Bell Peppers in Vinegar Cooking Recipe | Peperoni Sott’aceto Recipe
Vegetables preserved in vinegar go very well with charcuterie, but can also enhance a green salad or rice salad, or be included in the ingredients for a meat stew, such as pork alla Lucana.
Makes one 2 lb. (1 liter) jar
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 2 minutes
Drying time: 2-3 hours
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lb. (700 g) bell peppers
- Salt
- 1 tablespoon (10 g) sugar
- 3 bay leaves
- A few basil leaves
- 10 peppercorns
- 5 cups (1.2 liters) white vinegar
Cooking Method
- Clean the bell peppers, cut them into strips, and remove the white pith as well as the seeds (1).
- Place in salted boiling water for 2 minutes (4 teaspoons/20 g salt to 4 cups/1 liter water) (2), then add the sugar.
- Drain and dry well on kitchen towel (2 to 3 hours) (3).
- Once dry, layer them with the bay leaves, basil leaves, and peppercorns in a previously sterilized jar (4).
- Add enough vinegar to cover generously, pressing down well to remove any air trapped in the middle of the bell peppers.
- Seal hermetically; they will keep for several months in a cool, dry place away from the light.
Anchovies in Salt Cooking Recipe | Acciughe Sotto Sale Recipe
Anchovies in salt are used in a number of recipes (e.g. anchovy fondue). They can also be served simply on crostini spread with butter.
You can transform them into fillets of anchovies in oil, even more useful in the kitchen.
Anchovies in salt are traditionally prepared in arbanelle — wide, straight jars made of thick glass.
Makes one 2 lb. (1 kg) jar
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 2 minutes
Salting time: 2 months
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ lb. (1 kg) very fresh anchovies
- 4 cups (2 ¼ lb./1 kg) sea salt
Cooking Method
- Remove the head and intestines of the anchovies.
- To do this, detach the head with your fingers and pull away what comes with it (1).
- Do not rinse the anchovies in water.
- Place the anchovies in a dish.
- Spread a layer of salt in the bottom of the jar; arrange a layer of anchovies on top without leaving any space between them (2, 3).
- Sprinkle with another layer of salt (4), then alternate layers of anchovies and salt, finishing with a layer of salt, taking care to press down well (5).
- Place a weight (flat stone, glass disk, piece of slate, etc.) on top of the contents.
- Do not close the jar hermetically but cover it with a circle of parchment paper held in place by a rubber band.
- Stand in a dish and put in a cool, dry place away from the light.
- You can use these anchovies after 2 months but do not keep longer than 2 years.
- Check the jar from time to time: if any water has formed and is tending to leak, empty the jar slightly; if the anchovies become too dry, add a little brine prepared with boiled and cooled salt water (4 teaspoons/20 g of salt to 4 cups/1 liter water).
To make anchovy fillets in oil.
- Remove the central bones of the salted anchovies and rinse with a mixture of half water, half vinegar.
- Spread out on absorbent paper to dry (2 to 3 hours).
- Layer them with a few bay leaves in a previously sterilized glass jar.
- Cover with olive oil and close hermetically.
- Anchovy fillets prepared in this way will keep several months in a cool, dry place away from the light.
