Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Sandwiches

I love everything about this sandwich. Goat cheese is one of my favorites and these marinated roasted peppers with the basil are nothing short of scrumptious. They add such a great freshness that is kind of lacking in the winter months. It's as close to having a plump, fresh tomato as you can get in March. Add some salty capers and chewy ciabatta and I was in sandwich heaven.

ROASTED PEPPER AND GOAT CHEESE SANDWICHES

Yield:  4 to 6 servings

4 large red or yellow bell peppers, preferably Holland

2 tablespoons good olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (increase if omitting capers)

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons drained capers

For assembling:

1 large ciabatta bread, halved horizontally

11 oz. garlic-and-herb or plain goat cheese (recommended: Montrachet) at room temperature

8 to 10 large basil leaves

3 thin slices red onion

1.      Preheat the oven to 500º F.

2.      Place the whole peppers on a sheet pan and place in the oven for 45 to 60 minutes, until the skins are completely wrinkled and the peppers are charred, turning them two or three times during roasting. Remove the pan from the oven and immediately cover it tightly with aluminum foil. Set aside for 30 minutes, or until the peppers are cool enough to handle.

3.      Meanwhile, combine the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Set aside.

4.      Remove the stem from each pepper and cut or rip them in quarters. Remove the peels and seeds and place the peppers in a bowl along with any juices that have collected. Discard the stems, peels, and seeds. Pour the oil and vinegar mixture over the peppers. Stir in the capers. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend.

5.      To assemble the sandwiches, spread the bottom half of the loaf with the goat cheese. Add a layer of peppers and then a layer of basil leaves. Separate the onions into rings and spread out on top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover with the top half of the ciabatta and cut into individual servings.

barely adapted from Ina Garten

red peppers

roasted red peppers

marinade ingredients

I added extra garlic because I was using plain goat cheese.

roasted red peppers with marinade & capers

marinated roasted peppers

spreading goat cheese on ciabatta

I didn't use the whole loaf - I was
only making enough for two people.

marinated roasted pepper layer

topped with basil and red onion

roasted pepper and goat cheese sandwich

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Hot Pepper Jelly

I had never tried hot pepper jelly until my mother-in-law Judie served it at a party. She put out a block of cream cheese and poured the hot pepper jelly over it. I spread the combination on a cracker, took a bite and I was hooked. After that I made sure to buy hot pepper jelly whenever we visited. Until one day I found a source closer to home. But now I don't even need to leave the house (if you don't count shopping for the peppers). And the great thing about making it myself is that I can control the heat and leave out the food coloring. Sweet. (And spicy.)

HOT PEPPER JELLY

Yield: 3 pints

2/3 cup* roughly chopped hot peppers (such as habanero, jalapeño or serrano)

1 red or green bell pepper

1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup white wine vinegar (or white vinegar)

6 cups sugar

1 (6 oz.) box Sure-Jell Certo liquid fruit pectin (2 packets)

*Keep in mind that not all hot peppers are created equal. In fact, the small habaneros are much hotter than the larger jalapenos. So please adjust the amount to taste.

1.      Roughly chop all the peppers (you can leave in the seeds from the hot peppers if you like your jelly extra hot). Use gloves and keep your fingers away from your eyes when you chop hot peppers.

2.      Place the hot peppers and bell pepper in a blender with both the vinegars. Blend well and pour into a medium pot.

3.      Add sugar and mix well. Bring to a rolling boil and boil for 1 minute.

4.      Remove from heat, strain through sieve and return to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes.

5.      Remove from heat; add the liquid fruit pectin and quickly stir.

6.      Immediately pour into 6 half-pint jars (or 3 pint jars) and seal.

adapted from food.com, submitted by Jellyqueen 

I didn't measure, I just used 2 habaneros and 2 jalapeños.
I wanted to use only habaneros, so the color would be a more
vibrant orange/red, but there were only 2 left at the store.
Oh well. In the end, the green didn't take away from the
color all that much. I think it still came out looking decent.
If you want your jelly to come out green, obviously you
should use only green peppers.

I'm a little wimpy, so I removed the ribs and seeds.
This was just the right amount of heat for me. I'm
sure plenty of you out there can handle it much hotter.

hot peppers with red bell pepper and vinegars

after blending well in food processor

mixing in evaporated cane sugar

boiling for 1 minute

straining

You can skip this step if you like the bits of pepper in your jam.

strained mixture back in pot

boiling for 5 minutes

adding the liquid fruit pectin

You can add some red or green food coloring along with
the pectin if you want the color more vibrant. I didn't add
any (I don't really need my jelly to be visible from space).

mixed and ready to jar

ladling into a jar

I used 4 half-pint jars and 1 full-pint jar.

I don't know anything about real canning, so I used the hot
water bath method: Place jars in a large pot with a rack on
the bottom. Cover jars with 1-2 inches of water and boil for
5 minutes. Remove to rack to cool.

