A Calabrian antipasto peppers and potatoes

What I present today is a typical Calabrian side dish based on peppers and potatoes, in dialect "pìpi e patati". It's very easy to prepare, here is my recipe. The secret of the goodness of this dish is therefore all in the choice of raw material, which in Calabria in this period is certainly of the highest quality, but which also at other latitudes can be equally valid as long as seasonality is respected. If necessary, other ingredients can be added to this side dish of peppers and potatoes: red onions for example, or tomato cubes. The side dish of peppers and potatoes is not exactly light, but it will surely conquer you with its genuine and typically Mediterranean flavor.

For 4 people:

500 gr potatoes

1 kg of peppers

200 gr of ripe tomatoes

100 gr of frying oil

salt

Peel and wash the potatoes, cut into chunks (I make quite large pieces because I like to feel the taste), wash to remove some starch. Dry well and set aside. Wash the peppers (I mixed green and red, for this recipe it is recommended to use small and fleshy round ones), cut into 4 and deprive of seeds. They are washed, dried and set aside. Now put a large pan on the fire, pour a finger of oil and when it is hot fry the potatoes first and then the peppers. Once the vegetables are cooked, drain the excess oil, put them back in the pan and add some fresh tomatoes cut into small pieces, salt everything and cook a few more minutes until the vegetables are well mixed together.

Serve the side dish warm or at room temperature.

Traditional variant: when everything is ready, take a round bread and cut away horizontally the upper part, then remove the crumb. Fill the inside with peppers and potatoes and close again. 

The farmer prepared take away food that he then consumed during the day in the countryside.