Every Saturday morning, from April through December, whether in Seattle or Portland, I head to one of the many inspiring Northwest farmers markets. You might think I would become jaded after awhile, but it hasn’t happened.

Every week, I’m blown away by the gorgeous, tantalizing offerings, and every week I buy way more than I can cook over the weekend. I do this even though there is this strange man following me around, intermittently interjecting, “Enough already! You can’t cook all that.” I pretend to have no idea who he is, but of course it’s that rascal, MauiJim.

Well, this past Saturday was no exception. The sweet bell peppers were calling my name. Portland Farmers Market was overflowing with every color and every shape of pepper imaginable. The purple bell peppers were especially appealing.

I couldn’t resist, recalling an article I wrote for Cooking Light magazine some years ago that included 5-6 dishes starring sweet bell peppers. One dish in particular has been begging for a remake. And yes, it’s Mostaccioli with Sweet Rainbow Peppers. The tomato, fennel, and onion sauce is loaded with roasted peppers and quite unlike any pasta dish I have ever experienced: light, sweet, smoky, and meaty all at the same time.

I think you’re going to love it. Plus it’s a great way to use all those peppers you purchased at the market.

If you need a refresher on roasting bell peppers, check out Roasting Peppers Step-By-Step before making this dish.

Mostaccioli with Rainbow Peppers

Here is a colorful and satisfying pasta dish, perfect on its own or accompanied by the best local sausages you can find. I love the French sausages produced by Laurelhurst Market in Portland, Oregon. The spicing reminds me of country-style pate and is very nice with the clean, sweet flavor of the peppers and the tomato fennel sauce.

2 medium green bell peppers, roasted, peeled, cored, and seeded
2 medium red bell peppers, roasted, peeled, cored, and seeded
2 medium yellow bell peppers, roasted, peeled, cored, and seeded

3 tablespoons cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil
2 cups chopped onion (1 medium-sized onion)
1 cup chopped fennel bulb (½ large fennel bulb)
2 teaspoons minced garlic (2-3 cloves garlic) 
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed with a mortar and pestle
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional

6 cups fresh, peeled, chopped vine ripened tomatoes with juice (about 4 pounds whole tomatoes; or three 14½ ounce cans chopped tomatoes)
1 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 pound dried mostaccioli, penne, ziti, or rigatoni pasta

¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup fresh basil leaves, cut lengthwise into thin strips

1. Cut the roasted peppers into ¼-inch wide by 1½-inch strips. Reserve.
2. Heat the olive oil in a skillet and sweat the onions and fennel bulb, covered, over low heat until softened but not browned.
3. Add the garlic, fennel seed, and optional red pepper flakes; continue cooking for an additional minute or so.
4. Add the tomatoes and simmer slowly for about 15-20 minutes, until sauce has thickened somewhat and only a little liquid remains.
5. Taste the sauce and add the salt and pepper, adjusting the seasoning level to your taste.
6. Add the bell peppers, warm through, and again adjust the seasonings. Do not be tempted to adjust the acidity of the Tomato sauce with a little sugar or honey as is customary. The roasted peppers are quite sweet and need a counterbalance of acidity.
7. While the sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the pasta.  Boil, uncovered, for about 8 minutes, until the pasta is tender but still somewhat firm.
8. Drain.
9. Combine the drained pasta, sauce, and basil in a large pasta serving bowl and toss well to combine.
10. Sprinkle the Parmesan over the pasta and serve immediately.

Serves 6-8.

When Columbus first set foot on the Caribbean island that is now shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, he was hoping to find black pepper, the world’s most costly spice. Instead he found the genus Capsicum which the native inhabitants called aji. Probably a little frantic that his expedition was going unexpectedly awry, he quickly renamed the spicy vegetable, pepper, and while he was at it, the Arawak natives, Indians, to support the idea that he had indeed found a western trade route to India.

Columbus may have been mistaken on both counts, but the discovery of Capsicum peppers was perhaps the most fortuitous food discovery made by early explorers. Today the genus (which includes peppers both blindingly hot and mild as summer rain) gives the world its most widely used flavoring.

In the mild category, sweet bell peppers are used extensively in their countries of origin, namely Central and Latin America, as well as in Mexico and the American Southwest. Spanish and Portuguese traders first introduced the new genus to countries where spice appreciation was already well established, namely India, the Middle East, and the Far East. Hungary was an early sweet pepper enthusiast as well, followed closely by Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and finally, England, which reintroduced the vegetable to American soil with the early colonists.

Though peppers were not a popular crop in colonial America, American cooks eventually warmed to the idea of including them in their developing regional cuisines. By 1888, Burpee’s Farm Annual offered some twenty varieties of pepper seeds. Today there are over one hundred sweet pepper cultivars on the market. California and Florida produce most of America’s sweet pepper crop, so it is understandable that both of these regional cuisines represent the sweet pepper well. Exemplary use is also made of sweet peppers in Northwest cuisine and Creole-Cajun cuisine.

