FRENCH FRIDAYS: Packed Piquillo Peppers
Most of you grew up with stuffed peppers on your Mom’s menu. While Peter might have picked a peck of pickled peppers for your house, he never did for mine. Peppers in our house were always green, diced and added to iceberg lettuce salad.
Following in the family tradition, I’d never stuffed a pepper either but it was time to break the mold. This week’s FFWD recipe choice, Tuna-packed Piquillo Peppers, is a delightful stuffer starter for a novice. Have you even heard of “peek-ee-oh” peppers? Inquisitive French housewives peeked over the Spanish border and realized the Basque were seasoning their cuisine with these two-inch-long, fire-roasted, little darlings. Viola! Un ingrédient secret!
These slightly smoky, pleasantly sweet jewels come peeled and packed in a jar. “Look for piquillos that have the D.O. symbol, attesting to the fact they were grown and grilled in Navarre”, Dorie suggests. (You’ll find them in every French pantry and in a 12-ounce jar at your local Whole Foods.)
Throw together a savory tuna mixture with lemon, capers, shallots, Niçoise olives, olive oil and seasonings. Stuff each pepper with one tablespoon of it. Place them in a oiled pan to broil for five to seven minutes. Served with crusty bread and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, this was un almuerzo delicioso.
As you are reading this, I have just landed in Seattle to attend the International Food Bloggers Conference 2013. I have no idea what one does at a foodie confab but it must involve calories. If so, I’m all in.
What makes the conference extra-special is our own Dorie Greenspan is this year’s keynote speaker. That’s why 14 Doristas are converging on Seattle and will be sitting center-stage, hoopin‘ and hollering when Dorie steps to the podium. After three years of cooking her book, we are fired up and ready to meet our virtual mentor (and each other) in real time. To our colleagues who couldn’t be in Seattle this week, we will keep you in the Loop and very much miss your presence.
Tuna-Packed Piquillo Peppers is this week’s recipe assignment for French Friday’s with Dorie, a group working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s amazing “Around My French Table”. To visit the other sites of my colleagues who are cooking the book, go here.