We really had no idea if we'd get any peppers this year. Peppers don't always like our yard. Not sure why. We've thought maybe they weren't in sunny enough locations, so we've changed where we put the peppers over the years. Some years they do great, other years they don't, and it doesn't really seem to have anything to do with location. So we've given up trying to be smart about it and we just plant them and cross our fingers.
This year we didn't bother with bell peppers of any kind. We grew some sweet Italian peppers, though, and got a few of them. Mostly, though, we went with the hot peppers, because we'll definitely use them. We ended up with a good assortment of jalapeno, poblano and cayenne peppers, although not all of the cayennes turned red. Just not enough time and not enough warmth. Bill picked the last of them last weekend rather than leave them to duke it out with the colder weather.
Inspired by the peppers...and the tomatoes...I threw this mixture together:
A vast assortment of tomatoes, some poblanos, a jalapeno or two, a cayenne (it's underneath the other stuff) some smashed, peeled garlic, and a good drizzle of olive oil. I roasted all of that in a low oven for a couple of hours and ended up with this:
You can see the cayenne in that picture.
Anyway, I should have put this mixture through a food mill to keep the skins and seeds out, but I didn't. I was too imatient and too lazy (didn't want to have to wash the food mill), so I dumped it into the food processor instead.
The resulting mixture had great texture and a kind of smoky spicy flavor, thanks to the peppers, BUT. It was bitter. BIT TER. And just not as great as I'd hoped. I saved it, though, and maybe tonight I'll play with it some more and see if I can salvage it.
I love the cayenne peppers. We got a lot of them - really long ones this year. I don't know if Bill bought a different variety (he doesn't know, either), but for whatever reason, we've got a gorgeous supply.
Vegetables are beautiful.
