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| These are before they were baked. They disappeared in an instant before I got a picture of them out of the oven!! |
I'm pulling myself away from some of the more complicated pastry or other recipes to include a really delicious vegetable course that is both simple and inexpensive. This recipe is from the Naples area....which is probably why my father made them. Both sides of grandparents came from the general vicinity near Naples. The cooking in that area is noted for being pretty frugal with lots of 'bread stuffed or coated' something or other. It stretched the portions that you could eek out of meat cutlets or vegetables and added a whole lot of heft to a meal. I'm not sure that anyone in our family (except mom) ever thought of these foods as 'stretching a meal'. However, with 5 kids, it definitely did. We were stout little kids and never complained about either portions or flavor. Every one of us preferred to eat stuffed peppers as a main course versus hot dogs and beans.
Many Italian families made sure that every morsel of stale bread was used so there are tons of recipes that start with 'stale bread' as one of the key ingredients. My father made a version of these stuffed baked green peppers that included either raisins or anchovies in the stuffing. I still don't understand how anyone doesn't like the salty nuttiness of anchovies in sauces, on pizzas or in these wonderful peppers but my dad wanted to make sure everyone had a version that didn't make them gag....so raisins were the compromise. The ones with raisins usually had a dose of pine nuts in them (but only on special occasions and only when you could buy a pound of pine nuts on sale from the Italian market).
The following recipe deviates from my dad's. My brother Ralph swears he has the recipe but I have not yet seen it! My dad's were densely packed whole peppers. One pepper was a complete meal! The peppers in this recipe are more delicate. They are pre-roasted...and yes, this takes more time to do but the flavor takes it to another level. It also includes prosciutto so it doesn't force me to make a decision as to whether to use anchovy or raisins (my personal preference is anchovy but I'm in the minority in an extended family that didn't grow up on these hairy, oily little nuggets of salt). Lastly, there were 3 types of cheeses used....how can this not make it exceptional!
Except for the few extra minutes to roast the peppers...this is a simple appetizer or vegetable course for an elegant meal...or a main course if you're on a budget.
Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
2.5 pounds of green bell peppers
6 oz. of stale Italian bread (soaked in milk and then squeezed dry). If it's not stale....put it in the oven to dry it out a little but don't scorch it.
3 large eggs (beaten)
1 2/3 cup whole milk mozzarella cheese cut into small bits (I used fresh mozzarella)
1 1/4 Emmental cheese (or any decent swiss cheese)
1 cup prosciutto minced (this is the only expensive ingredient but you either skip it or can substitute very thinly sliced ham)
1/2 grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup basil torn in small pieces
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (use a food processor to grind up more of that stale bread
Salt and Pepper
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a baking pan with olive oil
- Roast the whole peppers under the broiler on a non-greased baking sheet. When they bubble and char on one side, carefully rotate them a quarter of a turn and keep charring them until they are fully roasted on all sides. Use tongs to put them in a paper bag or in a covered bowl and let the heat steam them for about 10 minutes or until the skin is easier to pull off and discard. This is how they look when they are charred out of the oven.
- Peel the skin and then cut the peppers in half. Gently pull or cut off the stem and then use a paring knife to scrape out the seeds.
- Mix all of the other ingredients together in a bowl (except for the breadcrumbs)
- Place a heaping mound of stuffing in the center of the pepper and do your best to create a stuffed 'semi-roll'. The recipe suggests that you can create a 'roll' out of them but I know that vegetables in the US are generally not as healthy and large as some of the ones you can get in the markets in Italy. I've seen peppers the size of my forearm and lemons that look like footballs. I think the area around Mount Vesuvius has ashy healthy soil that boosts production....just a guess. So...if our peppers are a little smaller, just over-stuff them and leave the stuffing exposed. They will prop each other up in the pan and when cooked, the egg, bread and cheese will hold everything together in a cute little semi-roll.
- Sprinkle with the bread crumbs and bake for about 20-30 minutes or until the tops are nicely browned and crusty.
- Normally, I have a 'finished product' picture at the end of these posts. In this particular case, I made the mistake of inviting everyone to fill their plate and they were gone before I grabbed the picture...my bad.
Bouna Mangiata!!!
