Fire Roasted Poblano Pepper Pesto
One of my Saturday morning projects was roasting another batch of Rustic Blackened Tomato Paste and after I toasted homemade bread over the fire, spread a teaspoon of poblano pesto, topped with Cherokee red tomato from the garden, sauté garlic, some sprouts with a dippy egg. This was the first time using it as a spread on toast and o my, it was the perfect amount of heat and flavor to make a boring breakfast into an extraordinary one.
I am not a fan of canning and I like to try new ways to preserve vegetables, herbs and fruits in ways that it remains summer fresh during the winter season. I remember my mom freezing plain peppers and I despised how watery and mushy they were you were ready to use them and so this recipe came from being inspired to find new ways that work for me and my cooking style.
Last year I roasted the peppers in the kitchen oven and froze them in honeycomb ice cubes. It works amazing, tasted like summer and was incredibly fresh! When I began the preserving season, I knew we would be running out of freezer space and I had to look into other options, and that is when an olde technic of oil packing popped onto my radar.
I started a fire in our rustic cast iron firepit, moved the tripod onto the fire, glazed the peppers with olive oil and roasted the peppers until it was soft and blackened on both sides. Then popped them into my extra-large cast-iron pan with garlic bulbs, and a little more olive oil and roasted them with the garlic for another 20 minutes.
Here comes the tedious part. I roasted them with the seeds in. Once the peppers cooled you remove the seeds, and this took me some time and while I was processing them, I wasn’t so sure that it was worth. That was, until I tasted the pesto. Wow! It has a smokey flavor with a little heat without the burning.
For the blending I use the Ninja smoothie attachment to puree the peppers, olive oil and garlic until it is smooth and creamy. I’m sure any other food processor equally as powerful will work wonderfully!
I have it stored in our refrigerator in a beautiful glass jar with lid and you can scoop a tsp or tbs as needed and wala! After you’ve taken what you need make sure it is covered in olive oil. This will keep the oxygen from spoiling your wonderful pesto. It adds amazing flavor to fajitas, eggs, sauces and anything you can imagine!
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Organic poblano peppers
Olive oil
Locally sourced organic garlic
