Summer Food Files - Case 1: Peperonata

Summer is now in full swing in central Texas, and the farmers markets are loaded with beautiful produce.  One of my favorite vendors, Finca Pura Vida, often has some very interesting heirloom varieties of peppers for sale.  Whenever they have them, I buy a bunch to make one of my summer standbys, peperonata, a simple Italian sweet pepper dish.  The recipe I follow is a spin on a recipe from one of Mario Batali's cookbooks.  It comes together relatively quickly, and I always make a lot of it, so I'll have leftovers.  If you're growing your own bell peppers, and you find yourself with an over abundance, this is a great use for them.

Ingredients:

6 sweet bell peppers sliced into strips
1 medium red or yellow onion sliced into 1/4 inch slices
2 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
1/4 tsp crushed red chile flakes
olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp good quality red wine vinegar
1 cup tomato puree, left over tomato sauce, or diced canned tomatoes
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1 tsp minced fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste

You'll need about six or seven good sized peppers.  Ideally you should have a mix of yellow, red, and green peppers, but really I'll use whatever looks good...just don't use all green peppers, they are not sweet enough on their own.

Heat a large saute pan or dutch oven over medium high heat.  Add good glug of olive oil, about 2 or 3 tablespoons.  Toss in the onion, garlic, crushed red chile, and a pinch of kosher salt and cook stirring often, until the onions and garlic are translucent, about 5 minutes.  You don't want them to brown.  The salt helps the onions release their water, speeding up the cooking process.

Add all of the peppers, and stir the pot to get the peppers well coated with olive oil.  Add a little more olive oil, if it seems a bit dry.  Add another pinch of salt to help things along.  Cook stirring occasionally until the peppers begin to soften, about 10 minutes.

Now add the sugar, vinegar, whatever tomato product you are using, and the herbs.

Stir the mixture, to incorporate all the ingredients, cover the pot, reduce the temp to medium, and let it simmer stirring occasionally, until the peppers are nice and tender, but not mushy.  This will take about 15 or 20 minutes.  Taste, and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.  Yields about a 1 quart mason jar of peperonata.   It will keep in the fridge for at least a week.

I love serving my peperonata with grilled fish, chicken breasts, or sausages.  It's also great on sandwiches, as a topping for bruschetta, or tossed with pasta.