Stuffed Peppers: Inspiration from Virgin Territory

Great cookbooks are more than just the sum of the recipes they contain. Gorgeous photos and recipes can stimulate both the mind and appetite. The stories an author shares can introduce exciting new cultures and ideas, not to mention information about ingredients both familiar and new. And the recipes themselves often teach me new cooking techniques or ways of combining flavors that I hadn't thought of before.

The best do all of the above, and provide the opportunity for me to go off on my own tangents depending on what I have in my pantry or what's in season.

In the category of the best, I would place the new cookbook Virgin Territory: Exploring the World of Olive Oil by Nancy Harmon Jenkins. Though I have to admit that I'm a little jealous that this Maine native who grew up to become a leading authority on olive oil and the Mediterranean diet now lives on a 25-acre olive farm in Tuscany where she and her family produce their own olive oil.

I met the author recently at a reception at the invitation of Cathy Whims of Nostrana, where Nancy told the story of the book while guests were served dishes based on recipes featured in it. One, though, a nettle and spinach flan that the kitchen was inspired to create, was served as an entremet. It celebrated both the spirit of the book and the freshest spring things from our area. It was smooth, bright—obviously I'm still thinking of it—and knee-bucklingly good. Carol Boutard of Ayers Creek Farm was sitting opposite me and I had to laugh as our eyes rolled back in our heads at its incredible deliciousness.

A couple of days later I was paging through the book and came across Nancy's recipe for Eastern Mediterranean Stuffed Peppers with bulgur, tomatoes and spices that would give it a rich Moroccan scent. I didn't have any bulgur on hand, but I did have some of Ayers Creek Farm's frikeh that I'd thoughtfully stashed in the freezer. But then I looked at the cover of the book and there was another roasted stuffed pepper pictured, though this was stuffed with anchovies, tomatoes and capers, meant for serving as an appetizer.

Hm.

Stuffed Peppers with Frikeh, Tomatoes and Anchovies
Loosely adapted from Virgin Territory by Nancy Harmon Jenkins

1/2 lb. frikeh, barley, farro, bulgur or rice
3 Tbsp. olive oil, plus additional for drizzling
1 onion, chopped fine
1 large fennel bulb, chopped fine
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 2-oz. tin anchovies, or 8 salted anchovy fillets, rinsed
10 oil-cured black olives, chopped fine
1 pint assorted cherry tomatoes
3 Tbsp. capers
1 tsp. paprika, pimenton or piment basquaise
4 medium sweet peppers, halved, seeded and membranes removed
1 c. boiling water
3 oz. fresh chèvre
Pepper

Place grain (whichever you choose) in medium pot. Add water to cover by 2”. Bring to boil and reduce heat to simmer for ten minutes. Check occasionally to make sure water hasn’t been completely absorbed; add more if necessary. When grain is al dente, drain in colander and rinse with cold water.

While grain cooks, heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. When it shimmers, add onion and sauté till translucent. Move onion to edges of pan and add anchovies in center, chopping them until they dissolve. Stir into onions. Add fennel and garlic and sauté till tender.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Put onion mixture into large bowl. Add cooked grain, olives, tomatoes, capers and paprika and combine. Stuff mixture into pepper halves, top with thin slice of chevre, a grinding of pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

Grease a 9” by 11” glass baking dish with olive oil and pour in boiling water to a depth of 1/2”. Add peppers skin-side down. Bake at 350° for 1 hour.

Shakshuka: Don't Call It Breakfast

Thank heavens for NPR. All these years I've been covering up a dirty secret, carefully glossing over what seemed to be a major character flaw, and now our very own Deena Prichep, writer, producer and radio personality extraordinaire (Hey, she's talked with all my crushes at NPR…that qualifies!), has absolved my shame.

And that is…oh god, it's so hard to type this…I will, on occasion, make breakfast for dinner.

The ragu.

There, I've said it. Breakfast for dinner. Usually involving eggs, but occasionally pancakes or, heaven help me, waffles. Yes, waffles.

