Peperoni e Patate Fritte

When the mouth watering aroma of fried capsicum filled the air at nonna’s house you could pretty much bet she was making her ‘Pipi e Patati Friuti’ (calabrese dialect for Peperoni e Patate Fritte - Fried capsicum and Potato), and now every time I make it it takes me back to when I was a little girl. Nonna still makes it at 95 years of age! She really is pretty damn awesome. I got her to show me how to make it after I got married and moved out.

‘Quando mi viene voglia’ (when I get the craving) I will make it at home myself. Does it ever taste like nonna’s? Well, can anything ever taste like nonna’s? So if you have a spare couple of hours and want a dish true to the Italian ‘la cucina povera’ style (poor mans food), then give it a go. It’s great to eat hot or cold, with some ‘carne alla brace’ (barbecued meat), or even as is, in a nice crusty bread roll. Either way, you won’t regret the time spent preparing it. Fried food can be quite heavy and not something Italians eat on a daily basis. These kinds of dishes are like little treats.

Here is the recipe, as good as I could jot it down while I was making it, accompanied by a couple of snaps taken in the time that I had. It feeds about 8 people so just halve the quantities if you don’t have to cook for an army like I do. It is quite labour intensive so set aside at least 2 hours (prepare yourself a nice glass or two of vino before you start), or less time if you are making less. Trust me this dish is worth the time spent cooking it.

Ingredients:

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

8 lge potatoes

8 medium capsicum

1 tin Mutti Tomato Polpa

Dried Oregano

Clove of garlic

Method:

Use a large fry pan for all of these steps. You shouldn’t have to clean or change the pan.

Cut the capsicum into strips.

Peel and cut the potato into chip like shapes and par boil.

While they are boiling, using half cup of the EVO or a little less if you prefer, simply fry the capsicum until it softens. Don’t forget to salt them. Pop them aside in a bowl big enough to fit both capsicum and potato.

Strain the potato and in the other half cup of EVO lightly fry them bit by bit and as you remove them from the fry pan pop them in the bowl the fried capsicum are in, lightly salting them as you do.

Once you have finished frying the chips, fry a bit of garlic in the remaining oil, pour in one tin of Mutti Tomato Polpa in the pan, fill the empty can with water and pour it in the pan also. Add salt and oregano and simmer until cooked (say 40 minutes or so). If the water evaporates a lot and it’s really thick and still not cooked, just add a little more and simmer a little longer.

Once the sauce is cooked, pour it over the capsicum and potato and fold everything through gently.

Enjoy with loved ones.

Rustic as can be