Gifted heirloom pepper inspires worthy dish
I was shopping at a favorite vendor at the farmers market. A cool bottle of their artisan hot sauce; four varieties of garlic; and several pimento peppers, the largest I've seen, nearly as large as a bell pepper. Not much of a haul, really, but the farmer felt compelled to give me something anyway.
Waving her hand over a small basket of yellow peppers, she said, “we planted seeds for these in February and this is all we got.” The yield was paltry indeed, six or seven peppers. But each was a beauty. Long, as long as a banana, longer, and twice as wide. “I guess that's why they call them treasures,” she said, laughing.
The joke: Each of the heirloom Golden Treasure peppers is prized because you get so few.
What to make with such a beauty? I settled on my favorite pepper dish: Peperonata, a saute flavored with garlic, onion, tomatoes and a slug of red wine vinegar - and threw in one of the pimentos as well.
This recipe is a quick version of the Italian classic (adapted from an old cookbook, “Classic Italian Cooking for the Vegetarian Gourmet,” by Beverly Cox), and uses red and yellow bell peppers instead of the heirlooms.
I added chicken to what is actually a vegetable side dish, cooking it with the peppers, for more flavor.
2 tablespoons olive oil2 shallots, chopped1 each, cored, seeded, cut in ¼-inch strips: red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper½ teaspoon salt1 pint grape tomatoes, halved, or 1 cup chopped canned tomatoesFreshly ground pepper4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs2 tablespoons red wine vinegarHeat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large nonstick skillet; add the shallots.Cook until beginning to soften, 1 minute.Add the pepper strips; season with ¼ teaspoon salt.Cook until beginning to soften, 5 minutes.Stir in chopped tomatoes; cook, 5 minutes.Clear space in the middle of the skillet by pushing peppers and tomatoes to the edges.Add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to the middle of the skillet.Season chicken with remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper to taste.Add chicken to skillet; cook, turning, until browned on both sides, 10 minutes.Pour vinegar over vegetables; stir vegetables and chicken together, coating chicken with the cooking juices.Reduce heat to a simmer; cover skillet.Cook until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are done, 5 minutes.
