Onions and Peppers

Difficulty: Easy

Prep time: Depends on how much you make but for 2 lbs of peppers and an onion figure 10 minutes

Cooking time: 7 - 10  minutes

Cost per serving: cheap

Useful leftovers: Oh yes

This sounds too simple to be good. I almost always have a tub of this in my fridge and I use it all the time.

Onions
Sweet red peppers
Olive oil
Salt

This would be so drab without it!

It couldn't be much simpler. Go to a market where you can get inexpensive red bell peppers. There are some Asian markets near here where I sometimes get them for less than a dollar. 

Number two peppers are fine for this. Those are the ones that are too twisted or have a scar or blemish and can't be sold as a number 1. As long as they are not cracked open or disgusting or old they are fine. Look for crisp ones that have a relatively smooth skin.

I don't care about the skins on the peppers but if you do go ahead and peel them. 

Wash and dry the peppers. Cut the flesh into strips. I don't cook for customers or teachers so I don't care if they are all the same size. Makes no difference here.

Cut an onion into chunks.

Put the vegetables into a dry, heavy bottomed pan. You cannot make this in a thin pan. You'll burn everything. Turn the heat onto medium and when they are just starting to brown add 1/4 cup of good olive oil. Not a fancy olive oil, just not a bitter cheesy one.

Turn the heat way down and stir like mad.  At this point you want to cook the stuff very slowly for at least 1/2 hr.  We don't want a lot of browning but we want everything to be fully cooked and soft. Don't let a molecule of raw onion remain but be careful nothing burns. If you can cook it for 45 minutes without burning it so much the better.

Put the peppers and onions into a bowl and scrape the stuff from the bottom of the pan into the bowl. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and another tablespoon of olive oil. When it is cooled to room temperature put it in the fridge.

Here are some ways that I use this:

As a bruschetta topping, sometimes with smoked herring and lemon or with cucumbers
As a pasta sauce base
As a meat sauce base
As a salad dressing base
Over a rare steak or piece of lamb or sausage
As a salad ingredient
As a filling in a stuffed chicken breast of pork chop
As a flavoring oil'
As a dip

You can vary this many ways. I sometimes add serrano chiles or chunks of potato. I like to sprinkle Cholula hot sauce on it. You can use it to top chile or enchiladas. It's great with sour cream.

These peppers go well with bits of salty things like ham but also with very savory things like grilled meat, sausage, or meaty fish like mackerel.

The best thing in this recipe is the oil! It tastes great. Just sprinkle a little on a grilled Italian sausage, or grilled eggplant or tomatoes. Just great.