Stuffed Piquillo Peppers

Ingredients

• 12 fresh Piquillo peppers, with stem ends cut off and de-seeded

Sauce:

• 4 tomatoes, sliced into quarters
• 4 garlic cloves
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 6 ounces white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Stuffing:

• 1 pound dried, salted codfish
• 6 ounces white wine
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves, for garnish

Directions

To make the sauce: In a blender, drop in the tomatoes and garlic and blend until well chopped. Add the olive oil, white wine, and salt and blend until finely pureed; set aside.

To make the stuffing: In a medium sized pot half filled with boiling water, boil the dried cod for about 10 minutes until rehydrated. Drain and put the codfish into a blender. Add the white wine, garlic, parsley, and salt and blend everything together. Then, in a medium sized bowl, whisk together the milk and flour. Add this mixture to the codfish mixture in the blender and puree until it's the consistency of mashed potatoes. Heat a medium skillet over medium-low heat, pour in the codfish stuffing mixture, and cook just until the mixture is heated through. Put the mixture into a medium sized bowl and let it cool before stuffing the peppers.

To stuff the peppers: With a small spoon, carefully stuff about 1/2 teaspoon of the codfish mixture inside each pepper. It should fill the pepper's cavity but should not be falling out. Continue until all the peppers have been filled.

To finish the dish: In a large nonstick skillet on medium-low heat, add the sauce for the peppers. Then very carefully place each pepper in the pan and cook for about 15 minutes, or until heated through. Gently take each pepper out of the pan and place on a serving platter. Spoon the sauce over the peppers and garnish with 2 tablespoons chopped parsley.

This recipe was provided by professional chefs and has been scaled down from a bulk recipe provided by a restaurant. The Food Network Kitchens chefs have not tested this recipe, in the proportions indicated, and therefore, we cannot make any representation as to the results.