This Week's Share--More Peppers

Every once and a while I will have a week where Monday's share is different from Wednesday's share--unfortunately vegetables don't seem to adhere to a work week schedule and tend to ripen as they see fit. So this week I won't list what's included in the share, instead I will just give you some recipe ideas for all those peppers.

One of my most favorite culinary treats is the versatile roasted pepper--great in sandwiches, on toast with sheep cheese, in salads, on pizzas--the perfect way to enjoy all the nutritional goodness in a ripe pepper.

Here are a couple of links to the roasting peppers:

From e-how--how to roast a pepper.

From the Wednesday Chef blog--roasting in an oven

And finally a video from Forkable blog.

Moving on the hot peppers---your choices are poblano, jalapenos, and a chile. I will post more about hot peppers in a future entry. In the meantime I thought I would share a blog all about poblanos--who knew. Poblanos by the way are the dark green, thinner skinned pepper in the hot pepper basket.

Finally a recipe from Fine Cooking using bell peppers, poblanos, and potatoes--perfect for this week's share:
Potato & Rajas Tacos
by Mary Sue Milliken, Susan Feniger

Though cream may seem a little unexpected, a thick, slightly sour version plays an important role in Mexican cooking, adding a luxurious silkiness to special dishes. Here we use regular heavy cream and add shredded cheese for flavor and as a thickener.
Yields enough for 12 small tacos.
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3 medium boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 medium onions, halved and cut into 1/4 -inch slices
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 medium red bell peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded, and julienned
4 medium poblano chiles, roasted, peeled, seeded, and julienned
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup shredded manchego or Monterey Jack cheese
2/3 cup grated queso añejo, Romano, or Parmesan cheese

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Bring a medium saucepan full of salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes and cook just until tender, 6 to 8 min. Drain, pat dry, and spread in a single layer on a baking sheet to cool.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, season with the salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften and turn golden, 15 to 18 min. Stir in the roasted red peppers and poblanos. Add the cream; bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, and let the mixture simmer it until begins to thicken, about 4 min. (You can make the filling up to this point a day or two ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Reheat gently over medium-low heat when ready to serve.) Stir in the grated cheeses. Add the potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through.

photo: Rita Maas
From Fine Cooking 26, pp. 49-50
April 1, 1998