My "First Date" Dish

This was the first thing I cooked for Scarlett and it is what she's getting this weekend.
The day before Valentine's Day (oh, I guess that's today) I will roast some red peppers over a hardwood fire.
Look at these beautiful red peppers. Many folks don't realize, red bell peppers are simply green bell peppers allowed to ripen longer. Notice my "spice rack" in the background:
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I put the peppers on the grill. I use a charcoal grill but you can do this on a gas grill. I have even put peppers right on my kitchen stove.
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Being mostly water, the peppers literally boil as they cook. When they split open, water drops onto the coals. That, in turn, causes smoke and ash to spew all over the joint. The ash on the peppers is no problem because they get peeled anyway. When they are completely black, I put them in a paper bag to sweat for a while, like a little pepper sauna. When cool, they are ready to peel:
This is not a very pretty job but someone's got to do it. The best part is, the person peeling the peppers gets to pick as many peppers as the pepper peeler peels:
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Well, the peppers are not the star of this recipe. They are the main ingredient in a sauce I developed. A sauce to put on... uh, something else. I placed the peeled peppers in a blender and pureed them. I then poured the pepper puree into a pan: You can see the pepper puree is quite thick. Not only that, it is red, as red as anything you've ever seen. Not only is this stuff really red, it smells better than anything you have ever smelled in your life. It smells like fire and sugar and the New England woods in late spring, when the ferns are unrolling toward the trees. This is an irresistible aroma. Anyway, over low heat, I add fresh squeezed lime juice, lots of fresh ground black pepper*, a half pound of sweet (unsalted) butter and fresh chopped tarragon.
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The trick here is to add first the lime juice, then, over very low heat (the puree is unruly stuff and will stick and burn just to be obstinate)incorporate the butter by wisking it, one small slice at a time, into the puree. Lastly, add the finely chopped, fresh tarragon and remove from heat. Now we have a remarkably yummy sauce for this: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3430/...d19f2b50_o.jpg
Yes, this is shrimp. I put shrimp onto bamboo skewers like yin and yang with slices of vidalia onion (normally, I use red onion but the delightfully sweet vidalias were in season when I took these pics). I marinate the kebobs overnight(in the fridge) in lime juice, black pepper and chopped vidalias(if it wasn't April, I'd use garlic instead of vidalia onions in the marinade). The kebobs then get grilled:
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I have to tell you, this dish may not be the simplest but it is guaranteed to get you lai... er...uh...folks like it.
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Don't overcook the shrimp! You are better off leaving them raw than cooking beautiful black tiger shrimp hard and dry.

That looks fantastic! I do all the cooking here & it's one of the things i live for. I love the pure sweetness of peppers when you've charred the skin off!

icedog:

Maria makes the roasted peppers sauce the same way you do, she uses the oven instead.

One of the dishes in her repertoire is regatoni, with some chopped garlic, basil and olive oil and the pepper sauce on top.

Essentially a roasted red pepper coulis. Must be very nice with the shrimp.

Yummy


Scott