Older Bolder Life

Stronger | Leaner | Sharper | Longer - From Older Bolder Fitness

peppers

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Cheesy Brisket Peppers w Shallot Vinaigrette

By

I don’t know about you, but this time of year we’re feasting three or four days every week on delights from the grill or smoker.

We had a rainy and surprisingly cool May and early June here in North Texas (northward of 17 inches of rain in about 5 weeks in our neighborhood), but full on Texas summer has arrived in its hot-as-blazes glory over the past ten days or so.

These hot, steamy days were made for grilling or smoking proteins outside, and we’re forever on the hunt for nifty side dishes to serve alongside.

Having lived for many years under the bright Texas sun, my wife and I have a deep and abiding love for great Tex Mex, but dammit, it’s not the healthiest cuisine on the planet by a long shot. I in particular enjoy a great chile relleno though haven’t eaten the deep fried, classically prepared version in years.

A few weeks back I was basically whining to my friend Chef Libby in Austin about that very thing when she fired me a pic of a commercial grill covered with over 100 of these Cheesy Brisket Peppers she’d recently cooked for an event in Austin. Libby’s advice was that they can play either as the main event for a dinner, or make a great side dish when there’s a grilled or smoked protein as the centerpiece.

She’d sourced the recipe concept from Bon Appetite, and readily admitted their shallot vinaigrette was amazingly good on the roasted peppers (and lots of other stuff), though the addition of some smokey, chopped Texas brisket to the peppers was her call.

And what a great call that simple addition of a few tablespoons of brisket was.

Libby does these over live fire or in the oven; having just added a pellet grill to our home arsenal, I’m doing a batch of these on the Traeger on Saturday for friends coming over, though the peppers imaged in the post today were done in the over (easy peasy to do by the way).

These provide a ton of taste and visual appeal for the minimal effort involved, and you’ll want to make extra shallot vinaigrette too – it’s damned good.

2 medium shallots, sliced thinly lengthwise
1/4 C red wine vinegar
1 and 1/2 tsp sugar (optional)
1 tsp kosher salt, more to taste
1/4 cup EVOO or avocado oil

4 Anaheim or New Mexico chiles, cut in half lengthwise, seeds and inner membranes removed
1 tbsp EVOO or avocado oil

1/2 cup (more or less) chopped brisket or protein of your choice (optional)
1/2 pound pepper Jack cheese, cut in to 1/2-inch cubes
Fresh ground pepper

Optional:
2 garlic cloves, grated fine
Chopped pickled jalapeño pepper slices, diced fine

Combine the first five ingredients for the vinaigrette and set aside.

Prep the chiles and preheat the oven to 475 or fire the broiler (or even the grill). Drizzle the peppers with a tbsp of oil, dust with good salt and fresh ground pepper, and place cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake/broil until skins begin to blister and the peppers soften, 5 minutes under the broiler and perhaps 6-7 in the hot oven.

Remove from the oven, turn over (tongs!), and spoon in a tbsp or so of the optional protein or chopped jalapeños if you’ve chosen to use them (we used chopped brisket in the pics there), then divide the cubed cheese among the peppers. Top with the grated garlic if desired.

Return to the oven/broiler and bake/broil until the cheese has melted and is beginning to brown (4-5 minutes in the oven, 3 or so under the broiler).

Remove from the oven, plate, and drizzle the shallot vinaigrette over; season to taste with more good salt and fresh ground pepper.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Vegetable Wednesday: Grill Roasted and Marinated Red Peppers

By

For those who love roasted peppers and much as we do (and choose to utilize peppers in their food plan) here’s a wonderful, and simple, Grill Roasted and Marinated Red Pepper prep to add to your cook next time you fire up the grill.

I like to make a big batch of these, throw some into tuna, chicken, or just big-assed green salads, eat some as a delicious side or just out of hand, and freeze the rest in single-use sized containers to have available at some point down the road.

This prep is ridiculously easy, can be accomplished in simple blocks of time around another meal preparation and kitchen tasking, and offers a blank palate to spice up (add heat, more salt, thyme, basil, or any other herb) and customize to your heart’s content.

There’s really no special trick to this one; get a good char on the peppers while grilling, give them plenty of time to soften and steam, then stem, seed, and peel and you’re ready to season them up.

