Friggitelli, also known as friarelli, are small sized, slender, mild flavored, south Italian peppers that are great for frying. Popular in Southern Italy, they can be prepared in various ways. The most common cooking technique is sautéing them in a pan before seasoning with plenty of coarse salt.
The dinky peppers are also fun to eat with your hands by holding onto stalk! Whether fried in a pan or baked, the friggitelli are delicious as a side dish, paired with meat and fish. They are also known as the Golden Greek pepper, Sweet Italian pepper, or Tuscan pepper. In the United States they may be called "pepperoncini"; they are quite distinct from Italian peperoncini, which are hot Italian chili peppers.
My family makes this classic dish. The peppers are fried in hot olive oil and garlic, then topped with fresh tomatoes, lowered to a simmered down. This dish is absolutely delicious! The peppers themselves are thin walled, and they do fry up pretty quickly compared to other peppers. You can serve them as a side dish, eat as they are with a delicious piece of rustic Italian bread, or add these to your favorite sandwich, for a delicious, fresh & wholesome feast!
Ingredients
5-8 peppers
3 whole tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
Directions
Start by rinsing peppers under cold water.
If you decide to cook them whole, simply skip to the next step. Otherwise using a small sharp knife cut of the top with the stem.
Remove the seeds. You can speed up cleaning process by cutting the top part a quarter of an inch lower from the stem. This helps remove the seeds faster.
Rinse peppers again in cold water to remove any remaining seeds.
In a large pan add a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil & garlic cloves. Fry for 2-3 minutes.
Add Italian frying peppers (whole or previously deseeded). Fry for 2-3 minutes.
Add freshly chopped tomatoes, and cook on high heat for a few minutes then reduce to medium and cover with a lid. Cook for about 15 minutes or until tender.
Peppers & tomatoes should release enough juice while in the pan but feel free to add some water if the pan is getting too dry.
Once peppers are cooked add basil leaves and salt to taste. Give another good stir.
Serve with freshly ground black pepper.
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