Friday, February 27, 2009

The Awesomeness of Peppers: Spicing Things Up

Last night my husband left me to do the dinner cooking for once. He'd been cooped up inside all day and wanted to meet friends for a quick beer in the evening. I'm the sous chef in our kitchen--like navigating new cities, cooking is one of those things I'm meant to assist with, not lead the charge. The dish? Salmon Vindaloo*, a dinner we concocted months ago out of leftovers, and which has stayed in rotation ever since. He scribbled out the directions, grabbed the food out of the fridge and--poof--he was off to the pub. No prob!, I thought to myself, I've totally got this covered. And I did, until I discovered he'd left me a looooot of chili peppers and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to use all of them, or some of them, or what. We both like our food spicy, but the sheer number of peppers--eight, I think--seemed excessive.

I brooded about it for a bit, then remembered an article I'd read a day earlier in Bon Appetit called "The Spice of Life." The piece looks at all of the awesome body benefits we get from eating spices, including increased satiety, a rev-ed up metabolism, a boost in nutrients, and disease prevention. (Check out the article for the full litany of health benefits.) I went for it: I chopped 'em all up and put them all in the dish. And even though I broke a little sweat from the heat, I was glad I did. Posted by Liz

*Matt & Liz's Salmon Vindaloo

1. Chop the peppers, onions and potato.
2. Season with salt and pepper and cook the potatoes for about 5 minutes in a tablespoon of oil. 3. Add the peppers and onions and another tablespoon of oil and cook for a few more minutes. 4. Set aside the veggies.
5. Cook the salmon for a few minutes on each side in the same pan.
6. Add the veggies.
7. Spoon in 2 tablespoons curry paste and a can of crushed tomatoes.
8. Simmer until thick. Then serve over Basmati rice.

Photo grabbed from zrim at flickr.

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