Sweet Mini Peppers

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by Karen Schmautz
Mini Sweet Peppers ready to go into the oven

I saw these colorful mini sweet peppers at the store the other day and I wanted to photograph them but I had to come up with some sort of recipe so that Yes! Chef! would make them for me and then I could photograph them. Lo and behold there was a perfectly great recipe right on the back of the bag.  I brought them home and waved them in front of Yes! Chef!  He said something like, “Yes, they are pretty”.  He knows my propensity for Crow Photography (photographing any pretty, shiny or colorful thing that I see), so he wasn’t culinarily very interested.  Then I showed him the recipe on the back of the bag and I said things like, “Mmmmm.  This looks great” and “I sure do love capers, olives and peppers” and finally, “Could you please make this for me and we could put it on steaks tonight.”  That did it.

Here’s the recipe:

First he oiled up the peppers with olive oil and roasted them in the oven.

Roasted Sweet Mini Peppers

He put them in brown paper bags to steam a little so that the skins would come off easily.  Then he ran down to the little country store because we were out of olives.  (My bad.)

Peppers come out of the oven and into the bags
Big pile o’roasted peppers
Peppers peeled and julienned

Then he chopped up olives and cilantro, threw in capers (my personal favorite) and added the appropriate oil, vinegar and seasoning. We both tasted and proclaimed it a success.

Mixing it all together

Of course, then I got to photograph it.

Finished Sweet Pepper Salsa

Finally, he cooked the steaks and I photographed the finished product quickly because it was time to eat!

Finished T-Bone Steak, Sweet Pepper Salsa and Green beans

And THAT!, my friends,  is what dinner is like around here with Yes! Chef!

Published by

Karen Schmautz

Photographer

203 thoughts on “Sweet Mini Peppers”

  12. I love it! We just had a party and have so many of these beautiful sweet peppers left over. Now I know how to cook them. I love balsamic vinegar and that looks delicious. The last time, I made a creamy mashed potato-bacon stuffing and stuffed each one, putting the little tops back on, and then roasted them in the oven. Thanks for your recipe!

  15. What?! This looks amazing. The peppers are absolutely beautiful, and just for that I want to buy some to make this recipe, but the salsa sounds so good too. Homemade salsa is one of my favorite foods ever. 🙂

    lmld.org

  16. I use those same mini peppers for salsa all the time. However, I use them without roasting. The salsa is fantastic. Everyone who tries it raves! Try them uncooked sometime with onions, cilantro, a little lemon juice, salt, pepper and garlic. That’s all I can tell you. Or I will be giving my secret salsa away!

    1. Thank you so much. The recipe is quite good although make sure it is at room temperature when you put it on the steak. Otherwise the cold element is not so good with the hot steak.

      1. Good advice only if one does not like cold things on steak. . . was raised with cold horseradish, chili sauce, green olive spread, cold sauerkraut, etc., with hot meats. Yum.

  22. This looks amazing! However I’m never really sure why people peel the peppers once they’ve been roasted, to me the skin is just as sweet and adds a little bit of variety in texture. (-:

  23. That sweet pepper salsa looks fantastic! I’m definitely trying it out next time I have steak; thanks for the idea!

  24. This salsa is awesome! I wouldn’t eat it on steak, being a vegetarian….it would be good in vegetarian stuffing! Or just as a side to tender baby greens!

      1. I tend to have preference over natural light too, and only use flash when extremely necessary — but your pepper photos are really amazing! It’s as if I can touch them from my monitor!

      2. Thank you. I also use NIK filters, which really help the picture come to life. Also, back light and towards the back light with reflectors in the front of the food really changes the way food looks. Backlight/back sidelight adds lots of depth.

  28. They look so delicious. I am going to harvest the rest of my peppers from the garden and make version of “yes Chef Sweet large peppers”
    Thank you.

  32. What a beautiful presentation of your recipe. I have grown mini-bell peppers in my garden before, but I was at a loss as to what to make with them. I might give your recipe a try this year. I love olives and capers too, so this seems to be a winner to me.

  33. Looks yummy! I am a big caper fan so can’t wait to try this. The recipe will come in handy this summer when I’m trying to use up my peppers from my garden!

