Recipe: Pisto Manchego

Recipe Source: Aris, Pepita.  Tapas & Spanish Best-Ever Recipes.  Anness Publishing Ltd., 2007 p. 70

I made this dish for our Labor Day barbeque.  We might not have really needed it; we had a lot of other food on the table.  As you're probably already aware if you've read this site on a semi-regular basis, I've kind of developed a compulsion to have multiple types of vegetables on the table.  I don't think we had many leftovers of it, so I guess that maybe we needed it more than I thought.  I will say, though that the only real comment I got about this dish was that it tasted very much like the ratatouille I served back at the end of June.  Oh well.  I guess you live and learn.  Most of the guests for the Labor Day barbeque were not the same people who were at the earlier party, so it's probably not horrible. 

I didn't make many changes to this recipe, because it was so simple and because I was pretty frazzled by the time I got to the pisto.  I skipped the optional hard-boiled eggs to keep it purely vegetarian and to avoid making some of my guests (not fans of eggs) turn their noses up.  I skipped the extra olive oil at the end, too, as I didn't see really what the point was.  I will say that the original recipe seemed to think that this serves four.  That may be true of a main dish, if people are really hungry and there isn't anything more substantial on the menu.  As a side dish, I fed it to 20 and only increased the number of green peppers.  I might have gotten as much out of the recipe as I did because of the sheer size of the zucchini I picked up - these things were so huge they were almost obscene. 

Pisto Manchego (serves 20; approx. cost per serving $0.95)

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 Spanish onions, thinly sliced

6 tablespoons minced jarred garlic

5 large green bell peppers, seeded and chopped

3 very, very large zucchini, thinly sliced

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes, with juice

4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Equipment:

• Very large wok

1. Heat the oil in the wok and cook the onions and garlic until soft, very gently.
2. Add the peppers, zucchini and tomatoes.  Cook gently over low heat 20 minutes.
3. Add the parsley and serve hot or cold. 

Technorati Tags: Easy recipes,vegetarian recipes,vegan recipes,zucchini,peppers,tomatoes,garlic,onions,olive oil,side dishes,Spanish food

Comments

[kellypea]

I've been making a lot of Spanish food lately, and this sounds good. We love veggies. On the egg you didn't include -- last night I hard boiled some egg that was supposed to go over the green beans and garlic, and what do you think was sitting on my window sill this morning? Yep. I forgot! Hahahahaha. Nobody missed it.

[kazari]

This looks yummy! I'm a huge fan of ratatouille, so I'm sure I'll like this.

[Jude]

Having lots of veggies shouldn't be a "compulsion." Shouldn't that be considered normal?
The recipe looks good and I can see how it could remind peiople of ratatouille -- I have to admit I thought there was Manchego cheese when I saw the title.