I
recently went on a kosher Italian cooking course. In Italy. With my Mum. I’m
sure that most of us feel pretty accustomed to what we think of as Italian
food, but really it is just scratching the surface. What astounded me so much
with the food we cooked, and the food we ate over that marvellous week in
Umbria, was how such massive, gutsy flavours could be brought out of a few,
simple ingredients. All it took was a little olive oil and salt, and a sense of
respect, time and place. And probably a little love. The course was run by
Silvia Nacamulli, and I highly recommend it. For information on the Italy trip
and the classes Silvia runs in London, see her website.
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Making pasta at Sismano's Castle, Umbria |
I
learnt some great techniques and some new flavour combinations during the trip
and over the coming few weeks I will be posting some recipes inspired from my
time in Italy. This roasted pepper recipe was in my repertoire already (via
Delia Smith and my Mum), but it certainly fits of the theme of the trip –
simple ingredients, olive oil and salt, and big flavours. Make these for a
starter, light meal with salad and crusty bread, or as part of an antipasti,
and the flavours will knock your socks off.
Serve
approx 1 pepper per person as a starter, scale up as needed. Don’t worry about
making too much, they will definitely all get eaten.
Ingredients:
Red
peppers (My Mum uses the pointy peppers, and while they are definitely a bit
sweeter, they don’t hold the other ingredients quite as snugly, which I think
really helps with the cooking.)
Smallish
tomatoes - not as small as cherry tomatoes, I use medium sized vine tomatoes. Approx
1 and a half per pepper
Sliced
garlic – approx 2 slices per pepper half
Anchovies
(the kind that come in tins or jars) 1 per pepper half
Olive
oil
Freshly
ground black pepper
Preheat
the oven to 180 C
Cut
the peppers in half, through the stalk if possible (it looks prettier).
Carefully
remove all seeds and white pithy bits, and arrange the pepper halves on an oven
tray. Quarter the tomatoes and put two or three tomatoes into the middle of
each pepper half. Add a couple of slices of garlic to the pepper halves, and
one anchovy fillet. Pour approx half a teaspoon of olive oil into the centre of
each pepper, and drizzle a little more over the tops (this is considerably less
oil than in the original recipe).
Season
with peppers with pepper (there is enough salt in the anchovy) and put them in
the oven for about 45 minutes. It will smell amazing when they are ready, and
the peppers will be soft and sweet, and a little blackened around the edges.
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