Whew…I feel so much better! Like a heavy burden has been lifted, like my life doesn't need to spiral into embarrassment and recrimination every evening when the light starts fading and I look up from Facebook and realize Dave's going to be home in 30 minutes and I don't have a gorgeous roast chicken or braised meat to set on the table.

Dinner is served.

Panic mode! But then I relax because, as anyone who indulges in this practice knows, breakfast items like the ones Deena writes about—chilaquiles, waffles, omelets and pancakes—can be easily whipped up in less than an hour.

One example from just the other night is shakshuka, a dish of eggs poached in a vegetable ragu. Flexible as far as required ingredients go, it's a great way to clean out the vegetable bin of those bits and bobs that didn't quite make it into other meals and might not make it to the next day (you know what I'm talking about here…).

So free yourself from your chains, grab the egg carton out of the fridge and declare your liberation. Let me hear a "Hallelujah!"

Shakshuka

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 onion, halved and sliced crosswise into 1/8" slices
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
2 c. crushed tomatoes
1 small bunch kale, about 3 cups, sliced into thin strips
2 tsp. smoked paprika (I used piquante, or slightly spicy, but mild dulce is fine, too.)
1 tsp. cumin
Salt, to taste
6 eggs
Chevre (optional)
Crusty bread (optional)

In large skillet (I used a large cast iron skillet, but any kind will do), heat the oil over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add the onions and sauté till tender. Add garlic, bell pepper and spices and continue sautéing. When peppers are tender, add tomatoes and bring to a simmer over low heat. Stir in the kale and allow it to cook down into the ragu, about 15 to 20 minutes.

At this point, if the shame is too much, you could always just cook up a pot of pasta and mix the ragu into it, but I'd encourage you to go for broke:

Make six slight indentations in the vegetables and crack an egg into each one (the indentations help to cup the egg and keep it from running all over the surface). Cover and cook until the whites of the eggs are cooked but the yolks are still soft. (The yolks will have a slightly translucent white film when they're done, but watch so you can catch them just as the film appears.) Serve in the skillet or plate by taking a scoop of eggs and ragu, then top with a dollop of chevre, if desired. Slices of crusty bread are encouraged for sopping.

In Season NW: A Plethora of Peppers

Like Christmas, it takes awhile to get here, but when it finally arrives it does so with a vengeance. And from the evidence seen on a recent visit to several markets around town and from the stakes I've had to use on my plants here at home, peppers are in, baby, and they're in big this year.

In mesmerizing colors from iridescent orange to a yellow that requires shielding your eyes, not to mention shades of green from light to almost-black and a purple that would put Barney to shame (dinosaur, not Frank), I find myself needing to get at least one of each. Or more.

Which means, of course, that I get home and start referring to myself in the third person while unpacking the bag. As in, "Who does she think is going to eat all this?" Fortunately for her…I mean, me…there is a handy solution in a Basque dish called piperade (pron. peep-eh-RAHD).

Basically just a pile of sautéed peppers with a little onion, garlic and tomato thrown in and then served on top of a thick slice of toasted bread, it can be topped with poached eggs or, even better, the eggs can be poached in the piperade itself, using only one pan for the whole dish (my favorite kind of cooking).

One-Dish Piperade

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped fine
4-6 sweet peppers (more if you use smaller ones like Jimmy Nardello's), chopped
4 large tomatoes, coarsely chopped or 2 c. canned roma tomatoes
2 tsp. Spanish pimenton (paprika), regular or smoked
1/2 tsp. dried thyme or 2 tsp. fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
Salt to taste
8 eggs
4 thick slices bread (like Como or Campagne)

Heat olive oil over medium heat in large, open sauté pan. Add onions and garlic and sauté till translucent. Add peppers and sauté till tender. Add tomatoes and stir till they start to break down, then add paprika, thyme, bay leaves and salt. Reduce heat to simmer for one hour or until liquid is reduced by half. Make eight indentations in the piperade and break an egg into each one. Cover and cook till whites are cooked through and yolks are still runny. While eggs cook, toast bread slices in toaster and brush with olive oil (or brush each one with olive oil and toast under broiler). Place a slice on a plate or in a bowl and top with two eggs and lots of piperade. Repeat with other slices. Serves four.