October 5

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Late September/early October are Pepper Season at the farmers' market.  I've taken lots of pics of gorgeous peppers, over the years, but never had a satisfying way to enjoy this bounty until this year.

Zingerman's is celebrating Hungarian food this year.  The May-June Newsletter talks a lot about Hungarian delights, and includes directions for lecsó which, to quote Ari, is '(pronounced, if I have it right, “lehtch-o”).'

A couple of weeks ago, we took home a batch of mixed peppers, and some smoked paprika (Spanish, because the Hungarian came only in a much bigger can, and we weren't sure we could do justice to that much paprika!), and we gave lecsó a try.

Wow.  Yum.

We have made it again, and again.

On the 5th, I got some pics of the peppers.  We make enough for two dinners, so that is a lot of peppers.  Even the vendor said to us, dubiously, "That is a LOT of peppers, ladies!"

Yes.  Yes it was.  But not too many...........

I tried for a variety of kinds.  What you see here is just a sampling.  We did have a couple of Hungarian hot peppers, to give just enough oomph.  Their flesh wasn't hot, but the insides and seeds were noticeably hot.  We kept that separate, and added it to taste....

Really big bell pepper.

 Onion.

In a BIG pot, soften some onion in fat.  Bacon is nice, and I'm sure olive oil would be, too.

Chop up A LOT of peppers of various kinds into bite-size hunks.

Add peppers to onion.  Season with salt and pepper, and smoked paprika.

Cover, and cook until you think it's nearly done.  Add some tomatoes.  For our first batch, we had farmers' market tomatoes, and since then, we've used canned tomatoes.  Cook until tomatoes are done (which is just a couple of minutes, if your tomatoes are canned).

I love lecsó served over a nice serious bread.  I like the extra kick of paprika I get from the juice-soaked bread.


This is delicious.  All of us love it.  And it's enough different from anything else we make that it's a significantly new-to-us delicious.  Yum.


We have peppers in the fridge for one more batch................

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