At some point in early culinary history, cooks (probably Native American cooks) noticed that the skins of many peppers, particularly the sweet varieties, toughen and become less digestible when cooked slowly in a liquid environment. Since campfires were close at hand, it would have been noticed that this papery skin separates when charred, making it easily removable. Good cooks in every corner of the world have been roasting and skinning their sweet bell peppers ever since.

While you lose the bright taste and crisp texture of fresh peppers when you roast them, you obtain in exchange an irresistible smoky flavor and a lush, almost meaty texture. In fact, peppers become an entirely different ingredient when treated in this manner.

The rule of thumb is this: If you plan to use the peppers raw or in a quick sauté or stir-fry, leave them as is. Otherwise, roast and skin them.  And now that you know the rule, you may of course break it any time you wish.

Roasting Peppers Step-by-Step

The following directions for roasting and skinning peppers will become second nature after you’ve roasted a couple batches of peppers. Cutting the peppers in half before roasting saves a lot of tedious rotating in the oven and provides perfect results every time.

Note If you are handling hot peppers, wear disposable plastic gloves, and be very careful not to touch your face. Also, some supposedly mild peppers, such as poblanos, can on occasion be quite hot. If in doubt, wear gloves.

Broiler Method

This method is preferred for large quantities of peppers. It’s quick and relatively easy.

1. Cut bell peppers in half lengthwise through the core.
2. Cut around the stem on each half. Remove the stem, along with all seeds and fleshy ribs.
3. Coat an edged baking pan with vegetable spray. Place pepper halves (or quarters if peppers are quite large), preferably not touching, skin-side-up, on the pan.
4. Broil, as close to the heating element as possible, for about 12-15 minutes, until the pepper skins are uniformly blackened.
5. Remove baking pan from the oven and, using tongs, place pepper halves into a large bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and leave peppers to steam for 15 minutes.
6. Remove pepper halves from the bowl. Hold each half under cool running water and gently peel away the charred, papery skin.
7. Pat peppers dry with paper towels and slice, dice, or chop according to recipe directions.

Direct Flame Method

This method is useful if you need to roast only 1 or 2 peppers. It requires an open flame, as in a gas stove top.

1. Hold a whole pepper with flame-proof metal tongs, and place the pepper directly into the open flame of a gas burner.
2. As the surface of the pepper blackens, turn the pepper to evenly blacken the entire surface.
3. Place blackened peppers into a large bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and leave peppers to steam for 15 minutes.
4. Remove pepper halves from the bowl. Hold each half under cool running water and gently peel away the charred, papery skin.
5. Pat peppers dry with paper towels, and then cut around the stems and remove.
6. Cut the peppers in half lengthwise, and remove the seeds and fleshy ribs.
7. Slice, dice, or chop according to recipe directions.

There must be a hundred posts on the web on the topic of Starbuck’s Pumpkin Spice Latte. Amazing! Would you believe I have NEVER had a Pumpkin Spice Latte? I’m not quite sure how that happened. However, in perusing all of the copycat recipes, it appears that there is little if any actual pumpkin in this wildly popular autumnal concoction; just a teaspoon or so of Pumpkin Spice Syrup. Hmmm…

By the time I had read a dozen or so recipes for this drink, it was starting to sound less than wonderful. I won’t know for sure until I get on over to Starbucks and actually order one, but in the meanwhile I started thinking about how wonderful pumpkin and white chocolate are together. This rich, indulgent drink is the result.

The difficulty in working with white chocolate, however, is that it is essentially all sweetness with no acidic counterbalance. Thus, it can be exceedingly rich with nothing to relieve that richness. Partnerships with bitter or acidic elements, such as alcohol or espresso, can make all the difference. So, although I present you with the foundation recipe to begin with (and it is delicious), I prefer the variations. I will be sipping one of them on Halloween night, nestled by the fire, awaiting the onslaught of trick-or-treaters.

Pumpkin Spice Hot White Chocolate

This Hot White Chocolate is in the style of European drinking chocolate, which is made with whole milk (and sometimes part cream) and melted high-quality bar chocolate. The amount of white chocolate is variable. Use the lesser amount if you do not plan to add rum or espresso to your drink. Otherwise, you may find the drink a tad too sweet.

This drink is a perfect after dinner or late night finale.

3 cups whole milk
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
2 cinnamon sticks, broken
12 whole cloves, crushed slightly
12 whole allspice berries, crushed slightly
2 tablespoons chopped candied ginger
2 tablespoons chopped orange peel (all pith removed)
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

4-6 ounces, high quality white chocolate, roughly chopped (Lindt or Guittard recommended)
pinch sea salt (don’t even think about leaving this out)

Garnish
1 cup heavy cream, whipped and lightly sweetened
shaved white chocolate, from a bar of white chocolate
ground cinnamon in a shaker

1. In a saucepan, over medium-low heat, bring the milk to a bare simmer.
   
2. Lower the heat to keep the milk below the boiling point and add the pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, candied ginger and vanilla bean.
   
