Pisto Manchego

Pisto Manchego is La Mancha's summer vegetable pan: tomato, long green pepper, a little red pepper, onion, and courgette, cooked in olive oil until sweet. What makes it this pisto is the shape of it. The vegetables stay diced and recognizable, held together by tomato reduced until it coats them. It isn't a purée, and it shouldn't sit in a puddle.

The method that decides it is simple: cook each vegetable apart. Onion, pepper, courgette, and tomato surrender their water at different speeds. Tip them in together and the courgette gives up before the pepper is tender; give each its turn, then fold everything together for the last ten minutes. I use one wide pan and one bowl, so this asks for time, not a sink full of washing.

Far from La Mancha, use a green bell pepper if pimiento verde italiano, the long green frying pepper, is missing. Its skin is thicker and its flavour less grassy, so dice it slightly smaller and cook it three to five minutes longer. When tomatoes are pale and hard, good canned whole peeled tomatoes are the honest choice. Drain them lightly, crush them, and reduce them ten minutes longer. The result is deeper and less fresh, but it is still pisto worth eating.

The Margin beside my recipe says only, "No water under the spoon." Reduce the tomato properly, keep the courgette intact, and let the finished pan rest before serving. Siempre sale, si lo sigues. It turns out if you follow it.