Ingredients
- 2 green and 2 red peppers with flat bottoms
- olive oil
- 4 tbsp. chopped onion
- 100 g coarsely chopped walnuts
- 2 ripe tomatoes
- parsley
- sage leaves
- black pepper, salt
- 1 tin/jar white beans, drained weight approx. 250 g
- mint leaves
- dill greens
- paprika powder
- 4 tbsp. sauerkraut
Garnish:
- sprigs of:
- parsley, sage,
- mint and dill
My version of an Eastern Orthodox fasting dish, which is popular in Lovech on the Ossum River. Devout believers are allowed to eat these Pulneny Piperky in the first half of the week before Easter. After that, they fast completely in the last three days before Easter.
How did the pepper become such a popular ingredient in the Balkans? Because of the Turkish rule. It was not for nothing that the pepper was called Heidenpfeffer in the Habsburg period. Turks were gourmets. The first snobbish Haute Cuisine of Europe can be found with the Romans, the second originated at the court of the Ottoman rulers in Istanbul with the well-known result of an enormous interest in new snacks. In Turkey, people were therefore very early in incorporating American crops. The Ottoman Empire bordered the Iberian Peninsula at the time that Columbus discovered America and so the fruits from that distant land were imported early on via the ports of Spain. And with high-ranking people spread throughout the empire.
- Preheat the oven to 200˚.
- Cut off the stem of both peppers, remove the seeds and seed ribs and then cook for 5 minutes in plenty of boiling water. Score the tomatoes at the base of the fruit and cook for 1 minute. Rinse everything under cold water. Drain the peppers upside down. Peel the tomatoes, cut the flesh into pieces.
- Fry the chopped onion in some oil until translucent, mix with the walnuts, the tomato pieces, the coarsely chopped parsley and sage, the pepper and the salt. Fill the red peppers with this.
- Mix the drained white beans (collect the liquid!) with coarsely chopped mint and dill, some paprika powder and 2 tablespoons of sauerkraut. Fill the green pepper with this. Put a bunch of sauerkraut on top.
- Place the peppers upright in an oven dish. Drizzle generously with olive oil, pour the liquid from the beans around the peppers. Bake in the preheated oven on the middle shelf for 15-20 minutes.
Menu suggestion for after Lent:
- First course: Feta in baking paper (Pecheno sirene v hartiya). Halve 150 g feta cheese; butter two large pieces of baking paper on one side. Top each with 1 tablespoon of finely chopped spring onions, a good amount of mild paprika powder and a knob of butter. Wrap well. Place in a buttered oven dish, add a scoop of water and bake in an oven at 200˚ C for about fifteen minutes. Unwrap on the plate.
- Dessert: Yoghurt ice cream (Sladoled ot kiselo mljako): Puree 100 g raspberries (or strawberries) and press through a very fine sieve. Cool. Mix very well with 100 ml Greek yoghurt and 75 g fine table sugar using a (stick) blender and place in an ice tray in the freezer for an hour or two until the mass is just not hard. Scoop into coupes with an ice cream scoop and let ripen at room temperature. Garnish with a few of the fruits used.