As I was mostly quite a good girl last year, Secret Santa gave me a beautiful cookery book packed full of delicous Tapas recipes. Thanks Giovanna at BlueJellyBeans!
After having a good old read of it, I decided that the first recipe I wanted to make from it was one that I often order in bars or restaurants but had never made at home. The stuffed piquillo peppers (sweet, red and shaped like a little beak which gives them their name) are sold here in tins or jars. If you can´t get hold of them, I won´t tell anyone if you adapt with full sized peppers or perhaps the tips of some long sweet peppers. You´ll need to roast and peel them first though.
I adapted the recipe a little to use up some salt cod (bacalao) that I had left, but the filling is up to you. It could be cream cheese, mashed potato, tuna, vegetables, béchamel sauce….let your imagination go wild!
Ingredients to serve 2 as a starter
- 4 pimientos del piquillo
- Half a cup of mashed potato plus half a cup of cooked, flaked bacalao (or a cup of your preferred filling)
- A tablespoon of chopped parsley
- Black pepper (no salt with bacalao as it is already very salty)
For the sauce – half a cup of tomato conserva, 2 tablespoons of single cream, 1 tablespoon of tomato purée blended together with an immersion blender and seasoned to taste
Mix the potato, fish and herbs together and season with pepper. Carefully fill the peppers using a small teaspoon. Put them into a small frying pan and cover with a lid. Warm through on a very low heat, turning them over after about 2 minutes. I didn´t use oil but if your pan is not non stick, then use a very small amount. Now pour the sauce over and warm through very gently.
Place the peppers on your serving plate and cover with the creamy, tomatoey sauce. Gorgeous, tasty and really rather cheffy looking!
Chica Andaluza 
I’ve not heard of pequillo peppers and will be on the hunt for them now. Are the peppers roasted and packed in oil? I love that their tiny…
They usually come in brine, as you drain them then stuff them, The regular roasted pepper strips which can be used in salads come in both oil and brine. And yes, they´re small – about 10cm long but quite wide for their size, with a fairly thick skin…so they don´t break too easily when you stuff them!
They sound great with bacalao – I could eat them for lunch 😉
Don´t forget the bread so that you can mop up all the sauce!
I remember a particularly delicious dish of these in Granada, and I have made them once or twice, but I’ve never put cream in the sauce….that sounds extra delicious and I may have to try it!
I´ve had the sauce with and without cream. I think I added it because the last time I ate this (at the ewekeend) it was creamy and I really enjoyed it! Granada is THE place for tapas 🙂
So good! I like bacalao!
You must get plenty of it too where you are, I think?!
This is SO much nicer than the ‘traditional’ (I have no idea how long they’ve been around) American stuffed peppers, which are usually stuffed with cream cheese, breaded, and deep-fried. It’s a bar-food staple…
While they´re good too – these are quite different. And don´t they use green jalapeño for them? These peppers have a quite distinct, sweet smoky taste. Yum 🙂
Sometimes they use big, sweet green peppers that are shaped like yours…Jalapeno “poppers” are a fairly recent invention
I’ve actually never heard of those in my life and I’ve always lived in the U.S. (NJ & FL) I’m guessing those are specific to your state or region. The American stuffed peppers I’ve always seen have been grilled bell peppers stuffed with ground beef and rice (and more recently, quinoa) that are cooked in a tomato sauce.
I have seen them in the UK too, but it´s rare, I think they are just typical to Spain. Thanks for all your comments, nice to welcome someone new to the blog!
Lol no I meant the dish that GardenFreshTomatoes was describing. I’ve seen piquillos in Hispanic food stores in the U.S.
Thank you for having me. I love your blog!
Aha – my fault for not following the chain properly!
What a great gift! Good to see you’re putting it to good use, Tanya! Stuffing pepers with bacalao sounds so tasty, especially with that rich, creamy tomato sauce! Makes me want to go out, buy some bacalao, and start soaking!
I did indeed receive such a great present – it´s such a lovely book and I know I´ll be posting more recipes from it soon. I read somewhere that a good place to de-salt bacalao is in the water tank for the toilet flush (don´t know what it´s called)! Every time you flush, a few litres of fresh water goes in again as it fills up. Makes sense, but can´t quite get my head around it 😉
UM NO to the above, i am not putting anything in my toilet water tank! yes, yes i know the water does not flush UP! But however. These peppers look like something I could make as a surprise for john.. he is the pepper man!! c
It was a weird old thought…I can sort of see the logic! If John likes peppers you could use a favourite filling and he´d love them, I´m sure 🙂
This sounds delicious “Chica”! But I’m having to use my imagination more than usual…have never tried this variety of pepper, but would love to try! And bacalao I’ve heard so much about (and am planning on eating Plenty of when I come to Spain in September) but haven’t yet tasted. Leaves me feeling rather deprived! I want these stuffed peppers, now, for breakfast!
Ooh Spain in September – lots of Fiestas and wonderful weather! Where will you be?!
Well, I was thinking of picking your brain a bit on that one! 🙂 our thoughts so far have been Catalonia (Barcelona and north along the coast) into southern France & Provence, travel west to Bordeaux and down into Galicia, Santiago and the basque country. But we would miss Andalucia’s beauty with such a trip. Is this something you and I could talk a bit about? I’d love that!
Your trip sounds amazing and I´d love to talk to you. Drop me an e-mail and we can chat. I guess how much you see depends on how long you´ve got!
Those look delicious!
¡Muchisimas gracias Greg!
