My grandmother Valentina’s approach to food is simple–if it doesn’t taste good, it can’t be good for you. She doesn’t have patience for the self-induced sufferings of health food devotees, and she remains suspicious of green juices, raw beet salads and salt-free cabbage soups. I once loved to experiment with all of the above. To my credit I even convinced a friend to try a raw food diet for a week. Such an idea in the Soviet Union during winter wasn’t for the fainthearted. Our food supply was ideal for Park Slope locavores–seasonal. It meant that once we got fed up with last year’s apples and carrots, we moved onto raw potatoes. There is a reason–and I suspect, evolutionary sense–why humanity has chosen to give potatoes some form of thermal treatment.
After that infelicitous experience, I’ve remained immune to most food fads, preferring instead to follow Valentina’s logic. Above all, it must taste good. Although Valentina doesn’t care for raw lettuce, she has a repertoire of vegetable salads, many of which she makes during the summer and preserves for the winter. Her pantry shelves are lined with jars of pink cabbage, eggplant slices in a spicy sauce, pickled zucchini or honey marinated peppers. Since Belgian markets have peppers all year round, the latter is an effortless dish to put together, summer or winter. I skip the canning part.
Combining vegetables and honey is a classical Ukrainian approach. For instance, a seasonal delicacy during the summer months is cucumbers drizzled with first of the year honey. There are those who prefer their cucumbers fresh and others who like them to be lightly pickled, but either way, a marriage of crunch and sweetness is addictive. Peppers are naturally sweet, so accenting the sugary notes with honey makes perfect sense.
All you do is dress roasted peppers with a honeyed, garlicky marinade. You can eat the salad right away or store it in the fridge for a week. The flavor will deepen over time, with the garlic mellowing and becoming sweeter.
To make the marinade, I use either red or white wine vinegar. Ukraine is a wine country, and when my grandfather was alive, he made his own grape vinegar. Today Valentina buys it from a neighbor, while another friend supplies her with sunflower oil made from roasted seeds. For me, store-bought vinegar and olive oil suffice. Valentina also uses whatever herbs she grew that particular summer, but thyme reminds me of my great-grandmother’s cooking, and for this reason I’m partial to its lemony sharpness.
I make honey marinated peppers almost every week, and they sit in a large jar ready to be spooned onto bread, eggs, rice, or arugula salads. They also make a fragrant bed for grilled salmon, steamed cod or sauteed chicken cubes. Simple, delicious and most definitely good for you.
Honey Marinated Peppers
Instead of thyme, you can use other herbs, such as basil, parsley, tarragon, or dill. If you can find roasted sunflower seed oil, by all means use it. Otherwise, olive oil is an ideal choice, with a drop of roasted sesame oil should you want a richer, nuttier flavor.
Serves 4
4 bell peppers, red, yellow, orange or any color of your choice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon honey
1 Tablespoon wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons roasted sunflower (or olive oil)
thyme or any other herb of your choice
salt, black pepper
To make the dressing, mix together garlic, honey, vinegar, olive oil, herbs and salt and pepper to taste.
Preheat broiler and place the peppers on a foil lined sheet below the broiler. Roast for 10-15 minutes, turning them until the skin is charred, and the peppers are soft. Remove from the oven and transfer into a covered bowl. Let peppers steam for another 10-15 minutes and then remove the cores, seeds and skin. After steaming, the skin will slip off easily.
Cut the roasted peppers into 1/2-inch wide strips. Toss with the dressing. Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled.
Photography by Bois de Jasmin
95 Comments
Mer: Excellent, I must try this as alternate dressing for escalivada 🙂
I used to roast the pepper the same way, the more traditional way. Now I use a combination microwave/oven setting on a lower temperature for a long time (45 minutes or so) and the peppers turn out more juicy and very easy to peel (I think they have time to steam a little in the longer cooking time, or perhaps it is just the microwaving), the skin doesn’t get charred. December 16, 2015 at 7:47am
lori: I love the idea of using the microwave/oven. Would you please tell me how many minutes in the microwave and what oven temperature do you use? December 16, 2015 at 10:31am
Mer: Hi Lori, I use them at once because I have one of these countertop combi micro/ovens. I always eyeball everything, but it must be 200 ˚C + 300 W microwave or thereabouts. I check regularly and adjust temperatures (if too bubbly, the microwave is too high, if too charry, it’s the oven, sorry I have a sloppy approach to life :D).
