Red bell peppers with tomato sauce
We’ve had some startling successes with The Boy’s willingness to try new things over the last few weeks. That said, willingness to try doesn’t always equate to willingness to eat. For some reason, bell peppers are on his list of buh-sgusting foods. Like carrots and onions, I am determined to wear him down on these, because I love to cook with them.
So, years and years ago, we had an exchange student from Spain stay with my family for a few weeks. He had prepared a dish that consisted of slowly sauteed red bell peppers in a savory tomato sauce. I loved it, and wanted to try to replicate it. Here’s what I started with:
- Three red bell peppers
- One medium sweet onion
- 1 1/2 cups of crushed tomatoes
- 5 cloves of garlic
- pepper
- Italian seasoning blend
- Balsamic vinegar
First, I sliced all the vegetables into long strips, and tossed them into my not-a-wok cast iron pan, which had been heated with about 1/3 cup of olive oil. I tossed the onions, peppers and garlic to coat, and then let them cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes.
Mmm. Pretty!
Here’s where I fell down on the job – I really should have let them cook a little longer, but I was hungry. I added the crushed tomatoes, seasonings, and promptly forgot to add the balsamic vinegar. These cooked for about another 10 minutes until I couldn’t take it anymore.
I want to say these were super delicious, but they were kind of greasy and rubbery at the same time. I don’t know. It wasn’t the same dish I was trying to remember, and not a single member of the family ate these with any enthusiasm. Ah well.
We have a similar dish called Piperade in French. It comes from the Basque region (close to Spain!!) and is generally made with green peppers although I always make it with red. I think that slow-and-long cooking is key in this dish. This will enable both the onion and the pepper to soften to the point where they melt in your mouth.
Another way to try it is to make a frittata with it or to add scramble eggs w/o ham.