Hot Pepper Confit

Hot Pepper Confit

Let's chat for a minute about our love of all things spicy. If adding extra spice to a meal is an option, we're choosing it every time.

A few years ago, we discovered Wegman's Hot Pepper Spread. While we can't deny that we love this condiment, if we're being totally honest, it doesn't last too long in the fridge after opening.

So, when we discovered this recipe over at Lady and Pups, we found a solution that might help us add heat without fear of expired, moldy peppers. Plus, we can make this in mass quantities, freeze it/give it out to our friends/eat it on absolutely everything.

| Hillary

Hot Pepper Confit

1 lb of long green, thin-skinned pepper like Shishito

1.5 oz  red chili peppers

2 cloves of garlic for confit

1 cup of olive oil

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp of ground white pepper

1 tsp of kosher salt

2 cloves of garlic for grating

1 tsp of white wine vinegar

Wash the peppers and remove the stems (but not the seeds!).  Put the peppers into a food processor, along  with 2 cloves of garlic. Pulse the peppers just until they resemble a rough chop (be careful not to over pulse/puree).  

Using a spatula, spoon the peppers into a saucepan. Be careful not to touch the peppers- they'll be pretty hot and that spice might stay on your fingers for a while (yikes).    Add the oil, soy sauce, white pepper, and salt to the pan, and turn the burner to medium heat.

The pepper mixture will start to bubble. Stir  occasionally and let it stew in the pot.  The peppers will lose their moisture and shrink in size. You can use a spoon to check for moisture/pepper juice at the bottom of the pot. Once this has totally evaporated, the peppers are done - this process took about 45 minutes for my peppers.

Transfer the pepper mixture to a bowl and add the 2 cloves of grated garlic and white wine vinegar. Stir to combine.

You can certainly use the confit as soon as it's cooled to room temperature, but the longer it sits in the fridge, the more developed the flavor will be. It tastes great on pizza, pasta, roasted veggies, and basically everything.