Stuffed Roasted Piquillo Peppers
Pimientos del Piquillo Rellenos

Back to our Spanish Recipes Stuffed Roasted Piquillo Peppers is a popular Spanish recipe, widely available in restaurants and frequently cooked for special meals with friends and family. Spanish cooking uses white sauce extensively to bind ingredients and to add a creamy texture to dishes.  Indeed “béchamel” is about the only French work many Spanish will utter.  In this dish, we prepare a white sauce mixture with ham and onions and use it to stuff the piquillo peppers.  Served with a green salad and crusty bread, these stuffed peppers make a tasty lunch dish any time of the year.

Difficulties	Cooking Time	Servings
	45min.	4 Lunch

Ingredients

• 1 jar La Buena Vida Piquillo Peppers, drained a juice set aside.
• 4- 6 slices seranno ham roughly chopped.
• Medium onion finely chopped.
• Olive oil for frying
• Nutmeg (ideally whole for grating or failing that ground).
• 30 grs plain flour.
• 30 grs butter.
• 250 mls whole or semi skimmed milk
• Table salt.
• Coarse sea salt and black pepper.

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick pan over a medium heat.
2. Add the chopped onions and cook until golden, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the ham and turn in the pan for 3- 4 minutes.  Remove from the head and set aside
4. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees centigrade.
5. To make the white sauce, you first need a roux.  In a heavy saucepan, over a medium heat, melt the butter. 
6. Once the butter is melted, add the flour whilst still over the heat.  Incorporate the butter and flour by mixing vigorously with a wooden spoon for 4- 5minutes.  The roux should have the consistency of putty.  Cooled and covered, it can be stored in the fridge for many weeks.  In this recipe we use it straight away.
7. Slowly add the milk to the roux in the pan, mixing vigorously with a wooden spoon ensuring no lumps form.  Turn the heat down and gently cook the white sauce for 5 minutes. The sauce should have the consistency of a thick custard.
8. Grate a little nutmeg over the sauce and season with salt to taste.  Add the cooled ham and onion mixture and stir to incorporate.  Allow to cool so as to be comfortable to handle.
9. Carefully open each pepper and using a teaspoon gently fill each pepper and place on a baking tray.  Any remaining white sauce and half the reserved pepper juice can be poured over the filled peppers.
10. Place the pepper dish in the oven for 15 minutes to heat through.
11. A twist of pepper and a dusting of coarse salt over the warmed peppers and you are ready to serve.

Tips and Variations

• Commercial white sauce can be substituted for the butter, flour and milk above. However, we recommend you use less milk or water than the instructions probably suggest, you need a thicker consistency than the pouring sauce packets these generally produce.
• The dish can be prepared in advance to the point just before baking in the oven.
• The basic white sauce can be enhanced with a sprig of fresh thyme or another aromatic herb in place or in addition to the grated nutmeg.
• In terms of filling, just about anything goes.  The Spanish will typically add fish, shellfish, poultry or cured meats to the white sauce.  Leftover Sunday roast also makes a great stuffing. 
• If you really want to push the boat out, prawns make a particularly good filling with a grating of lemon zest into a thyme-flavoured white sauce in our experience.