"Where else would you go when you have an ax to grind?"

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

saving summer in a jar

We took my visiting in-laws to the farmers market last week and bought a bushel of sweet red peppers. My mother-in-law couldn't figure what the heck I was going to do with them all or how we could eat a whole bushel before they spoiled. Fortunately, I had a clever plan.

wash them

roast them

give the peppers as much heat as the grill will muster and turn often until they get black on the outside, then take a sharp knife and scrape off the blacken outer skin (some people pop them into a paper bag straight off the fire to make this easier) scrap off the pips and cut the peppers into strips. Try not to eat too many. They will be candy sweet at this point, so that is harder than it sounds. About a quarter of ours magically vanished before the final step.


sterilize the jars and lids, pack the peppers in with a couple of cloves of garlic and enough olive oil to top up the jar. Put the filled jars in boiling water for about five or ten minutes, then remove and tighten the lids. As they cool, they will seal

Viola, summer in a jar.




http://www.wikio.com

5 comments:

David Webb said...

I've tried that, but I can never get the roasted peppers past the Baba ghanous fast enough. Off the grill, onto plate, gone.

By the by, how are the in-laws finding Canada?

Otter said...

I thought I could smell something good on the weekend!

Rev.Paperboy said...

David,
I had to send the kids to the park before I started the peppers or we would have been lucky to get one jar out of the whole bushel.
The in-laws have had a pretty good time on the whole, despite my mother-in-law falling down the stairs and wracking up her shoulder. They've been finding Canada much the same way all newcomers do - its cold here and everything is really big, especially the sky and the landscape. I drove them up to Owen Sound along Hwy. 6 today to look at the fall colours - which aren't really popping just yet, but they leave Monday so it was the best we could do while the kids are in school. There were ooohs and ahhhhs everytime we crested a hill.
They liked Niagara Falls too and we've been back to Elora twice.
It's a matter of time before they start house-hunting.

David Webb said...

I've enjoyed having the inlaws live just down the road. They've adjusted to not being in Victoria and are seeing a lot of advantages to this part of the world. Once the boundaries were set, they've become great sitters and renovators of basements. I wish you a similar experience.

democommie said...

"Viola"? Everbody knows it's "Voyla":). Great post and recipe!

I used to roast my red peppers with my propane torch. Now I have a nice wall oven with a broiler, it works just fine.