Pickled Roasted Red Peppers

Peter Piper, Mother Goose tells us, packed a peck of pickled peppers.

Food-wise, that Peter Piper knew what he was about.

Here's why YOU should pack some pickled (red bell) peppers: they're fabulous little flavor bombs. They are savory, a little bit sweet, a little bit spicy, and a little bit pucker-y all at once. They can be used to add deliciousness to salads, cooked vegetables, and other foods. They are entirely non-fat. I think these pickled peppers are the first thing I made for myself that had me literally stomping my foot.

These little beauties are a type of "quick pickle". Quick pickles don't have the shelf life as their refrigerated cousins, but they're fast, easy, and delicious. And roasted red bell peppers are a wonderful candidate for this method.

Roasting bell pepper (and other chiles) is really straightforward. (It's also the entry point to a world of homemade salsas.) Putting the brine together is easy. So why wouldn't you do it?


The recipe I've used is here. The only change I make is to increase the amount of pickling spices to more like a teaspoon.

Notes:
1. I have successfully made quick pickles with sugar substitute. However, my understanding is that preserved pickles, the kind that can be stored at room temperature, can NOT be made with sugar substitute because the sugar is part of the preservation.
2. If you don't have pickling spice blend, or don't find them in your store, there are any number of recipes around. I've made my own blend, but prefer the convenience of the pre-made blend.
3. Yes, you can purchase roasted red peppers, and I assume they're good. But at the stores and delis where I've seen them, you might have to sell off your relatives to afford them.

Pirate Queen Zucchini

This is my very favorite kind of recipe. This is for two reasons:

1. It's delicious.
2. It's what I call a "template recipe" -- easy, infinitely variable, no cookbook required. If I ever lose interest in continuing to develop as a cook, recipes like this will still keep me fed.

I originally got it from my friend Kelly, who blogs at Diabetesaliciousness, and is the person for whom I named it. (Why is Kelly the "Pirate Queen"? That's not really my story to tell. But Kelly's amazing: smart, funny, courageous, demanding, and compassionate. They world needs Kellys much more than it needs Kardashians. Just sayin'.)

I've rung so many changes on this recipe, I no longer remember exactly what Kelly taught me. But I think this is the core of it:

• zucchini, diced
• lots of garlic, minced
• lots of grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper
• a little cooking oil

Heat the oil in the pan. Throw in the zucchini and the garlic and cook, stirring periodically, until the zucchini is tender.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Put the cooked zucchini in your serving bowl with LOTS of cheese -- seriously, folks, the cheese in this recipe is an INGREDIENT, not a seasoning.

Stir until the cheese is melty, resisting the urge to bury your face in it. Serve.

I've done all sorts of veggies in this dish, either with or instead of the zucchini: summer squash, chayote squash, eggplant, onion, tomato. I think you'd want to use a vegetable soft enough to produce a bit of liquid as it cooks so the garlic won't burn, but that's an amateur's guess.

A note on zucchini: it's said that zucchini loses flavor as it matures, and that the baseball bats people haul out of their gardens have no flavor at all. I don't like to buy them much bigger than a Polish sausage.

Go cook it, ye swabs. Aaarr!