One of my preferred Italian side dishes is Peperonata. This dish is often accompanied by homemade Polpette (Italian meatballs)mmmmm. In this post I will explain you how I make the Peperonata. Of course like every recipe there are 1001 ways to do it. Again, if you feel like adding something, leaving something out… be my guest. Cooking is a feeling. I rarely follow an entire recipe, I just start with the big lines and color it myself.

Hope you’ll like it (FYI, I will post the polpette in one of the following posts)

Ingredients:  (4 people should be able to eat from this)

•  5 to 6 paprika’s (depending on their size) I take red and yellow ones, but if you feel more like taking the green (nooo problem)
• 1 clove of garlic (or 2 if you like it garlicky)
• 1 little to average carrot
• Some Oregano, salt , peper and red paprika powder
•  Bouillon cube (chicken or vegetable)
• Eventually some fresh basil
•    Olive oil
•  1 can of pelati tomatoes (tin can peeled tomatoes)  (if you would want to use the peperonata as sauce and let your polpette set during the night you’d better use 2  or even 3 cans)
•  1 onion (or if little, 2)
•  Half a glass of wine (regular wineglass)

 Get Started:

1.  Peel your paprika’s (I usually just use the peeler for it, but if you prefer doing it over the stove, that’s fine) and remove the seeds from the inside.
2.   Cut the paprika’s in long thin strips ( thickness by preference)
3.  Peel the carrot, garlic and onion. All cut them in little pieces (besides the garlic, as then you can remove it before serving)
4.  Take your pot and put some olive oil on the bottom. Throw in all the paprika, carrot, onion and garlic. Turn on the heat  (little bit less the max) and let everything bake until you see that the vegetables start to “stick” at the bottom of the pot.
5. You then extinguish (blussen) with the wine  and add the tomato can.
6. Stir it all, don’t throw away your can yet, put some water in it, so all the tomato that is still in there can also be used. Poor the water in the pot
7. Add the bouillon cube, pinch of salt, peper, oregano and paprika powder (and if you might have it some fresh basil.
8. Let it cook until a more firm consistence (not to liquid)
9. And there is only one thing left to do, eat it ….