Sweet Bells

Bell peppers are here! And they are beautiful!!! Under appreciated these delightful veggies are so versatile! They originate from South and Central America and have been around for more than 9000 years. They are part of the nightshade family along with tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplant and they come in a variety of colors from green, yellow, orange, red, even brown, black and purple! The spice paprika is made from dried ground bell peppers. They contain good amounts of vitamin C, A, and B6. They are on the EWG’s dirty dozen list so be sure to buy organic if you can!

These recipes are rather simple but an easy way to enjoy the peppers, quality food doesn’t need a lot of fuss! The roasted green bell peppers comes from a friend of mine Andrea. She brought these to a dinner party and I fell in love with them. Who ever thought of roasting green bells instead of red? I love it!

Here's a link to the dirty dozen and the clean 15...

http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/

 RGP (roasted green bell peppers)

 3 or 4 green bell peppers, cut in half, stemmed and seeded

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt and pepper

Olive oil for storage

     Heat your oven to broil. Place the peppers cut side down on a sheet pan and place on the middle rack of the oven and broil until the skins are charred, about 15-20 minutes. Remove the peppers from the oven and place in a deep bowl and cover with a plate. Allow to steam for 5-8 minutes to loosen the skin. When the peppers are cool enough to handle remove the skins and discard. Tear the peppers into strips, toss with the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Store in a Ball jar covered in olive oil (try to remove all air bubbles that may form between the layers of pepper in the jar, I used a skewer). Store in the fridge. Use as antipasta, on a sandwich, or on a pizza!

                                                                     

Sausage and Peppers - Serves 4

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound sauage links, such as italian or knackwurst

1 onion, sliced

4 bell peppers, stemmed, seeded and cut into strips

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil In a 10-inch straight sided sauté pan set over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the sausages and cook until brown on all sides and cooked through, about 10-12 minutes. Remove the sausages from the pan and keep warm. Add the onion and peppers to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Cook until soft, about 6-8 minutes and serve with warm sausages.

To Grill to sausages: heat a grill to medium high. Grill the sausages until browned on all sides and cooked through, about 10-12 minutes. Serve with sauteed peppers and onions.

Enjoy-V