Piedmont Peppers

Elizabeth David has this Italian recipe in her book, Italian Food. She suggests using any type of coloured pepper and also recommends a quicker cooking time (30 minutes) so that the pepper are al dente. I prefer them roasted a little more to develop their sweetness and provide the delicious soft pulp to mop-up with bread.

Preheat the oven to 180C Gas 4

1. Wash and cut the peppers in half removing the seeds but leaving the stalk in tact.
2. Peel and seed the fleshy tomatoes and chop. Slice the cherry tomatoes in half. Grate the garlic and spread a little on the inside of each pepper.
3. Take the anchovy fillets and chop, adding half or one fillet to each pepper half.
4. Add the chopped tomato evenly across the peppers and sprinkle each with oregano and grated pepper. Place three cut cherry tomatoes into each half.
5. Place on a heavy baking tray (not roasting tin) and drizzle with olive oil. Roast in the oven for 45 minutes – 1 hour. Check to ensure they are not burning too much. What is happening is that the peppers are roasting slowly enough to develop their unique sweet flavour but with enough heat to give some scorched burning in places. The low tray will help with this – but if necessary crank up the heat toward the end of cooking.
6. I like to let them stay in the oven with the heat off to dry out the tomato. I also like to keep them in the fridge for a day to help develop flavours. Reheat to warm through, or eat at room temperature. Serve with basil or a basil dressing, lots more olive oil and a salad. It is essential to eat these with good quality crusty bread to mop up all the juices.