Braised Peppers and Onions

This base of slowly stewed peppers and onions can serve as the foundation for a wide variety of dishes: Add seared flank steak or pork butt, capers, olives, raisins and canned tomatoes, and simmer it into deliciously shreddable Cuban ropa vieja, to enjoy with black beans, rice and braised greens. Slice Italian sausage, sear it along with chicken legs, then add ½ cup each of brown sugar and apple cider vinegar, plus a couple of cups of these peppers and onions, and cook until the sauce reduces to a sweet-tart glaze as the meat slowly braises. (Try that on top of boiled yellow potatoes.) Bloom freshly ground ancho, pasilla or other dried chile in oil, then add this sauté, a few cups of cooked black beans and chickpeas, plenty of Mexican oregano and some canned tomatoes to simmer into a rich vegan chili, garnished with roasted sweet potato. But for the simplest use, just slather these peppers on top of a hot dog in a buttered, toasted bun.