SPICY STUFFED PEPPERS WITH TUNA, ANCHOVIES, AND CAPERS
In our family, we are not fans of hot peppers: I actually love eating spicy during pregnancy. Don’t ask me why, but since my first pregnancy, I’ve craved spicy and always ate it. Once I gave birth, this craving disappeared. So, when dad gave me these peppers he grew, I thought: here’s an excuse to put them on the blog, and if necessary, I’ll give them away 🙂
However, we liked them a lot, even though I don’t love the salty taste of the stuffing, overall, it’s really delicious.
I warn you right away that there are multiple steps and you should be extremely careful when cleaning the peppers: the filling is really very spicy, so I advise you to wear gloves and try not to touch your face during the steps 😉
Make sure: STERILIZE THE JARS WELL BEFOREHAND AND THEN DO THE WATER BATH PASTEURIZATION, botulism is risky, do not underestimate the importance of the steps.
Inside you will also find the video well detailed with all the steps.
Let’s see how I made them.
EMIMETTOAIFORNELLI suggests:
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 1 Day
- Preparation time: 3 Hours
- Portions: 4/6 jars
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 2.2 lbs round hot peppers
- 14 oz tuna in water
- 1 jar capers
- 1 jar anchovies in oil
- 1 quart olive oil (or seed oil)
- 2 cups white wine vinegar
- 2 cups water
Tools
I recommend purchasing these tools, useful for the success of the recipe (ADV)
- Jars
- Gloves
Steps
First, wash our peppers well, removing any excess dirt.
Now we do an optional step; if you don’t want to, you can skip it.
Fill a large bowl with water, add a tablespoon of baking soda, and soak the peppers for half an hour.
Drain, rinse, and dry.
First, put on gloves: with a pointed knife, make an incision at the top, remove the head, then scoop out the seeds and clean the interior well.
Repeat this operation for each pepper (as you can see in the video).
Now let’s move on to cooking: in a tall pot, pour the vinegar and water (they must always be in equal amounts), add the vegetables and bring to a boil: 7/8 minutes and then drain.
Spread on a towel face down and let dry well for at least 8 hours (I let them rest all night because I started in the afternoon).
Before moving on to the second phase, it is important to sterilize jars and lids in boiling water:
Take a tall pot, fill it with water, and place a towel at the bottom (if the jars bang against each other, they might break).
From boiling point, let it go for 10 minutes.
Drain on a towel but do not throw away the water; we will reuse it later to create the vacuum seal 🙂
Once they are well dried, we fill the peppers. In a mixer, pour the tuna, a few anchovy fillets, and a handful of capers. Blend well until it forms a cream.
With the help of a teaspoon, fill the peppers, being careful not to overfill.
Place the peppers in jars, being careful to have the filling face the walls so it doesn’t spill out.
Do not fill above the rim, leave two fingers’ space so you can pour in the olive oil until they are covered.
Close tightly with the lids.
As I mentioned above: take the pot with the water and place our jars.
From boiling point, leave them for about 30 minutes.
Drain them while still hot and let them cool upside down.
Our SPICY STUFFED PEPPERS WITH TUNA, ANCHOVIES, AND CAPERS are ready. Store in the pantry for a month before serving.
Storage
They are stored in a dry, not too bright place, such as a pantry or cellar. A very important thing: as soon as you open the jar, make sure it makes a clack sound and that it has a good color or smell to avoid botulism.
If you are not sure, THROW EVERYTHING AWAY.
