By Carolyne
Core and seed mixed coloured, quartered, medium-large peppers. Use the tops – just pop out the “handle,” and toss it in the trash. Always cut a pepper from the outside (skin side) inward; never start to cut on the inner flesh side because that can easily bruise the skins, sometimes making them bitter. Split a medium small white onion into quarters. Save three quarters for another use, and open one quarter into pieces.
Soak the pepper pieces and onion in a half-cup of corn oil and a generous splash of white balsamic vinegar. Add a couple of turns of course ground black pepper (no salt yet), a couple of small pieces of garlic split in half and a half lemon, cut into four pieces to expose the membrane juices. Sprinkle on a tiny bit (Careful!) of dried thyme.
Cover the container with plastic wrap and let it marinate on the counter for a few hours, tossing it every now and then.
Remove the peppers and onion and save them in a separate dish. Toss away the lemon pieces. In the next day or two, when you barbecue, place the peppers and onion on a barbecue cooking container that is punched full of holes and barbecue the veggies to serve with your meat or chicken course.
Pour the marinade into a jar and shake vigorously. Make sure the lid is on tight.
This sauce can be used as an absolutely amazing salad dressing over any kind of lettuce or lettuce mixture. You can drizzle it over barbecue chicken slices that are arranged on lettuce leaves just at serving time.
You can use it to marinade raw chicken or steak before barbecuing, but then you cannot use the remainder due to the meat juices joining the sauce. But, fresh from the jar you can brush it on meat or chicken while cooking. If you are using as a marinade, just spoon enough into the holding dish to do the job so you can save the rest in the jar for another use. The taste is beyond description.
The jar will keep in the fridge for several days, covered. Shake well before each use.
Try something a little different: sprinkle (just a bit) of the sauce over a bowl of split strawberries and peaches together and serve as a main course side dish, on a large lettuce leaf or spinach leaves. Or, add a little to chopped fresh juicy tomatoes (salt and peppered) mixed with home-made crispy bacon pieces and a tiny bit of chopped onion.
Try marinating whole sea scallops in this sauce, just for a minute, turning them once and then barbecue as usual.
You will find lots of uses for this charmer.
The working title for Carolyne’s Gourmet Recipes cookbook is From Lady Ralston’s Kitchen: A Canadian Contessa Cooks. This kitchen-friendly doyenne has been honoured and referred to as the grande dame of executive real estate in her market area during her 35-year career. She taught gourmet cooking in the mid-70s and wrote a weekly newspaper cooking column, long before gourmet was popular as it is today. Her ebook, Gourmet Cooking – at Home with Carolyne is available here for $5.99 US. Email Carolyne. Scroll down to the comments at each recipe column. Carolyne often adds complimentary “From Lady Ralston’s Kitchen” additional recipes in the Recipes for Realtors Comments section at REM.
