The other day I ran into a friend Eva who offered me some hot chili peppers from her garden. She and her husband Al had a large harvest of hot peppers, too many for them to use. I , of course, jumped at the chance to spend a weekend cooking and experimenting with an ingredient. When the peppers arrived, I was thrilled to have a big bowl of color in my kitchen: all that red, green, orange and yellow. The first thing I quickly tried was a red chili mayonnaise that I planned to use with grilled shrimp as a main course or appetizer. I also thought that the red chili mayonnaise would be terrific to make panini’s -a fun twist on a ham and cheese. My next recipe I decided to adapt my grandmother’s beef goulash recipe and make a pork goulash, using cubes of pork with peppers and onions for a fiery dish. This meal started with a crostini of toasted bread and fresh ricotta cheese, topped with fresh chopped red chilis, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with some coarse sea salt. I wish I had a bowl of chili peppers in my kitchen every weekend and you will too when you try some of these recipes.
Chili Pepper and Pork Goulash
Serves 4-6
3 pounds cubed pork stew meat
4 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
4 cups onions finely chopped
6 medium size assorted chili peppers without seeds and membranes, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon caraway seeds, toasted
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
4 cups chicken stock
1 jar 12 ounces of roasted red and yellow sweet peppers
Zest of 1 lemon
Directions
Mix flour, salt, pepper and paprika in a sealed plastic bag. Add pork cubes into bag and coated with flour mixture. In a large Dutch oven heat olive oil. Sauté floured pork cubes until browned. Remove browned meat into bowl and place aside. Add remaining olive oil to pan and sauté the onions with chili peppers until softened. Add the caraway seed, rosemary, thyme, and bay leaf. Sauté until fragrant about one minute. Add the tomatoe paste. Deglaze with the vinegar and stock , then add the meat and roasted peppers. Bring to a boil, then lower heat , cover and simmer until very tender, approximately 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Remove from heat add lemon zest and serve with noodles or rice.