Spicy Bell Pepper Salad

Sometimes when I go to the grocery store things aren't on my list and I know that I'll need them for recipes I've planned to cook through the week. These are the staples. Things like carrots, potatoes and peppers. You would think that I would remember whether or I have these things or not, but remember, I've run out of flour without knowing it before. Sometimes I think I don't have them at home and I end up with enormous excesses of them. Remember the 10 pounds of carrots? And sometimes I forget that I don't have them at home. I did this with potatoes this week. It's hard to make a potato dish without potatoes. Unfortunately, instead of those potatoes I grabbed peppers. Close, but no cigar. Suddenly I had 6 bell peppers of assorted colors in the fridge. And really I'm not eating 3 days of stuffed peppers. I like them, but that's too many days in a week.

I could repeat the chocolate bell pepper salad, but it's been cold outside and sleeting and generally yucky and I wanted something cooked. My mind has officially drifted to wishing it was spring. This of course was not helped by the fluke sunny 50 degree morning we had on Monday. Now I want to plant my garden and grill on the BBQ (which currently is under a healthy layer of sleet).

And this salad would go great with BBQ. It's the Spicy Bell Pepper Salad courtesy of Bon Appetit. It's not really too spicy. The spicy actually brings out the sweetness of the peppers. I'm sure it would be better with fresh dill, but my dill plant is also under a nice covering of sleet and has been dead for a long time. I used dried dill and it worked pretty well, although the fresh dill would be prettier. I'd like to try it next time with fresh. And yeah, there will be a next time. With a nice grilled steak. or chicken. and a beer. mmmmmmmm.

Spicy Bell Pepper Salad

from Bon Appetit

1 1/2 tsp caraway seeds

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp dried crushed pepper

1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/3 inch thick rings

1 green bell pepper, cut into 1/3 inch thick rings

1 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/3 inch thick rings

1 medium onion, cut into 1/4 inch thick rounds, separated into rings

1 lemon

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

2 Tbsp dried dill or 1/4 cup fresh

Peel lemon with potato peeler so that you have wide strips of the zest (no white parts).

Toast caraway seeds in large skillet over medium high heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in oil and crushed red pepper. Add all of the peppers, onion rings, lemon peel, and the garlic slices. Saute until all of the vegetables are crisp tender, about 7 minutes.

Transfer pepper mixture to a bowl, mix in dill and cool. (Here you can remove the lemon peel, but I found it added a really interesting and cooling dimension to the dish.) Juice the lemon and mix it in with the salad and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Hooray it's my 100th post!