Roasted Pepper Paste

Name: Roasted Pepper Paste
Prep time: 1 h 8 min
Cook time: 4 h 2 min
Total time: 5 h 10 min
Yield: 750 gr
Ingredients: 5 kg red peppers (i used 3.5 kg kapia + 1.5 kg bell peppers); a few red hot peppers (optional); 2 teaspoons sea salt; 1-2 tablespoons oil; yield: 750 g

August 11, 2014

Condiments Budget Recipes Vegetables Pickles and Canned

The "Pantry" project started promisingly, with a pepper paste that's delicious in everything. To get a natural smoky flavor, I roasted the peppers at my grandmother's on the stove. It was a relaxing day, I didn't even feel like I was working.

We were greeted by the fire already burning. On the stove sat a large tray with stuffed zucchini and vegetables around them. All from my grandmother's garden. Some turkey meatballs, chicken soup and cold spring water completed the meal. We feasted well and then started roasting peppers. After the peppers, we also roasted some eggplants, so as not to let the fire burn in vain. While we girls cleaned the vegetables, the men grilled corn brought from Cluj. Plain with salt or with seasoned cheese. Dessert: pears and mirabelle plums straight from the garden. A long break for stories until almost sunset. I picked vegetables for home (tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, eggplants). We felt hungry again. We restarted the fire, my mother made polenta and Radu whipped up 3 large bulz, stuffed with aged sheep cheese bought from Zalau and drizzled with fried bacon bits. Somewhat sluggish after the polenta, we returned to Cluj and dehydrated the paste which, in winter, will not only flavor our dishes but will remind us of all the aromas that surrounded us today. A magical paste 😊

You can add it to soups, stews (see pork stew, beef and eggplant stew or chicken stew with vegetables), sauces (see romesco sauce), spreads (see muhammara), in ground meat (see the filling for Turkish pizza, bulgur pilaf with ground meat), potato and bulgur patties, red lentil and bulgur balls.

Ingredients

5 kg red peppers (I used 3.5 kg kapia + 1.5 kg bell peppers)
a few red hot peppers (optional)
2 teaspoons sea salt
1-2 tablespoons oil

Yield: 750 g

How to prepare roasted pepper paste

Roast the peppers on the stove or in the oven, then peel them and remove the stems and seeds, using the instructions here. If you want the paste to be spicy, roast a few hot peppers too. The juice collected from the peppers is not used in this recipe.
Put the peppers in a food processor and blend until you get a smooth paste.
Generously grease the deep baking tray with oil, including the sides. Pour the paste into the tray and level it very well with the back of a spoon. Be very thorough at this step so it dehydrates evenly. Sprinkle the salt on top.
* if you roasted the peppers in the oven and still want that smoky aroma, you can add about 2 teaspoons of smoked salt along with the sea salt
Place the tray in the oven at 140°C (with fan, if your oven has one) and let the paste dehydrate for about 3 hours (or until you run a spoon through it and it doesn't seem to have much liquid left). Check the paste every half hour and when it looks slightly dry on top, stir (I stirred at about 1 hour). After 3 hours, reduce the temperature to 120°C and let the paste dehydrate to the desired consistency (I left it another hour), stirring occasionally so it doesn't burn on the edges. You should get a thick paste that doesn't fall off the spoon.
* after each stir, make sure to level the paste very well
** those with a fan oven can easily double the recipe and dehydrate the paste using two trays at once; those with a classic oven will dehydrate only one tray at a time
Put the hot paste into sterilized hot jars and seal them. Make sure no air pockets remain in the paste when you put it in jars. Turn the jars upside down, wrap them in a blanket and let the paste cool this way until the next day. Store in a cool place.