Tony Hatfield's Retired Ramblings

Piedmontese Peppers

Credit to Delia Smith for this one. Large red Peppers...NOT Green or Orange! 4 medium tomatoes 8 tinned anchovy fillets drained 2 Cloves Garlic 8 Dessertspoons Extra Virgin Olive oil Freshly milled black pepper ( is there any other sort?) To Serve:1 Small bunch fresh basil leaves. Pre-heat oven to gas Mark 4 350F (180C) The Saintly Delia adds:For this it is essential to use a good, solid, shallow roasting tray16x12 inches: if the sides are too deep, the roasted vegetables won't get those lovely nutty, toasted edges. Begin by cutting the peppers in half and removing the seeds but leaving the stalks intact (they're not edible but they do look attractive and they help the pepper halves to keep their shape). Lay the pepper halves in a lightly oiled roasting tray. Now put the tomatoes in a bowl and pout boiling water over them. Leave them for one minute, then drain them and slip the skins off, using a cloth to protect your hands. Then cut the tomatoes in quarters and place two quarters in each pepper half. After that snip one anchovy fillet per pepper half into rough pieces and add the tomatoes. Peel the garlic cloves, slice them thinly and divide the slices equally amongst the tomatoes and anchovies. Now spoon 1 dessertspoon of olive oil into each pepper, season with freshly milled pepper ( but no salt because of the anchovies) and place the tray on a high shelf in the oven for the peppers to roast for 50 mins-1 hour.Then transfer the cooked peppers to a serving-dish, with all the precious juices poured over, and garnish with a few scattered basil leaves. These do need a good bread to go with them as the juices are sublime. Focaccia would be perfect.

posted by Tony @ Saturday, September 11, 2004