We love the taste and color of the red bells, but orange and yellow are delicious as well; we’ve also recently done a batch of these using Mediterraneo Dulce peppers which were delicious, and not quite as sweet as red bells.

6 large red bell peppers (yellow and orange are delicious too)
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp good EVOO or avocado oil
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp good kosher salt (more to taste)
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Optional
1-2 tsp chopped fresh basil
1-2 tsp chopped fresh thyme

Fire a grill for medium-high heat; wash and dry the peppers.

Grill the peppers, turning as needed, until the skins are blackened and blistered pretty much all over. Pending your fire’s heat, this will likely take 15-20 minutes.

Pull from the grill, place in a large bowl and cover (stockpot lid, plate, or plastic wrap), let cool at least 20 minutes.

When cooled, stem, skin, and seed the peppers, then cut or tear into roughly 1.5 to 2-inch strips. Add the pepper strips to a clean bowl along with the oil of choice, vinegar, salt, red pepper flakes, and the optional herbs.

Let marinate at room temperature for an hour, then transfer to an airtight jar and hold in the fridge for up to 5 days, or freeze for future use.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Sauce Monday: Easy Romesco Sauce

By

We’ve been talking a lot about sauces the past few weeks, and deservedly so.

Sauces are workhorses during the summer grilling season; they add flavor, interest, color, and sometimes even texture to meals featuring grilled and roasted proteins and vegetables. Chilled sauces can even help you play the temperature game with foods, which can be especially refreshing during these dog days of summer.

I’m not sure where we first came across the recipe for this Easy Romesco Sauce, but it’s become one of our favorites this summer. The careful application of fire and time renders bell peppers (and perhaps a Mediterraneo Dulce) – for the pepper tolerant – tender and almost smokey in flavor. Let them steam covered for 20 minutes and the skins slip off in your fingers, and they’re a cinch to stem, seed, and chop.

Romesco sauces originated in Spain and most that I’ve run across are tomato based with either almonds or hazelnuts added; this is one of those sauces that allows you to shake things up and build it to suit your (family) palate. The roasted pepper base in this recipe simply resonates with our palates at home.

This sauce brings together a cast of players you might not think of at first blush, though most of us in the ancestral food space appreciate the nifty flavor of almond butter; add in a bit of garlic, tart acid in the form of a flavorful vinegar, and a pinch of spice, and you’re in for genuine treat.

We had this again a few nights ago with an ancho-cumin-coffee rubbed pork tenderloin and a spicy pepita jalapeño cauliflower rice; I made a batch of this Columbian Aji Sauce to have a red and green (thank you New Mexico) effect for the sauces – it’s was amazing…

2 large red bell peppers, whole
1 red Mediterraneo Dulce pepper, whole (optional)
Avocado oil or EVOO for grill grate
1 garlic clove, grated
2 tbsp almond butter (unsweetened)
2 tbsp red wine vinegar (sherry or rice wine vinegar in a pinch)
1 tbsp avocado oil or EVOO
1 tsp good salt + more to taste
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Grill the whole peppers over high heat, on the grill is best but you can char them over a gas burner or under the broiler as well. Place in a large bowl, cover, and let steam and rest until cool enough to handle (15-20 minutes).

Skin, stem, and seed the peppers, then place the flesh in your trusty blender along with the garlic, almond butter, vinegar, oil, salt, smoked paprika, and the cayenne. Blend until smooth, taste for salt, and thin if needed with a splash of oil or more vinegar.

Best served immediately, though can hold in the fridge (covered, airtight) for a few days.

Enjoy.

The Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Chile and Sautéed Garlic Shrimp

By

We’ve made a pact around our camp to increase our intake of quality seafood this summer, and strolling through my favorite Central Market a few days back I saw to my delight fresh caught Gulf shrimp on sale.

The shrimp were in great shape (always check), and I couldn’t resist picking up a pound and a half, knowing that once shelled we’d be looking a roughy a pound or so.

Our friend Chef Libby sent me this recipe for Chile and Sautéed Garlic Shrimp years ago, and I’d forgotten how wonderful it is, especially when you take care to deeply brown the garlic slices (my wife calls them chips).

This one is incredibly easy, worthy of any company you might care to entertain, and plays well with a host of sides, appetizers, and salads. Don’t forget to share the browned garlic fairly, and drizzle some of that wonderful oil over the shrimp at service.