3. Remove from the heat and let mellow as long as you can wait (refrigerate if you need to hold longer than an hour).
   
4. When ready to serve, pour the milk mixture through a triple mesh strainer into a clean saucepan. Heat to just below a simmer and remove from the heat.
   
5. Add the white chocolate and stir until the chocolate is melted.
   
6. Remove from the heat, and add sea salt.
   
7. To serve immediately, pour into five, eight-ounce capacity, Irish coffee or other stemmed glasses.
   
8. To store, let cool, decant, cover, and refrigerate. Reheat to serve.
   
9. Just before serving, top each glass of hot chocolate with a generous mound of whipped cream, a few shavings of white chocolate, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Serve immediately.
   

Makes five, 6-ounce servings.

Jumpin’ Pumpkin Spice Hot White Chocolate

To each serving, add 1 shot espresso, stir, and top with whipped cream.

Spirited Pumpkin Spice Hot White Chocolate

To each serving, add 1 ounce Meyer’s dark rum, stir, and top with whipped cream.

Pears have a flavor affinity with creamy blue cheeses, such as Cambozola, Gorgonzola, Stilton, and Roquefort, as well as with balsamic vinegar, red wine, oranges, toasted walnuts, and the caramelization technique. I’m exploring these marvelous affinities this fall as new-season local pears fill the farmers markets.

If you are interested likewise in exploring the wide range of possible flavor affinities with pears as the star, I highly recommend The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg. I use the lists in this book constantly to push myself into new directions.

Take this salad for instance. Orange may not have been a flavor direction I would have taken with the pears had I not noted it in The Flavor Bible. Oranges got me thinking about Southwest cuisine and then, voila! jalapeno chiles were added to the vinaigrette.

What is interesting here is that even though pears are mild in flavor, they can hold their own with more assertive flavors, especially when they are caramelized. In this salad, they provide a lovely contrast in flavor and texture. The creamy aspect of the cheese acts to bind all of the flavors together into a harmonious whole.

For those of you who are not fond of blue cheese (aka MauiJim), fresh goat cheese will also work nicely here, as will the mildly flavored cheese panna cotta featured in Prawn & Strawberry Salad with Fresh Herb Panna Cotta (without the herbs).

Caramelized Pear Salad with Gorgonzola, Candied Spiced Walnuts & Spicy Orange Vinaigrette

Here is a flavor combination made in heaven: caramelized pears, creamy blue cheese, candied walnuts, oranges, chile, and balsamic vinegar.

This salad can certainly be a first course, as its light and refreshing, and awakens the palate. On the other hand, because it has several components and over-the-top flavor appeal, we almost always have it as a dinner salad. In the latter case, just add a warm loaf of freshly baked crusty bread.

Spicy Orange Vinaigrette
¼ small sweet onion, such as Walla Walla Sweet onion or Vidalia onion
1 small jalapeno chile pepper, stemmed, seeded, and deribbed (use disposable gloves)
zest of 1 large orange
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tablespoon best quality orange marmalade or undiluted frozen orange juice
6 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
12 tablespoons cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon fine sea salt

Salad
1 large, firm, not quite ripe Bartlett pear, stemmed, peeled, cut lengthwise into eight pieces, and cored
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon light olive oil

2 large handfuls of baby salad greens
1 large navel orange, peeled, outside membrane removed, each section removed from interior membrane
¼-½ cup crumbled Gorgonzola
¼-½ cup Candied Spiced Walnuts

1. To make the vinaigrette, in a blender or processor, puree the onion, chile pepper, orange zest, garlic, and orange marmalade. Add the vinegar, olive oil, and salt, and blend to emulsify. Taste and balance sweetness (add a pinch of sugar or more marmalade), acidity (add a few more drops of vinegar), and salt. Pour vinaigrette into a squeeze bottle, cap, and refrigerate. Vinaigrette can be made a day ahead.
2.  To make the salad, in a medium bowl, toss the pear slices with the sugar, coating all surfaces of the pear slices evenly.
3.  In a medium sauté pan, over medium heat, heat the olive oil.
4. Add the sugar coated pear slices and sauté slowly to cook the pears through at the same time that at least 2 sides of the slices are browned and caramelized. Turn the pear slices as each side browns. When the pears are done, remove from the sauté pan immediate and arrange around the edges of 2 or 4 large salad plates.
5. In a large mixing bowl, toss the salad greens with enough of the vinaigrette to coat each leaf. You will likely have vinaigrette left over for a couple more salads later.
6. Arrange the dressed salad greens in the middle of the salad plates and tuck in several pieces of orange.
7. Finish the salads by drizzling a little of the vinaigrette over the pears and topping the salad greens with Candied Spiced Walnuts, crumbled gorgonzola, and freshly ground black pepper.

Makes 2 dinner-size or 4 starter-size salads.