Not-so-hot (as in mild) pepper recipes for a very hot summer

There aren’t many foods I don’t like, but I’m adamant about disliking bell peppers. I can eat them in cooked preparations where they’re mixed in with other aromatics, but raw bell peppers — whether on their own or mixed into things like potato salad — is my nightmare. Their vegetal flavor always tastes off in those preparations. And aside from an etouffée or gumbo that I make once a year when I’m feeling homesick, I never bring a green bell pepper into my house.

There is one time of the year, though, when the mood strikes to go all in on bell peppers — and that’s right now. As soon as I see the beautiful streaked purple specimens hit the farmers market, I buy a couple pounds to prepare one of, ironically, my favorite dishes: Basque piperade. It’s simply lots of bell peppers slowly cooked with garlic, tomatoes and espelette pepper until the bell peppers are soft and unctuous. There’s no better match for a grilled fillet of fish in summer.

Also, at this time of year, the sweet, witch-finger-long Jimmy Nardello peppers pop up in markets and almost all Californians flock to them like East Coasters do to ramps. In addition to that piperade and an impromtu ratatouille that I made last week, here are some other pepper-prone dishes I’m saving to make this week.

Traditional paprikash uses Hungarian wax peppers, but I like to use up all my sweet bell peppers to make an easy piparade-like sauce for this Pork Chop Paprikash. You can make the sauce in the cool part of the day, keep it in the fridge and either warm it up or have it cold spooned over grilled pork chops when you’re ready to eat.

Speaking of sauces, I love romesco sauce with any vegetable or protein and this Smoked Paprika Romesco Sauce is wonderful. The smoked paprika adds plenty of depth to balance the peppers’ sweetness. Spoon it over cucumbers, dip little gem lettuce leaves in it or spread it under grilled chicken.

Another sauce that highlights the sweet but sometimes punchy flavor of peppers is this Druze-style Roasted Red Pepper Sauce. It gets extra power from raw onions that are blended with the smoky peppers and garlic to make an uncooked relish that’s wonderful spooned over grain bowls or for dipping with hummus and pita.

And I love this Charred Okra and Corn Salad with Spicy Sausage Vinaigrette. Jimmy Nardello peppers add sweetness to the spicy sausage and grilled okra sauté, but you can use any sweet bell peppers you have lying around on the counter, waiting to transform into a dish you’ll want to eat for the rest of summer.

Pork Chop Paprikash

Hungarian wax peppers are very common in most grocery stores and, along with hot paprika, lend the sauce its distinctive flavor; though not exactly the same, you can substitute Cubanelles, sweet banana peppers or small yellow bell peppers in a pinch.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 35 minutes

(Silvia Razgova / For The Times)

Smoked Paprika Romesco Sauce

Smoked paprika combines with piquillos and sweet, toasted Marcona almonds to make a fantastic sauce for spooning over whatever you want to eat. Regular bell peppers make a great substitute for the other peppers.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 20 minutes

(Los Angeles Times)

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Raw minced onion adds lots of punch to this sauce made of blended roasted red bell peppers and plenty of garlic. It’s great slathered on pita or simply eaten with crudité.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 30 minutes

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Charred Okra and Corn Salad with Spicy Sausage Vinaigrette

The heat and spices in the sausage add a ton of flavor to the sweet corn, peppers and green, toothsome okra. Use the ripest tomato you can find for the best flavor. And if you like, add chunks of mozzarella, feta or goat cheese to the salad at the end before serving.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 1 hour

(Ben Mims / Los Angeles Times)