Whatever the context, the job of the pickle is always the same: to add a burst of acid with which to cut through the richness of the bite, like a sip of wine in a mouthful of cheese.
pepper
Thanksgiving Magma
To create magma, you simply roast sweet red peppers, along with a starchy squash like kabocha, and blend with olive oil, garlic and salt. The resulting puree is thick, and after some time will set up downright stiff thanks to the pectin in both squash a peppers. Pectin is a carbohydrate that jam makers use to thicken their product, and makes the magma as stiff as pudding.
Squash and Pepper Magma
Like its namesake, Magma sauce comes from the earth, but the surface rather than the depths like true molten lava. Forged from roasted red peppers and baked squash, Magma imparts the sweetness of both, with a near-piquant undertone that makes you cringe like you’re about to get slapped, but it doesn’t deliver. Instead you get kissed, with possibly a lipstick red mark left on your face.