I always make this recipe in the fall, when peppers are in season and inexpensive. Heavily refrigerated peppers may look smooth and hard on the outside, but their inferiority is evident when you broil them and the flesh cooks up slippery and soft. The taste is affected too: it’s not as sweet. Marinated peppers are an antipasto mainstay. I like to toss peppers with tuna, boiled shrimp, or grilled scallops and garnish with parsley.
This makes a brothy marinade with a 3.5 to 4.0 pH, well within the range where spoilers can’t grow. It is adapted from a recipe circulated by the Michigan State University Extension. You may find that a month or two of shelf time, when you open can the top pepper may be a little softer than the others. You can use it or chuck it, at your discretion. The peppers are good for up to a year.
Ingredients
4 pounds red bell peppers (8 to 10 medium), stems snipped off
1 cup bottled lemon juice
2 cups white wine vinegar with 5% acidity
1 cup olive oil
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
Directions
1. Place the oven rack about 7-inches from the broiler and preheat the broiler. Place the peppers on a baking sheet and char them under the broiler, turning them often with tongs so that they blister all over, about 20 minutes. Let peppers stand until cool enough to handle. Remove the charred skin, cut the peppers in half, and remove the seeds.
2. Combine the lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil, garlic, and salt in a saucepan and heat just to boiling over medium heat.
3. Have ready three scalded pint jars and their bands. (To scald simply dip jars in boiling water. You don’t need to sterilize the jars, as you will be processing them for over ten minutes.) Simmer new lids in a small pan of hot water to soften the rubberized flange.
4. Pack the peppers into the jars and pour marinade over them. Using a butter knife, pop any air bubbles in the jars. See that the garlic slices are distributed evenly. Be sure to leave 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch of headspace in the jars, or your seals might fail. (Why? Because the peppers puff up some during the water bath process, and if there’s not enough space for the air to be pushed out of the jar by the heat, the pressure will push oil out as well and the seals won’t stick.) Wipe the rims, place on the lids, and screw on the bands fingertip tight.
5. Process peppers in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow jars to sit in the water for 5 minutes, then remove the jars and let them rest for four to six hours. Check the seals and store in a cool, dry place for up to one year.
Excerpted from Well-Preserved by Eugenia Bone. Copyright © 2009 by Eugenia Bone. Photographs copyright © 2009 by Andrew Brucker. Excerpted by permission of Clarkson Potter, a division of Random House of Canada Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Buy the book now!