Peppers kick into high gear, watering required.
All these vegetables are grown from seed.
Cherry tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, Swiss chard, Padron peppers, bell and, Anaheim.
Peppers, growing in the garden or in containers, do better when the weather gets cooler.
Padron, little one inch long peppers, could be called surprise peppers. Or, Russian Roulette peppers. These are a mild tasty pepper. Most of the time. But now and then, WOW! you get a hot one.
Randomly Hot
Blistered Padron Peppers
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound Padrón or shishito peppers
Course sea salt
Heat large skillet over high heat, add 1 tablespoon oil. Add half of the peppers, tossing to cook until peppers are softened and blistered. You may cook in multiple batches in a single layer, not over crowding.
Empty skillet onto a warmed platter, add half the salt. Repeat, blistering the rest of the peppers in more hot oil. Add more salt. Serve right away.
Black Bell Peppers
There is a big color choice of bell peppers in the garden. Red, yellow, green, purple, milk chocolate color and these beautiful black peppers. The plants are loaded with medium-sized thick-walled sweet peppers.
All the bell peppers taste alike, some bigger or thicker. Regardless of color, peppers not eaten fresh are chopped or cut into strips and frozen for winter use. Freeze chopped peppers in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Once frozen, pop peppers into a heavy zip lock bag and return to freezer. Easy to do.
Cherry tomatoes
Pickled cherry tomatoes with rosemary and thyme.
Cherry tomatoes are the first to ripen in the summer. As full-sized tomatoes come on, the cherries just keep producing until frost.
I dehydrate most of them, making sun-dried tomatoes. These little jelly jars are filled with tomatoes, rosemary, thyme, vinegar and salt. These pickled cherry tomatoes will be served on appetizer trays or anti pasta platters.
Peppermint Stick Chard
This chard is heat tolerant and pretty enough to be in flower containers or planted in the garden. I use chard leaves like spinach in casserole dishes, vegetable lasagna, of enchiladas.
Stems can be pickled like Jardiniere. I just pop the stems in an empty jar of pickle juice after I’ve eaten all the Jardiniere. The chard stems become a crispy refrigerator pickle in a couple of days.
