Peeling capsicums before cooking makes them so silky they practically melt, but it does leave one with a lot of peels. You could use them to flavour homemade stock, or you could be extremely clever and make a vibrant red salt that tastes like paprika.
Photo: Claire Lower
Like Gabrielle Hamilton’s tomato skin salt, capsicum salt is extremely easy to make. Just take the peels, weigh them, and then toss with an equal amount of salt by weight to coat.
They look like sour belts. They are not sour belts. Photo: Claire Lower
Lay the strips out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and place in a 93C oven until they are as dry as you can get them.
Photo: Claire Lower
Pulverise the strips in the food processor to make a fine, salty powder.
This is just a little damp. Photo: Claire Lower
If the salt seems a little damp, don’t worry. Capsicum skin is a little tougher on one side, which means they don’t dry out as readily as thinner, more delicate skins such as tomato. To get your salt completely dry, just spread your salt out on a piece of parchment, place the parchment back on the baking sheet, and pop it back in a 93C oven until it’s bone dry. Grind it up once more in the food processor, or use a mortar and pestle to get an even finer powder.
Sprinkle your slightly sweet and smoky salt on anything savoury, from popcorn to roast chicken. I’m particularly partial to it on scrambled eggs, poached eggs and hard-boiled eggs. It was made for eggs, is what I’m saying.
This is part of Eating Trash With Claire, a Lifehacker series where Claire Lower convinces you to transform your kitchen scraps into something edible and delicious.
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