I don’t know if separating the “treatments” into an oven and then a microwave would have the same effect. I like it so much that I am planning a built in combi oven in our new kitchen, just for this.
And for as long as it takes, I think it normally isn’t done before 40 minutes due to the low temperature and power, sometimes more (also depends how many vegetables are in there). December 16, 2015 at 10:55am
Victoria: When we were looking for an apartment, we had a difficult time finding something with an oven. Apparently, these microwave-ovens have replaced the real thing. We found what we were looking for in the end. December 16, 2015 at 2:26pm
Mer: I miss a full size oven, haven’t had one in 10 years now. These have very limited capacity but cook very well. December 16, 2015 at 2:38pm
Victoria: We have a decent oven, but I miss the one I had in the US because the temperature went up much higher. For regular cooking it doesn’t make any difference, but baking bread, especially naan requires more tricks. What I really dislike in my apartment is the electric stove. Forget proper stir-frying on these fancy looking burners. December 16, 2015 at 2:44pm
Mer: So it went up to 300 ˚C or something? I don’t think I’ve seen oven going over 250 ˚C here. Perhaps that’s why all my attempts to bake bread have been flops. We had a bread machine which is now deceased which cooked very good bread though.
Do you have vitroceramic or induction? Coming from Spain (gas nearly everywhere) those hotplates common in Belgian rentals were a real shock, they’re dreadful. Vitro is only marginally better. We now have an induction which is very decent, but we will also install a large gas burner for rice on the pan and stir frying. December 16, 2015 at 3:05pm
Victoria: Yes, my US oven went up to 300, perhaps more. You can bake bread in our ovens too, but a baking stone is essential as is a long preheating period. Perhaps, an hour. With the gas price here it makes for a luxurious loaf!
My stove is vitroceramic, and I really dislike it. Not only is it difficult to use, it’s fragile. I already chipped mine. December 16, 2015 at 3:10pm
Mer: We’ve already scratched our new induction plate with sand from the garden:( they’re indeed too fragile, only look good when new. December 16, 2015 at 3:42pm
Victoria: I actually melted a piece of aluminum foil on it and on another occasion then dropped a bowl. My glass bowl stayed intact, but the stove cracked. December 16, 2015 at 4:15pm
Myroslava: So you can bake bread in your oven of only 300 F ? The books I read never mentioned anything less than 450 and a baking stone,which works for me flawlessly. Some bread baking gurus even suggest going as far up as 475 at the beginning and then lowering it down to 450 half way though the baking time. December 16, 2015 at 4:15pm
Victoria: Mer and I were talking Centigrade. 300C would be around 570F. For most breads, apart from the enriched breads, challahs, brioches, etc., I generally preheat my stone at the highest setting and then turn it down. Unfortunately, my Belgian oven doesn’t even get anywhere near 500F. 480F (or 250F) is the maximum it can do. December 16, 2015 at 4:22pm
Mer: Oh, and it is important to use intact peppers, if they’re cut in chunks the inner steaming effect is lost. I wash them, rub them with olive oil and in they go. December 16, 2015 at 10:56am
Susan: Would it be roasted or steamed in the end? December 16, 2015 at 12:32pm
Mer: I do it at the same time, you can see more detail in my response to Lori. December 16, 2015 at 2:39pm
Victoria: I’d love your recipe for escalivada, Mer! December 16, 2015 at 2:15pm
Mer: No recipe really! Just roasted (as above) peppers, onions, garlic and eggplant. But only the peppers roast well in the way I mentioned so most often I’m lazy and only do the peppers. Onions (cut in half, with skin on), garlic (whole unpeeled head) and eggplant (cut in half lengthwise) do better in oven only. Garlic cloves squeezed out, onion skin removed, pepper and eggplant are peeled after cooking, shredded in long strips by hand and drizzled, no… soaked 😀 in olive oil, served cold on toast rubbed with garlic and tomato. December 16, 2015 at 2:45pm
Victoria: Thank you very much! Sounds delicious and a perfect alternative to the honeyed peppers. I will roast everything in the oven separately (since we don’t even own a microwave, much less a fancy microwave/oven). Done under the broiler, peppers stay very juicy, but of course, nothing beats roasting vegetables over charcoal. Alas, that’s not an option around here.
