Stuffed Piquillos Recipes

Steps:

• For the stuffed piquillo peppers: Pat the peppers with a paper towel to remove any excess brine. Trim the tops of the peppers.
• In a medium bowl, combine the goat cheese, manchego, chives, honey, lemon zest and juice, paprika, 2 tablespoons of the reserved piquillo brine and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and white pepper. Mix together with a rubber spatula until well combined and smooth.
• Put the mixture in a piping bag or a zip-close bag with a corner snipped off, and pipe it into the peppers, stopping 1/4 inch from the top. Refrigerate until 20 minutes before serving.
• For the herb vinaigrette: Bring the sherry vinegar, honey and 1/4 teaspoon salt to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir a few times until the honey and salt have completely dissolved. Remove from the heat, add the golden raisins, and let cool completely, about 15 minutes. Stir in the chives, mint, parsley and 3 tablespoons of the reserved piquillo brine.
• To serve: Spread half of the vinaigrette over a serving plate and arrange the stuffed peppers on top. Spoon the remaining vinaigrette over the peppers. Garnish with the almonds and serve immediately.

Steps:

• Place goat cheese, scallions, mint, red-pepper flakes, and reserved piquillo liquid in a bowl. Zest and then juice lemons into the bowl, straining seeds. Mix until well combined.
• Using a small spoon, fill each pepper with about 2 tablespoons of the goat cheese mixture. Alternatively, pipe the mixture into the peppers. Place on a serving plate, and sprinkle with red-pepper flakes; garnish with spring onions if desired. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, about 1 hour.

Steps:

• Coat a saute pan, over medium heat, with olive oil. Add the onion, season with salt, to taste, and toss in the crushed red pepper. Saute the onions until they are soft and very aromatic, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 2 to 3 more minutes. Stir in the chorizo and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the bread crumbs. Let the mixture cool. When cool, add the Manchego and parsley. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if needed.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Stuff the peppers with the filling and arrange them on a sheet pan. If there is extra stuffing, press a little on top of each of the peppers. Put the peppers in the oven to warm through, about 8 minutes.
• While the peppers are in the oven, combine the arugula, almonds and scallions in a large bowl. Dress the salad with sherry vinegar, big fat finishing oil and salt, to taste. Check for seasoning and divide the salad between 4 serving plates.
• Remove the peppers from the oven and arrange 2 peppers on each salad. Serve while the peppers are warm.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Heat the olive oil in a small saute pan over medium-high heat until shimmering, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic and sweat for 30 seconds, shaking the pan to move around the garlic until it starts to turn golden. Add the panko and toast until crisp, stirring occasionally, 1 to 2 minutes. Season the panko with salt and pepper, toss with the parsley and let cool. Gently mix together the Manchego, mashed potatoes and chorizo and set aside. Stuff each pepper with 2 tablespoons of the mixture. Dip the opening of each pepper in panko, and then roll around in the panko to lightly coat. Lay out the peppers on the prepared baking sheet and bake until warmed through and the panko is golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve hot or at room temperature.;
• Put the potatoes in a large saucepan, cover with cold water by about 1 inch and add 2 tablespoons salt. Bring to a boil, uncovered, over high heat, and then reduce the heat to medium-high and simmer briskly until fork tender, about 45 minutes. Drain the potatoes, reserving 1/4 cup of the water. Return the potatoes to the pan. Shake the pan over medium heat for about a minute to dry the potatoes. Remove from the heat. Add the olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice and the reserved cooking water to the potatoes. Mash the potatoes, skins and all, with a traditional potato masher to an even consistency. Fold in the herbs and season with salt. Serve hot with a drizzle of olive oil.
• Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Steps:

