Piperade is the quintessential Basque sauce and condiment, an indispensable basic of Basque cooking. It is essentially a slow simmered compote of sweet peppers, tomato and onions, flavored with thyme and Piment d’Espelette. Piperade can be used in many dishes, including with eggs (the photo shows a dish of eggs baked with prawns and piperade), as a sauce for fish and meats and a number of other dishes.
In the past, piperade was simmered very slowly in a earthenware pot placed in the corner of the hearth. Although this recipe is cooked on the stove top, it is important to simmer the piperade gently for best results.
Nettle Pistou with walnuts, garlic and lemon
Ingredients
- 1 105 oz can tomatoes
- 1# panchetta
- 4# green peppers
- 4# red peppers
- 6 onions
- 12 cloves garlic
- Salt
- Pepper
- 6 sprigs thyme
- 3 bay leaf
- Olive oil
- 2 T Pimente d’Espelette
Note
This recipe is for a restaurant sized batch of piperade. For home use, you can divide by 4.
Preparation
- Drain the tomatoes saving the juice, then seed and dice the solids. Peel the onions and garlic, cut in medium-small dice. Remove the seeds, core and pith from the peppers and cut in medium-small dice. Pick the thyme. Cut the panchetta into lardons.
- In a heavy pan, sweat the panchetta in a 1 cup of olive oil until cooked through but not colored. Add 1 cup of olive oil and the peppers, continue to cook slowly until softened. Add the onions and garlic and sweat slowly as well.
- Add the diced tomatoes and juice and raise the heat to bring to a boil.. Add salt, pepper and pimente d’espelette. Add the thyme leaves and bay. When a full boil is reached, lower the heat to a gentle simmer and let simmer covered for 20 minutes.
- Remove the cover and taste. If the tomatoes are too acid, add a pinch or two of sugar. Let simmer 20 minutes more, uncovered, to concentrate the flavors. Raise the heat a bit the last 5 minutes if necessary to reach a thick sauce consistency
This sounds delicious! I am hopeful that one day we can see the recipe for Brandade de morue nîmoise. I am in NY and had that a couple of years ago when visiting your restaurant and would love to try to make that dish! That item is on my list of Last Supper Meals…
I will try to get the recipe for Brandade in the recipe section as soon as time allows. In the meantime, you might try Elisabeth David’s “Frence Provincial Cooking”. My recipe is similar to hers.
Jim,
Is this the dish David and I had when visiting your restaurant back when? If this is, I did love this and had never had anything like it. Looks complicated for someone like me. How is your Roast chicken? Looks delicious to me, will try that next time.