Some fruit and veg advertise themselves with colours and shapes too lovely to resist. And once in the kitchen, they become upmarket home decor. Squashes and pumpkins always do it for me, as does a bowl piled with at least two shades of plum. But if you held acontest for the raw ingredient that looks best casually displayed on aworktop, the capsicum family would probably win: glossy, plump and multicoloured, they are catwalk swanky. Just don't forget to eat them.
Especially now. Though imports are available year round, the home-grown crop starts to come good at the end of summer. And that's where the real flavour and excitement is to be found; it's all a far cry from the predictable, slightly watery crunch of a Dutch bell pepper.
I like a good sweet pepper raw from time to time, but they are so much tastier at room temperature than fridge-cold, and several times more delicious thinly sliced or chopped than in great chunks. Prepared this way, they are great in salads and slaws: dress with olive oil and lemon juice, and use garlic, capers, olives or parsley to point up the peppers' delicately bitter-sweet flavour.
But, for me, peppers are best cooked. Cut them into 1cm strips, then sweat in a little oil, garlic, salt and pepper for 20 minutes, until the flesh becomes silky and tender, and the flavour sweet and intense. Or roast until blackened and blistered on the outside, then strip off the skin to reveal the flesh at its rich and smoky best. Strips of roast pepper are superb with mild cheese such as ricotta or halloumi, and with the contrasting texture of toasted nuts such as pine or hazel; they love spices, too, particularly cumin and paprika.
As today's recipes show, peppers are very good when enhanced by their smaller, spikier brethren, the chillies. The generic red or green chillies available in supermarkets are usually of the Serenade variety, plump and glossy, and with a long shelf-life; it's a good all-round chilli. Most big retailers will also have asmall, very hot variety such as bird's-eye or Thai, which pack a real punch; the fruity, aromatic, seriously hot Scotch bonnet (jabanero) are widely available, too.
But look beyond the supermarket and you'll find an amazing array, with colours ranging from pale apricot to fire engine-red, and heat levels from barely-there to blow-your-head-off. Try one of the UK's growing number of specialist chilli growers. Edible Ornamentals offer big, mild poblanos for stuffing, peppy serranos (good all-rounders, a little hotter than Serenade) and plump green padrons, ideal for frying whole. The South Devon Chilli Farm has an impressive range, too, including the almost tomatoey Aji red and the spherical cherry bomb. Or go to my friends Michael and Joy Michaud at Peppers By Post for the unique Dorset Naga, which has one of the highest heat levels ever recorded in a chilli. This baby comes with a quite genuine safety warning, but if you can take the heat, you'll also be rewarded by acracking, fruity, aromatic flavour.
Mind you, heat and flavour levels can vary even in fruits of the same variety. And the only way to know how hot a chilli is is to suck it and see (or, more cautiously, lick it and learn). Halve the chilli to expose the core and membranes – these parts contain most of the heat – and dab the cut surface on the tip of your tongue. You'll soon get a sense of its heat (have to hand some milk or yoghurt: they alleviate chilli-burn more effectively than water). Armed with this knowledge, you can then add the chilli to your dish in a quantity that suits you, and the results will be gently tongue-tingling, or totally eye-popping, just as you choose.
Stewed red peppers with chorizo
This intensely flavoured, tapas-style dish is perfect with some olives, a slice of toasted sourdough and a cold beer or chilled dry sherry. Serves four to six as a side dish.
2 tbsp olive oil
200g chorizo, cut into matchsticks
2 medium onions, peeled, halved and finely sliced
3 medium-hot red chillies, such as Serenade, deseeded and finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
3 red peppers, deseeded and finelysliced
1 tsp hot smoked paprika
100ml dry white wine
Sea salt and freshly ground blackpepper
1 handful coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley, to serve
A little extra-virgin rapeseed or olive oil, to serve
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the chorizo and fry gently for a few minutes, to get the fat flowing. Add the onions, cover and sweat gently for 10 minutes, until soft. Stir in the chillies, garlic, peppers, paprika, wine and alittle salt and pepper; when the wine is bubbling, cover and turn the heat to low. Cook gently for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the peppers are soft. Season to taste and serve warm, scattered with parsley and trickled with extra-virgin oil.
Black-eye bean chilli with pepper cream
A meat-free chilli that's cooled with a smoky-sweet roast red pepper cream. Serves six to eight.
3 tbsp olive, sunflower or rapeseedoil
3 large onions, peeled and chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
2 stems celery, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3-4 hottish green chillies, seeds and membrane removed, chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finelychopped
1 tbsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground allspice
4 tbsp tomato puree
2 400g tins plum tomatoes, chopped
2 400g tins black-eye beans, drainedand rinsed
600ml vegetable stock
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley or coriander, plus extra to finish
For the red pepper cream
2 large red peppers
150ml sour cream
About ¼ clove garlic, finely grated
Salt and pepper
To make the cream, char the peppersunder a grill, turning often, until blackened all over. Leave until cool enough to handle, then peel off the burnt skins and remove the stalks, seeds and membranes. Tear the flesh into pieces and put into afood processor with the sour cream and garlic, and season. Process to athin puree, then refrigerate.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan on a medium-low heat, add the onions, carrots, celery and a pinch of salt, then cover and sweat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chillies, garlic, cumin and allspice, and stir for a minute. Add the tomato puree, tinned tomatoes, beans, stock and parsley or coriander, stir and simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered, stirring from time to time, until thick and saucy. Season to taste and serve with rice, the chilled pepper cream and alittle more coriander or parsley.
Chilli pepper jam
For a volcanic result, use hot chillies and leave in the membranes and seeds; for a milder jam, use deseeded mild chillies or increase the ratio of sweet peppers. The jam is also very good if you stir in the finely chopped leaves from a washed 50g bunch of coriander before the standing time. Makes three smallish jars.
300g red peppers (2 large ones), deseeded and roughly chopped
150g red chillies, deseeded (or not) and roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughlychopped
500g jam sugar with added pectin
Juice of 1 medium lemon
200ml cider vinegar
½ tsp salt
Wash some jam jars in hot, soapy water, rinse, then put them in a low oven to dry out and warm up. Put asaucer in the fridge to chill.
Put the peppers, chillies and garlic in a food processor and blitz to chop finely. Put the sugar, lemon juice, vinegar and salt in a large pan or preserving pan (the mixture will rise up the sides when it boils). Heat gently, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Add the chilli puree, bring to a rolling boil, boil hard for five minutes, then test for setting point. Drip a little jam on to the cold saucer, return it to the fridge for a couple of minutes, then push the jam with your finger: if it forms significant wrinkles, setting point has been reached; if not, boil for two more minutes and test again. Once setting point is reached, leave the jam to stand for 10 minutes: this helps to stop all the chilli floating to the top.
Pot the jam into the hot jars, seal straight away and label when cool. Eat within six months and refrigerate once opened.
