Chili Peppers Recipe Roundup: Stuffed peppers, chocolate, Hatch chile peppers and more!!

 

Chili Pepper Recipe Round Up

When it gets hot in Arizona, we like to spice things up with chili peppers. 

Chili peppers are a fascinating fruit to grow, study, cook with and enjoy eating. With heat flavors ranging from no heat, to very sweet to mind numbingly spicy, there is a large variety for you to choose from and enjoy. 

Growing and harvesting peppers

Habanero Plant.jpg

Arizona is the perfect place to grow chili peppers. Pepper plants need 8 hours of sunshine to produce fruit and can withstand our hotter soil temps. Many peppers can be harvested when they are still green and will continue to ripen on the kitchen counter. As the pepper ripens, the flavors will evolve to become sweeter, spicier, or fruitier. Peppers can even be enjoyed before they are ripe or once the fruit has fully ripened; it can be dried, fermented or frozen to preserve long- term. 

Dried chili peppers

Drying chili peppers is very easy: simply cut a slice into the pepper and leave it on your counter or outside in the sun. Peppers can take a few days or few weeks to dry depending on the humidity levels in the air. Once the peppers are completely dried, they can be stored whole in your pantry in paper or plastic bags or can be ground with a spice grinder into the best chili pepper powder ever. 

When looking for the best store bought chili powder, check out Santa Cruz Chili and Spice Co. Their mild chili powder is fresh and flavorful without the spice kick.

The Spicy Sonoran Chocolate Bar from Carolina’s Chocolate

The Spicy Sonoran Chocolate Bar from Carolina’s Chocolate

Carolina’s Chocolates

Lisa Jaimes-Toon at Carolina’s Chocolates channels her Hispanic heritage by blending chili powder with chocolate to make a truly Arizona style chocolate. She has spent hours curating her recipes  to ensure that each of her chocolate bars have the perfect amount of cocoa to chili powder ratios so you get those nuanced chili pepper flavor profiles. 

Even if you shy away from spice, the heat levels in these chocolate bars are sublime and really healthy with loads of antioxidants from the chocolate and anti-inflammatory properties from the chili powder. 

 

Recipe: Epic Virtual Wine Tasting with friends

Here are all the links to order everything you need for a virtual happy hour. Find most of these goodies at your local AJ’s Fine Foods and pick up another set to drop off at a friend’s (or two) for a really special event!

An over-abundance of peppers

Recipe: Quick Pickling chili peppers

If you have enjoyed the pickled jalapeños on your nachos at a Diamondbacks game, then this quick pickling peppers recipe is right up your alley.

photo credit: Layla@GimmeDelicious.com

photo credit: Layla@GimmeDelicious.com

1 cup water
1 cup white, apple or rice vinegar 
1 tbsp salt (more or less depending on your taste)
1 tbsp sugar (more or less depending on your taste)
4-6 whole coriander
Chili peppers: jalapeños, serranos, bell peppers, cherry bomb peppers, habaneros

The peppers can be kept whole, just add a small slice in the skin to let the brine penetrate, or sliced ¼” thick and packed into a sanitized glass jar. Add any optional veggies you would like; we like adding carrots sliced ¼” thick, garlic cloves, cauliflower florets, and thinly sliced red onion. Combine your water, vinegar, salt, sugar and coriander into a small pot and bring to a boil. Carefully pour the boiling mixture over the peppers and screw on the lid. Let sit on the counter until it is cool enough to handle. Store in the refrigerator. Peppers can be enjoyed within an hour of pickling and last in your refrigerator up to three months. Plus, they’re the perfect excuse for taco night. 

Lovecraft Restaurant celebrates Hatch Chiles

We are totally obsessed with Lovecraft’s menu combining craft beers, smoked meats and New Mexico flavors. But nothing could tickle our taste buds more than their menu items that include Hatch Chile peppers in all forms. If you don’t know, Hatch Chile pepper season runs from the middle of August until the middle of September. The iconic Hatch Chile Pepper Festival happens in Hatch, NM during Labor Day weekend every year (except this one of course). 

Hatch Green Chile Stew with melty cheese and fresh tortillas

Hatch Green Chile Stew with melty cheese and fresh tortillas

Hatch Chile peppers are a wonderful, meaty pepper. They have super pepper flavors with light citrus and melon notes and a range of heat from none to xx-hot. When roasted, they take on a delightfully charred flavor, become juicier and their skins slip off. If smoked, they take on the smokiness from the wood and the spice flavor becomes more sublime. Ripened to red and then dried, Hatch chiles make the absolute best chili sauce for adovada, enchiladas and chili. 

Lovecraft truly captures these incredible flavors. After checking in with the owner/chef Rebecca Golden, we can’t stop thinking about their Hatch Chile pepper enchiladas with smoked mushrooms and green chile chicken chimichangas topped with queso. But the number one item on her menu is the Green Chile Burger with caramelized onions, green chile queso and house smoked bacon. With over 130 craft beers available to enjoy in the restaurant or to go and new craft cocktails, you have a plethora of choices to take the edge off their spicy food. 

Celebrate this Hatch Chile season with Rebecca and her restaurant Lovecraft. She really is a super cool lady with hot food. Lovecraft is also participating in the Feed Phoenix program and has thus far delivered 300 meals to low to no income families with more meals to come. 

Lovecraft is located at 3128 E. Cactus, Phoenix, 85032 with some funky hours: Tues-Thurs 3pm-9pm, Fri, 3pm-10pm, Sat, noon-10pm, Sunday noon-8pm and closed Monday. Social distance dining is available inside the restaurant or take it and some beers to go. 

Recipe: Stuffed Peppers (Updated)

We picked up some beautiful rainbow colored heirloom sweet peppers from Arrandale Farms and made this easy stuffed peppers recipe on our grill. Traditionally, stuffed peppers are made with ground beef and rice. The meat, rice, and mirepoix are combined uncooked with a little bit of tomato sauce and stuffed into hollowed out bell peppers and then cooked in the oven until the rice and meat are fully cooked. For our Arizona version we cooked these up on the grill to keep the heat out of the kitchen and infuse a little bit of smokiness into peppers. We also substituted in lamb and added goat cheese to the mix.

10-12 larger peppers: sweet bell peppers, poblano, Hatch Chiles, or Anaheims
1 cup Ramona Farms grits
1/3 cup of Mouth of the South Salsa Verde
1/3 cup of chopped green onions, tops and bottoms
1 pound ground lamb
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Tblsp ground chili pepper powder
Udder Delight’s Farmer cheese

Cook the grits per the package instructions, about 20 minutes on the stove with water. Cook the lamb until it is mostly done. Cut the peppers in half lengthways and remove the seeds. Combine the cooked grits, lamb, salsa, green onions, chili powder and salt and pepper. Spoon the combination into the chili pepper halves and top with goat cheese. Place the pepper halves onto a grill preheated to medium and let cook for 15-20 minutes until you have grill marks. Enjoy.

Call for Recipes!

We know you have been cooking so much during COVID. Share some of your best recipes and photos with us before November 1 and we will wrap up this totally weird 2020 showcasing your successes and creativity! Drop us an email at tanya@localfirstaz.com

 
 
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