Friggitello Incrosta

Perhaps you're melting with high temperatures these days and couldn't possibly think about turning on the oven, or perhaps it is a tad cooler than most summers in recent memory, or maybe you need to bake some bread or cake or something. Whatever the case may be, here's a simple satisfying idea for using up some of the bountiful peppers you might be encountering from your garden at the moment. These filled peppers baked in a light foamy souffle casserole, is an appealing proposition. Friggitelli are a mild green pepper and usually make their appearance early in the summer season here. It's similar to an Anaheim pepper in that it really doesn't have much bite to it. Fill them unroasted with your favorite flavorful filling. I used a mixture of Toma, which is a mild, mountain cheese and Cevrin, a very aromatic local goat cheese that you won't soon forget, after leaving it in your car on a warm summers day.

This recipe lends itself to many variations on the fillings, like spicy or mild sausage and cheese, beans, rice and on and on. It also works very well with zucchini blossoms as well without all that tasty but heavy grease. Have at it and enjoy a light puffy dish with a substantial filling that paired with a marinated vegetable or green salad, makes for a satisfying meal.

Friggitello Incrosta
Yields enough for 2 main courses or 4 antipasti
This is easily scaled up

8 small Friggitello peppers, or any mild green peppers
8 oz (226g)or about 3 Tb of filling per pepper, grated cheese mixture,
mild, sharp and Parmesan your choice
2 room temperature eggs, separated
2 Table spoon of flour or cornstarch
pinch salt

Clean your peppers, if you like you can always roast them and peel them if their skin is to tough. Otherwise remove the stem and seeds and slice down one side and set aside.
Grate your cheeses of choice and mix together.
Fill the cavity of your peppers and set aside
Whisk your whites with a pinch of salt added to them in a bowl that will allow them to expand. Whisk till they are as quite firm as they can be without anything being added to them.
Very gingerly add your yolks and sprinkle the flour over the whites, distributing them over the entire area of the whites so you handle as little as possible.
Hand whisk or fold the yolks and flour into the whites, making sure all is blended, but preserving as much volume as possible.

Grease your baking dish, and cover the bottom with 1/3 of the batter. Place your peppers on the mixture. Cover with the rest of the mixture. Pop into a preheated 350* (190*) oven and bake until the mixture is lightly brown and set with the inside are cooked through, about 30 minutes. Baking time can vary.

Pepper time treat, "Peperoni Mediterranei"

I've been savoring the bounty of the late summer harvest and colorful peppers have been an important mainstay on that front. We're in the heart of bell pepper country and they grow em big up here. We're not all that far from Carmagnola who are famed for their giant tasty peppers. The link I put in is in Italian only, but there a few photos of the varieties of peppers on offer for their "sagra" or pepper festival that starts tomorrow, 29 August. One of Fabrizio's father's hunting buddies lives over there and grows them commercially, so we always look forward to a crate of these colorful giants. In the meantime there are plenty in the markets and we've been grilling them quite a lot lately. These tuna filled peppers are a nice change of pace and delicious hot or tepid on the table as a substantial starter or one of an array of antipasti to sustain you on a hot summers eve.
We were served this last summer by our friends Silvana and Pino, from over past Pinerolo. We met them, as we did a number of interesting people, in the run up to the Olympics, due to all the different circumstances that brought people together during that exciting time. We dined al fresco in the shade of their lovely yard with a spectacular view of the plains, spilling out from just under their feet. Along with the filled pepper halves, we enjoyed some creamy Tomini slices that had been submerged under "oh so virgin" olive oil and fresh herbs, before the poached fish made it's grand entrance. Silvana is an excellent cook and she very kindly shared her mothers recipe for these peppers. Silvana's mother came from down south, Puglia I believe, so these are more of a southern style dish, but perfectly at home, served up here in the north. Silvana shared another very interesting recipe for soup with viola flowers, recently, but I think that one may need to wait till I have a few more popping up again.
I must remember to ask for her mothers lemon cake recipe, it was divine!

"Peperoni Mediterranei"

Mediterranean Peppers

Serves 4 (2 halves per person)

4 medium large bell peppers ( 2 yellow 2 red)
20 green olives
1 bunch parsley, smallish
1 garlic clove
1 T capers
3T parmigiana ( or a combo of Parmesan and pecorino, also know as romano in the US)
1 tin of tuna in oil, (7 oz or about 200 grams), drained
salt
bread crumbs
olive oil, extra virgin

• Wash the peppers
• Place the peppers in a warmed oven and roast until the skins begin to blister and they peel easily
• Peel and cut in half, cleaning out the stem and seeds.
  
• Remove the white membrane along the seams as well and set aside in a baking tray or pan.
• I like to line the pan with parchment paper to make it an easy clean up
  
• Remove the stems from the parsley and place on a cutting board with the olives and capers
• Chop fine, retaining some texture, add them into a small mixing bowl
  
• Grate your garlic into this mixture, or mince very fine and add to the other mixture
• Add your drained tuna and cheese (you can reserve 1 T of cheese and add it to the bread crumbs for the top if you like)
  
• Mix well.
• Season with a touch of salt
• Fill the peppers evenly distributing the mix
  
• Cover tops with bread crumbs
  
• Drizzle a little olive oil on top of each half and bake till heated through

Serve hot or room temperature