Piedmont Peppers

Finally summer appears to have arrived to the West Coast of Canada and the barbecue is back in action, this is a side dish that is one of my favourite side dishes in the summer (though I have been known to make it in the winter too).  It is a good foil to a barbecued steak, which is what we had it with on the long weekend.

The recipe is originally from Delia Smith's cook book "Summer"  there is another book called "Winter" and they are great books to go to for ideas and I like the fact that they are seasonal.

1/2 pepper per person
1/2 clove of garlic per person
1 tomato per person
optional 1/2 anchovy fillet per person
1 tablespoon of chopped fresh basil per per pepper.
Olive oil to drizzle over

Cut the peppers in half and take the stalk off and all the seeds then lay in a single layer in a roasting tin cut side up. In the cavity of each pepper place sliced garlic cut up tomato anchovy fillet if you are using them add freshly ground black pepper and salt.

Sprinkle with the chopped basil and drizzle olive oil over the whole thing.

Close up of a pepper

Place in a preheated 400 oven or on the top rack of the barbecue for about 1/2 hour until the peppers are slightly charred and the tomatoes cooked through.

These really are delicious and you can serve them hot from the oven or at room temperature like a warm salad.  We had these with barbecued steaks a warm potato salad and a green salad.  Nothing took much preparation and it was a wonderful meal as one of the first eaten outside this year.