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One grower at the farmer's market in the alley near my work recently started selling a crop of chocolate peppers. I've had some moderate success using them as an ingredient, but am looking for tips on additional uses for them; particularly in how to make them more expressive of their flavor (i.e. is it particularly important to roast them before use, etc).

(If you're unfamiliar with these, they are poblano-ish looking peppers with a purple-ish color to them; they have a subtle, sumptuous chocolate-y profile and pair very well with very hot peppers.)

For example, I have made Chile Rellenos with them and they were very good; but recently I tried to incorporate them into a simple rice and eggplant dish and they didn't flavor the dish very well at all. I'm wondering if pre-roasting them ahead of time might have made them a better ingredient or if perhaps some other technique could have made them more worth including.

What sorts of preparation techniques or ingredient combinations would best utilize this unique ingredient and help enhance its flavor?

Aaronut
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mfg
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  • There's a little confusion about your question (see: http://meta.cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/608/uses-of-x-questions-are-they-just-recipe-swaps-in-disguise). The basic problem is that your answer is so detailed that it makes it seem that you're looking for more recipes, which are generally not part of this site's scope. It might be better to delete your answer and incorporate a summary of it in the question. Posts about how to improve a specific recipe are encouraged, as are general questions about utilizing an ingredient, but this is somewhere in between. Thoughts? Thanks... – Ocaasi Aug 16 '10 at 16:43
  • @Aaronut Hi. Private message? – Ocaasi Aug 16 '10 at 16:43
  • thanks for the heads up; did not intend this to be a list of x, more a 'what is an appropriate use of this pepper where it goes from just having the characteristics of a bell to one where the fuller flavor comes out... and how?' – mfg Aug 17 '10 at 14:55

1 Answers1

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In general, you can roast peppers to develop a richer flavor. Then skin the pepper and you can use it for salsas, sauces, or just slice/dice it up for a sandwich.

Chad
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