Love, love, love the simplicity and versatility of this recipe. And I think creamy tomato sauce is good on just about anything. I’ll probably have to sub my own filling for the bacalao, but can’t wait to try it out!
Actually, that sauce would be good with pasta 🙂
these sound delicious. I have Turkish shops at home and they sell various peppers and chillies that are in oil/brine in jars. I’m guessing I could use these? Thanks 🙂
Oh most definitely – I know of one on the A21 heading out of Hastings near a petrol station. Are there more? Do let me know as my mum would love to explore them!
Oh I think I know the one you mean. The one I use the most, and seems to be well stocked (including fresh veg and herbs – think big bunches of parsley, dill and corainder, plus borek, olives, all the usual candidates!) is on Norman Road opposite Adams and Jarret. The guys at the Taj Mahal are due to open an Indian shop there too in the next month or so. St Leonrads is finally gettering THERE!
Fantastic – I´ll let my mum know this and next time she´s down there I know she´ll be investigating them! She´s already fantasizing about what she wants to eat at the Taj Mahal 🙂
I love piquillos! When we were in Navarra (home of piquillos although I notice many of the jarred “Logroño” peppers come from Peru) we just ate them straight from the jar 🙂 I like them stuffed too though. Your method looks much simpler than mine. Simple = good!
I like the look of the sauce too. I have made a sauce with liquidised piquillos in the past (the less good-quality ones that come in strips) and that was good as well. As a fan of Spanish home cooking I’ve just discovered your blog and am enjoying it 🙂
Ah, Destiny! There is a jar of piquillos in my pantry just waiting for you to tell me what I should do with them. 😀
I´ve been creeping round your kitchen and poking my nose into your pantry…didn´t you see me?!
How can I be so unobservant! Well, I guess that means I’ll be looking for which pantry item you instruct me to use next!!
Watch out….!
Mmm… why are you posting everything I love and have no time to make!!! 🙂 This weekend will be spent cooking!
Sorry Lauren…! Maybe you could make your version of just one thing 🙂
Stuffed peppers are delicious…yours look great!! x
Thanks so much Caroline!
So I just wanted to let you know Tanya that my wife beat me over the head with the frying pan the other day for not bringing your website to her attention before. Needless to say that you have any person who loves the food you share here. 😉
Thanks for sharing another great recipe!
Ouch! Hope it wasn´t cast iron 😦 Lovely to know that there is someone else enjoying the recipes…
I love using pequillo peppers stuffing them as well. You’ve made a very interesting stuffing using the fish. And the sauce sounds and looks delish! Nice little Xmas present!!
It was such a great present, and unusually this year, the only cook book! Glad you know and like the peppers 🙂
Chica, I’ve just tagged you to answer the Ten Questions that inquiring minds are asking. Hope you won’t mind sharing with the rest of us! 🙂 xo spree
http://cooking-spree.com/2012/01/12/10-little-monkeys/
Thank you so much Spree – it´s an honour! Am off now to check out your answers…
Quite simply – yummy-licious!
🙂 Mandy
Why thank you Mandy!
Now that looks tasty! The sauce looks tempting…
It needs lots of bread for wiping it up!
Good idea. My mom always told me to clean up my plate!
Hi T, These look delicious. Not a fan of tinned veg but would make an exception for these.
Regards Florence x
I agree – fresh is better but these only seem to come like this outside of the summer 😦
Thank you for sharing this interesting recipe Tanya, here stuffed peppers mean sweet pepper stuffed in rice and minced meat and cooked in tomato sauce
I love those too, but that´s not at all typical here. Must make some soon though as a few people have mentioned them and I´m beginning to have a craving…
Mmmmmm, delicioso!!! My mother-in-law JUST taught me how to make this last weekend (she uses merluza and gambas), and there’s also a beef version she makes using another kind of sauce. Gawd, I miss the slightly larger kitchen I had last year – better lighting and an actual oven, which means better to cook and experiment in!
By the way, do you know of any turrón recipes??
Merluza and gambas sounds fantastic! Apart from turrón ice cream, nothing springs to mind, but now you´ve set me off on a mission!
Was trying to decide what to do with some leftover fish. Awesome! Thank you.
Oh good – and you don´t need that much either!
Did you say there’s bacalao inside, well count me in. I love that dried fish, even though I am allergic to eat, I still eat them.
Oh dear, an allergy? Mind you, you don´t need very much (although I suppose that doesn´t make much of a difference)…maybe you could use a different dried fish?!
Now that’s it’s Semana Santa, there’s fresh cod (as in not salted) in the shops – do you have any good recipes? I made a fish pie today, which was fine, but I’d love to try something a bit more adventurous – any suggestions from the Chica Andaluza back catalogue (I did a search but couldn’t see anything). Thanks!
You can treat is as we would in the UK but using the tempura flour in mercadona, that´s wonderful! Also, check out BlueJellyBeans post today for Potaje de Semana Santa. Also take a look at my recipe for Ensalada Cateta – normally I use tinned tuna for economy but it´s wonderful with fresh bacalo. Also, parpucha (cod fritters) haven´t posted a recipe for that but will do this week, if not I´m sure you´ll find something if you google it! Good luck, must pop over to your blog..it´s been a bit manic here.
Ooh wonderful, lots of ideas, thanks CA!
Just found this which is from Big Man´s village http://www.zafarraya.es/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=120&Itemid=64
This is the way we make it “in the family” and they are served with miel de caña drizzled over…