Peppers in plonk

For alliteration purposes, the best translation of the Piedmontese “pavrun ant’la rapa” would be “peppers in plonk”. Although in this case, the plonk in question is not a low quality wine. Called “Vinaccia” in Italian, the dialect form “rapa” is almost identical to its little-used English equivalent “rape” as the more common term is “pomace”. For the purpose of this recipe the term “dregs” shall be used henceforth, in other words, the solid remains of the grapes once they have been pressed in the winemaking process. This recipe is an age-old Piedmontese conservation technique. The type of peppers required are flat and somewhat tomato-like in shape and they are purposely grown in the Alessandria and Asti regions to coincide with the grape harvest, so that the red grape dregs may be used.