The Grilled Marinated Red Peppers You Can Turn Into 14 Different Dinners

The Sunday Stash is a large batch of one simple, easy-to-make food that can be mix-and-matched with meat, vegetables, grains, and pasta to create meals throughout the week (or, if frozen, the month).

The last time I purchased marinated red peppers in a jar, it cost me seven dollars. I guess that's not a lot of money in the long run, but it's certainly more expensive than (and not as delicious as) buying fresh peppers at the height of summer—when they are at their sweet, seasonal best—and making some marinated peppers yourself.

If you've already got the grill going, it's not even a difficult task to do. Just get those peppers on the grill before or after whatever else you're cooking. After the skins have blackened, set the peppers up in a covered bowl, and put them aside to steam while you finish up the task at hand.

When the peppers are cool enough to handle, get the kids or your significant other to peel them while you go about more interesting things. No kids? Living by your fierce and independent self? Park yourself in front of Hulu and binge some obscure show from the early aughts until the blistery skins are all removed.

Finally, tear the peppers into strips and toss with oil, vinegar, and a bit of salt, then stash in the fridge until you're ready to throw them into any of the 14 dinners below.

Big-Batch Marinated Bell Peppers

1. Give Them the Shakshuka Treatment

For an easy skillet dinner, warm 1 teaspoon of crushed cumin seeds and 4 cloves of minced garlic in a pan with 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Toss in two cans of rinsed, drained chickpeas and sauté until a little crisp. Add 1 cup cherry tomatoes and 1 cup drained pepper strips and toss to combine. When the tomatoes begin to shrivel and burst, lower heat to medium-low and make 4 divots in the surface of the chickpea-pepper mixture. Crack an egg into each divot, cover with a lid, and cook until egg whites are set but yolks are still runny, about 8 minutes. Sprinkle chile flakes and roughly chopped parsley over the top to finish.

2. Turn Them Into Romesco

When you're grilling those peppers, toss a few boneless chicken thighs on the grill, too. Then, using this recipe as a guide, blend about 1 cup of drained pepper strips with the almond butter, garlic, cayenne, vinegar, and olive oil in the recipe. Serve with the sliced chicken topped with a salad of tender greens, cucumbers, and red onion lightly dressed with lemon juice and more olive oil. Have some romesco left over?It makes a sensational sauce for pasta salad.

3. Make a Burger Sauce

Blend marinated pepper strips with mayonnaise, capers, and lemon juice to spread on any kind of burger—this salmon patty is especially nice and gets some of that mayo mixed into the patty for extra flavor and richness. Top with more pepper strips for a triple-dose of sweet and smoky pepper flavor in every bite.

4. Stuff Into Calzones

There great thing about calzonzes is that once assembled, you can freeze them to bake later. Sauté one chopped onion and two cloves of garlic with several handfuls of baby spinach. Strain into a sieve and press on the spinach with a spatula to remove any excess moisture. Return to skillet and stir in one cup of pepper strips and a handful of chopped pitted olives. Toss to combine and let cool slightly while you roll out four rounds of store-bought pizza dough. Divide mixture onto dough rounds, top with shredded smoked mozzarella and fold dough over to seal. Cut steam vents into top of dough, brush with oil, and bake at 500°F for about 15 minutes (25 minutes if frozen).

5. Combine Stashes for a Cheater's Tagine

This recipe relies on canned chickpeas, but if you happen to have a stash of make ahead butter beans, they work just as well. Simply simmer the beans (or chickpeas) with a flurry of North African–inspired spices plus those pepper strips and some dried currants or golden raisins. Once everything is warmed through, spoon the mixture over fluffy quick-cooking couscous.

6. Whir Into Chilled Soup

Go simple by blending 2 cups of pepper strips, plus 1/3 cup marinade with salt and pepper, balancing with more oil or vinegar as necessary. Top with cooked lump crabmeat and more peppers, chopped. Or, for a more elaborate chilled soup, use this recipe swapping in 2 1/2 cups pepper strips for the corn and ignoring the part about the cobs.

7. Make a Breakfast Sandwich

Your homemade marinated peppers may not be quite as spicy or vinegary as pickled peppadew peppers, but they still make an intriguing addition to these breakfast sandwiches (which, not for nothing, are just as delicious at dinnertime). Stack your peppers onto harissa-slicked English muffins along with hot Italian sausage patties, briny feta, runny eggs, and fresh cilantro.

8. Toss With Pasta

Taking inspiration from aglio e olio, cook one pound of spaghetti or other long pasta in well-salted, boiling water. Meanwhile, combine 6 cloves chopped garlic, 1/2 teaspoon chile flakes, and 1 cup of cold olive oil in a skillet. If your family likes them, toss in 4 chopped anchovies, too. Cook the garlic mixture over medium-low heat until the anchovies are dissolved and the garlic is sizzling but not yet brown, about 7 minutes. Drain the pasta, reserving some of the cooking liquid, then return pasta to pot (off heat) with 1 1/2 cups of pepper strips and the garlic oil. Toss with 1/4 cup pasta cooking liquid, adding more as needed until sauce is glossy. Divide among four plates and top with torn basil and shredded Parmesan cheese.

9. Blend Into Muhammara

Similar to romesco, this Middle Eastern dip starts with roasted red peppers and nuts. Following this recipe as a guide, blend about 1 1/2 cups of your drained marinated pepper strips with walnuts and tahini, plus pomeganate molasses to sweeten, and breadcrumbs to thicken it up. To turn it into dinner, think hummus bowls, and spread a swath of muhammara on the bottom of a shallow bowl. Top with kofta-inspired meatballs, feta cheese, and a shower of herbs such as dill, cilantro, mint or a mixture of all three.

10. Whip Them Into a Cheese Spread

The pimentos in pimento cheese? They're just roasted red peppers that have been finely diced. So pack your homemade peppers into a food processor with five different cheeses plus a few seasonings like Worcestershire, hot sauce, and shallots and blend them into one of the South's favorite sandwich spreads. Bonus points if you add peak tomatoes to that sandwich and toast it like grilled cheese.

11. Easy, Peasy Crostini

Slice a baguette or Italian loaf on the bias. Toast the slices—or grill them if you're feeling up to it—then spoon a dollop of ricotta onto each piece. Top with a few red pepper slices, a sprinkling of chile flakes, and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve them as an appetizer at a weekend party or for weeknight dinner alongside a simple green salad.

12. Assemble an Antipasto Platter

Grab a couple of cheeses (a salty Manchego, a creamy chèvre, etc.). Pile them onto a board with salami, olives, marinated peppers, crackers, and diced cantaloupe. Feeling ambitious? Throw on some roasted marinated artichokes, too.

13. Add to Grilled Seafood

Grilled marinated peppers will have a natural affinity for anything else that's grilled. If squid is too out of the box for your family, this recipe works just as well with shrimp. Just cook the seafood and toss with the pepper strips, then top with toasted hazelnuts and a salad of mint, thinly-sliced red onion, and lemon.

14. Don't Forget About the Marinade

That liquid your peppers are resting in? That's the start of a really great salad dressing. Whisk 1/4 cup of the marinade (which will now be infused with all that smoky-sweet red pepper flavor) with about 1 teaspoon each Dijon mustard and honey. Taste and adjust with salt, pepper, and a splash more vinegar or lemon juice if it needs brightening up, then toss with a mix of lettuces, shaved radishes, shredded rotisserie chicken, or whatever other salad fixings you can scrounge together.

Originally Appeared on Epicurious