A few days ago, Susan came home with a bag of peppers.
I love both red and green peppers as here on a Pretty Pizza or Sausage Peppers Onions and Potatoes (A family favorite!) or Pasta with Sweet Red Peppers, Pine Nuts, Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, Kale and Sausage.
I said to Susan “Wow! What am I going to make with all those peppers?”
Well from my mouth to God’s ears! I found a recipe from September 2 on The New York Times Cooking site–Shrimp Peperonata.
Sheela Prakash writes: “Inspired by peperonata, the classic Southern Italian summer dish of stewed bell peppers, a slinky mix of sweet peppers and red onion flecked with briny capers is the bed for seared shrimp in this one-pan dinner. Tomato paste gives the tender vegetables depth while a generous splash of vinegar stirred in at the end balances the flavors and adds tang. Serve the whole thing straight from the skillet with crusty bread for lazy summer eating at its best, or spoon it over rice, orzo or creamy polenta.”
Ingredients
Yield: 4 servings
- 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used 8 shrimp as it was just Susan and I. And followed the rest of the recipe.)
- Salt and black pepper
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 3 medium red, yellow or orange bell peppers, or a combination (about 1 ½ pounds), thinly sliced
- 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons capers
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 tablespoon red or white wine vinegar
- Chopped fresh parsley or basil (optional), to garnish
- Cooked white rice, orzo or polenta, for serving (optional)
Preparation
- Pat the shrimp dry and season with salt and pepper. In a large (12-inch) skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high. Add the shrimp and cook until pink and lightly golden in spots, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Transfer the shrimp to a plate.
- Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the skillet. Add the peppers, onion and garlic. Season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the peppers have softened and the onion is lightly caramelized, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste and capers and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomato paste has darkened and starts to caramelize in a few spots and stick to the bottom of the pan, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in 1 ½ cups of water, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Bring to a simmer then reduce the heat to medium and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the peppers are very tender and slinky and most but not all of the liquid has evaporated, about 15 minutes.
- Add the shrimp and any juices on the plate and stir gently until warmed through, about 1 minute.
- Remove from heat and stir in the vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve spooned over cooked rice, orzo or polenta and garnish with parsley or basil, if using.
I served this with Basmati Rice and I plan to make it again and again. SO DELICIOUS!!!
