Today's post is going to start out simply enough. Mrs. Alphageek and I were listening to a podcast called the ~~Merry~~ Sporkful. During the beginning of the podcast, the announcers take a minute or two to talk about something that they ate and enjoyed since their previous podcast. One of the announcers mentioned something he ate while on vacation. I don't remember the Spanish name for the dish, but it basically was egg in a pepper that was cooked on the grill. Of course, my eyes lit right up at this description. I thought it sounded great and decided to mark it down as a dish I would make on the grill in the next few weeks. I am the kind of geek that thinks he can cook just about anything, so I feel up to the challenge.

That day has arrived. Pictured below are the ingredients that I decided to use. We have a couple of eggs, a red bell pepper, some potatoes, the top of the red pepper, a little shallot, some garlic, salt, pepper, and a touch of my Pinger Pepper from a previous episode. You are allowed to borrow from yourself. I diced up everything very finely, because I wanted the ingredients to cook throughly while on the grill.

The Ingredients (click to enlarge)

Next, I walked outside and place the pepper on indirect heat on the grill. If you decide to try this, you should put the pepper on hole side down. Hole side down will prevent water from collecting inside the pepper and slowing the cooking process down.

Pepper on the Grill (click to enlarge)

Next, I placed the skillet on the grill, put some oil in the skillet, and added the potatoes after the oil was hot. I simmered this for about five minutes. It was smelling great already.

I Turned the Pepper Over (click to enlarge)

Next, I added the rest of the ingredients. The combination of aromas was beginning to make me very hungry.

All in the Pan (click to enlarge)

Next came one of the few tricky parts. I had to remember to turn the pepper back over (hey its tough for some folks) and pour the ingredients from the skillet into the eggs. If you go the other direction, you will cook the eggs in the pan and not in the pepper. Finally, I poured the mixture into the pepper. Sure, I had a little left over, but I just put that in the skillet and cooked it up right there.

The Filling (click to enlarge)

At this point comes the hardest part of the preparation. I had to put the lid on the grill, and walk away. I let everything cook to about 160 degrees Fahrenheit. You do have a food thermometer, right? I then pulled the final dish off of the grill as shown below.

The Final Results (click to enlarge)

Below is an inside view that I liked so much, I went and grabbed the camera when I was ready to eat.

Take a Look Inside (click to enlarge)

So, how would I review my own food? In a word, it is great! The smoke flavor goes well with the the pepper, and the other ingredients turn what could be a very simple dish into something special. The food thermometer made all of the difference. If the dish had cooked anymore, it would have begun to dry out and who wants that? This is a simple, easy dish that can impress your fiends at breakfast, or any other meal, as well as an early morning tailgate. It is good to know my culinary skill served me well again today.

I was having a discussion with someone who asked how I could find things to write about. I said a trip to the grocery store was worth at least an article or two. Since I am the Alphageek, and I know how to count, I want to point out that this is the third article on my trip to Global Mart. I am willing to let you decide if I can find interesting things to write about, but I love this detail stuff that you can only find here on my site.

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I purchased hot peppers while at the Global Mart in Woodbridge, Virginia. These peppers had a label on them that said "pinger peppers". I made some peppers and onions to go with some sausages that we made. We found the peppers were some of the more flavorful ones that we have had lately. I decided that I wanted to preserve the peppers. I was going to just toss them into the freezer, but I realized I already have a lot of frozen hot peppers of all sorts in there. I then thought about just drying the peppers, but I already have a lot of dried peppers, and one can get a large variety of dried peppers at just about any grocery store.

That is why I decided to try something new. I would dry the peppers, and then grind them up into a powder. Grinding up hot peppers offers one distinct advantage: the heat becomes much more consistent and predictable when used in cooking.

The process starts easily enough. Simply start with some sort of peppers, preferably ones that have superior taste and flavor. The pinger peppers below fit the bill nicely.

Pinger Peppers (click to enlarge)

I simply cleaned the peppers with a quick wash, and placed them into the food dehydrator that we have, because I am the Alphageek. I like to spread them around, so that the air has plenty of room to circulate.

Pinger Peppers in the dehydrator (click to enlarge)

After many hours, I finally had some dried peppers. I think they looked great as is, and many people stop with the step below.

Dried Pinger Peppers (click to enlarge)

Finally, I ground the pinger peppers using the one of those Magic Bullets that you see on tv. I like it because I can shove all of the pinger peppers right in there, and grind them into a fine powder, seeds and all. I did pull of the green tops, but that was about all. You can see the final results below.

Ground Pinger Pepper (click to enlarge)

Well, there you have it. Yet another article on one trip to the grocery store. The pinger peppers make a great addition to anything I have tried them in so far, and I highly recommend them.