The inspiration for dinner tonight was a huge display of peppers I saw at the grocery store, today.  Well…  a big container of fried peppers was what I first thought of when I saw them.  The inspiration for dinner came while I was frying them.

We have fried peppers in the refrigerator about 6 months out of the year.  The cubanelles and long hots come into season and either Victor or I am frying up a storm.  And hacking and coughing with tears streaming.  Cubanelles are sweet, but long hots are – hot.  Ya get a good whiff of them cooking and it’s all over.  Good ventilation is a must.

I have to admit that I never wear gloves when dealing with hot peppers.  There have been a few times in my life that I definitely should not have rubbed my eyes or touched things, but for the most part I just try and be careful.

Frying peppers is easy.  Slice and clean – and be careful with the hots – and then fry in a bit of olive oil.  I start off high and then go low.  It takes about 30 minutes to get them just right.  I may add a bit of garlic towards the end, sometimes a bit of sugar.

I put them into a tupperware-type container and just let them sit in the ‘fridge.  The longer they sit, the better they get.  The sweets take on some heat and the hot ones mellow.

They’re perfect on sandwiches, chopped into egg salad, put into omelettes, burgers…  you name it.

Tonight they went atop breaded pork chops.

The bread crumbs were from dried out baguettes.  I added cayenne pepper, pico de gallo spice, Mexican oregano, salt, and pepper.  The chops were first dredged in flour, then into egg, and then the seasoned crumbs.  I browned them on the stove and finished them in a 350° oven.

The sweet potato bed was fun.

I decided they should continue that Mexican-ish flavor.    I still have a couple of small jars of Bronco Bob’s Roasted Mango Chipotle Sauce I pick up at Cost Plus every time I’m home, so one of them went into the mashed sweet potatoes.  (They have a Raspberry Chipotle that is also fun!)

It added just the right amount of smoky flavor.  They definitely weren’t your typical Thanksgiving Sweets!

They were good.