I celebrated my 4th blogging anniversary (blogaversary?) at the beginning of this month. I appreciate that so many of you sent congratulatory emails and posted here and wrote happy things on my Facebook wall.
It was very cool to receive all the good wishes and all that, but my friend, Cigar Mike took the congratulating up a notch.
He sent me this…..
It's absolutely breathtaking, even though it's tricky taking a photo of a Fine Art Photo and I'm sure my pic doesn't do it the justice it deserves, but trust me, it's phenomenal.
Isn't it gorgeous? There are three things I love about this print:
- It's peppers, people!
- The peppers are in Fiesta colors (yay!) that perfectly match my kitchen. (Actually, it matches my entire house, but that's not important right now.)
- He says this print reminds him of me because I'm spicy and sassy. I like that. 😉
Me: "Mike, I love it! And I love you! Gracias!!!" (<–you can tell how much I genuinely loved it by the amount of exclamation points I used!!!! =D)
Me (again): "I need to ask a huge favor….can I offer this print as a giveaway on MBFCF?" *crosses fingers*
The Very Generous and Talented Cigar Mike: "Absolutely."
Do you hear that, kids? Mike is graciously offering to give away this 11 x 14 gorgeousness. This brightly-Fiesta-colory-wow-look-at-those-peppers print will go to one lucky MBFCF Giveaway winner.
Before telling you how to enter the giveaway for this print (did I mention it's a Fine Art print?), can I ask you to please visit his website at Mike Pancier Photography and be prepared to be amazed. (Go to his galleries section and check out his breathtaking cityscapes. The man is seriously genius.)
Also, if you're on Facebook, I would encourage you to become a fan of Michael Pancier Fine Art and Nature Photography.
Now, in order to enter the drawing for those fabulously lusty peppers, please just leave a comment on this post and answer one or all of the following questions:
- How do you use bell peppers in your kitchen?
- What sorts of things do you make with peppers?
- Do you use red, green, or yellow (or all)?
- Bring it. Share recipes or links if you like. (I live for stuff like this.)
Me? Hello! I'm Cuban. Peppers go into everything that is good and holy about Cuban cooking. It's the basis of all the sofritos of the Cuban Cooking Universe.
So, tell me about your relationship with peppers. I will choose a winner on Thursday, October 28th at 6 pm PST.
"Be a pepper." ~Dr. Pepper
Hello Marta,It’s your Cuban friend Alicia from NJ. I have never entered any of your contest before but this time one word popped into my head when I read about the contest, CACHUCHA. Aji cachucha is a type of pepper that I’ve have never used but I know that it is used in many Cuban dishes.I just like the word cachuchca and it reminds me of my grandmother and her amazing cooking!
Peppers huh, well I use red or green ones in my sofrito, I make stuffed green peppers, and I like to eat red, green, or yellow raw ones as a snack.
I never use or eat any type of hot pepper but they are so colorful and I too love color.
Mr. Pancier’s print is beautiful and whoever wins your contest will have the prettiest peppers ever!
Gracias 🙂
My relationship with peppers? I love them all. I started cooking with cubanelles, but should really had been using cachuchas. Abuela used bell peppers that she roasted herself, and I liked how it made the frijoles taste so I try to do the same. It was easy for her, she had a gas range….electric here.But there are always peppers in my house! Beautiful pic by the way.
Bell peppers? Well, they need to be stuffed with stuff & enjoyed as an edible container.
