Peperoni...Bell Peppers
Last weekend I ate the most amazing peperoni. My boyfriend’s colleague Enrico took us to a barbecue at his wife’s parents’ home outside of Torino, in the province of Cuneo in a little town called Sanfrè. During the short hour drive into the country, Enrico pointed out to us all the trucks and improvised vegetable stands by the side of the road full of beautiful red and yellow bell peppers. This area is known for its peppers, and that weekend there was the official festival celebrating the famous peperoni the nearby town of Carmagnola. We arrived to the family gathering, and after putting the meat on the grill, we sat down to eat the l’antipast as they say in Piemontese[i], or appetizers. The traditional cold cuts of salami and raw sausages were passed around, along with a plate of average looking, oily bell peppers. Cut into little rectangles, the peppers, however, had been prepared to taste-bud perfection. A little taste of olive oil, something sweet, and something salty. Cooked, yet crisp. I immediately asked how they had been prepared. In the “agro-dolce” (sweet-and-sour) method! I was told. Giorgio, the man of the house, showed us around his garden he’d been taking care of the last 20 years of his life in retirement, and his cellar full of even more peppers that could never be eaten before they went bad. Of course, nothing in his garden went to waste. While he, like unfortunately my boyfriend refuses to eat vegetables, he lets nothing go unused. Everything is preserved in jars, with methods learned from their mothers and fathers, so it can be eaten year round.
During the week, I tried to repeat the magic, but my peppers didn’t turn out like the ones at the barbecue with the recipes I found online. They were, however, fantastic tasting! Like all my creations, the recipe you find below is the product of several of my attempts, mixing various recipes, to recreate some amazing pepper taste.
Peperoni in agro-dolce
Ingrediants:
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 cup water
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 big spoon full of honey
A few mint leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
What I did:
Cut up the bell peppers into strips (easier to bring out of the pot with a straining ladle), or small rectangles if you can fit them all in their at once (and then use a colander to strain them). Bring the water, oil, and vinegar to boil. Add in the honey and mint leaves. Put just enough strips in at a time they they remain completely covered by the boiling mixture. Let them sit in there around 3 minutes and then take them out with the straining ladle and add in the next batch for three minutes. I put the pepper pieces separated in an aluminum pan to cool and then to store. Because food continues to cook even after you take it out of the heat, if you want the peppers to stay extra crunchy, you can prepare a bowl of cold water to drop the pieces into after they've boiled in the agro-dolce mixture.
And how I ate them:
A few I ate right away, seasoned with salt and pepper. In the next two days, I ate the rest in two very mouth-watering creations:
1. In a salad with cut-up tomatoes, thinly sliced red onions, and tuna canned in olive olive (not water), seasoned with salt, a little pepper, oregano, and freshly squeezed lemon. This definitely did not fill me up for lunch, so I ate it with a roll of whole wheat bread. Another more filling way to eat this salad would be to spread it over a nice thick piece of "red pizza," which means pizza cooked just with tomato sauce, oregano, and a bit of oil.
2. With scrambled eggs. I put a quarter of a yellow onion cut up with olive oil in a pan, added the peppers chopped up into smaller pieces, a few sliced up sun dried tomatoes that had been stored in olive oil, and then poured in a mixture of two eggs, grated parmesan and pecorino romano cheeses, salt, and pepper. AMAZING...
Bell peppers are in season in the United States in the summer and early fall.[ii] In Italy, its the same, from July to September.[iii] They are full of vitamins A and C, which in fruits and vegetables act as strong anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory agents.[iv]
*** Remember to try and buy organic produce from your local farmer's market free of pesticides and full of natural nutrients!***
[i] Piemonte, or Peidmont one of the 20 regions of Italy. It is in the northwest of the country. It’s biggest city is Torino, or Turin, where I've been living since June 2007.
Labels: bell, food, glocal, Italy, pepper, Piedmont, produce, recipe
posted by Michelle at
4:08 AM
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