Italian Frying peppers

Growing up Italian, as a summer treat, my mom would slice down the middle,long ways, Italian peppers, fry them in Olive oil on both sides,salt them and make a sandwich on the best crispy Italian bread we could get(often home-made) My wife and I grow them here in Jersey and it still reminds me of summer growing up. We add great cheese and wine and its a favorite dinner..even with my kids. Anyone else fry up these tasty peppers?
leethebard

You're talking about cubanelle peppers. That's what I use whenever I make sausage and pepper subs, or sausage, peppers, onions and eggs.

Yep, I love 'em, too.
I especially like them for peppers & eggs.
Ron

Sometimes I take the peppers and marinate them in EVO (olive oil) for a couple days and then use em similarly.
Sometimes with some oil packed anchovies too ... not cooked with the peppers though - just put on top of the bread before eating.

This ain't Italian peppers but I sure do enjoy doing similar things with our bell peppers an jalapenos out of the garden. I leave the habaneros out of it

Great taste with EVO and sauteed and with anything else I enjoy.

I also add some onions.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

I love cubanelles, I try to buy the ones that are turning reddish gorgeous to cook, wonderful to eat.

After reading this I made sure that both Cubanelles and Crispy Italian Bread were on my grocery list. Unfortunately I could not find Cubanelles at any of the 3 grocery stores I checked. When I come across them however, I plan to give this a try.

My only question would be about the bread. What is a good Crispy Italian Bread? I really would appreciate a couple of examples.

Cubanelles?

Yep. Although, I've not seen any red ones in a long time.

Peppers sauteed in E.V.O.O. is a very healthy thing to eat. Of course, I like mine with onions and sausage.

quote:

Originally posted by Laserwolf

After reading this I made sure that both Cubanelles and Crispy Italian Bread were on my grocery list. Unfortunately I could not find Cubanelles at any of the 3 grocery stores I checked. When I come across them however, I plan to give this a try.

My only question would be about the bread. What is a good Crispy Italian Bread? I really would appreciate a couple of examples.

Authentic "Italian" bread (Italian-American bread, actually ... I don't think it is a big item in Italy) is the type of bread, often sold as "Italian" ... or from an Italian bakery, that comes only in a paper bag (not a plastic bag) and is usually delivered in to the store from the bakery *every* day ...or every other day at most.

It comes UNsliced, the crust is hard and thin and crisp, and the inside is quite soft.

If you call or ask around to see who sells this type of bread you should ask if they have "the Italian bread that comes in the paper bag". To get the best idea of what this style of bread is like, ask what day they get their delivery (generally, today or tomorrow) and then buy it there later on that day ... you want it as fresh as possible.

It is best when used within a day or two. Once it's home, if you need to store it more than a couple days you can put the loaf in its paper bag into a plastic bag *then* (so it does not dry out completely).

This is a great bread for lots of things. It is a meal in itself when served with a good antipasto tray that includes things to put on top of the bread ... peppers of all types including peppers in EVO, anchovies, olives and olive salad, marinated artichoke hearts, caponata (eggplant salad), the "Italian Salad" noted below, Italian cheeses and cold cuts like Hot Capicola (a spicy Italian ham), etc.

One of my fav's is to use Italian bread with a "dunking" salad ...

"Italian salad"
this is just red onion, peeled cucumber (including any juice that you can press from the seeds), Roma tomatoes, and possibly some green pepper ... all vegetables sliced roughly julienne ... equal amounts "oil & wine vinegar" and 1/4 that of water, a pinch of sugar and salt, and herbs ... either fresh or dried oregano or basil (most often it's made with dried oregano).
Adjust oil & vinegar and water so that you have enough liquid to completely cover the vegetables by a half inch (in the bowl)... the liquid is needed because this is a "dipping salad" to dip the bread into.
Before using, it is important to let the salad marinate in the icebox on the top shelf for at least a couple hours, stirring once or twice. Serve cool but not cold and dunk your Italian bread into the salad.

An Italian woman I worked with told me to freeze it the bag, cutting off only what you will use that day. It remains fresh for a week or so that way. I now store any artisan-type bread that way and it works just fine. I'm to the point where I seldom buy any bread packaged in plastic which kills the crust which I enjoy. To see "hard rolls" stored in plastic just gets me to shaking my head in disgust.

In the Chicago area we have "Melrose Peppers" which are super sweet. They are used the same as above, fried with sausage, pepper & egg sandwiches etc. While they look like cubanelle, they are not the same. They can be seen at this link http://www.gourmetseed.com/sweet_pepper_seed.0.html

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy2dogs

In the Chicago area we have "Melrose Peppers" which are super sweet. They are used the same as above, fried with sausage, pepper & egg sandwiches etc. While they look like cubanelle, they are not the same. They can be seen at this link http://www.gourmetseed.com/sweet_pepper_seed.0.html

They don't look anything like cubanelles, and according to the the site, they're little things, the size of habanero peppers, or, the size of a large olive.

Cubanelles are wonderfully sweet peppers that are perfect for frying. They're also tasty when eaten raw in a salad.

I love pairing them with sauteed eggplant and fresh plum tomatoes in a quick sauce with garlic. Awesome tossed with rigatoni and pecorino romano. And don't forget the glass of wine. Chunks of Italian sausage also make a good addition to this dish.

Michael
I think you are looking at the wrong pepper, The "Pepper Melrose" is the fouth pepper down on the page.

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy2dogs

Michael
I think you are looking at the wrong pepper, The "Pepper Melrose" is the fouth pepper down on the page.

Boy, are you right. I certainly was looking at the wrong pepper.

cubanelles fried in olive oil and scrambled with eggs!!!! My grand parents also roasted lots of them and packed them in jars with olive oil so we had them year round and peppers and eggs on "Scalla" bread with a little Hellmans!!AWESOME lunch box trea!

quote:

Originally posted by TJ Jackson

Cubanelles?

Those are the ones we grew on our deck this summer with the plants sold as "Italian Sweet" and we had a bumper crop! There were so many uses for them, from frying to pizza toppings to stir frys to raw on sandwiches. We'll definetely be growing them in containers on the deck next year (our garden in the yard did not fare so well). We let them all ripen on the vine to a rich red.

Andrea