We Italians are pepper fanatics, too! Sausage and peppers (green and red in my house) is a favorite, and of course stuffed bell peppers.I love this photo- Mike is a very talented photographer and still modest inspite of it. You should see his fireworks shots! (on his site, too)
Claudia
I LOVE peppers. Faves are the non-green varieties, though I use ALL of them for my sofrito. Lately, I’ve been buying the baby one’s just cuz they seem cheaper to me AND I can use what I need and leave the other’s intact. I love stuffed peppers though I haven’t made them in years. I roast them seasoned with Sazon Completa and rolled in extra virgin olive oil in the oven on broil. It’s messy but OH, so good! I eat them raw with hummus, or some other dip. I put them in salad picadito really small. Anyways, what DON’T I make with peppers would be a smaller list! and now I’m hungry…sheesh, Martica, you always do this to me;)
You are so right Marta, it’s a staple in every Cuban dish that is made with sofrito! And that’s how I use mine. I use the green bell peppers.Besos, Ody
What a beautiful picture! I’m quite partial to the Orange ones! Last night we had a stir fry at our Apples of Gold dinner and it featured the 3 smaller sweet peppers. They are the red, orange and yellow ones! Yummy! Maybe the stars are aligned this time!
I use it in almost all Cuban dishes that require “sofrito” (all the tomato based stews, rices, potaje’s, and most braised dishes with the exception of some) a lot of Spaniard dishes make heavy use too you cannot forget the Basque “Pepirada”http://cocinavasca-arroxag.blogspot.com/2010/08/bonito-en-piperrada.html?showComment=1283073646134#c7373843079230807112
and “Marmitako”
http://www.lacocinadelechuza.com/2009/10/marmitako-de-salmon.html
(I’ll use em in certain Canarian stews as well, etc.)
Dishes where they are teh main star is my grandmas “Ensalada de Aji” in which fire roasted bell peppers of any color cut in strips tossed in mojo de ajo with thinly sliced onions it’s HEAVEN!
http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2008/08/ensalada-de-aji-con-mojo-fireroasted.html
Also my grandmother’s “Aji Relleno” which she stuffs with ground beef:
http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2008/07/aji-relleno-green-bell-pepper-stuffed.html
The red one’s when fire roasted make wonderful garnishes cut in strips over yellow rice dishes springled with peas like in my “Arroz Con Pollo”
http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2010/05/arroz-con-pollo-en-forma-de-paella.html
I mostly use green bell peppers for my sofritos or aji cachuchas, and sometimes 1/2 red and green just for color, or just red one’s sometimes because it looks beautiful in yellow rice dishes and braised dishes that have julienned bell peppers such as this “Lengua Entomatada”
http://masaassassin.blogspot.com/2009/05/cuban-style-lengua-de-res-recipe-receta.html
P.S.
I use all the peppers just depends 🙂
I love all kinds of peppers. Use them to make picadillo, sofrito, and I roast them for antipasto, cold pasta salad or simply decoration on just about any meal. The red ones are my favorite.
# How do you use bell peppers in your kitchen?I cut them up and use them in sofrito. I dice them and put them in omelettes. Sometimes I like to slice then thin and pan fry them with polska kielbasa and onion.
# What sorts of things do you make with peppers?
I use it mostly in picadillo!
# Do you use red, green, or yellow (or all)?
I go for the traditional green!
# Bring it. Share recipes or links if you like. (I live for stuff like this.)
The I don’t have time to make dinner (for you) or for me, who works at the Farmers Market, I call it my Farmers Market dinner:
Sliced potatoes – okay I cheated, I have a kitchen aid slicer that comes with the shredder attachment.
1/4 stick of butter, melted (go ahead and use 1/2 stick if you don’t mind the extra calories).
Spray bottom of pan with pam. Layer potatoes in a single layer. Melt the butter and pour evenly over the potatoes. Salt and Pepper this. Now put down a layer of cabbage leaves, then a layer of onions and green peppers, dice or sliced. Be imaginative. On top of that, you are going to take polska kielbasa that you have sliced lengthwise and place that on top of the onions and peppers. Aluminum foil on the top of the pan. A lid is better if you have one.
Oven at 325 for 2 hours. Put a chair in front of the oven. Ask husband to sit there with his favorite book and watch the oven. Go upstairs, get on your laptop, read the Big Fat Cuban Family Blog and fall asleep til the oven timer beeps. 🙂 Wake up, walk groggily to the table that hopefully your family’s set, thank them profusely and make them all feel that they are important, which they are. That’s my recipe 🙂
Lillian Newman
Noblesville, IN