ISO overripe vegetable recipe

February 8, 2009 9:10 AM

We've got a superly ripe (slightly wrinkled) red bell pepper. What can we cook tonight that would use this as an ingredient? We have other vegetables and standard cooking materials.
posted by tip120 to Food & Drink (12 answers total)

Add it as a veg in a stir-fry...peppers work well and it doesn't matter if it's a bit wrinkled or not.
posted by aedra at 9:15 AM on February 8, 2009

I would probably roast it, puree it, and use it in some sort of red pepper cream sauce. Either a creamier sauce for pasta, or a thicker, more peppery sauce to top something like crab cakes or crusted halibut. This is assuming it's over-ripe to the point that it's going a bit soft, or at least less than crunchy.
posted by piedmont at 9:16 AM on February 8, 2009

I always use my wrinkled peppers in a fish or chicken Thai curry. The spice and 30 minutes it all sits in the pot makes the wrinkleness a non-issue. Add some other veggies, red or green curry paste, 1 cup coconut milk, dash of brown sugar and 1/3 cup water. Voila.
posted by meerkatty at 9:17 AM on February 8, 2009

Roast it under a broiler or over a gas flame on the stove or grill, turning until it is blackened and blistered on all sides. Stick it in a paper bag, twist the bag shut, and let it sit for ten minutes or so to steam and loosen up the skin. Peel away as much of the skin as you can.

Voila: Roasted red pepper. Cut into julienne and throw into a salad, or pretty much any pasta dish (especially good with cream), or put it into sandwiches, or top a pizza with it, or make a soup, or make a harissa to serve over chicken, or....
posted by peachfuzz at 9:17 AM on February 8, 2009

Cut it in thin strips and cook it on low heat for a long time with some onions in olive oil, make it all golden and delicious, serve on toasty bread with a sprinkling of the cheese of your choice?

Puree it and mix it into any sort of tomato sauce, use on pizza or pasta or even in fried rice (top that with an egg and scallions, a shake of five-spice)?

Now I'm hungry.
posted by Mizu at 9:25 AM on February 8, 2009

Roast it with other vegetables - leeks, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, courgettes all work well. Or add to a risotto.
posted by paduasoy at 9:27 AM on February 8, 2009

I was going to suggest pasta sauce too, but you don't have to puree it. Finely dicing is a perfectly reasonable option as well.
posted by jeffamaphone at 9:44 AM on February 8, 2009

Put it in a food processor with

1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs curry powder
1/2 tsp sea salt

You'll end up with a red pepper curry salad dressing. This depends how large your pepper is. Chop it up--above recipe assumes you've got a cup worth. If it's half a cup, scale proportionately.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 9:45 AM on February 8, 2009

First, make sofrito: olive oil and garlic; cumin, oregano and bay leaf; peppers, tomatoes and onions; sauté until everthing's soft and tasty.

Then there's a million things you can do with it, depending on what else you have in the house — it's a base for other recipes, not a meal unto itself. Add some red wine or broth and make stew with whatever meat you've got handy. Fry it up with ground beef and maybe some little green olives and serve it over rice. Brown some chicken drumsticks and maybe some diced bacon in another pan and then add the sofrito and a can of beer and cook it down. If all you've got is veggies, sofrito makes a killer base for black beans and rice.

Google for Cuban or Puerto Rican recipes for more ideas — most of them start with a sofrito one way or another.
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:01 AM on February 8, 2009

It's not all fancified like the other ideas, but...

Fry a pound of hamburger, a diced onion and your diced slightly wrinkled pepper. Add some salt, pepper, cayenne, chili powder or what-have-you.

When cooked, add a can of beans and a can of diced tomatoes. Cook til heated. If it's still too watery, add cornmeal to thicken and soften the taste a bit. You can sprinkle some cheese on it.

Serve over rice or pasta or wrap up in a tortilla.
posted by codswallop at 2:44 PM on February 8, 2009

Everything above sounds much more appealing to me than this, but I often use up peppers that are a bit older than I'd like in chili.
posted by ugf at 5:23 PM on February 8, 2009

Response by poster: All of these, excellent suggestions. Thank you for future culinary endeavors. The pepper in question, was fried up with some onions and chicken sausage. Delicious.
posted by tip120 at 9:21 PM on February 13, 2009