In the words of the great Bob Ross, this was a happy accident that more or less just happened due to a variety of factors. I won’t go into details other than to say that this goes really well on a holiday platter but, I’ll be perfectly honest, it looks like shit no matter how you garnish it. But it’s delicious and people have requested the “recipe” even though I just kinda pulled it out of the air on the fly.
Another thing you need to know is that there’s no basil in this and a lot less oil than a traditional pesto.
Typically this is made in a robo coupe but I like doing things by hand. By all means, do what works best for you.
Mise En Place
- Knife and Board
- Oven at 420
- Saute pan
- Sheet tray
Ingredients
- One pound of sweet peppers
- One large clove bulb of garlic
- About two cups of Pecans
- Cooking oil
- Salt and pepper to taste.
MOP (Method of Preparation)
- Clean and deseed the peppers
- Clean the garlic but leave whole (it’s fine if it’s crushed but no need to chop it)
- Place the garlic and peppers on the sheet tray and lightly coat with oil. Bake for 10-15 minutes depending on your oven. You want the skin to turn and shrivel but not burn so keep an eye on it.
- While the peppers are in the oven, heat a pan on Medium-High and add the pecans with just a little oil. Toss a few times until they start to turn color slightly, it doesn’t take a lot of heat so be careful.
- Let the peppers and Pecans cool for a few minutes then place on a clean cutting board and get to chopping. It’s going to take a while for you to get a smooth consistency so just keep at it and use it as a chance to hone your own knife skills.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
- No one was more surprised this worked than I was but the flavor or the toasted pecans really comes out in this. Served during the holidays it’s a new take on a familiar ingredient.
- This was my first run at it and there are a lot of ways to play with the concept such as changing the kind of nuts, peppers or the addition of other seasonings
- While I don’t use a lot of oil with this, I try to avoid Olive Oil due to it having a strong flavor and go with coconut oil instead or even bacon grease if you’re not vegan.
- Oh yeah, this is totally both vegan and gluten-free now that I think about it, proof that if cooked right it doesn’t have to taste like shit.
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