DUKAI
Recipe BookKitchen FoundationsPurées

Piquillo Pepper Purée

Sweet, smoky, slightly acidic, intensely peppery.

This is where a plate announces Spain. No cream and no stock: the purity of the piquillo is more elegant than anything that would soften it.

Approximately 500 ml · Preparation 10 min · Cooking 15 min

Cook this

Ingredients

  • Piquillo peppers, jarred or preserved, drained500 g
  • Extra-virgin olive oil50 g
  • Garlic, small clove1 each
  • Sherry vinegar10 g to 15 g
  • Smoked sweet paprika1 g
  • Sea saltto taste
  • Espelette or mild Spanish chillia small pinch, optional

Method

  1. Gently warm the olive oil with the garlic.

  2. Add the piquillo peppers and cook slowly for 8 to 10 minutes.

  3. Add the paprika and cook briefly.

  4. Blend until completely smooth.

  5. Add the sherry vinegar.

  6. Pass through a fine chinois.

  7. Adjust the seasoning.

Chef’s notes

  • The standalone Piquillo Pepper Purée document is a creamed version of this preparation, and it is recorded here rather than published separately because it is the same purée enriched, not a different one. For approximately 600 g: 500 g drained piquillo peppers, 2 sliced shallots, 2 garlic cloves, 30 ml olive oil, 100 ml cream, 50 ml chicken stock, 15 ml sherry vinegar and salt. Sweat the shallots and garlic in the oil without colour, add the peppers and cook gently for 5 minutes, add the cream and stock and simmer for 10 minutes, blend on high until completely smooth, pass through a fine chinois, and finish with the sherry vinegar and salt. It should resemble silky mashed potato: let it down with stock if it is too thick, reduce it gently if it is too thin.
  • That version has no smoked paprika and this one does. The dairy-free recipe above is the canonical one, and the absence of cream in it is deliberate: it is what the Beef Fillet with Rioja Jus was built on.

Make ahead

Better made a day ahead. Warm gently to order and check the seasoning again.

Keeping

DUKAI storage guidance

Cool it quickly rather than leaving it on the pass: to below 21°C within about two hours, and to 5°C or below within a further four. At 5°C or below, use within 3 to 4 days, or freeze it in service-sized portions.

Allergens and diet

Vegan · Gluten free · Dairy free

Used in

Also in the Recipe Book

Last refined · September 2026