The Pepper Lady pops a whole lime into the microwave oven and gives it a quick zap to make it release more juice when squeezed.
“My first microwave oven in 1961 had an on/off switch and no direction book. It cost $1,600 and it roared. There were only three in town. The other two were at the country club,” says Jean Andrews, author of “The Peppers Cookbook: 200 Recipes from the Pepper Lady’s Kitchen” (University of North Texas Press, $21.95).
Andrews is in her West Austin townhouse kitchen making serrano lime tarts with coconut cream, a recipe in her new book. She is proving that peppers can have a role in sweet things as well as savory. Try ancho chili in pecan pie and in chocolate, she suggests. “Ancho makes chocolate sing.”
Andrews, 81, is a fount of knowledge on many subjects: cooking tips, early ovens, textiles, travels, wildflowers and shells. (She has written books on the last two subjects as well.) But when Andrews speaks of peppers, the world listens, as it has for the past two decades. Last year she gave the banquet address at the 17th International Pepper Conference in Naples, Fla.
A passion for peppers
This fifth-generation Texan, who got her doctorate in art at age 50, is an academic chilihead. In 1977, she began researching, writing about and growing chilies as well as painting botanical illustrations of them for “Peppers: The Domesticated Capsicums,” published in 1984. The seven-year undertaking pioneered much of the information for the huge spike in pepper usage and development during the past two decades. It spawned so much interest from others, as well as more books on peppers by Andrews, that she had to get an unlisted telephone number.
She also registered The Pepper Lady trademark, which she wears well. From the ever-present, life-size silver jalapeno pendant around her neck to the pepper pot holder in her hand, she lives, breathes and eats her subject.
Her fridge and pantry hold all sorts of peppers: ground pasilla, ground ancho, ground guajillo, roasted red peppers in jars from the Balkans, and Aleppo ground pepper from Syria.
Her latest book on peppers is much less academic than her first. It’s as if she handed a friend her personal recipe file, along with 50 pages of basics. In the book are recipes from her early life in south Texas and from her travels. Most are new, she says, but a few are favorites from “The Pepper Trail: History and Recipes from Around the World,” the book that won her the 2001 Jane Grigson Award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals.
Except for being 4-foot-10, Andrews defies the little ol’ lady image.
She has visited more than 125 countries, including Yemen, China and Croatia. She says she is slowing down and laments that her health prevents her from traveling alone to exotic countries anymore. In recent years, she has overcome a couple of heart operations, a stroke and a cochlear implant.
She insists that this is her last pepper volume. In fact, she is through writing books, she says. She plans to finish her genealogy. And she might decide to publish her two dozen travel journals, which are illustrated with pen-and-ink sketches.
“That ought to take what time I have left,” she says with a smile.
And don’t assign her to the Great Chili Cook-Off in the Sky just yet.
“Where I really want to go is Brazil. Not to tour. I want to go to where the Portuguese first came in and brought the Guinea pepper and follow that trail for an academic paper.”
Yes, the Pepper Lady is still hot on the trail.
Serrano-lime tarts with coconut cream
Preparation time: 40 minutes
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Standing time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Chilling time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 16 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
Jean Andrews says that this recipe’s small amount of pepper is a nice complement to a highly spiced meal. Adapted from “The Peppers Cookbook: 200 Recipes from the Pepper Lady’s Kitchen.” The curd can be made up to 3 days in advance.
Lime curd:
6-8 medium limes
1 serrano pepper, seeded
1 cup granulated sugar
5 eggs
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, cut into pieces
Coconut cream:
1/3 cup sweetened coconut flakes
2/3 cup whipping cream
1/3 cup coconut milk
2 to 3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
6 4-inch baked tart crusts
1. For the curd, remove the lime zest from 4 of the limes with a vegetable peeler. Combine the zest, serrano pepper and sugar in a food processor; process until zest is minced. Let stand, covered, 30 minutes or up to 6 hours.
2. Juice all of the limes to measure 1 cup of juice; add to the sugar-zest mixture in the food processor; process until sugar dissolves. Pour mixture through a fine strainer into a medium saucepan, pressing liquid from zest; discard zest. Add eggs; whisking to blend. Add the butter.
3. Cook, stirring, over medium-low heat until mixture thickly coats a metal spoon, about 15 minutes. Scrape into a bowl; cover. Refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour or up to 3 days. Stir before using.
4. Meanwhile, for the coconut cream, add coconut flakes to a medium skillet; heat, stirring, over medium-high heat until lightly browned, about 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl. Cover; set aside.
5. Combine the whipping cream, coconut milk and confectioners’ sugar in another bowl. Beat with a mixer on high speed until the cream holds soft peaks. Cover; refrigerate up to 2 hours. Stir in browned coconut. Divide cold curd among six tart shells; top each with coconut cream. Place tarts on individual dessert plates.
Nutrition information per serving:
569 calories, 60% of calories from fat, 39 g fat, 22 g saturated fat, 252 mg cholesterol, 50 g carbohydrates, 8 g protein, 276 mg sodium, 0.5 g fiber