Hot stuff

I realize I have fallen WAY out of touch with my blog posting.  However, my recent experiences with all of the lovely produce from our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) has made me want to share some of what I have been doing with it.

Our farmer, and now friend, Marty (whose lovely wife, Carolyn also helps grow our garden goodies) was mentioning that a lot of folks don't want the hot peppers in our weekly distribution.  And when they say HOT they mean it.  These peppers look harmless, but they are Hungarian Wax Peppers, and can bring tears to my eyes after just a bite or two. I love to stuff them with cream cheese, panko and cheddar, but, even I have to admit that they pack a WALLOP, and usually I leave behind about 1/2 of the pepper to save my taste buds, throat etc.

BUT....I have done my research, and found another very easy and yummy use for these peppers.  Today I took a couple dozen of these beauties, and put them on my grill until they were charred (about 15 minutes, flipping halfway through).  After I charred them, I placed them in airtight containers, wrapped in wet paper towels and let them self steam a bit (about 3 hours actually while I ran some errands and dealt with some other veggies that were over populating my kitchen.)....When I returned to them, I peeled the now loose charred skins off of the peppers, split them open, and used a knife blade to gently scrap out the veins and seeds. I then placed them in zip top snack sized bags (1 or 2 peppers to a bag dependent on size), and put the whole lot of bags inside one big Ziploc Freezer bag, being careful to remove excess air from the individual bags as well as the big bag to help avoid freezer burn.

Now what, you ask?  Well, I did a trial run of this recipe the other day with just a few peppers.  And the results were fabulous.  Most of these bad boys are probably destined for some batches of Chili in the Winter, or perhaps a Mexican rice dish, or even nachos.  The test batch has proved to be DELICIOUS in scrambled eggs, and the beauty of it is that during the process of charring, peeling and cleaning out the innards, the heat level comes way down to a much more tolerable to the average palate.

So, bring on the HOT peppers, I have learned to tame them!

Here's hoping you're eating as well as we are this summer!