Oh, and by the way, crushed red pepper flakes of course work if you don’t have the preferred dried red peppers laying around…

2-3 tbsp avocado or EV olive oil
10-12 cloves, thinly sliced
3-4 dried red chiles, crumbled coarsely
2 pounds shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 tbsp brandy

2-4 tbsp chopped parsley or cilantro, optional

Heat the oil of choice in a medium-large saucepan over high heat; add the garlic slices and sauté, stirring occasionally, until browned. Add the chiles, then the shrimp, and cook another 3-4 minutes until the shrimp are opaque and cooked through, turning once.

Carefully add the brandy, cook for another minute or so to cook off the alcohol; you’ll notice the pan sauce will thicken a bit.

Add a sprinkle of good salt as desired, top with the parsley or cilantro, and go to it; make sure everyone gets their fair share of that delicious garlic too…

Enjoy.

The Older Bolder Life Vegetable Wednesday: Crispy Verde Cauliflower Rice Pilaf

By


We’ve come to really enjoy deeply and creatively flavored cauliflower rice this year, like this Ginger Pecan Cauliflower Rice Pilaf or this Asian Fried Cauliflower Rice. Buying pre-riced, frozen cauliflower makes it even easier, and there are several organic brands widely available (I’ve been buying of late from Costco) which are consistently good and quite tasty.

When a version of this Crispy Verde Cauliflower Rice Pilaf showed up in my feed from Bon Appetit recently, I wondered if there was a way to get riced cauliflower crispy, and set to experimenting a bit (and pestering my friend Chef Libby in Austin). As you cauliflower rice fans know, it does tend to release moisture when cooking, and if you’re not attentive to time and heat, can make your cauliflower rice dish seem a bit soggy.

The trick is to sauté this cauliflower prep twice, once to dry it out a bit, then you rest it on a paper towel-lined plate before crisping it in oil a second time.

This recipe is wonderfully tasty, given the multiple herbs and peppers called for in the sauce; use any combination of green herbs you care too. We’re big cilantro fans, so I skewed this recipe that way, and be generous with the serranos too – the sauce may taste too spicy at first when tasting it alone, but the cauliflower really mellows out the final flavors, as do the two different peas and the green onions.

Note the source recipe used a couple of tablespoons of miso; if you’re avoiding soy, use your favorite umami-rich substitute (I usually reach for tamari, coconut aminos, or tahini). Chef Libby argues that white miso’s taste is so unique, it’s hard to sub, and it does contribute to the final flavors…

Finally, the roasted pistachios add a flavor and texture you don’t often come across, and good feta is always tasty. Don’t be put off by a long set of instructions below, this one’s pretty easy and actually comes together pretty quickly. And wow, this one’s very good.

1 pound bag frozen riced cauliflower OR 1 medium cauliflower, riced

1/2 cup raw pistachios

2 cups cilantro (see note)
1 cup basil leaves
1 cup mint and/or dill
2-4 serrano chiles, stemmed, seeded, roughly chopped
1/3 cup + 3 tbsp avocado or EV olive oil
Juice of 2 fresh limes (1/4 cup)
2 tbsp white miso or your sub of choice
2 tbsp water
1/2 tsp good salt

3/4 cup good feta, crumbled
6-8 ounces sugar snap peas, thinly sliced on diagonal
4-5 green onions, thinly sliced on diagonal
1/3 to 1/2 cup golden raisins (optional, see note)

1 cup fresh shelled or frozen peas (optional)
Additional good salt to taste

Fire the oven to 350 and toast the pistachios until nicely browned (5-7 minutes); cool, then roughly chop.

Now sauté the cauliflower in a dry nonstick skillet over medium-heat for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. You’re not trying to brown it here, you’re cooking off some of the water in the cauliflower to dry it a bit. Remove to paper towel lined plate when the skillet dries out 7 or 8 minutes in.

Meanwhile, into the blender go the herbs, the chiles, 1/3 cup of your oil of choice, the lime juice, white miso (or sub of choice), water, and salt. Blend until smooth, and taste for salt and heat. You want this herb mixture to be spicy; the cauliflower tones it down, so you may need another pepper (or two).

