Calabrese-Style Fried Potatoes with Peppers
From The Chile Pepper Bible by Judith Finlayson. If you are looking for the perfect partner to serve with plain-Jane grilled or roasted meat or fish, this Italian version of fried potatoes with peppers is deliciously different. You can use any combination of sweet or even mildly hot peppers (throw in a hot banana pepper for more spice), but I recommend varying the colors for a pretty presentation.
Servings: 4 main dishes
Ingredients
- 4 to 5 bell Shepherd or Cubanelle pepper (see Tips, below)
- 1 red or green finger chile see Tips, below
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 lbs floury potatoes about 4 medium, very thinly sliced (see Tips, below)
- Hot pepper flakes preferably peperoncino (optional)
- Finely chopped fresh parsley optional
Instructions
- Peel, seed and cut bell peppers into thin strips. Thinly slice finger chile. In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add bell peppers, finger chile and garlic and cook, stirring, until peppers are softened, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a plate. Season to taste with salt and black pepper and set aside.
- Add potatoes to pan, in batches. Spread first batch evenly across the bottom and cook for 1 minute. Move to 1 side of the pan and repeat with remaining batches of potatoes. Continue to cook potatoes, turning often, until evenly browned on all sides, about 10 minutes.
- Return peppers to pan. Stir well to combine. Season to taste with hot pepper flakes (if using).
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer potato mixture to a warm serving platter. Season to taste with additional salt and black pepper. Garnish to taste with parsley (if using). Serve immediately.
Notes
I like to use a combination of red, green, orange and yellow bell peppers. You can also use any combination of bell, Shepherd and/or Cubanelle peppers; if you like heat, make 1 a hot banana pepper.
If you don’t have a finger chile, you can substitute hot pepper flakes; I would use 1 teaspoon (5 mL), but you can add more if you are a heat seeker.
To ensure the potatoes cook properly, they need to be sliced very thinly. I use a mandoline for this job. You can peel the potatoes or leave the skins on to suit your taste.
The peppers will cook better in the oil if you peel them, but this isn’t strictly necessary. It is quite easy: a vegetable peeler does a good job.