Sicilian Stuffed Bell Peppers
Sicilian Stuffed Bell Peppers is a classic Sicilian dish and an excellent main course, perfect to serve to all those looking for alternatives to classic meat or fish dishes.
It is, in fact, a vegetarian variant, made by stuffing the peppers with a mix of breadcrumbs and cheese. The end result is a very tasty, fragrant dish that will be perfect for an informal family dinner but which will also lend itself to being served as a small appetizer in a rustic buffet.
This poor dish is the umpteenth demonstration of how a traditionally peasant and agricultural region like Sicily has managed to create masterpieces of such taste, albeit cheap of cost.
One dish so many memories
The moment of preparing the Sicilian peppers in the oven was a ritual for me: with the patience that contradicted her, my mother distributed the newspapers with which she covered the kitchen table and on which she emptied the peppers in a precise manner, as if it were a painting.
During the operations, I watched her spellbound, not only because that was one of my favorite recipes, but also because I tried to imprint each step in my mind in order to be able to repeat it one day. The scent that was released in the kitchen during cooking reminded us that summer had arrived. Furthermore, these were the moments in which the love for cooking began to be born in me, which prompted me to spend hours watching my mother intent on their preparations.
Classic recipe
Stuffed bell peppers in Sicily are widespread in particular in the Palermo area, are very simple to prepare: without the upper cap and seeds removed, without being roasted in advance, they are stuffed with caciocavallo cheese in small pieces, salami, mortadella, breadcrumbs, minced parsley, raisins and pine nuts (inevitable in Sicilian cuisine). The cooking takes place in the oven.
Summer is the ideal time to prepare them and eat them warm or cold: from June to October, in fact, at the market you can buy splendid seasonal peppers, free of pesticides and therefore healthier (but also tastier). Of course they should be enjoyed as a single dish, unlike the smaller peppers (the green and sweet ones or the red and spicy ones), which, stuffed with the most diverse ingredients (tuna, anchovies, bread) instead represent a delicious appetizer.
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[instagram-feed feed=1]Today we prepare Sicilian stuffed bell peppers together according to my mother's recipe. This recipe calls for a rich filling based on scraps of cured meats and cheeses, toasted breadcrumbs, grated caciocavallo cheese and tomato sauce. There are several ways to cook the dish, some of which are very similar to each other, which differ in small details. In fact, as often happens, many variations coexist that feed the culinary heritage of each family. I hope that you will like this version too and that it will make you want to start cooking right away.
- 10 1 Red, yellow bell peppers
- 4 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pinch Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cup Breadcrumbs
- 1 drop Tomato paste
- 1 cup Pine nuts and raisins
- 1 tbsp Parsley to taste
- 1 big 1 White or golden onion
- 1 cup Cooked ham, salami, mortadella (as much as you like)
- 1 cup Cheese cut in cubes (mix between provolone, pecorino, fontina)
- ½ cup Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano (In substitution of caciocavallo cheese)
Cut the cured meats (I used mortadella which is bologna, cooked ham and salami) and cheeses (I used fontina, provolone cheese) into pieces and put them in a bowl.
Cut the onions into cubes, brown them in extra virgin olive oil and then add a little bit of tomato paste.
Add the pine nuts and raisins and toast them a little.
Add the breadcrumbs and Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino and toast together for 2/3 minutes.
Turn off the heat and add the assorted cheeses in cubes and cured meats. Set aside.
With a sharp knife, cut the stem of the peppers along the perimeter, remove the seeds and internal filaments, wash them inside and out and, after removing the water, dry them well on the outside.
Insert a pinch of salt and pepper into our peppers and a drizzle of olive oil, applying pressure to distribute it evenly. Start adding the "condiment" inside the bell peppers. Then place them on a baking sheet, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil on top and bake them in a hot fan oven at 400F for about 30 minutes to 1 hour. Sprinkle with parsley, let them cool and serve.
We can serve them whole
or in half after cutting off the top cap.
Sicilian stuffed bell peppers will be tastier if prepared a few hours in advance or even the day before. Sauteing the pepper will ensure that it cooks more evenly as well as making it more tender. Alternatively, rather than baking them, we can brown the peppers on all sides. Then place them in a baking tray and bake them at 400F for about 30 minutes. This is quicker in terms of cooking time but it has more steps rather then just put them in the oven.
