What do you call a nosy pepper?

JALAPEÑO BUSINESS!

I love a stupid joke. But seriously I am dying with what to do with all these peppers. I received some squash last week, so how about tri-peppers with squash? Now watch my pepper stash dwindle! 

Aside: And no I did not choose the box with more peppers, I decidedly chose the one without. 

Here we go! Tonight I channeled my inner Bobby Flay and came up with this little dish!

Here are tonight's contestants: squash, poblano pepper, banana pepper and jalapeño pepper. I had some lemon already cut because being that it is summer the citrus population in the house has a tendency to find their way into seasonal ales. More recently they have been spotted floating in brews poured from the Oberon Bell's mini keg Todd purchased from Total Wine. 

Chop these four and throw them into a bowl with salt pepper and EVOO.  Since I used lemon I thought this needed some spicing up.

CONFESSION: I googled "herbs that complement lemon." Gasp! Why? I couldn't remember if it was thyme, rosemary or oregano that went best. Turns out I was 2/3s right! So thyme and rosemary went in with the mix along with my trusty friend Trader Joe's roasted corn. 

While this cooked I decided to pair it with sea scallops. And then I decided I needed a sauce, preferably one that could use up some more produce. This is where I needed some good ole Bobby Flay in my life. Senior Flay loves toning down spicy with some sweet. Lord knows I have jalapeños coming out of my ears, naturally that was the pepper of choice, and I had some left over coconut from a cake I made. Perfect! (PS the cake got some pretty rave reviews: get this it was a pineapple, macademia nut coconut cake. Yum and it smelled like I would imagine Hawaii would).

Here we go. Few handfuls of sweetened coconut, splash of EVOO, 1/4 c vegetable broth, 2 chopped jalapeños and a few shakes of some habanero hot sauce. Sim sim simmer away.

Toss into the food processor and let it run until smooth. And when I say smooth I men until the hunks of coconut are no longer visible. In hindsight, I realize using coconut milk would have been a better choice, but you have to use what you have. The result is below.

Cook your sea scallops with a little EVOO, salt and pepper. 

Put your sauce down with your scallops on top.

  

Add your squash and tri-peppers and serve with sliced avocado. The avocado will cool down some of the heat, in a similar fashion to how the coconut offsets the jalapeños. Such a bright and colorful plate, almost too good to eat.

Final thoughts for the evening. I almost feel like I should rename this blog: cooking for the carnivore. Truth be told, I feel like I have to get extra creative so that my other half gets enough flavor in hopes he won't notice that there is not much meat being cooked nightly. Don't get me wrong, last night he spent half of the night slow roasting himself a half rack of pork ribs to get his meat fix and openly gaffed that the fact that the price of bacon is steadily rising. I can't remember the last time we bought bacon, honestly.  Not to mention I feel like I pass a truck full of sows or barrows on their way to the slaughter house daily on I-40.... so I know it's not a supply issue. And North Carolina IS the #2 pig producing state behind Iowa, so keep buying the pork? I am very conflicted with that last statement.... more on that in future posts!

Tomorrow's blog: Coop's on the loose! Blount street homes and why I love Oakwood.