| What do you mean with Italian peperoni? Half of you (maybe more) will promptly answer: an Italian sausage! Wrong. Peperoni in Italy is the plural form of peperone, which means red pepper. The so famous sausage does not exist in Italy. Yes, it may sound strange, so as for pasta Bolognese that does not exist in Bologna. The red pepper is very known and used in Italy, specially in the south cuisine. There’s the famous “peperonata”, and peperone is used in many dishes (including pizza) and ate often by itself. Red pepper is sometimes difficult to digest, but there is a solution for this problem: you have to eliminate peel and seeds. To eliminate the peel put the peperone on a barbecue or into the oven (preferably closed by aluminium paper). When it’s done, the peel will come out easily, leaving the best part to be appreciated. The best pepperoni I’ve eaten were the simplest ones. Just cook them into the oven (or on a barbecue) and peel it as told above. Then dress it as a salad (but do it some hours before eating) with minced garlic and a good
extra virgin olive oil
. Add salt and … enjoy!
Stuffed pepperoni
This is very easy to do too.Just cook some ground meat together with peeled tomatoes (1 can is enough), minced onion, garlic and parsley; always paying attention to use a good
extra virgin olive oil
. Cut each peperone in two, eliminate all seeds and fill them with the cooked meat. Put some slices of
mozzarella
on the top and cook it into the oven for about half an hour (the pepperoni should become soft when prick with the fork and the mozzarella should melt and grill a little). | 