I didn't have a rack that fit my pan, so I put little
metal cups under my jars to keep them off the bottom.
It worked. I didn't need to seal the large jar (that's
already open and in play in our refrigerator).

hot pepper jelly close up

on a cracker with cream cheese (do this)

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Shrimp with Romesco Sauce

shrimp romesco served with shaved asparagus

Romesco is a thick Spanish sauce...great on vegetables, seafood or meat and even as a dip. It's an easy way to use up a little leftover baguette (those baguettes are pretty long, so it's not unusual to have extra). But I wouldn't go out and buy one just to make this, because then you'll just have more leftover. (It's a vicious cycle.) Instead, I would just toss in any plain (preferably fresh) breadcrumbs.

I can't seem to resist buying new adorable pasta shapes I've never seen before. This one is called riccioli and as my daughter pointed out, it looks just like the boing-boing curly hair on a character in one of her books (Susan from Ramona the Pest). Maddie thoroughly enjoyed eating (and yanking on) the boings.
 

SHRIMP WITH ROMESCO SAUCE

Yield: 6-8 servings

1/4 cup slivered almonds

2 thin slices French bread (about 4 x 3 x 1/4 inches each)

2 cloves garlic

2 large roasted red peppers (or 14 oz. jarred roasted red peppers, drained)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar or red wine vinegar

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 lb. raw medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

________________________________________________________________________

1.      Stir almonds in heavy skillet over medium heat until golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer almonds to processor.

2.      Place bread in same skillet and cook until lightly toasted, about 1 minute per side. Tear bread into pieces and add to processor (don’t clean skillet).

3.      With machine running, drop garlic through feed tube and process until almonds and garlic are finely chopped.

4.      Add red peppers, oil, vinegar and cayenne pepper and process until mixture is consistency of thick mayonnaise, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally.  Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.

5.      Wipe skillet clean of breadcrumbs and heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp and cook until pink on both sides and cooked through, about 2 minutes per side.

6.      Arrange cooked shrimp on plates. Spoon romesco sauce over and serve.

adapted from Bon Appétit, May 1995

toasting almonds

toasting bread
(I used three slices because they were really small)

almonds and bread in food processor

almonds and bread processed into crumbs

everything else added (except shrimp)

romesco sauce

raw shrimp in pan

shrimp cooked

riccioli draining

shrimp with romesco sauce

Great plain or served with pasta, rice or couscous.

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Mahi-Mahi with Red Pepper Harissa Sauce

Recently I bought some mahi-mahi at the store. When I got home I realized I didn't have a lot of fresh ingredients in the house, so I made a sauce using what I had on hand and served them both over couscous. It all came together nicely and was quick and easy (two qualities I love in dinner).

MAHI-MAHI WITH RED PEPPER HARISSA SAUCE

Yield: 2 servings

Red Pepper Harissa Sauce:

1 (12 oz.) jar roasted red peppers, drained

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon dried mint

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or more to taste)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

salt to taste

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 (6 to 7 oz.) mahi-mahi filets

1.      Puree all the sauce ingredients in a food processor until almost smooth.  Season with salt to taste.

2.      Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the fish. Cook until opaque in the center, about 5 minutes per side.

3.      Serve fish immediately, topped with red pepper harissa sauce.

sauce ingredients

sauce

cooking mahi-mahi

cooked and ready to plate

Harissa is a popular North African condiment.  It's usually a paste made of chiles, garlic, cumin, coriander and oil. There are many recipes/variations. If I'd had fresh chiles at home, I would have used them (but all I had was red pepper flakes, which worked out well for this recipe).

.

Muhammara

I was looking for something vegetarian and a little different to bring to a party last year. I already had walnuts and roasted red peppers in mind when I happened upon a recipe for muhammara. When I saw one of the ingredients was pomegranate molasses, I knew I'd found my party dip. I had wanted to try pomegranate molasses for a while, so here was my golden opportunity (or more of a red actually).

Muhammara (pronounced moo-hahm-mer-ah) is a Middle Eastern roasted pepper dip (or spread). It's a little spicy, but of course you can make it to taste. It's soooo good. And pretty good for you (as party foods go).

MUHAMMARA

Yield: 2 cups

2-3 cloves garlic, peeled

1 12-ounce jar roasted red bell peppers, drained (or about 2 medium roasted red peppers)

1 cup walnuts

1/3 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1-2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses* or 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes (or Aleppo pepper flakes or 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper)

salt to taste

pita chips (preferably whole wheat) or vegetables for dipping

*Available online, in Middle Eastern stores or the International aisle of some supermarkets

Process garlic cloves until well minced.  Add remaining ingredients (except pita chips) and blend in processor until coarse puree forms. Transfer to bowl; serve with chips or vegetables.

adapted from Bon Appetit, November 2008

I think it takes all of 10 minutes to whip up a batch of this!

just waiting for the party to start

my bottle of pomegranate molasses (luckily they sell it at Wegmans)

If you can't find pomegranate molasses and don't want to order it online, you can make it yourself. I've never done it (because as you can see, I have a bottle at home). But I looked it up and found several recipes (including one from Alton Brown). The recipe below is a mixture of those recipes. If you try it, let me know how it turns out!

POMEGRANATE MOLASSES

(Yield: about 1 cup)

4 cups pomegranate juice (Pom brand is recommended)

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons lemon juice

Combine pomegranate juice, sugar, and lemon juice in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce heat and simmer for about 70-80 minutes or until juice has reduced to about 1 cup and has the consistency of a thick syrup. Pour syrup into a glass jar and let cool completely. Can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.