Neapolitan Classics: Sweet and Sour Stuffed Peppers

Peperoni imbottiti… Stuffed peppers. My Mum made them very often for us. The combination of sweet and sour or agrodolce is one of the hallmarks in the flavour pantheon of Neapolitan food.

These are very simple to make and may be a main or a side dish. This is my rendition, with tweaks and adaptations, of my Mum’s recipe.

The quantities provided are sufficient for 10 peppers (organic ones, which can be slightly smaller). Recipe after the photo.

Ingredients

250g bread, slightly toasted if fresh (or if dry and a few days old, then no toasting is necessary) and ripped up in small pieces (any kind – you could also use olive bread, in which case halve the amount of olives you use or use just green ones if the bread is made with black olives)
30g prunes, chopped or 50g sultanas/raisins
30g sun dried tomatoes, chopped
2 Tablespoons capers, whole
50g pine nuts
25g black olives
25g green olives
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon oregano
30g fresh parsley, roughly chopped
olive oil

Method
Preheat oven to 225C.

In a food processor (see below if you don’t have one), combine the bread, sun dried tomatoes, olives, prunes/raisins/sultanas and pine nuts (capers and parsley stay out). Pulse a few times to get a chunky consistency and not too smooth.

Then transfer the mix to a large bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Drizzle olive oil onto the mixture and mix well. See photo below.

If you don’t have a food processor, don’t worry. Just make sure that your bread is chopped up well, roughly chop the olives and leave the pine nuts whole. Mix everything very well in the large bowl as above adding the rest of the ingredients.
Set aside the mixture to soak up the flavours and start preparing the peppers.

Line a baking dish with parchment paper.

Slice the top of each pepper and set aside. You will need the tops later. I like to keep track of which top goes with which pepper because it makes it easier later. Remove the seeds from the inside of the pepper.

Now, stuff the peppers. Use the back of a spoon and/or your fingers to really cram as much in there of the stuffing mixture as you can.

Before transferring the peppers to the baking dish, drizzle a bit of olive oil into each stuffed pepper. Place a small drop of olive oil in the palm of your hand. Coat the exterior of each pepper and its top. Arrange in the baking dish, covering each pepper with its top.

Bake the peppers for 40 minutes (or more if you like them more well done and softer).