper mixture over cornbread.  Slowly pour the egg mixture over.  This is where things got a bit tricky.  The spring form began to leak.  Most of the eggs got absorbed into the cornbread.  At the end, it looked like the egg mixture was completely gone and all you could see was cilantro.  What to do?  Well, use foil on the bottom of the spring form to prevent any more leaking, and cover the food with shredded cheese!

6.  Bake the quiche in a hot, preheated oven (350-375) until the egg is settled and the cheese is completely melted.

7.  Allow the quiche to set for about 15 minutes.  Right before serving, pop the quiche back into the oven under the broiler for 1-2 minutes to bubble up the cheese.  Now you are ready to eat!  

Thoughts? Comments? Concerns?  Let me know!
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