    Great pictures and thanks Yes Chef, for making this! Great blog!

  38. I love buying a box od these at Costco but then I always struggle coming up with ways to use them before they expire. This seems easy enough I think even I can handle it. I can’t wait to try! Thanks! – MoSop

  45. Your picture of the completed salsa gave me serious om-noms. I bet that would be good on anything. Vegetarians: I bet it would be great on a whole-wheat pasta with some ricotta salata. Or maybe just ricotta. If I weren’t reading this at two in the morning, I’d run out to the store right now… 🙂

    2. Love your site. Easy on the eyes and comment section is laid out so smoothly; makes one just have to comment!

      The photos look like you used black olives and not green like the recipe. If that is so, has anyone made it yet with green?

      Your pictures are stunning! I envision a coffee table book of just your food pics in your future!

      1. We did use black olives because our little country store did not have green ones. The recipe did not call for the green olives stuffed with red peppers either…just green olives. So, we used black ones.

        Your comments on my photography are greatly appreciated. I am still in the learning process.

  56. This peppers are really sweet… And also your post…

    I prefer making italian omelet with this peppers… (You can check it from : http://wp.me/p2cmlT-bm)

    You will like it.

    And we make a special snaks with red and green ones of this sweet peppers. It will be something traditional in Turkey. (http://wp.me/p2cmlT-gG)

    Pictures are really detailed as you can understand that recipes…

    As, you know there is no language of recipes 🙂 🙂

    Have nice meal…

      1. When we make detailed preparation’s shots, we also make recipes can be understood by everyone… At this time recipes will be universe… No need to know any language, as we see from the pictures…

        At my site also, I’m trying to do this… I put lots of photos at my site (www.ye-mek.net). I want everyone know every taste around the world as the same as you…

  58. Does look fantastically good. Wonder if it would work on fish with another seasoning than vinegar. I’m sure it’s equally fabulous on its own. Also great pictures!!!

  60. This looks delicious! I am excited to try the recipe. I have done roasting of pablano peppers for salsa but never just regular peppers. How fun! And I have never heard of the brown paper bag trick. Thanks!

  61. Besides the delicious recipe of Mini Peppers, I find your photography very beautiful. I prefer too using more natural light and occasionally adding an off camera flash. Thank you for your inspiration having food photography on your blog, so far I had been hestitate to do that.

  65. Beautiful blog! These little peppers are wonderful right out of the bag (and washed). When I first discovered them (thanks to my sister), my kids wanted to take some back to college to fool their apartment mates into thinking they were downing hot peppers without shedding a tear! I think I might try the recipe, with a few tweaks to please everyone. Thanks for sharing! 🙂

  66. Yum yummy, I hope that all the other people that are following my weight loss blog will give the salsa a try!

  68. Reblogged this on From the mind of Del… and commented:
    Whoa, this does look yummy, gonna have to reblog this and add to my low calorie meals. Wonder how they’ll taste over grilled chicken?! Thanks for sharing, Del

  77. I often buy those little peppers. I can’t resist because they’re adorable. We eat them raw, roasted, stir fried….you name it. They are great and so is your photography. Thanks for sharing! Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed.

  84. My grandmother used to have a thing with holes ( metal don’t know technical name ) right on the gas stove and roast them. We also put them under the broiler or on the gas bar-b-que grill and keeping turning them until basically the whole pepper was brown. Then put them in a big bowl. Never used brown paper bags, the skin came off easily and didn’t use oil while roasting them. I know one thing I never want to waste one drop of that pepper juice so i cut them right open on and in the bowl. Get as many seeds out then put extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar on them with a few cut up cloves of garlic. Man get a loaf of fresh hard crust Italian bread and that’s all we needed. LOL

    About two weeks ago I bought about 4 lbs of sweet red peppers, only the large size and fried them ( you fry them in extra virgin olive oil slow until slightly brown and soft). My Dad ( Italian ) side loved them fried my Mom’s (Macedonian) side loved them roasted. I use to bring fried pepper sandwiches to school when I was in high school. My non Italian friends would say what are you eating and my Italian ones either tried to buy or steal my lunch! LOL

  86. OK, SHOULD we warn the un-suspecting people about peppers …. ?

    OIL is for your HANDS ….. keeps out the capsaicin.

