Basque Piperade Recipes

PIPERADE

Steps:

• Cut a small X into bottom of each tomato. Bring a pot of water to a boil, add tomatoes and cook until skin begins to wrinkle and peel at the edges of the cuts, about 30 seconds. Drain, rinse with cool water and peel off skin with your fingers. Roughly chop tomatoes and set aside.
• In a 12-inch skillet over medium high heat, heat oil until hot but not smoking. Add onions, peppers and salt and sauté, stirring frequently, until onions are translucent and peppers have started to lighten in spots, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and continue to sauté for 1 more minute.
• Stir in tomatoes, sugar and piment d'Espelette, reduce heat to medium, cover and cook until tomatoes are starting to fall apart and peppers are soft but still hold their shape, about 15 minutes. Remove cover and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens like a slightly runny relish, about 5 minutes more. Adjust salt.

BASQUE PIPERADE RECIPE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
• Sauté the onion, peppers, garlic, salt, paprika, black pepper, and sugar, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, until the vegetables are cooked through.
• Add the tomatoes to the cooked vegetables and simmer the mixture, uncovered, for 15 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce has thickened.

BASQUE PIPERADE

Steps:

• Roast all the peppers over an open flame until completely charred. Place in a sealed container and let them steam until cool. Once cool, remove charred skin, remove seeds and cut into thin strips
• To peel tomatoes, bring a saucepan of water to a boil and cut a small X on the end of the tomato. Place the tomato into the boiling water for approximately 45 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon, and place them immediately into cold water. Skins will come off with your fingers
• Peel tomatoes remove seeds and dice into ½ inch dice
• To roast individual cloves of garlic, I toast them in a dry skillet with the skin on. Heat a skillet to medium-high heat, place the garlic cloves in the dry skillet and cover, shake the skillet occasionally. After about 4-5 minutes remove the garlic and let cool
• Remove the skin from the roasted garlic, crush and chop
• In a medium-sized saucepan, place the olive oil and onion over medium-high heat, saute until soft
• Add garlic, tomatoes, and seasonings. bring to a simmer until tomatoes are soft. approximately 10-15 minutes
• Add peppers, return to a simmer, cover and remove from the heat.

PIPERADE (BASQUE SCRAMBLED EGGS)

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a large saute pan and cook onion until softened and beginning to turn golden. Add peppers and cook 15 minutes, until tender. Add tomatoes, garlic, basil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer until tomatoes are pulpy. Thoroughly beat eggs in a small bowl, add to tomato mixture, and stir until they begin to thicken; remove from heat before they solidify. Serve on heated plates, topped with fried ham slice or slices, and surrounded with croutons.;

PIPERADE BASQUAISE

Steps:

• Prepare the piperade by first heating the 4 tablespoons of fat of your choice in a heavy 8-inch frying pan or, better still, in a small oval copper or enamel pan that you can bring to the table. Add the chopped onions and garlic and cook them for about 5 minutes over moderate heat, stirring them frequently until they are soft but not brown. Stir in the pepper strips, turning them in the fat now and then, letting them cook for about 10 minutes, at which point they should be tender but still crisp. Drain the chopped tomatoes thoroughly and add them to the pan, sprinkling in at the same time the dried or fresh basil and the pepper flakes or hot pepper sauce. Raise the heat and cook the tomatoes briskly for a few minutes and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until all their moisture has evaporated. Be careful that the piperade doesn't burn. Put it aside until you are ready to reheat and serve it.
• At that point, combine 1 tablespoon each of olive oil and butter in an 8-inch heavy frying pan, and over moderate heat, cook the julienned ham for a few minutes until the strips are thoroughly heated through. Remove them at once with a slotted spoon and spread them out on paper toweling to drain.
• Meanwhile let the fat in the frying pan cool to lukewarm before pouring it into the eggs, lightly beaten with salt and pepper. Over low heat, stir the eggs with a rubber spatula until they begin to form soft, creamy curds. Remove them from the heat when they are not quite set and gently spread them over the reheated piperade. Let some of the colorful vegetables show through. Lightly scatter the ham on top, sprinkle with the chopped parsley and/or chopped chives, and serve at once.