How to make red pepper paste from scratch. Serving size depends on the dish. Use 1 to 2 tablespoon per sauces and soup. You can use more when making meat stews.
Prep Time20 minutesmins
Cook Time6 hourshrs
Course: Appetizer, Side Dish, Spreads
Cuisine: American, Mediterranean, Slovak
Keyword: homemade pepper paste, pepper paste, red pepper paste
Servings: 4cups
Author: Hani Bacova
Ingredients
HOMEMADE RED PEPPER PASTE
Basic Plain Red Pepper Paste
10large red peppers ( bell pepper or aruba)
1tbspsalt
Seasoned Red Pepper Paste
1large onion, diced
4garlic cloves, unpeeled
1large size carrot, peeled and diced
1celery stalk, washed and diced
1/4cupapple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar, or rice vinegar( I’m using vinegar with 5% acidity)
small bay leaf
1tspmustard
1/8tspcayenne pepper (optional)
salt to season, kosher or table salt is fine
1/4tspblack pepper
1 1/2tbspolive oil
Instructions
RED PEPPER PASTE RECIPE
PLAIN PEPPER PASTE
Wash Peppers
Wash peppers (10 large red peppers), cut them in half, remove the inside, discard seeds. If there are any blemishes or spots on the skin remove those as well. Wash well.
Slow Roasting
Layer peppers skin side up into a all stainless steel pot or onto a baking sheet. Season each layer with salt (1 tablespoon). Cover with a kitchen towel and allow to sit for 2-3 hours. Then drain the liquid from a pot/baking sheet into a kitchen sink.
Preheat oven to 220F,(105C)
Place a baking sheet/large pot with peppers into the oven, uncovered. Slow roast for 5 hours. Stirring the peppers occasionally, once a hour or so. Longer you roast the peppers easier it will be to remove the skin. I usually test one pepper just after a 4 hour mark. If the skin is easy to peel off then I take the pot out of the oven. If not I’ll leave it slow roasting for longer. This also depends on the thickness of the pepper, thicker the pepper longer it has to roast in order for the skin to become loose for easy peeling.
Once it's easy to peel the skin off the peppers take the pot out of the oven and let the peppers cool slightly for easier handling. Using your hands or a a small knife pull away the skin from the pepper's “meaty” part. Skin should peel off easily. Peel off all the peppers, discard the skins.
Puree Peppers
Once you have removed all the skin, process all of the peppers' “meat” in the food processor until smooth. This is your basic plain pepper paste, without seasonings. You should have about 1 1/2 to 2 cups plain red pepper paste.
SEASONED RED PEPPER PASTE
Roast Vegetables - vegetable paste
Preheat the oven or grill, to about 400F.Pour diced onion (1 large onion), carrot (1 large carrot), celery (1 stalk) onto a baking sheet or heavy duty aluminum baking tray. Season with salt (1/4 teaspoon) and ground black pepper (1/4 teaspoon). Drizzle over olive oil (1 tablespoon). Toss together. Place unpeeled garlic cloves onto a piece of aluminum foil, sprinkle with remaining olive oil (1/2 tablespoon), season with little bit of salt and ground pepper. Wrap garlic cloves into the foil. Place wrapped garlic onto a baking sheet with all the vegetables. Once roasted, push the roasted garlic cloves out of the shells.Roast vegetable either in the oven or on the grill if you can. Roast vegetables, until soft and caramelized. Once vegetable as done, let them cool slightly, then process roasted vegetables along with roasted garlic cloves (without the shell) in the food processor until you have a thick paste. It will be slightly chunky but that’s okay.
Into a pot add plain red pepper paste, pour in vegetable paste and stir well. Pour in vinegar (1/4 cup), dijon mustard (1 teaspoon), season with salt and ground black pepper. Add cayenne pepper (1/8 teaspoon), if using and a small bay leaf. Bring mixture to boil, then lower to simmer and cook on low heat for 30 minutes and up to an hour. Paste is thick, it's important that you stir it frequently so it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pot. Taste and season as needed. TIP : Cover the pot with a splatter shield to prevent pepper paste splattering all over.
Mixture will appear chunky, remove small bay leaf. To make is smooth again, process mixture in a food processor or a small chopper until smooth.
RED PEPPER PASTE STORAGE
I freeze my pepper paste into ice cube trays and once frozen I unload the cubes into a freezer safe container and freeze for long term. Frozen pepper paste cubes keep for at least a year in the freezer.You can also can the red pepper paste, use a presser canner.
Notes
WHAT TO DO WITH RED PEPPER PASTE?
Paste can be used for variety of dishes, from spreads, dips,marinades, pasta sauces, soups, meat stews, variety of sauces, fish, steak, chicken.
HOW LONG DOES PEPPER PAST LAST?
Paste can be stored in the fridge for up to a month.
Frozen for up to a year,
Or canned ( in a pressure canner).
IS RED PEPPER PASTE SPICY?
It depends on the peppers you use or how much cayenne pepper you use. If you'd like to make spicy pepper paste use spicy pepper in addition to sweet peppers.
DO I HAVE TO USE VINEGAR?
You can skip vinegar if you don't like to use it. Flavor of the paste will be slightly different if you don't use vinegar. Vinegar also acts as a preservative.