Just the idea of toast rubbed with garlic and tomato makes me hungry. December 16, 2015 at 2:54pm
Mer: I often roast as many peppers as may fit into the oven and keep them peeled in the fridge with oil, all week, or as long as they may last 😉 they’re also good in sandwiches.
I can barely tolerate pepper any other way, when it is roasted it doesn’t upset my stomach, I guess my problem might be the skin.
If you like coal roasted vegetables, you should travel to Catalonia in winter and experience a calçotada, it’s awesome 😉 http://www.homagetobcn.com/calcotada-festival/ December 16, 2015 at 3:14pm
Victoria: A calçotada is something I’d love to experience. I made the sauce that’s served alongside roasted vegetables a few times, and that alone was fantastic. December 16, 2015 at 4:11pm
Mer: I have to admit it’s the best part 🙂 December 16, 2015 at 5:22pm
Victoria: I grilled leeks, but we ended up eating the sauce with bread. December 17, 2015 at 8:33am
Myroslava: Thanks for mentioning the eggplant ! Just got one eggplant from a friend and couldn’t quite pick a recipe to be sure my son would enjoy it also. I wish my parents were still alive,when my son was growing up,- had my son spent a couple of summers over in Ukraine with my mom, I would have no problems with him “not liking” some vegetables. I was brought up to “like” everything I was served and am thankful to my parents for that. December 16, 2015 at 4:26pm
tiamaria: Thanks for this lovely article Victoria. This sounds like something that could go well with left over turkey. I think I’ll give it a go at the weekend! December 16, 2015 at 7:52am
Victoria: Hope that you like it. It’s such an easy recipe, but something magical happens when you combine honey and garlic. 🙂 December 16, 2015 at 2:16pm
Michaela: Delicious!
We make a similar recipe using Florina peppers, which are a bit sweeter than bell peppers.
Love your experiments story, especially the remark about raw potatoes 🙂 You forgot last year’s celeriac, black radish, prunes and nuts; then sauerkraut and pickles (maybe fermented foods are not quite raw?) 🙂 December 16, 2015 at 8:39am
Victoria: I especially like Turkish red peppers that we get in the summer here. They have such delicate skin that you don’t need to peel them, just rub off the charred bits, and the flavor is bold.
We might have finished prunes and nuts at that point, and I don’t remember if sauerkraut fit into our raw philosophy or not. But the memory of raw potatoes remains vivid. 🙂 December 16, 2015 at 2:18pm
OperaFan: This is a lovely, and easily doable recipe that I will look forward to trying out. What I like best is the backstory you provide with the recipies you share.
I do a simple charcoal grilled vegetables dish in the summertime by cutting a mix of peppers, zucchini, string beans, onions, and sometimes brussel sprouts or portabella; coat them in EV Olive Oil and Garlic infusion, then let the husband cook them in the Weber. Easily transferred into the oven in the winter as roasted & broiled vegetables. Those were drizzled with balsamic vinegar & lite soy before serving. December 16, 2015 at 9:44am
Liz: This also sounds easy and tasty. How do you make garlic infusion? December 16, 2015 at 11:14am
Mer: I’m not OperaFan 🙂 but I dump whole, broken garlic cloves in olive oil. The oil gets very flavoured. December 16, 2015 at 3:17pm
OperaFan: Yes – I crush fresh garlic into a half jar of EVO oil, stir it up and cover with plastic wrap. If you use it within a couple of hours, the oil will take on the raw garlic flavor, but over time, it will develop into the dried garlic flavor.
