Peperoncini ripieni con tonno, sott’olio (peppers filled with tuna, preserved in oil)

• By Claire Borg

This is a good recipe for a party, or a buffet table. You’ll need a bit of patience, but that’s always the case with party-food, and practice makes perfect, as they say.

Bernard Muscat's wine recommendation: with these peppers, you need a medium-flavoured red wine with good acidity, like Castellina Chianti Classico DOCG 2004, Piscopo Wines & Spirits.

You will need:

About 130 chilli peppers (short and round), 750ml of white-wine vinegar, 750ml of dry white wine, a clove of garlic, 200g of pitted black olives, olive oil, four tablespoonfuls of capers, a small bunch parsley, two anchovy fillets, 400g of tuna canned in oil (bottled tuna-in-oil is prohibitively expensive given the quantities involved, and is best eaten as it is in any case).

Wash the peppers and put them into a large pot with the wine and vinegar. Bring it to the boil, turn down the heat and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Now drain off the liquid and let the peppers cool down. Put on some gloves, and use a short, sharp knife to cut around the stems, pulling them out so that the peppers are hulled. Use a teaspoon to scrape out the seeds. Take care not to touch your face at all. Put the peppers cut side down on a draining-rack and let them dry out overnight. Use a blender to process the parsley, olives, garlic, anchovies, capers and tuna to a rough paste. Use a piping-bag or tube to fill the peppers. Now put them carefully into a large preserving-jar, packed in layers but leaving enough room for olive oil to cover them completely when you pour it on. It’s best to keep them in the refrigerator, and to eat them within days.