Roasted Peppers with Anchovy

A A recipe inspired by our travels to Spain and using what is found in our garden/locally in Italy. The roasted peppers and anchovies are a great start to your summer dinner or served it on crostini for lunch with a wedge of cheese! A note on anchovies: First if you think you are not a fan, try it again. This dish is not meant to be 'fishy' - it is the salty, brininess of the anchovies that perfectly compliment the roasted peppers (and they are even better with the smoky flavor from the grill!)

ROASTED PEPPERS WITH ANCHOVIES

4 large peppers
1 clove of garlic
4 anchovy filets
handful of herbs (basil or oregano)
salt and pepper
about 3 TB red wine vinegar
about 7 TB good extra virgin olive oil

Roast the peppers in the oven, on the gas stove-top or better yet on the grill, blackening the skins of the peppers.
Then place the peppers in a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap until cool.
Once cool remove the skins and seeds.
Slice into 1cm or 1/2 in strips.
Mince the garlic & tear up the herbs - adding both to the peppers.
Add your anchovy filets.
Season with salt & pepper.
Add the red wine vinegar & olive oil.
Mix and let sit for a few hours. (It gets better as it sits.)
Serve!
This will pair perfectly with crostini/crusty bread and a wedge of cheese!

We made this dish in last night's cooking class!

Garden Vegetable Stew

 

This is one vegetarian dish that even the die-hard meat eaters will enjoy! The quality of your veggies will turn this from ordinary to amazing and full of flavor. Its filling and incredible versatile based on the vegetables and herbs you use. This veg stew is perfect over a boiled potato or polenta. With the eggs from our hens, we love poaching an egg and placing it atop this gorgeous garden stew, adding a little protein and making it into more of a meal. Plus, eggs are hot right now!! Which just cracks us up (who comes up with these things?! By the way kale is out and cauliflower is in!) 

Remember with simple dishes like this its important to use the best quality ingredients. This is just the base for the veggies - use what you've got /like/grow. Add in potatoes if you want, etc.

Garden Vegetable Stew
serves about 6

This is just the base for the veggies - use what you've got/like/grow. Add in potatoes if you want, etc.

1 long eggplant
1 onion
1 pepper
1 zucchini
1 bulb of fennel
2 cloves garlic
olive oil
salt & pepper
a couple of large tomatoes, diced or 1 jar of whole crushed tomatoes
herbs of your choice (rosemary, thyme, bay leaf etc)
optional: capers, olives

Dice all your vegetables in a large dice, keeping them separate. Since its a stew the sizing isn’t exact. But don’t mix all the veggies together in a bowl.

In a large heavy pot, with a little bit of olive oil on medium high heat, sauté the onion for a few minutes. Season with salt & pepper. Then remove from the pot. We are just looking to start the onions cooking.

Repeat the same process, a little bit of olive oil, salt & pepper, sauté for 2 minutes or so and then remove, with each of the remaining vegetable except the tomatoes.

Keep an eye on your pan heat - you don’t want it too hot or too cool: too hot and they will burn your vegetables, too cool and you’ll sweat instead of sauté the vegetables.

Then return all the vegetables to the pot, together, along with the tomatoes and your herbs (and capers/olives if you like). Bring the pot up to a simmer and let slowly simmer until all the vegetables are tender. OR I like to pop it in a 375 F/190 C degrees oven, uncovered for about 45 minutes to an hour or until the vegetables are soft and the liquid has reduced some.

Check your seasoning, remove the herb stems and finish with good extra virgin olive oil on top.

If you like, poach an egg and place atop or serve with boiled potatoes or grilled polenta. Makes a great hearty vegetarian dish. It will get better as it sits in the fridge. Change up the vegetables as you like or play with the spices.

Quick Pickled Peppers, Carrots & Onions

A favorite way to keep veggies a bit longer into the season is a quick pickle - that great briny flavor with a crunch without the wait of a month or more for a proper pickle. 

A Quick Pickle

Use any vegetables of your choice - carrots, greenbeans, peppers, onions, etc. Most often we use a mix of peppers, carrots and onions, sliced thin
water
strong vinegar like white wine, red wine or apple cider (don’t use a soft vinegar such as balsamic)
salt
fresh herbs/aromatics of your choice - thyme, rosemary, dill, peppercorn, cardamon, etc.
chili of your desired strength
honey or sugar
whole head of chopped garlic

This is a ratio recipe. In a pot on medium heat, combine 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water. Add a couple tablespoons of honey/sugar, a couple tablespoons of salt, aromatics, chili, etc. - everything BUT the vegetables.

Once the sugar and salt are dissolved give it a taste. Make sure its not too puckery or too bland - just nice and briny, slightly acidic with a nice taste. Adjust as necessary with more salt, water vinegar or sugar.

Bring to boil.

Begin adding your vegetables based on hardness - for example:  carrots first, after 20-30 seconds add onions, after  about 20-30 seconds add peppers.

Bring to a rolling boil.

Once soft but still with a crunch, shut off the heat and strain out the vegetables and herbs (Do NOT throw out the liquid!!).  Place on a baking sheet in one flat layer and place in the fridge to cool.

Keep the pickling liquid/brine in the pot to cool as well.
Once both the veggies and liquid are cool, place the veggies along with all the garlic and herbs into a jar and cover with the liquid. Keep in the fridge and it will be good for up to 2 weeks, getting better as it sits.

Grilled Peppers Stuffed with Tuna

Simply delicious. Ever since visiting a family-run seafood restaurant along the Adriatic we have been recreating this simple dish of roasted peppers and tuna.  Roasting gorgeous orange, yellow and red peppers over the grill and stuffing them with tuna, capers and herbs makes for a healthy flavorful appetizer/antipasti -the perfect way to start your summer dinner (especially if you already have the bbq fired up!)

