Something to Do with Peppers

Ok, veggie-box people, here's a recipe from the newsletter to use up some of those peppers. I hear some people don't have a problem using them up, because their children will blindly reach for and munch on them if they are set out sliced in bowls. But I have no pepper-eating gremlins munching about my living room, so I had a pepper backlog, and this is a pretty good recipe. Today I'm going to try it with "hard boiled eggs as a salad" as recommended in the newsletter, and mix it with some cooked, marinated giant white beans.

Peperonata
From Moosewood Cooks at Home by the Moosewood Collective

1 lb peppers- mixed colors (or not)
2-3 white onions
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 fresh tomatoes
2 T red wine or balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
(1 tsp sugar optional- I didn't use it)

Slice the peppers and onions lengthwise into strips. Heat the oil in a large skillet or saucepan. Add the peppers and onions and saute on medium heat, stirring frequently, for 10 to 15 minutes, until tender and lightly browned.

While the vegetables saute, chop the tomatoes. Stir the tomatoes and vinegar into the peppers and cook for about 5 minutes more, until the liquid is evaporated. Add salt and pepper to taste, sugar if desired.

Serve hot (last night it was with sliced London broil and farro). Covered in the refrigerator, Peperonata will keep for about a week. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.

The recipe includes the following suggestions: "Serve on toasted bread or grilled polenta, over pasta with a piquant cheese such as ricotta salata, as a vegetable side dish or relish, mixed with steamed green beans, on a baked potato, with hard-boiled eggs as a salad, or as a quesadilla filling. It's wonderful in frittatas; and then you can use the leftover frittata as a sandwich!" Enthusiastic little vegetable multi-taskers, those Moosewood folks.

Farro is "pearled" barley. (Not to be confused with Pearl Bailey.) I was making it for the first time last night, so I diced some white onion and sauteed the onion until soft, then added the farro and some chicken stock, about an inch over the top of the grains, then let it simmer, stirring now and then, until tender but still a little al dente. There was a little bit of chicken stock still liquid when it was finished, which was absorbed or evaporated between finishing and eating. I stirred in a little salt and a handful of raisins. Chopped herbs would be nice, too, maybe a little parsley and fresh thyme, but I didn't do that.

It was really tasty with the peperonata, and today the leftovers will make a nice salad. It could replace rice in any type of rice dish or salad. It doesn't get creamy like risotto, but you could add cheese and make it in a similar fashion to risotto. You could also stir it into soups, or mix it with chopped chicken in a burrito. Here are some more recipes. It's a "one ingredient" product, and most of the grain is still intact, so it should be pretty good for you, and slow to digest.