Paprika sauce with fried chicory

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 3 bell pepper(s), red
• 3 chicory
• 1 m.-sized onion(s)
• 2 tbsp oil
• 100 ml red wine
• 300 ml vegetable stock
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• n. B. Salt
• e.g. oregano
• e.g. chili flakes or Tabasco
• Parmesan if desired
• possibly pepper, freshly ground, if required

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 50 minutes

great as a pasta sauce or with rice

Clean the bell peppers, cut into strips, and place skin-side up on a baking sheet. Cook in the oven at maximum top heat, or better yet, grill, until the skin turns black and wrinkles. You’ll have to be brave here; the higher the heat, the faster the skin will peel off without burning the flesh. The more the skin wrinkles, the easier it is to remove it. Remove the tray from the oven, cover the bell pepper strips with a damp kitchen towel for about 10 minutes, and then peel off the skin. In the meantime, roughly dice the onion, fry in 1 tablespoon of oil until browned, and deglaze with red wine. Add about two-thirds of the peeled bell pepper strips, top up with stock, and bring to a boil. Now puree everything until finely chopped. Season with salt, oregano, and chili flakes or Tabasco. If you don’t like it spicy, substitute it with sweet paprika. Remove the stem from the chicory and cut into wide strips. Brown them with the remaining oil and sugar, then deglaze with balsamic vinegar. Cut the remaining bell peppers into thin strips and add them to the chicory briefly to warm them up. Stir everything into the bell pepper sauce. If desired, garnish with Parmesan cheese and/or freshly ground pepper. It goes perfectly with pasta or rice. Tip: This can also be easily adapted into a non-vegetarian version with fried meat strips.