Chilli growing for 2013

The plant on the right is, supposedly, the same as the one on the left and the baby of the one with the small buds and flowers. It's not supposed to have any purple and the chillies are a little bigger, so I reckon the mother must have crossed with another plant.

 

Haven't the faintest what the variety is. I've been taking the seeds from my favourite tasting plant and growing them on from there. The original parent was grown at least twelve years ago. and some of their ancestors are shown on page five of this thread - post 92.

I keep the plants in the propagator in the greenhouse until November and then bring them indoors. They get plenty of light from the french doors in the lounge and they prefer to be in a temperature of at least 60F - 65F.

 

Given sufficient light and enough warmth they should ripen with no trouble.

 

Hi @Freddy
My favourite, and most popular with guests, is one I devised for roast leg of lamb:

MORROCAN STYLE MARINATED LAMB
1 large leg of lamb ( remove skin and fat to allow marinade to penetrate better )
1 Tbs. cumin seed
1 Tbs. coriander seed
½ Tbs. black peppercorns
3 Tbs. olive oil
4 garlic cloves - crushed
2" fresh ginger - grated
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. brown sugar
2 Tbs. cold water
1½ Tbs. paprika
Dry roast the cumin and coriander in a pre-heated frying pan. ( Don’t over roast them - they are done when they start jumping and spitting. ) Grind the spices and black pepper in a coffee grinder or with mortar and pestle.
Put oil in a bowl then add garlic, ginger, salt and sugar and mix (I never use the sugar). Add ground spices and pepper and mix. Add water and paprika and mix. This will become a thick paste so that it should not slide off the joint. If the paste is too thin, add more paprika. If too thick add more water.
Make small cuts in the lamb then coat the joint with the paste. Marinate for as long as possible ( 4 hours is o.k., 24 hours is good and 48 hours is best - if leaving for more than 4 hours cover the dish very well with foil and put in fridge ). Turn the joint over at least once during the marinating time.
One nice variation is to add 1- 1½ ozs of ground almonds to the marinade.
Roast in the normal way but it is best to keep the lamb covered with the foil during cooking and uncover for the last 15 minutes. If having roast potatoes as well – keep dish covered until potatoes need to go in then remove foil from the dish and just wrap it over the top of the joint. I usually cook it on Gas Mark 5, 190C.
The lamb will carve better if you let it stand for ten minutes - carve the slices fairly thickly.
Serving suggestions:-
with roast potatoes ( roasted with the lamb )
with lightly flavoured rice ( add a few raisins - optional )
selection of your favourite vegetables
salads:- olive and orange salad with spring onions
avocado and fennel with an orange juice flavoured dressing
mixed green - with lettuce, cucumber, fennel, celery and green apple

 

@Freddy you can replace the black pepper with chillies of your choice but Kristen is, almost, correct

I prefer my chillies raw and eat some with most cooked meals. When I don't have ripe chillies I buy some at the Asian wholesalers (that supply Indian restaurants) and they have got used to me just picking up a chilli, from each of the varieties they have on sale, and taking a bite out of it. When some of the GC members met at East Ruston the other week I was picking and tasting some of the chillies in their chilli greenhouse . None of them were particularly hot

There are numerous recipes I have that require chillies to be put in them but none that actually have a marinade made with them. There is a simple one that I do for chicken that comprises of some olive oil, juice of a lemon, a little salt, some chopped garlic, chilli, ginger and lemon grass.

I don't use any measurements for it and then just marinate the chicken in it for a couple of hours. If I'm using breast of chicken two hours is easily sufficient and then pop it under the grill. If I'm using thighs I marinate them for four hours and put them in the oven to make sure they are cooked through properly. Sometimes I fillet the thighs and then I would grill them.

 

There's no point in eating chillies if they're going to too hot for you. Unless you're able to take the heat you won't be able to taste the flavour .

I'm not sure it's an acquired taste but more likely an inherant ability. I can eat a very hot curry and still be able to distinguish most of the other spices that were used in amking it.