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Salsa Rossa

From the book Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan

Culinate editor’s notes: Salsa rossa is an Italian basic that adapts to wide use. Serve it as a condiment to grilled foods, with pork sausages, as a sauce for pasta or polenta, or even as a rich side vegetable.

The condiment can be made in many ways — with fresh tomatoes or canned, with or without red bell peppers, grilled or stewed, with only onion as an aromatic or with herbs, carrots, and celery — but this recipe with stewed tomato, onion, and bell pepper is likely to be the most simple and elemental.

Ingredients

	3	meaty red or yellow bell peppers
	5	medium yellow onions, peeled and sliced thin
	¼	cup vegetable oil
	~	A tiny pinch of chopped hot chile pepper
	2	cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, with their juice, or 3 cups cut-up fresh tomatoes, if very ripe
	~	Salt

Steps

Split the peppers lengthwise and remove the cores and seeds. Skin the peppers using a peeler, then cut them into slices more or less ½-inch wide.
Put the onions and oil in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the onions are wilted and soft but not brown.
Add the peppers and continue cooking over medium heat until both peppers and onions are very soft and their bulk has been reduced by half.
Add the chile pepper, tomatoes, and salt, and continue cooking, letting the sauce simmer gently, for 25 minutes or so, until the tomatoes and oil separate and the fat floats free.
Taste and correct for salt, and serve hot.

Notes

Salsa rossa can be prepared up to two weeks in advance and refrigerated in an airtight container. Reheat gently and stir thoroughly before serving.

Related article: Grilling maitake mushrooms

This content is from the book Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan.

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