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By Root 196 0

yia’s garden, grilled outside, were a staple of my childhood. We grew what we called Hungarian hots, also known as Hungarian wax peppers or banana peppers—long, pale green or yellow tapering peppers. Some years the peppers would be smoking hot and other years they’d be mild; we never knew why, but the not knowing was always part of the fun. (These are also the peppers used in Shasha Sauce.) Sometimes we’d simply throw them on the grill. Here I stuff them. It’s a fantastic way to use loose sausage, and I like the shape of these particular peppers for stuffing. Bell peppers are really too big for this kind of grilled preparation, but poblanos would also be excellent.

Serves 4 to 8

8 Hungarian hot peppers

1½ pounds Pork Sausage or Italian sausage (see Symon Says)

2 cups Yia Yia’s Sunday Sauce or jarred tomato sauce

8 fresh basil leaves

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Light coals in a charcoal grill for a medium-hot fire. Butter an 8 by 11-inch baking dish.

Cut the tops off of the peppers and spoon out any seeds. Divide the sausage into 8 equal portions and spoon it into the peppers to fill them.

Pour the sauce into the prepared baking dish.

Grill the peppers to char them on the outside, about 2 minutes per side. Remove them from the grill and lay the peppers on top of the sauce. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the sausage reaches an internal temperature of 150°F. Divide among plates, spoon some tomato sauce on top, and garnish each with a basil leaf.

Although it is best to make your own sausage, if you’re pinched for time, butcher shops and many grocery stores such as Whole Foods offer an array of fresh sausage. If only good link-sausage is available, remove the casing and use the loose sausage.

If you don’t want to heat your grill and your oven, you can do all of this in the oven: preheat the broiler and char the peppers underneath the broiler. Remove them from the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 375°F, and proceed with the recipe.

LAMB TARTARE WITH LEMON AND GREEK YOGURT

In July 2007, in the kitchens of the Culinary Institute of America, eight of us had twenty minutes to make a dish to be judged by each other in a reality television cooking show called Next Iron Chef America. I chose lamb and because of the time constraints decided on a tartare, a spin on classic beef tartare. Tartare is simply raw meat, diced or ground, and seasoned with what amounts to a vinaigrette. Here it was lemon juice, olive oil, and yogurt, and for even more flavor, mint, cilantro, coriander, and olives. My tartare was the winning dish, which really got my momentum going in the contest; it was especially gratifying to be so honored by my peers (as opposed to the snarky, know-nothing judges!).

I love the brininess of the olives, which pair perfectly with the gaminess of the lamb. My favorites for cooking are oil-cured Moroccan olives, followed by briny green picholines, black kalamatas, and green lucques.

The key elements to preparing this dish are keeping everything cold, and making sure not to add the lemon juice until the last possible minute; if added too far in advance, it will in effect cook the meat and alter its texture. Raw lamb is fine to eat, provided it’s handled properly. I recommend you buy a whole cut of meat, rinse and dry it well, and dice it yourself.

Serves 4 to 6

1 pound lamb loin or sirloin, finely diced

1 teaspoon chopped fresh mint

1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro

¼ teaspoon ground coriander

2 tablespoons chopped olives

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

4 to 6 tablespoons Greek yogurt

Combine the lamb, mint, cilantro, coriander, olives, shallot, olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon zest in a nonreactive bowl and mix thoroughly. This can be done up to several hours before serving and refrigerated. Add the lemon juice just before serving. Divide the lamb among four to six plates and garnish each serving with a