Naturally, I couldn't spend ten days in Spain without developing an interest in Spanish cuisine. I'm not about to undertake paella anytime soon; however, so many of the little tapas that we had left such delicious memories that I've been anxious to try to replicate them at home. As part of his birthday present I therefore bought a copy of 1080 Recipes for my boyfriend last month. It's referred to as the Spanish Joy of Cooking, and it's a beautiful book, but that many recipes can be a bit overwhelming. More importantly, it doesn't include a recipe for our favorite of the various little goodies we had in Barcelona: small peppers stuffed with goat cheese.
Happily I recently came across two different tapas cookbooks for $3 apiece (thank you, Marshalls). Since each had a variation on the stuffed peppers, I decided to buy both. Last night I made my first attempt - the general consensus was that they were very yummy, although I still don't think they're quite the same as what we had in Barcelona.
The recipe calls for pimentos (in other words, red peppers cooked, seeded, and skinned) packed in oil. I immediately diverged from the recipe and bought peppadews instead, as these are closer sizewise to what we remembered from Barcelona. Unfortunately they were packed in brine rather than oil, which I think gave them a stronger pickled flavor that fights a bit with the subtler goat cheese flavor.
The recipe gives three different filling options: one tuna-based, one cottage cheese-based, and one goat cheese-based. Obviously I went for the goat cheese. To 7 ounces of soft goat cheese, you're supposed to add one clove of minced garlic, a third cup of finely chopped black olives, and one tablespoon of the oil in which the peppers are packed, plus salt and pepper to taste. Those quantities are supposed to fill about 36 peppers. Since I decided to make only 12 peppers, I cut back on each ingredient more or less accordingly. I started with approximately 2.5 ounces of goat cheese and with my garlic press added the smallest clove I had - instantly I realized this was too much garlic, so I added probably another ounce of the cheese to compensate. Because my peppers came in brine rather than oil, I just added about a teaspoon of olive oil, then about 5 or 6 pitted kalamata olives, chopped as finely as I was able. (I'm not too handy with a chef's knife.) I had left my cheese out for about a half hour to soften, which made mixing the ingredients pretty easy.
Now for filling the peppers. That little Ziploc bag trick is too good to reserve only for deviled eggs, I thought, so at this point I scooped my cheese mixture into a Ziploc, snipped off a corner, and began filling. Words cannot express my level of satisfaction with how well this worked. Holding the pepper in one hand and the bag in another, I could actually feel the pepper swelling up as the cheese made its way into each crevice of the cavity; it felt, and looked, a bit like filling a wall cavity with spray foam insulation - in a good way, of course. Not that I actually tried the filling-with-a-teaspoon method, but I cannot imagine the results would be as satisfactory.
The peppers are supposed to chill in the refrigerator for two hours before serving; since I wanted them ready sooner, I stuck mine in the freezer for an initial twenty minutes or so.
The peppers are supposed to chill in the refrigerator for two hours before serving; since I wanted them ready sooner, I stuck mine in the freezer for an initial twenty minutes or so.So, that's round one for the stuffed peppers. These were pretty tasty, but I still think I got too much garlic in the filling and that the briney flavor of the peppers was too strong against the goat cheese. Watch this space for subsequent attempts.
Sorry for not having a real presentation-style photo - I guess I became too interested in eating them to worry about photographing them.
While I just made these as a pre-dinner plate, I think they would be wonderful for a party food. If you use the Ziploc trick they are very quick and easy to make (and next time I might even go ahead and mix my filling in the bag, as with the deviled eggs, therefore eliminating even the cleaning of the mixing bowl), and since they need to chill anyway, they could be made several hours ahead. (I'm always on the lookout for good, easy, make-ahead party foods.)
Lesson Learned: Next time try peppers in oil, rather than in brine.
Because of the holiday, I selected a grand old American legend for my baking music. So while Sinatra crooned away about unrequited love, I began slicing up my fruit and veg. The recipe calls for 2 ½ cups each of sliced strawberries and sliced rhubarb. But who ever knows what that translates to in pints/pounds? I had bought two pounds of strawberries, which turned out to be about twice what I needed, and two bunches of rhubarb – again, about double what I needed. In the bowl with the sugar/cornstarch/lemon mixture, it looked like way too much filling for one pie crust, but the recipe writers know their stuff. It was the perfect amount.
The MSL recipe says to use a floured surface and rolling pin to roll out the crust, but after a couple minutes of this I switched to the old reliable method of sandwiching the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap – this is much easier and keeps the dough (and kitchen) from getting too flour-y. (Oddly, that’s also a Martha method; she recommends it for roll-out cookies, but it seemed to work nearly as well for pie crust.)
My lattice came out about like you’d expect a first-ever pie crust lattice to turn out, partly I think because the dough was getting too warm from its proximity to the preheating oven. In any case, I had to piece together several shorter strips in some places. Oh, and I also nearly forgot to put in my little dots of butter under the top crust – they had to be sort of wedged in under the lattice after the fact. Still, I was relatively pleased with the nearly-final product as I slid it into the oven – a moment that amusingly coincided with the climatic finale of My Way. (Although this did raise concerns as to whether any eating-up-and-spitting-out would be associated with my beautiful pie.)
While the Pops and fireworks blared from the TV, we sat down to a lovely, summery July 4th dinner of lobster, corn on the cob, 
And on day #2? I preferred it hot from the oven, but it was still pretty good cold. The crust was a bit soggier, but everything was still quite tasty. The only problem now is that I have sufficient strawberry and rhubarb left over to make a second pie. I guess this will give me a chance to improve my lattice-work.
When the filling is properly mixed and seasoned, keep the bag closed but snip off one of the bottom corners. Holding the Ziploc like an icing bag, carefully squeeze equal amounts of filling into each of your egg whites. Obviously, the clean-up is now a snap, but what’s really great about this method is how much easier it is to neatly fill each egg cavity without residual filling on the plate, smeared on the rest of the egg, etc..
Sprinkle with paprika, or whatever garnish you prefer, and they’re ready to serve. I used Spanish Hot Paprika, which gave them a nice kick. They were delicious, as always. You wouldn't want to eat them all the time, but a deviled egg now and then is reassuringly tasty and familiar.
I brushed each set of potatoes generously with olive oil, sprinkled them with salt and pepper, and they were ready for the grill.
The result was delicious. The potatoes slid off the skewers onto our plates, and were soft and moist on the inside, and deliciously salty and crusty on the outside. A delectable, simple summer side dish.
