Dried sweet red peppers: Food

Italian name: Peperoni rossi dolci secchi.
Form: Dried pepper flesh in cooking pieces.
Ready quantity: 20 g after removing stalks and seeds; about 4 small peppers.

Sweet peppers from the dry store

Dried sweet red peppers soften in the tomato sauce of Stocco alla mammolese alongside stockfish, potatoes and olives.

These are sweet red peppers dried for cooking and kept as pieces of pepper flesh. Italian dried-pepper preparations include whole fruits and lengthwise strips. For this stew, choose dried sweet peppers that can be broken or cut into pieces and added to the sauce with the fish.

Clean first, then weigh

Remove the stalks and shake out the loose seeds. Break or cut the flesh into cooking pieces, then weigh 20 g. About four small dried peppers is a useful guide to the quantity, but their size varies: use the cleaned weight to set the amount.

Alongside the stocco

In the Mammola preparation, dried peppers join the stockfish, potatoes, olives and tomato. Here they cook gently in the sauce. The dish uses their softened flesh rather than a separate crisp fried garnish.

Let the sauce do the softening

Add the prepared pieces with the stockfish and olives, then cook gently among the potatoes. Move the pan instead of stirring through the fish. For a double batch, prepare 40 g of cleaned dried pepper pieces and divide the stew between pans if needed.

Cook with it

Stocco alla mammolese

Look for dried, sweet pepper

Choose plain dried sweet red peppers, whole or in pieces. Check that the label identifies sweet pepper and shows the ingredients. Keep hot chilli, ground sweet-pepper powder and peppers packed in oil separate from this purchase; the stew needs pieces of dried pepper flesh.

Keep the remaining peppers dry

Follow the pack’s storage instructions and close it after taking out the amount needed. Keep the remaining peppers away from moisture and cooking steam. Clean the portion for the pan just before use, leaving the stored peppers dry.

Questions worth asking

Should I buy whole dried peppers or strips?

Either form can supply the cooking pieces. Remove stalks and loose seeds, then weigh 20 g of the dried flesh.

Can I use 20 g of fresh pepper or powder?

Weigh 20 g of the dried pepper flesh specified here. Fresh pepper and powder have different forms and do not give the same pieces in the sauce.

Dried sweet red peppers