"Pork" with Red Peppers

In the late 1960's the Time/Life company had a "Foods of the World" cookbook series. My family had just returned from a year and a half in Europe, and we came back to a pretty dismal food scene. Even though I was only in high school, I subscribed to the series and taught myself to cook from it. These cookbooks, which I still have, are now widely and cheaply available in used book stores and thrift shops and each and every one of them has at least a few recipes I make over and over again. Hard to believe I've been making some of these recipes for forty years!

My mother was a fairly adventurous cook and used to make a fabulous Portuguese pork dish (Lombo de Porco com Pimentos) from the The Cooking of Spain and Portugal book. I suspect part of the fabulousness was the quarter cup of lard the original called for. My vegetarian version substitutes butter -- and less of it -- and I think it's still good.

Ingredients:

6 oz faux chicken strips, thawed and cut into uniform pieces
2 generous tablespoons butter
4 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 large red bell pepper, seeded, deribbed and sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine or white vermouth
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 lemon wedges

Method:

In a nonstick pan, melt a scant tablespoon butter and saute the strips until they are lightly browned. Remove and reserve.

Remove any bits of the strips sticking to the pan and melt the rest of the butter. Add the minced garlic and cook until it is just beginning to brown lightly. Add the red pepper slices and saute for a couple of minutes until they soften slightly. Add the wine, stock, and salt. Simmer over very low heat for about half an hour (adding more stock if necessary) until the pepper is very thoroughly cooked and the liquid has a sauce-like consistency. Add the reserved strips, stir to combine and cook until they are just heated through.

Serve over rice, garnished with the lemon wedge. Serves two. Recipe can easily be doubled, tripled or quadrupled.