peppers

Quick-Pickled Peppers
From On Vegetables by Jeremy Fox
Makes 3 cups
“This pickle is ready to eat almost immediately.  Like onions, they soften up easily and take on the flavors of the rice vinegar, sugar, and garlic.  These peppers are good tossed with braised kale, chopped into potato salad, or served alongside roasted squash or scrambled eggs.”

1 pound sweet peppers, seeded and sliced into rings
1 cup rice vinegar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons kosher salt
3 cloves garlic, sliced

Tightly pack the peppers and sliced garlic into heatproof nonreactive containers.
In a saucepan, combine the vinegar, ¾ cup water, the sugar, and salt and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.  Once the solids are completely dissolved, remove the pan from the heat and immediately pour the liquid over the peppers.
Cool the peppers to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate for up to 3 months.

Cheese-Stuffed and Pan-Fried Sweet Peppers
From Six Season by Joshua McFadden
Serves 2 as a main course, 4 as a first course

½ cup crumbled feta cheese
1 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
½ cup grated Fontina cheese
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 scallions, trimmed, thinly sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 large bell peppers or 8 smaller, roasted, peeled, and seeded, but slit the sides-keep the ‘container’ shape of the pepper intact
Flour, for dredging
1 egg, beaten well
Extra-virgin olive oil

Mix together the feta, ricotta, and Fontina cheeses in a small bowl.  Add the parsley and scallions and season generously with salt and black pepper.  Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Carefully fill each bell or chile pepper with the cheese mixture, pinching the tops to seal in the cheese as well as you can.  Put the flour on a plate and the beaten egg in another plate or shallow bowl.  Lay out a double layer of paper towels on a tray or plate to drain the finished peppers.

Heat ½ inch of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  As the oil is heating, you can prep the peppers: Dredge a pepper through the flour to coat it lightly evenly, then dip into the egg.  Let the excess egg drip off and carefully lay the pepper into the hot oil in the pan.  Be careful; the oil may pop.

Fry until the pepper is nicely browned on one side, 2 to 3 minutes, then carefully flip and fry the other side.  Repeat with the remaining peppers, but don’t add too many at once, as that will lower the oil temperature and make the peppers greasy.
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Transfer the peppers to the paper towels to drain.