Tuesday, September 30, 2008

On Loving Kick Butt Peppers Lots of Ways

Frances is one of my all-time favorite characters from a children's book. She is a young badger who finds herself in many common childhood predicaments - being a picky eater, being taken advantage of by a friend, not being able to fall asleep at night. She usually learns a lesson - eating different foods is nice, my job is to sleep, a sister can be a friend - and she always sings a simple song to complement the story.

In Bread and Jam for Frances, Frances sings a cheerful dirge to eggs:

I do not like the way you slide,
I do not like your soft inside,
I do not like you lots of ways,
And I could do for many days
Without eggs.


I love how the song just ends - splat! - but I do not share Frances' opinions on eggs. I like eggs lots of ways. I especially love eggs with peppers or hot pepper sauce. Toast, a great neighborhood breakfast spot, makes killer Pepper Eggs with green, yellow and red peppers. Pepper Eggs are great on their own and even better after Sally Albrighting (here a verb) them to include jalapeƱo, the omission of which, given the name of the dish, is patently unforgivable.

Mama's Lil's Kick Butt Peppers have been a staple in the Pinch kitchen ever since my Seattle days when Son of Lil hand delivered jars to the cooks in a restaurant where I worked. They. Are. Awesome. On the advice of my co-workers I added them to scrambled eggs. Then Kick Butt Peppers made their way into pasta salads and turkey sandwiches. On the advice of Jessica, I'm going to try them in tuna. To quote another beloved children's book:

Try them! Try them! And you may. Try them and you may, I say!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Peppers on eggs sounds great ... gives them a little "zip" ... I do it all the time ....

Denise
http://WineFoodPairing.blogspot.com

Meg said...

Yum...what a great pairing!

Astra Libris said...

Ooooh, these beautiful peppers sound incredible - especially in scrambled eggs! Thank you for the great brunch idea!

RecipeGirl said...

As a former teacher, I appreciate and love the book references :)

These look like an interesting product. Would love to try them if I can find them. I'm headed to WA to see my sis soon so perhaps I'll look for them while there.

Katie Fairbank said...

Denise and Meg - thanks for visiting! I often forget how good the pairing is, even as I douse my eggs with favorite hot sauces. Getting a little closer to the vine is always good, right!

AL and recipegirl- they really are fantastic. I've tried lots of jarred products and these really take the cake. The Mama Lil's website will show you what markets carry them. so recipegirl, there's a solid chance you may find them in your city. My chicago source is changing things up so I ended up buying a half case of peppers and gifting a few of them. I hope you enjoy them if you can get your hands on them. :)