Italian Frying Pepper Bruschetta

I received Italian Frying Peppers in my CSA share this week. I had no idea what an Italian frying pepper was so I was curious to find out more about these fun looking peppers. Although they look like they might be spicy, they are definitely closer to the flavor of a bell pepper, but there is a hint of spice. They come in a range of colors so I thought they’d make a beautiful bruschetta-type appetizer. I figured there was good reason they were called frying peppers, so I kept it simple and did just that: sauteed them up in some olive oil. (Sorry about the lack of amounts of each ingredient, I made this up as I was going)

Ingredients:

Preheat your broiler. Brush the pieces of bread with the olive oil. (I realized after I did this with basil how fantastic it would have been with Nudo’s olive oil with chili. Sigh. I’ll do that next time!)

Top with Parmesan cheese and add to a cookie sheet.

Broil for 1-2 minutes or until the bread begins to brown.

Add 1 teaspoon of olive oil per frying pepper (I cooked three so I used 1 tablespoon) to a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the peppers.

Cook until they begin to brown, turning once, about 4-5 minutes.

Remove the peppers from the pan and top the bread with slices of peppers.

If desired, add a bit more Parmesan cheese and broil for another 30 seconds to a minute, or until the cheese melts.

They can be served as is. Simple, delicious, and quick.

You can also add some freshly chopped basil to the slices to add a bit more flavor.

These were really stellar. I loved how (for lack of a better term) creamy the peppers became once fried. This recipe was really delicious with the basil olive oil, but I bet the chili olive oil would have been spectacular. Normal extra virgin olive oil would also do the trick.