I use it to flavor sauteed vegetables or combine with balsamic vinegar as salad dressing, or as a dip for bread. Very useful condiment to have around. 🙂 December 17, 2015 at 11:58am
Victoria: I need to make it too. I usually just make garlicky oil in small amount to use for whatever dish I’m planning, but I think that it would be handy to have a bottle of it around. December 18, 2015 at 8:19am
OperaFan: I leave mine in a jar next to the stove, loosely covered in plastic with a small spoon sticking out. If you shop in asian stores, you can find lidded sauce jars that have a cut-out to accomodate a spoon.
I use this infusion for practically EVERYTHING! :d December 18, 2015 at 9:36am
Victoria: Now I’m craving some garlic bread! December 18, 2015 at 10:02am
Victoria: It’s an easy one. In the winter, meals at my grandmother’s are very easy, even if we feel too lazy to cook. Just boil or bake potatoes and open a couple of jars of salads. With a side dish of sauerkraut dressed with sunflower oil and onion slivers, everything is ready very quickly.
Your charcoal grilled vegetables sound so delicious. Do you cook everything at the same time? December 16, 2015 at 2:21pm
OperaFan: I prepare the food and my husband runs the charcoal grill. He either cooks the veggies separately before, or alongside the meat depending on the required temperature and cooking time for the meats (and fish).
In the oven, I would roast at about 375 for 20-30 min and finish off under the broiler if I want more of a charred effect. December 17, 2015 at 12:02pm
OperaFan: BTW – You can buy baskets and sautee pans specially designed for the grill. If you don’t want to make the investment, wrap the veggies loosely in foil so there’s plenty of room for steam to escape. December 17, 2015 at 4:09pm
Victoria: I have one basket I found at an Asian grocery store that was advertised for grilling fish, but I ended up using it for everything. You’re right, these implements are so convenient. December 18, 2015 at 8:26am
Victoria: That sounds so good. I miss our nice charcoal grill. We aren’t allowed those in the city, so make do with an electric one. December 18, 2015 at 8:20am
OperaFan: Which makes pre-marinating in oil (skin on) such a plus because you can get the charred effect more easily. When I first started doing this, I used an electric oven as well. December 18, 2015 at 9:33am
Victoria: Quicker, more flavor and fewer chances of drying out. It’s such a good idea. December 18, 2015 at 10:00am
Jillie: Simply gorgeous photos – I could almost taste those peppers! Whenever I make stuffed Piedmont peppers I squirt a little honey over them to sweeten the tomatoes and this definitely improves the flavour. I can’t wait to try your peppers now. December 16, 2015 at 9:52am
Victoria: Thank you, Jillie. That’s another reason I love this dish, it instantly adds color to any meal, and on a grey winter day that’s especially welcome. December 16, 2015 at 2:22pm
epapsiou: While I can cook almost everything decent, getting roasted pepper right is like Bois Noir. Love it , want it just can’t get it. December 16, 2015 at 9:54am
Victoria: What do you use to cook them–a stove top or an oven? December 16, 2015 at 2:22pm
epapsiou: Oven. Also reading through I saw you made Naan in oven. How? I have a nice US oven :). December 16, 2015 at 3:26pm
Victoria: You have to use a baking stone and preheat it in the oven for an hour. Then you bake your naan. I like naan dough recipes that include oil and yogurt, because even the best home oven doesn’t get as hot as a tandoor, and these extra ingredients result in flatbread with proper texture. December 16, 2015 at 4:14pm
Mer: You are starting to make me think I should perhaps try to cook food in my enamelling kiln (up to 1000 centigrade lol) December 16, 2015 at 5:25pm
Victoria: Pizza! That needs a super hot oven. 🙂 December 17, 2015 at 8:31am
Mer: Carbonized cheese is the last thing I need in the kiln floor hahah 😀 December 17, 2015 at 8:54am
Victoria: Pizza bianca, then? 🙂 December 17, 2015 at 10:49am
Victoria: P.S. Now I’m intrigued, what do you do with the kiln? December 17, 2015 at 10:50am
Mer: Fire glass on metal, for jewellery mostly. It makes an appearance here at 2:30 vimeo.com/12324889 December 17, 2015 at 11:14am
Victoria: The video is beautiful, starting from your artwork to your hands. I noticed the sound of church bells at one point, too. How did you end up setting your creation? December 18, 2015 at 8:18am
Mer: I think the indent has become too large and I can’t reply to your last answer.
