Basque Cooking in the US - Substitution for piment d'Espelette ?

Question

A Basque acquaintance recently served her mother's Piperade recipe, and I LOVED it. I've found what appears to be an authentic recipe on line, but it calls for 1/8 teaspoon of piment d'Espelette, which I understand is a pepper. Is this something found in one's local grocery store, or will I need to find a specialty shop/on-line? Does it come in a jar?
Is there something similar that I could substitute? Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup olive oil
1 small onion, finely sliced
6 anaheim chiles, seeded and finely sliced
6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
6 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon piment d'Espelette
1 bay leaf
salt and freshly ground white pepper

Heat olive oil in large saute pan over med-high heat. Add chiles, onion & garlic and cook 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, sugar, piment d'Espellete & bay leaf. Season with salt & pepper & bring to boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat & simmer 25-30 minutes. Remove & discard bay leaf.

Answer 1

looking at the recipe I'm thinking it is similar to pimento or paprika?

From the following website... you can use Hot Paprika...
"About the same heat scale as hot paprika, the Espelette pepper is regarded by the French as a four on the scale of one to ten. In fact, hot paprika powder can be substituted, as can New Mexico red chile powder."

http://www.fiery-foods.com/dave/espelette1.html

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Basque Cooking in the US - Substitution for piment d'Espelette ?
A Basque acquaintance recently served her mother's Piperade recipe, and I LOVED it. I've found what appears to be an authentic recipe on line, but it calls for 1/8 teaspoon of piment d'Espelette, which I understand is a pepper. Is this something found in one's local grocery store,...

Answer 3

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What you could do is use peanut oil, which is unflavored to act as the "fat" part of the bean recipe. I have cooked southern style vegan black eyed peas and have used 1 tablespoon peanut oil as the pork fat substitute. To add the pork flavor for 3 cups of cooked black eyed peas, I will add 1/4 teaspoon of smoke flavoring and 1 teaspoon of bacon soy bits. Taste this to see if there is enough pork flavoring to suit you. If not, you can add more smoke flavoring and bacon soy bits. Now when I make New England baked beans...my life mate is from New England, I will fry in 1 tablespoon peanut oil: 1/4 cup chopped onions with 1 teaspoon soy bacon bits. I will add this to 3 cups baked white (Navy) beans. I will add 1/4 teaspoon of the following: garlic powder, turmeric and paprika powder. I then will add 1/2 cup ketchup and 2 tablespoons additional brown sugar. Add 1/2 cup water and mix. Then I will add a dash of black pepper and 1/4 teaspoon sea salt. I'll drizzle 1/2 cup blackstrap molasses over the bean mixture. All of this will go into an oven bean pot or a medium baking dish. I'll put some aluminum foil over the top (unless the bean pot has a lid). Cook at 350 F for 45 minutes....yummy and so hearty!

Answer 4

As essential to authentic Basque cooking as jalapeños are to Tex-Mex cuisine and anchos are to molé, piment d'Espelette is harvested in late summer, when the bright red peppers are strung like the chile ristras of the Southwest US, and hung on the lovely white houses of the villages to dry in the sun.

If you can't find the real thing, you can substitute hot paprika, mild New Mexico red chile powder, or a combination of the two with a bit of pimentón mixed in.

Answer 5

That's a good question, I was wondering the same thing myself