Contents
Sweet peppers charred until the skin blisters, then peeled and stored in oil or brine. In cold food they are the highest-value jar in the cupboard: they supply sweetness, softness and a faint smokiness, and they are the one roasted thing that stops a raw vegetable sandwich being a plate of salad.
Jarred versus your own
Jarred is genuinely good and worth buying. Look for peppers packed in oil or water rather than heavy brine, and Spanish piquillo peppers if you can find them — small, pointed, roasted over wood, and markedly better than the standard jar.
To roast your own: whole peppers directly over a gas flame or under a hot grill, turning until blackened all over. Then steam them — a covered bowl or a paper bag, 15 minutes — which is what lifts the skin. Peel, do not rinse; rinsing washes away the smoke. Seed, tear into strips, and store under oil with garlic and a little vinegar.
In cold food
- Drain and pat dry before they go into a sandwich; jarred peppers carry a lot of liquid.
- Tear, do not slice. Same reason as fresh mozzarella — a ragged edge holds dressing.
- Their sweetness needs a counterweight: capers, table olives, red wine vinegar or a sharp cheese.
Keeping
Unopened, a year or more. Opened, 2 weeks refrigerated if kept submerged in oil; a week in brine. Home-roasted, 2 weeks under oil.
Off-season use
A jar of these is the standing substitute for tomatoes between about October and June — in caprese sandwich, in cold pasta salad, anywhere a recipe assumes a ripe summer tomato that is not available.
Elsewhere on the site
Used in: italian sub · hummus vegetable sandwich · orzo salad · cold pasta salad · mezze plate
Related: table olives · capers · harissa · Peppers · bell pepper