Now wipe your skillet clean, add 2-3 tbsp of oil, and heat over medium-high heat until hot. Add the cauliflower back to the skillet, smoothing it out in a single layer and compressing a bit with a spatula. You’re goal is to crisp and brown the cauliflower here; after a minute or two turn the heat down to medium and DON’T stir for 6-8 minutes until it’s browning and getting crispy.

During the sauté process above, into a clean bowl go the sliced sugar snap peas and green onions (thinly sliced on a diagonal), the crumbled feta, the raisins if using, and the pistachios; toss gently to combine.

When the riced cauliflower is beginning to brown and crisp, add the peas, and cook for another couple of minutes until the peas are just tender.

Finally, stir the cauliflower rice into the vegetable and cheese mixture, stir in the herb drizzle, and toss to combine.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Sauce and Salsa Sunday 5 August: Home Brewed Hot Sauces

By

I first wrote about our fascination with home crafted hot sauces on ChiWulff (a fly fishing blog) a few years back –

First loves create powerful memories.

I remember the day that I fell in love with the grand-daddy of all hot sauces, the veritable, white-oak-barrel-aged Tabasco; I must have been all of 7 or 8 that day.

My little brother and I were ensconced at our grandfather’s beach cabin on the Gulf of Mexico in South Texas; we had just sat down to a hot lunch at the red-checkered table-clothed picnic table on the screen porch. Parents were off galavanting in Houston so we had the run of the place (at least in our minds).

Ma-Ma (maw-maw) had been slaving away for an hour over the old gas stove, frying up round steak coated in freshly crushed cracker crumbs (after a flour and egg wash of course) to a crispy golden brown just like you’re salivating over right now.

Being good children of the South back in the day, we waited until the adults were served and then were allotted our share of that day’s treasure, which included creamy mashed potatoes and garden beans.

I watched in awe as Pa-Pa slathered his steak in Tabasco; wordlessly he reached over and set the bottle down right in front of my plate.

My duty was clear.

I mimicked his hot sauce application the best I could, whacked off a mouthful of the ambrosial steak and went on to experience that first eye-popping, tongue searing burn of the hot sauce world. Surely beads of sweat broke out on my preadolescent forehead; I coughed and sputtered, my nose ran and my eyes watered.

But my fate was sealed, I was forever thereafter a lover of the Other Red Gold.

Jake (my son) and I went so far as to start collecting hot sauces years ago (he has in the neighborhood of 200), though for daily use it’s been classic Tabasco (there are seven flavors now) and Crystal.

This fall, however, we’ve stumbled across a new treasure – fresh, floral home grown hot sauce made from peppers right off the plant.

We been experimenting a bit, and while this is not a classic, full-bodied, fermented hot sauce, we’ve found that by experimenting with different combinations of peppers a mind-blowing array of flavors (and heat) is possible. (Try a simple green sauce with jalapenos alone or throw a poblano in to deepen the flavor a bit…)

Here’s a fairly basic recipe using friendly Fresno chiles to get you started…

1 and 1/4 pound stemmed fresh chiles (see above)
2 heaping tbsp. pickling salt (or kosher salt without anti-caking agents)
1 and 1/2 cups good quality distilled white vinegar (maybe just a wee bit more)

Wash and stem the chiles then combine in a food processor with the salt. Pulse until a coarse puree forms; scrape the sides as needed.

Now pour the pepper mash into a one quart lidded jar (your run of the mill caning jar is just perfect) and let the mash ferment at a cool room temperature for up to 36 hours. You’re really not actually fermenting the mash here, you’re just aging it a bit and giving the salt time to start extracting the flavors from the chile puree.

Pour in the vinegar, stir to combine well, then loosen the lid and back on the counter it goes, at a cool room temperature, for another 7-10 days. Some folks like to taste it every other day or even every day, you’ll notice the flavor deepening after 3 or 4 days.

Finally, pour the vinegar mash into your trusty blender (or back into the food processor) and puree until very smooth (be patient, this will take at least a minute). Strain through a fine mesh sieve; again this will take a bit of time. We always end up fiddling with the mash in the sieve, scraping it, squishing it and doodling until every possible drop of goodness has dripped through.

Now you’re ready to pour your creation into a bottle (or two), cap it and cool in the fridge. Our hot sauce mentor who taught us insists its good for four months though it never lasts that long.

Enjoy.