The Long Hot Pepper - Oh So Good.......

The Italian Long Hot Pepper is a northeast garden tradition. It is a member of the cayenne pepper family. Not generally part of cooking around the nation. The pepper is very common in Upstate New York. Now you might wonder why this is part of a cooking blog that involves children. Well, cooking passes along traditions. My father loved long hot peppers growing up. They would have a distinctive smell when we cooked them. They are a familiar part of my heritage and I am passing it along to my children. So, I am go to provide a basic recipe and some potential uses.

Ingredients

1-2 quarts of Long Hot Peppers
I Red Onion.
3-4 cloves of garlic
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Cracked Pepper
Course Salt

Cut the top stems off the long hot peppers. That's it. Cut the red onion up into thin slices. (Or diced)
In a cast iron skillet, coat the pan with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Heat the oil to a low/med to medium heat. Add the peppers and onions. On top of the peppers, add thinly sliced garlic, cracked pepper, and course ground salt. Cover the pan if you would like. (I cook them with the lid or or off)

The long hot pepper has a thick skin. You will cook the pepper for 5-7 min increments before you turn over the mixture in your pan. You can go a little longer if you like a blackened texture to the pepper. I tend to like them browned up and then I turn them. The pepper will slowly go from firm to flaccid. It takes a while but you will notice a texture change. At the end, I top the peppers with another layer of cracked pepper and coarse salt.

The long hot has many uses: Here are some ideas:

Greens (As in the recent Greens Giardino)
Italian Sausage Sandwich (Or as we say....sangwich)
Hot and Hamburgers are amazing with long hots on top.
Have a pizza? Add long hots or do what I do, make a pizza with long hots
Potatoes and Hash Browns
Chicken or Sausage Riggies
Egg Sandwich
Scrambled Eggs

One last tip....garden long hots can be very hot. Red ones can be as hot as some of the hottest peppers you have cooked with. You will learn over time how to determine the hotness of the pepper. Also, I will add a mild pepper such as Hungarian peppers to tone down the hotness.

The Italian Long Hot - Make it a part of your tradition.