Stone Soup #15: A Peck of Peppers - Caramelized Bok Choy

Stone Soup is an ongoing quarantine feature in which I come up with a recipe that uses the impossible thing in your cupboard, without making you go to the store or wasting any of your ingredients. Last time, we caramelized some brassicas.

A personal note before we dive in: thank you all so much for your emails and comments and especially for sharing the results of your kitchen experiments on social media! I can’t adequately describe how much it lifts my spirits every time I see that one of you has tried something new in the kitchen, taken a risk, or performed a series of risky substitutions. Please keep being creative and amazing, and please always tag me @gaileyfrey when you feel like showing off. It’s my favorite thing.

Today’s Stone Soup is going to be a little bit different from the others. Wesley says:

My wife and I made Jerk Chicken with a side of peas and rice - which came out quite good! However, as I was purchasing ingredients at our local asian market, I ended up with a plethora of peppers (scotch bonnet and jalapeno) - please see attached picture.

We are looking for suggestions as to how to use up these tasty (but rather spicy) peppers. We have a well-stocked kitchen for most staples and proteins so can make many things - we just need inspiration.

Okay, gang, here’s the thing. I’ve been sitting on this one for ages, because I’m fully stumped. I know how to use, like, one or two peppers at a time in a recipe. I kind of know how to pickle peppers, but pickling scotch bonnets requires a very well-ventilated kitchen and I don’t want anyone filling their home with aerosolized pepper spray by accident. Air-drying is okay, but I’m not sure how well jalapenos take to it, given how fleshy they are — I’d probably wind up turning them into powder for seasoning, which feels like a dull solution for such a gorgeous pepper.

So I’m asking for your help. The comments are open. Who has tips for how Wesley can use up or safely preserve all these peppers?

If you have a pantry dilemma, send it to stonesoup.substack@gmail.com. If you’re enjoying this feature, leave a comment below or share it on social media. Stay safe, stay healthy, and for pete’s sake, stay home.