Savor all-American chili peppers
As we reflect on this grand country of ours in preparation for Independence Day on Saturday, it’s a good time to reflect on a common thread among our melting pot of cultures.
Would that be the belief that all men are created equal? In the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? In the right to live independently of the king of Great Britain?
Well … sure, that should be self-evident (and apologies to T. Jefferson). But we at Taste also see common ground in chili peppers.
Yes, chili peppers, those little firecrackers of flavor that add a bit of zip to our lives, or at least to our plates. They are, it turns out, starring players in many of the world’s cuisines.
Noel Santos, executive chef of Diego at the MGM Grand, said he thinks Mexican is the cuisine people most associate with chili-laced chow (followed by Indian), and that when we think of Mexican and chilies, we most often think of salsas.
Santos said he prefers roasting fresh chilies — maybe serrano, maybe habanero — over a mesquite broiler “to get that smoky, burnt flavor” before mixing them with other ingredients for a salsa.
But he cautions against thinking of chilies as one-dimensional.
“Our seasoned cooks here, the majority of them are Mexican,” Santos said. “They’ll take something as simple as a habanero and say, ‘This is sweet.’ To the educated Mexican palate, it’s not just spicy but also the sugar content.”
A sweet habanero? Sure. And Santos plays up that sweetness in a candied habanero and pineapple salt and a candied serrano, lime and cilantro salt.
Edmond Wong, executive chef at Bellagio, said many of the resort’s Hispanic cooks have had an influence in spicing things up in some of the restaurants, such as the buffet and cafe. Wong said the resort goes through 1,200 pounds of jalapenos a month — one of about a dozen varieties of chilies served.
“We’ll make a roasted salsa and they kind of joke around they want hot, hotter or hottest,” he said.
Bellagio’s cooks smoke jalapenos in-house, he noted (a chipotle is a smoked jalapeno), and then char them “to give it a little more complexity.” Those are added to salsas and other mixes. They’ll sometimes char-roast whole jalapenos and cut them in half and serve them with huevos rancheros.
Asian dishes commonly incorporate bird chilies or red jalapenos, fresh or in homemade chili sauces or chili pastes, Wong said. At the resort’s Noodles pan-Asian restaurant, marinades are infused with a blend of chilies, and Thai noodle dishes and curries frequently contain them. Jasmine, which Wong said serves “very authentic Cantonese seafood cuisine,” sometimes serves crab or lobster with fried chilies, garlic and salt. And Yellowtail Japanese Restaurant fries shisito peppers — which Wong said have the flavor of a green bell pepper with a hint of jalapeno — seasons them with salt and serves as a garnish.
Wong, too, stressed the importance of contrasts.
“Try to match the heat with something that’s sweet, or even a little bit of saltiness or sour, like pickles,” Wong said. “We may pair it with different types of chutney, just to create some balance — so when you eat something it’s spicy and not so burning. I tend to prefer more citrus, like limes or pomelo or grapefruit, to help temper the heat.”
Geno Bernardo, executive chef of Nove Italiano at the Palms, said chilies are used in Italian cooking — not in the north, where his mother comes from, but around his father’s hometown in the south.
“In southern Italian cooking, chilies are in a lot of things,” Bernardo said. The prevalent flavors, he noted, are garlic, tomatoes and chilies.
The most popular spicy Italian dishes would be, of course, those prepared fra diavolo, which translates to “brother devil” and can invoke a spirit of hellishness, depending on just how spicy they are. Bernardo has developed a different take on fra diavolo; instead of mixing the chilies directly into the other sauce ingredients, he uses them to infuse the stock — shrimp, or lobster, or whatever — so that the flavor is more consistent.
While Brazilian foods aren’t known for being particularly fiery, Adam Gomes, owner of Via Brasil Steakhouse, said spicier foods are prevalent in the northeast parts of the country. A regional dish called vatapa, which he sometimes serves on his salad bar — and will throughout this month — is a spicy shrimp dish with a coconut milk-enriched sauce, garlic and red chili peppers. Pimenta malagueta, he said, is a sort of pickled hot chili pepper, served with the liquid as a condiment for spicing up meats.