    Those ‘sweet peppers’ look like several other peppers which are HOT.

    Personally? I love hot. But, I always tone it down for others.

    Wayne

      2. he would be interested to hear that since he doesn’t know too much about blogging or really anything about the web except he likes to search for recipes. He rarely gets on Facebook. Oddly enough, I’m the one that made the blog site. I like design as well as photography. Thank you for stopping by and your kind words.

    1. Thank you! First he seasons it very well and lets the steak come to room temperature. Very important to making the steak cook evenly. Then he gets a cast iron pan sizzling hot with some olive oil cooks one side then turns it over and pops it in a hot oven. He does the cheek, chin, forehead test to test for doneness. We like our steak done cheeky (medium rare). Then he takes it out of the oven and let’s it rest for several minutes which keeps the steak juicy. (that’s the time I can hurry up and take the picture.)

  96. Beautiful photos of creation of mini pepper salsa. And Yes! Chef! is amazing. I can’t wait to make this exactly as shown. Thanks for sharing!

    Linda

  97. I’m so happy I came across this…we’re going to try to do a variation and include some tomatoes as a sauce with pasta, or as a topping for some grilled salmon. Haven’t decided yet, but thank you for sharing. And your photos are stunning – they really bring the food to life!

  104. These look absolutely divine and the close-up photography makes the stunning colours of the peppers look so vivid. I am a huge fan of peppers and often eat them with couscous.

  109. That looks so delicious! I love roasted bell peppers with beef (tri-tip and roast beef are also good) but I’ve never made a salsa with them. That would be a really tasty variation. My family is Italian and we grill most of our meals during the summer, so whenever I’m at my parents’ house we usually have grilled peppers, onions, eggplant, and zucchini with our meat. I’ll be planting peppers in my garden this year, so hopefully I’ll get enough to try a pepper salsa like this!

    One of the other comments mentioned Italian pepper sandwiches … I haven’t had one of those in years! I’ll have to start making them.

  110. Looks so yummy! I love being inspired while food shopping 🙂 And I, too, enjoy crow photography 🙂 Or, more accurately, crow anything… I’m easily distracted by anything pretty…

  111. Beautiful photos! The recipe execution looks fabulous. I must be channeling after sweet bell peppers as 1) I just bought a bag of six at Sam’s and 2) this is the 6 blog read I’ve come across in the last two days featuring them.
    Your ‘crow’ eye did wonderfully well with these!

  113. That looks very good but not particularly Weight Watchers friendly. I’ll have to make for a special meal. Thanks.

  117. Absolutely gorgeous shots! Glad you were fresh pressed so I could find you. I love sweet mini peppers… I used to buy them at trader Joes every week. I am hoping when the season comes I will be able to find them at my local organic market. My blog is about strictly seasonal eating and I am now living in Belgium so no more Trader Joes… But your shots were so great I can still taste them!

    1. Thank you and I will stop by your blog. I love Trader Joes too but the nearest one to me is one hour away. I like to make a weekly trip there and also stop at Whole Foods, which is close to TJ.

  130. Just finished my yummy ribeye with your mini pepper salsa recipe. WOW! So good. Perfect meal. Thanks for the recipe. Great presentation. Now that I have practiced on hubby – I will make this recipe for guest.

    I still have a ton of these minipeppers left – they are great as a snack.

  133. Mmmm, I now feel very hungry! Amazing pics! Am now going to have a little catch up of you posts so far and look forward to reading more in the future 🙂

  135. I have to say, I encountered your blog by mistake and this was the first post I saw. I made the roasted peppers instantly! I was lucky I had some in the fridge, otherwise I would have been drooling for a while. Pics are beautiful also! 🙂

  136. Have MERCY that looks so good! I stumbled upon this on the “Freshly Pressed” page and I am afraid I’m going to have to explore some more. I am in the process of trying to drop about 20 pounds, but I sure can live vicariously through these pictures. 🙂

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