Seasoned Red Pepper Paste

Ingredients:

10 large red peppers (either bell peppers or Aruba peppers)
1 tbsp salt
1 red habanero chilli (de-seed if you like it milder)
1 large onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 large carrot, scraped and diced
1 celery stick, washed and diced
60ml cider vinegar or red wine vinegar, or rice vinegar (any vinegar with 5% acidity)
1 small bay leaf
1 tsp English mustard
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
1/2 tsp allspice
salt, to season
1/4 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

Method:

Wash the peppers, cut them in half, remove the membranes and discard seeds. If there are any blemishes or spots on the skin remove those as well.

Layer the peppers skin side up in a baking tray. Season each layer with salt (1 tbsp). Cover with a kitchen towel and allow to sit and marinate 2-3 hours (this helps draw out the excess liquid). Then After this time, pour off the liquid from a pot/baking tray and discard.

Pre-heat oven to 105C. Once hot, transfer the baking tray with the peppers to the centre of the oven. Slow roast for 5 hours. Stirring the peppers occasionally, once a hour or so. The longer you roast the peppers the easier it will be to remove their skins.

Test one pepper just after a 4 hour mark. If the skin is easy to peel off then take the baking tray out of the oven. If not, leave it slow roasting for while longer. This also depends on the thickness of the pepper; the thicker the pepper then the longer it will take to roast in order for the skin to become loose for easy peeling.

Once it's easy to peel the skin off the peppers take the baking tray out of the oven and let the peppers cool slightly until they can be handles easily. Using your hands or a a small knife pull away the skin from the pepper's fleshy part. Skin should peel off easily. Peel all the peppers and discard the skins.

Once you have removed all the skin, process all of the peppers' flesh in the food processor until smooth. Drop in the habanero chilli at this point.

Now pre-heat your oven to 200C. Combine the diced onion, carrot and celery on a baking tray. Season with salt (1/4 tsp) and freshly-ground black pepper (1/4 tsp). Drizzle over olive oil (1 tbsp) then toss to coat.

Place the unpeeled garlic cloves onto a piece of aluminium foil, sprinkle with remaining olive oil (1/2 tbsp), season with little bit of salt and ground black pepper. Wrap the garlic in the foil. Sit the wrapped garlic on your baking tray with the vegetables. Transfer to the centre of your pre-heated oven and cook for about 40 minutes, until soft and nicely caramelized. Once roasted, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Push the roasted garlic cloves out of the skins then combine with the other roasted vegetables in a food processor. Pulse to chop then run the motor until you have a thick paste. This will be slightly chunky but that’s okay.

Combine the red pepper paste and the vegetable paste in a saucepan. Stir to combine then add 60ml vinegar and the English mustard season with salt and freshly-ground black pepper then add the cayenne pepper, allspice and bay leaf. Bring the mixture to boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for between 30 minutes and hour. Note that the paste will be thick, so it's important that you stir it frequently so it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pot. Taste and season as needed.

The mixture will appear chunky, remember to remove bay leaf. To make is smooth again, process mixture in a food processor or with a hand blender. Pour into sterilized jars that have been warmed in the oven. Secure the lids, allow to cool and store in the refrigerator. To keep longer, freeze in aliquots.