But any discussion of chili peppers must beg the question: How hot is too hot?
“I think where even if you smell it and you want to cry, for me it’s so overpowering, so dominating, that you don’t really get to taste anything else,” Wong said.
“Where you’re not necessarily tasting anything at all, you’re just burning your tongue,” Santos said. “If you’re having to sip cold water while you’re trying to eat your food, you’re not necessarily enjoying your food; it’s just the spicy rush.”
In addition to the fresh chilies he uses at Diego, Santos said the dried varieties include ancho, guajillo, pasilla negro and chile de arbol. And he said there’s plenty of potential for exploration, with more than 140 varieties grown in Mexico alone.
“I have yet to break the surface,” Santos said. “It’s like playing with a new toy, trying to see exactly what you can do, what kind of options can this one particular chili be used for besides a salsa. And to introduce a whole bunch of different varieties of chilies.”
MANGO HABANERO SALSA
2 habanero chilies
2 pounds Roma tomatoes
1 bunch green onions, roasted and chopped
4 cloves garlic, roasted and chopped
1/2 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
2 mangoes, peeled and cut in 1/4-inch dice
1 teaspoon sea salt
On a barbecue grill, roast the chilies until they blister and the skin starts to turn black. Reserve.
Repeat the same cooking method for the tomatoes, green onions and garlic, using a grill skillet or grill wok for the latter.
Finely chop the chilies. Blend the tomatoes in a blender until smooth.
Mix all ingredients together. If too thick, add water and more salt.
— Recipe from Noel Santos, Diego
GRILLED LOBSTER CEVICHE
WITH SALSA MOLCAJETE
5 pounds Maine lobster tails
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup lime juice
5 pounds Roma tomatoes
8 serrano chilies
1 head garlic
1 bunch green onions
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
Split and clean the lobster tails.
Mix the garlic and oil and brush on tails to coat. Season with salt and grill for 6 to 8 minutes with the shell on, cooking until three-quarters done. Remove the meat from the shell, chop the tails into 1/4-inch chunks and toss with the fresh lime juice. Refrigerate until completely cool (the lime juice will finish the cooking process)
For the salsa, roast the tomatoes and chilies on a barbecue grill until blistered. Roast the garlic (on a grill skillet or grill wok) until dark brown. Grill the green onions until dark; roughly chop them and reserve.
Place the tomatoes, serranos and garlic in a food processor and blend until chunky. Remove to a mixing bowl and fold in the chopped cilantro and chopped grilled green onions. Season with salt. Cool.
Once the lobster and salsa have cooled, mix them together.
Serve with crispy fried corn tortilla chips.
— Recipe from Noel Santos, Diego
SCAMPI FRA DIAVOLO
3 tablespoons butter (divided use)
1/3 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley, divided
11/4 pounds uncooked large shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails left intact
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
11/2 cups thinly sliced red onion
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
2/3 cup dry white wine (preferably sauvignon blanc)
Lemon wedges
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add panko and stir until golden and crisp, about 2 minutes. Transfer to small bowl; mix in 2 tablespoons parsley. Wipe out skillet.
Sprinkle shrimp with salt and pepper. Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter with olive oil in same skillet over high heat. Add red onion and saute until beginning to soften, about 3 minutes. Stir in garlic and crushed red pepper and saute 1 minute. Add shrimp and saute until barely opaque in center, about 1 minute per side. Add white wine and simmer until liquid is slightly thickened and reduced, 2 to 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in remaining 6 tablespoons parsley. Transfer to shallow bowl. Sprinkle sauteed panko over and serve with lemon wedges.
Serves 4.
— Recipe from Bon Appetit magazine
Contact reporter Heidi Knapp Rinella at hrinella@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0474.
