Piquillos Rellenos de Carne

Piquillos Rellenos de Carne are Navarrese before they are anything else: small roasted piquillo peppers, usually from Lodosa, filled with a minced-meat sofrito, the slow onion base, then warmed in a sauce made from the peppers themselves. The pepper is sweet, thin, and triangular, not a bell pepper pretending to be useful. That sweetness carries the dish.

The method that decides it is the filling. Cook the onion low until it goes soft and gold, then cook the beef and pork until the juices are gone, and bind it with just enough flour and milk to make it spoonable, not loose. A wet filling tears the peppers and thins the sauce. A thick one sits neatly inside and tastes of meat, onion, and roasted pepper together.

If you can't find fresh or jarred Pimientos del Piquillo de Lodosa, use good whole roasted red peppers in a jar, small ones if you can. They will be broader and softer, so stuff them lightly and close them with the seam underneath. No hace falta haber pisado España. You do need good peppers, patience with the sofrito, and a gentle hand.

My Margin beside this one says only: cool the filling. Hot filling makes brave cooks clumsy. Let it rest, spoon it in, and warm the stuffed peppers in the sauce until glossy. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.