How Red Peppers can be a Game Day Pizza Hero

Whether it's the Superbowl, the play-offs or a big hockey final, there is no doubt game day is always a big occasion for fans. Some may choose to watch a big match at home, some will gather at a friend's house and the lucky ones will be watching from the stands and letting the world know they are there.

Those catering for fans on the day will know they aren't likely to be sitting down for hours enjoying a three-course gourmet meal. Instead, they will be wanting something hand-held, swift but tasty and filling, something that can add to the enjoyment of the big day without dominating it.

None of that, however, means quality needs be compromised. On the contrary, there are lots of opportunities for enterprising chefs to add in some great ingredients to spruce up what might otherwise seem the most mundane of dishes.

Taking pizza to the next level

Take pizza, for example. Once a traditional Italian dish, this has become a huge staple of diets right across North America and Canadians devour as much as most. Yet a great many of them can be the 'same old' flavours, such as cheese and ham, tuna and pineapple, seafood, or pepperoni. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that, as these are all popular and tasty dishes, but pizza is one of those foods for which the potential for almost infinite variety is there.

Red peppers can certainly make a great start. Any kind of sweet pepper goes well on a pizza, as these are some of the tastiest of oven-cooked vegetables. But often when red peppers are used it is as part of a vegetarian pizza, alongside ingredients such as mushrooms and spinach.

That may be a great treat for vegetarians and with this being a growing demographic, it may be tempting to go no further.

However, to add some variety, there are opportunities to use sweet red peppers in many other ways, not least in combination with meat and fish.

A particular appeal of this may be that peppers are a very healthy vegetable, and given the fat content of meat and cheese, this does at least bring some balance. With a fair amount of fibre and vitamin A, plus lots of vitamin C, it is a very healthy option.

More red pepper options

Indeed, there are a few ways in which this hero food can be deployed in relation to pizzas. Among them is the novelty of a red pepper dip. Made by blending roasted peppers and adding a few spices, this can be a wonderful tasty dip for pizza slices to be plunged into.

An alternative could be to offer red pepper slices as an alternative to common pizza accompaniments such as fries, which may work very well with a dip; either one made with peppers or something else.

It is through capturing the sheer versatility of red peppers that chefs can offer something exciting and new that will capture the attention of diners, even those fixated with the upcoming big game. It could just be the thing that makes them keep coming back at other times too.