Cooking Demonstration with Dishalicious: Saturday, July 21st

Come join us this Saturday, July 21st 10:00am -12:00noon at the Cedar Park Farmers Market for a Summer Cooking Demonstration with Dishalicious Chef Louis Singh.  Chef Singh will be demonstrating how to roast  local seasonal peppers from the market and share some recipes for how to use these wonderful peppers in recipes.

 Top five reasons to fire-roast your peppers:

1.    Don’t you want a jar of sweet roasted peppers in the fridge that you can pull out to jazz up salads, sautees, sauces, and any of your favorite dishes?  The answer is YES!

2.    It’s way easier than it sounds…we promise.

3.    So you can say “topped with fire-roasted peppers…” at dinner and impress everyone at the table.

4.    Quick fire-roasting causes chemical reactions to the sucrose within the pepper, creating complex caramel flavor compounds.  Succinctly put, fire-roasting = delicious.

5.    It’s a great technique to add to your cooking repertoire.  You can fire-roast lots of veggies, peppers are just the beginning.

Now that you’re convinced you need to try fire-roasting, you need fire.  For optimal results, you would roast over wood or charcoal, but a gas grill is just fine.  If you don’t plan on lighting up the grill, no worries.  You can easily roast over a gas flame, like in the photo above.  No gas?  No problem.  You can also coat them in a little olive oil and roast them in a 450° oven.  Either way you go, you’ll still end up with tasty results.

Here’s how:

–    Rinse and dry your peppers well.

–    Place them over the open flame and roast until the skin blackens.  They’ll pop and hiss as water escapes from the pepper.  High heat works well because you want the peppers to roast quickly so the skin blackens but the flesh doesn’t overcook.

–    Keep turning your peppers until they’re blistered and blackened all over.

–    Place them in a paper bag, or covered bowl to steam as they cool.  This helps release the skin from the flesh and will make cleaning them a snap.

–    Once the peppers are cool enough to handle, cut a slit down one side of the pepper and open it up like a book so it lays flat on your cutting board.  Cut around the stem and remove it and the seeds.

–    Flip the pepper over and use the back of your knife to gently scrape away all of the blackened skin.  Remove as much as you can but if you have a few stubborn bits that refuse to let go it’s fine, they’ll just add some smokey flavor.

–    That’s it!  If you’re going to store, place them in a container and cover them with olive oil.  They’ll keep up to two weeks in the fridge, and then you’ll have nicely flavored olive oil as a bonus.  Use it to make salad dressing or stir it into dips or hummus.

Now that you have nicely roasted peppers, play with them.  Puree them into a sauce for fish or chicken, mix them with goat cheese & greens for a salad, or blend them into a dip.  It’s a versatile ingredient to have on hand to add some flair to any of your delicious dishes.  Now you have the technique, go and make your own recipes.  Get cooking!

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