Thank you 🙂 the bells are from the church in Grote Markt, I used to live just in front of it. We have bought a house and have been refurbishing it ourselves for three years now, and my workshop has been dismantled all this time. I didn’t get to finish the setting yet. December 19, 2015 at 12:18pm
Mer: I never heard of that, it looks just like coca 😀 December 17, 2015 at 11:03am
Victoria: It’s similar, and despite its plain looks, it’s one of the most delicious things you can eat in Italy. I also like pizza with thinly sliced potatoes (no cheese or tomatoes). That I manage in my oven, but a properly hot oven produces much better results. December 18, 2015 at 8:10am
epapsiou: Thanks for the tip. Will try and let you know. December 17, 2015 at 11:02am
Kate: Ha ha ha! I love your grandma. 🙂
I too love this salad, only at home I make it with lemon juice instead of vinegar but no honey. I’ll try your version soon. December 16, 2015 at 12:07pm
Eric: Your grandma’s philosophy is a good one to follow, Victoria. Best wishes to you and yours during this holiday season. December 16, 2015 at 12:57pm
Victoria: Thank you very much, Eric. Happy holidays to you as well! December 16, 2015 at 2:28pm
Victoria: Lemon juice would also be delicious. It will be less sharp than vinegar, so you might have to adjust the amount of honey. December 16, 2015 at 2:27pm
Mer: This I must try, I’m lemon obsessed. December 16, 2015 at 2:47pm
Victoria: I have another vegetable salad in which I marinate lemon slices as well. The dressing is similar, but I use different vegetables like carrots, blanched cauliflower or radishes. Marinated lemon slices taste almost like a pickle. December 16, 2015 at 2:56pm
Mer: I hope this will be a future post :))) December 16, 2015 at 3:15pm
Victoria: I can definitely write it up. 🙂 December 16, 2015 at 4:11pm
Mer: Excellent 🙂 December 16, 2015 at 5:24pm
Solanace: Yay. Big fan of lemons, too. December 17, 2015 at 2:32am
Victoria: Me too. If I don’t have lemons at home, I feel something is missing. December 17, 2015 at 8:35am
Myroslava: Radishes too? Like them so much raw,would like to try them your way. Goodness, your blog is a treasure ! December 16, 2015 at 4:32pm
Victoria: I love radishes too, and they taste very good with the honeyed-garlicky dressing. December 17, 2015 at 8:32am
Susan: Mmmmm
I bet a little mint would be good in this dish too. I made your cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving.Thank you for another nice recipe. December 16, 2015 at 12:27pm
Victoria: Glad that you liked the cranberry sauce!
You can definitely use mint. Any herb would work, including oregano, marjoram and fennel. December 16, 2015 at 2:28pm
Karen (A): I’m with Valentina! And will definitely try this – we’ve got tons of arugula in the garden thanks to some very unseasonably warm weather, and fresh thyme, oregano and parsley potted up on the kitchen window – topping a salad sounds scrumptious! December 16, 2015 at 1:05pm
Victoria: Your kitchen garden sounds wonderful. I can just imagine all of the delicious scents.
These sweet-garlicky peppers match arugula really well, mellowing out its spicy, mustard-like flavor. December 16, 2015 at 2:31pm
Karen (A): There is something wonderful having pots of herbs or flowers in the kitchen window. One fall I attached a window box to the window sill, and had geraniums blooming through the winter. December 16, 2015 at 5:27pm
Victoria: Is it a regular geranium or a scented variety? December 17, 2015 at 8:33am
Karen (A): This was a couple of years ago – but I just transplanted some of my regular geraniums. I’ve kept them going for maybe close to 10 years by bringing them inside during the winter – plus I propigate them from broken stems, but they are just good old red and coral geraniums. For some reason, I’ve never been too much in to the scented geraniums – I actually really like the scent of the regular ones. I know lots of people don’t – but they remind me of summer. December 17, 2015 at 3:07pm
Victoria: The smell also reminds of summer, especially summer in the city, since my paternal grandmother always kept a pot of geraniums going on the balcony. December 18, 2015 at 8:22am
Toni: Yum, Yum, Yum. I look forward to your wonderful articles every day. The history, the content, the graphics, are exceptional.
