Peperoni imbottiti alla napoletana
Neapolitan Style Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 6 bell peppers preferably red, yellow or orange
For the stuffing
- 250g 1/2 lb eggplant peeled and cut into small cubes
- 6 heaping Tbs breadcrumbs or more if needed to fill the peppers
- 2 cloves garlic one minced and one left whole
- A handful of capers
- A handful of black olives roughly chopped
- 1-2 tomatoes chopped
- A good pinch of oregano
- A couple of sprigs of fresh parsley minced
- A few anchovy filets to taste, cut up
- salt and pepper
For baking
- olive oil
- 100 ml 1/2 cup white wine or water
Instructions
- In a large skillet or sauté pan, fry the eggplant cubes in abundant olive oil until they are soft and lightly brown. Remove from the oil and set aside.
- In the same skillet or pan, add more oil if needed and sauté a garlic clove gently until it has just begun to brown around the edges. Remove from the pan.
- Add the breadcrumbs and let them sauté gently for a minute or two until they're just beginning to turn a nutty brown. Ddd the capers, olives, tomato, oregano, parsley and minced garlic. Give it all a good turn and let it simmer for another minute or two.
- Add the anchovy and the fried eggplant cubes to the pan. Give everything another turn to incorporate them well into the mixture. Drizzle in some water, enough to moisten the breadcrumbs so the mixture adheres. Season to taste and turn off the heat.
- Cut the peppers in half vertically and remove the seeds and ribs. Fill each half pepper with equal portions of the filling.
- Grease a baking dish large enough to hold all the pepper halves snuggly, then pour in the water or white wine. Lay the stuffed pepper halves in a single layer in the dish and drizzle some olive oil over them.
- Bake in a moderate (180C/350F) oven for 45-60 minutes, until the peppers have softened and slightly charred, and the filling has nicely browned on top. If they're not browned to your liking, increase the heat and/or turn on the convection function for another 15 minutes or so.
- Let the peppers cool to room temperature before serving. They're even better after a day or two.