• To make the sauce: In a blender, drop in the tomatoes and garlic and blend until well chopped. Add the olive oil, white wine, and salt and blend until finely pureed; set aside.
• To make the stuffing: In a medium sized pot half filled with boiling water, boil the dried cod for about 10 minutes until rehydrated. Drain and put the codfish into a blender. Add the white wine, garlic, parsley, and salt and blend everything together. Then, in a medium sized bowl, whisk together the milk and flour. Add this mixture to the codfish mixture in the blender and puree until it's the consistency of mashed potatoes. Heat a medium skillet over medium-low heat, pour in the codfish stuffing mixture, and cook just until the mixture is heated through. Put the mixture into a medium sized bowl and let it cool before stuffing the peppers.
• To stuff the peppers: With a small spoon, carefully stuff about 1/2 teaspoon of the codfish mixture inside each pepper. It should fill the pepper's cavity but should not be falling out. Continue until all the peppers have been filled.
• To finish the dish: In a large nonstick skillet on medium-low heat, add the sauce for the peppers. Then very carefully place each pepper in the pan and cook for about 15 minutes, or until heated through. Gently take each pepper out of the pan and place on a serving platter. Spoon the sauce over the peppers and garnish with 2 tablespoons chopped parsley.

Steps:

• Soak salt cod in cold water to cover for about 12 hours, changing the water twice during this period. Divide peppercorns, bay leaf and thyme into two batches, and wrap each in cheesecloth to make sachets. Reserve one clove of garlic, then slice the head in half crosswise.
• Pour cream into a small saucepan, and add half a head of garlic. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to a minimum and infuse for 45 minutes. At the same time, pour 1/4 cup of olive oil into a small saucepan and add the other half head of garlic. Heat until garlic starts to sizzle, reduce heat to very low and infuse for 45 minutes. Strain cream and oil separately, and keep them warm.
• When the garlic and the cream have infused for 30 minutes, combine 2 cups of the milk, a herb sachet and the cod in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower heat and cook until cod flakes easily, about 15 minutes. While cod simmers, cook potatoes with remaining milk and herb sachet. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until potatoes are tender.
• Drain cod and potatoes, discard sachets, and transfer to a food processor. With machine running, slowly add the infused oil, followed by the cream. Pulse until smooth, then season with white pepper to taste. Use a small spoon or piping bag to stuff 8 of the peppers with this mixture. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until ready to serve. (You can prepare the dish several hours in advance up to this point.)
• Cut remaining piquillos into thin strips; crush and peel the reserved garlic clove. Warm 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a medium skillet over moderate heat. Add the sliced piquillos, red pepper, shallot and garlic to the pan, season with salt and pepper, and saute for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring. Add 2 tablespoons water, cover pan and lower heat. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until vegetables are completely tender. Discard garlic, transfer the mixture to a blender, and puree, then strain through a sieve and keep warm.
• Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Warm 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add stuffed peppers, and transfer to the oven for 20 minutes. Ladle pepper puree onto 4 plates, and top with 2 peppers each; then serve.

Steps:

• Drain the tuna and put it in a medium mixing bowl. Use a fork to break tuna into large flakes and push to one side of the bowl.
• Put capers, parsley, mint, celery and onions on the other side of the bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper. Add red-pepper flakes, lemon zest, lemon juice and olive oil, then stir the mixture to coat tuna well.
• Use a teaspoon to fill each pepper with some of the tuna mixture.
• Arrange stuffed peppers on lettuce leaves on a platter. Garnish with quartered or halved hard-cooked eggs sprinkled with salt. Serve at cool room temperature.

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is well combined. Add the fish and stir, breaking it up into small pieces.
• Add the white wine and cream and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove the fish with a slotted spoon and continue to cook the sauce until it has thickened and reduced by half. Stir in the brandy and season with salt and pepper.
• Meanwhile, stuff the piquillos with the fish and arrange on a platter. Pour the sauce over the stuffed piquillos, garnish with parsley, and serve hot or warm.
• Substitute 1/2 pound cooked lump crabmeat for the fish.
• Stuff the peppers with about 1/2 recipe prepared Brandade de Morue (page 56).

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Brush a baking dish with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
• Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Saute sausage, green onion, and a pinch of salt in hot oil until meat is browned and crumbly and onion is translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat and cool for 10 minutes.
• Mix rice, goat cheese, egg, 2 tablespoons parsley, garlic, cumin, 1 teaspoon blood orange zest, and cayenne pepper together in a bowl. Spoon rice mixture into each pepper. Place stuffed peppers in a single layer in the prepared baking dish. Scatter almonds over the top, drizzle with 1 teaspoon olive oil, and sprinkle with salt.
• Bake in the preheated oven until stuffed peppers are heated through and filling is hot, 15 to 20 minutes. Drizzle 1 tablespoon blood orange juice, remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil, and remaining parsley over the top.