Roasted Peppers Stuffed with Tuna
 Peperoni alla grilglia ripieni di tonno

Serves 6

4 Peppers (any color)
250 gram of highest quality of tuna you can find (in oil or water), drained
spoonful of capers, chopped
oregano, or any fresh herb of your choice (basil, marjoram, etc.)
salt & pepper (or red chili flakes)
red wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
clove of garlic

Start by charring the outside of your peppers - either on the stove or over the grill - until the outside is completely blackened. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic, allow to cool.

When you can handle the peppers, remove the skin (should come right off) and remove the seeds. Slice the peppers into 3 cm strips.

To prepare the tuna filling, combine the tuna, capers, salt & pepper, a few drops of olive oil and vinegar.

At one end of the peppers add a spoonful of the tuna mix and roll the pepper around the tuna. Place in the dish, once the dish is full season with salt & cracked pepper.  Now make the dressing.

Two spoonfuls of red wine vinegar with six spoonfuls of olive oil, 1/2-1 clove of finely chopped garlic and small handful of chopped herbs. Mix it up and pour over the peppers in the dish. Allow to sit for at least 20 minutes before serving to let the peppers soak up the dressing.

Note: You can add any thing you like to the tuna mix: spring onions, sun dried tomatoes, olives, etc.

Grilled Eggplant, Fresh Mozzarella and Peppers with Capers

A staple of an Italian vegetable garden is eggplant/aubergines or melanzane - so of course we grow plenty! The plant and flowers are gorgeous, the only problem is, we're not huge fans of the veg. itself. I do like them stuffed like a little quiche or thinly cut & fried is always good. But I must say the recipe below of grilled eggplant with mozzarella topped with peppers & capers is my new favorite! Ok, now don't be turned off by the capers - they impart an amazing saltiness to the yellow peppers!

Grilled Eggplant, Mozzarella, Yellow Peppers & Capers
Melanzane di Caroline

1-2 eggplants (the fat short kind)
1 ball of fresh mozzarella

1 yellow pepper

couple of tablespoons capers under salt

handful of clean parsley leaves, washed (keep the leaves whole)

olive oil

sea salt

Thickly slice the eggplant into 1inch or 2.5cm slices and place on a wire rack with a sheet pan underneath. Generously salt both sides and let sit for an hour to drain. 

While you're waiting: Rinse capers. Cut peppers into 1 inch/medium sized squares and combine with capers in a bowl, let sit.

Back to the eggplant: Rinse and pat dry. Brush a little olive oil on the eggplant.  Grill on medium heat or broil for 3-4 minutes on each side until soft. Make sure they don’t burn.

Now put it all together: Drain mozzarella and cut them into nice thick slices - about the same thickness as the eggplant. On a plate alternate between the eggplant and cheese creating a cir
Add parsley into the peppers & capers. Place the pepper & caper mix into the center/on top of the  eggplant/mozzarella circle.  Top with a generous drizzle of olive oil.  Allow to sit before you serve to let everything to incorporate.

Baked Vegetables with Bread Crumbs - Verdure Gratinate

Now this is home cooking in Italy. Verdure gratinate (baked vegetables with bread crumbs) can be found on many tables here in our area, always delicious - warm & toasty or packed up for a pot-luck.  The thick slices of onions are my favorite and are basically the best onion rings ever! They come out soft & warm inside with perfectly light & crispy crunch. To top it off this healthy dish is incredibly simple to make & can be served as an antipasto or at the end of the meal with your meat as a contorno.

Baked Vegetables with Bread Crumbs

Verdure Gratinate

serves 4

ingredients:

(Below are suggested veggies, you can use any kind of vegetables you like, cut in half, lengthwise so they have a large flat surface)
1 tomato

1 small zucchini

1 eggplant

1 onion (thickly sliced)

1 pepper

small handful of fresh herbs of your choice (we use: oregano, parsley or marjoram), chopped
salt & pepper
olive oil
about a cup of plain bread crumbs

Season plain breadcrumbs with fresh herbs.
Place veggies on cookie sheet, (covered in parchment paper) drizzle with olive oil, add salt & pepper.
Sprinkle breadcrumbs evenly over vegetables, covering them completely (but don't go crazy with a half an inch of breadcrumbs).
Finish with another drizzle of olive oil.
Bake 375 F / 190C degrees oven for 45 minutes - 1 hour, until vegetables are soft & breadcrumbs are browned on top.
Serve warm or room temperature.

Peperonata ~ Stewed Peppers and Grilled Sausages ~ Perfect for the Game

This year we had over 80 pepper plants in the ground yielding hundreds of pounds of peppers!! Needless to say we ate A LOT of peppers this summer & fall! They have such a great flavor & we used them in tons of dishes. But everyone's favorite is peperonata or stewed peppers. They are delicious piled on crostini to soak up the juices or even better with grilled sausages - awesome! (Not to mention - this is THE perfect lunch or dinner to feed a hungry crowd for a football game!)

Stewed Peppers
Peperonata

4-5 bell peppers, cut into large pieces, cleaned
a big handful of whole cherry tomatoes
1 yellow onion sliced
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil

• In a large skillet or pot , heat 1/3 cup of olive oil.
• Saute garlic until golden brown & then discard.
• Reduce heat to low & slowly saute the onion 12 - 15 minutes until well cooked. but do not brown it.
• Raise heat & add peppers.
• Season with plenty of salt & pepper.
• Allow peppers to cook, stirring frequently 10 minutes until the ends start to shrivel.
• At this point, throw in your cherry tomatoes & allow to cook another 10 -15 minutes until the peppers are soft & not mushy and the cherry tomatoes have let their juices out.
• Taste to check the seasonings.
• Serve hot, warm or cold.

a perfect pepper from our garden