Feeling like the Kitchen Chemist, I can’t wait to try your grandmother’s salad. We always eat the peppers with skins, so this will be a new treat. Do you think it would be ok to use balsamic vinegar? December 16, 2015 at 3:52pm
Victoria: Thank you, Toni! 🙂 You can definitely use balsamic vinegar. I can tell you that if my grandmother had it on hand, she’d use it too. She loves to play with new ingredients and she’s always changing her recipes a little. December 16, 2015 at 4:17pm
Lavanya: oh yummy!! I need to make this! I have some shrub (a fruit and vinegar syrup) – do you think I could use that in lieu of wine vinegar? I have some blackberry shrub that might work with this. hmmm December 16, 2015 at 10:45pm
Victoria: Yes, of course. The idea is to have a sweet and sour dressing, and you can adjust it to your taste. My grandmother likes it on the sweeter side, while I prefer it tart. December 17, 2015 at 8:34am
Solanace: The image of your gramma pals making vinegar and pressing sunflower oil is just too cute. I’d love to drink a glass of wine with them! December 17, 2015 at 2:38am
Victoria: You’d like them. All of them are such characters! December 17, 2015 at 8:36am
Aurora: It’s a super recipe, Victoria. I am new with using honey in a salad. I love the idea and I would never have dared without this timely post. It’s so very time-friendly since it can be kept for a week. I’ll make sure to experiment with it, by using a variety of herbs like you recommend. It might end up being part of the Christmas dinner I am bracing myself for. December 17, 2015 at 7:41am
Victoria: Keeping fingers crossed that you like it. You can adjust the amount of honey to your taste, but I really like how it gives peppers a richer, warmer flavor. December 17, 2015 at 8:37am
Scented Salon: Since you like peppers being given a sweet treatment, try chipotle pepper jelly over cream cheese on toast. You’ll go crazy. December 17, 2015 at 9:14am
Victoria: Sounds like something I’d love! December 17, 2015 at 10:50am
Karen (A): When I was selling jams and jellies at the farmer’s market, I got requests for pepper jelly – not one of my favorites. But I ended up roasting the peppers, used a mix of jalapeño
and others – then tried it all kinds of ways including over vanilla ice cream, I called in Snowstorm in the Desert on my serving suggestion tag. It was surprisingly good. December 17, 2015 at 3:11pm
Victoria: You’re such a creative cook, Karen! I haven’t made pepper jellies before, but I imagine they wouldn’t be too difficult. December 18, 2015 at 8:24am
Neva: Send my regards to grandma Valentina! There’s nothing like baked peppers (it takes some time in the oven, but it’s worth it) with plenty of olive oil and garlic and a bit of vinegar. Whenever I do it my appartment smells beautifully and I eat the whole salad myself. It’s just too good to be shared with others 😉 I’ve never tried it with honey, but it sounds lovely. Thank you for the idea! December 17, 2015 at 5:20pm
Victoria: I will do. 🙂
If you want to bake peppers, then they will take a while, but for this salad, you only need to char the skin in order to be able to peel it. That takes 10 minutes or so under the broiler. Either way, the smell of roasting peppers makes me think of summer. They also delicious on toast topped with crumbled goat cheese. December 18, 2015 at 8:32am
Michael: Victoria,
A wonderful recipe. I made enough for a meal with friends and family with a load left for future use. I included Australian goats cheese and accompanied the food with some bottles of Gruner. Yum! December 20, 2015 at 11:32pm
Victoria: A great pairing! 🙂 I’m glad to hear that you liked it. December 21, 2015 at 11:23am