ROASTED PEPPERS WITH TUNA
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ROASTING PEPPERS
While some people in Italy still roast bell peppers over a wood fire, the most common way these days, there as elsewhere, is over the flame from a gas burner. To do it this way, turn on your burner or burners, depending on how many peppers you are going to roast, to medium-high and place one pepper on each. When the area of skin exposed to the flame is charred and blackened, turn the peppers with tongs, and continue to roast, turning, until the peppers are charred all over; the skins will be crackled and flaking. Watch carefully to prevent the peppers from burning. Remove the peppers from the burners and wrap in a kitchen towel or a sheet of aluminium foil or place them in a a plain brown pepper bag to 15 minutes or so. The steam from the peppers’ own heat will loosen the skins. When cool enough to handle, rub the skin off the peppers, scraping off stubborn bits with the blade of a small sharp knife. Remove the seeds and pitch from the peppers (preferably over the sink, since there will be a fair amount of liquid), then pat dry with paper towels and proceed with your recipe.
If you don’t have a gas stove, preheat the broiler. Place the peppers on a baking sheet and broil, turning as necessary, until charred and blackened all over. Remove from the broiler and wrap and peel as described above.
6 medium red bell peppers (roasted)
2 cans (6 ounces each) tuna packed in olive oil, drained
6 tablespoons capers, preferably preserved in salt
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, for garnish
After removing the seeds and any white pith from the roasted peppers, cut then lengthwise into quarters. Arrange, insides up, on a serving platter and set aside.
Combine the tuna and capers in a food processor and process until finely chopped. With the machine running, add the oil in a steady stream through the feed tube and continue processing until the mixture has turned an ivory colour and is quite smooth, 8 to 10 minutes.
Fill the pepper quarters with the tuna puree, using about 1 generous tablespoon per pepper.
Mince the parsley leaves if using and garnish the filled peppers. Serve immediately.
Excerpted from Italian Farmhouse,*
Copyright (c) 2000 by Susan Loomis. Reprinted with permission
by Workman Publishing.
