Hungarian Pepper Lecso

From the garden

• 2 lb sweet peppers, seeded and cut into wide strips
• 1½ lb ripe tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped
• 2 medium yellow onions, sliced
• 1 lb waxy potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks
• ¼ cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped

From the pantry

• 1½ tbsp paprika · sweet Hungarian paprika is the traditional one; smoked works
• 3 tbsp neutral oil
• 1 tsp sugar · rounds off sharp early tomatoes
• crusty bread (optional) · for serving
• salt · to taste
• black pepper

1. Warm the oil in a wide, heavy pot over medium heat and cook the onions with a good pinch of salt 8–10 minutes, until soft and translucent. Stop short of browning them, which pushes the finished lecso toward bitterness.
2. Take the pot off the heat and stir in the paprika. Paprika scorches in seconds over a live flame and turns acrid, so let it bloom in the warm oil for about 30 seconds before the pot goes back on low heat.
3. Add the pepper strips and the potatoes, turn them through the red oil, cover, and sweat over medium-low 10 minutes, until the peppers slump and start giving up their liquid.
4. Add the tomatoes and the sugar, cover again, and simmer 20–25 minutes, stirring now and then, until the potatoes are tender and the peppers have collapsed into a loose, glossy stew.
5. Uncover and cook 5 minutes more if it looks watery, then season firmly with salt and black pepper. Lecso needs more salt than seems reasonable before the sweetness of the peppers comes forward.
6. Scatter the parsley and serve warm in shallow bowls with bread for mopping. It is better on the second day, so cook a double batch while the peppers are coming in.