Day 23: April 5, 2016 - Quick Fried Peppers - Γρήγορες Τηγανητές Πιπεριές - (This is a repost from April 9, 2014)

(Today's entry is a repost from April 9, 2014. This is one of our favourite food items during Lent, particularly when we can find them - as they are usually unavailable in the Toronto, Ontario, Canada area during the period of Great Lent). 

One simple, yet gratifying dish is fried peppers.  There is no difficult prep work, no fancy tools, and no fuss to this dish. You need only a few ingredients and about 20 minutes to make this from start to finish.  In fact, it is so simple, delicious, and light, that we are going to show you mostly in photos without too many words.

For this recipe, you will need the following ingredients:

peppers (any kind) - we used Cubanelle (sweet long green peppers)
oil for frying
oil for drizzling
salt
an optional ingredient is vinegar

Just to mention, you can use whatever kind of pepper you like.  We chose cubanelle peppers because of the elongated body and slight spice.  We had a red bell pepper, too, which gave us a sweeter, juicier result.  We have done this with banana peppers when we want a little more spice, and have tasted jalapeno peppers which are transformed when fried this way.  Choose what you like or what you have on hand.  You want to plan a serving of one pepper per person.

Start by washing the peppers well, as we do with any produce.  Then, using a fork, poke holes all over the peppers.  This is to allow the steam to escape as the peppers cook.  It is necessary since you leave the peppers whole, without removing seeds or pith.

Heat the frying oil in a pan.  You will need about one inch of oil to fry these well.

Place the peppers in the hot oil.  Stand back because they will spatter!  Fry the peppers on every side, turning to make each side equally brown..  You will see the skin of the pepper turn brown in colour and blister, and the meaty part of the pepper will wilt and become soft.  Try to fry the pepper to equal colour on every side, turning as needed.  You can even stand up certain types of peppers on the stem side to cook the top cap of the pepper.

Once the peppers are fried, sprinkle a little oil and salt on them.  If you like, sprinkle a bit of red wine vinegar on them, too.  We chose just salt and oil for our dish.  You want just enough to enhance the flavour without making the peppers salty.  Serve hot or warm as whole peppers and enjoy.

"A man who is wrathful with us is a sick man; we must apply a plaster to his heart - love; we must treat him kindly, speak to him gently, lovingly. And if there is not deeply-rooted malice against us within him, but only a temporary fit of anger, you will see how his heart, or his malice, will melt away through your kindness and love - how good will conquer evil. A Christian must always be kind, gracious, and wise in order to conquer evil by good."

St. John of Kronstadt, "My Life in Christ".

Source of quote: http://theodorakis.net/orthodoxquotescomplete.html