Roasted peppers
Peppers
Paul Merrett explores why we are so addicted to the taste and kick of chilli and other peppers.
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A spicy Italian dish to impress your guests: pepperonata with scallops and herb salad.
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Try Paul's recipe for Thai green chicken curry – just the dish to warm you up on a "chilli" day.
Try out our recipe from the Ever Wondered About Food series
Ingredients
Roasted peppers
- 1 green pepper
- 1 red pepper
- 1 yellow pepper
- Olive oil
- 1 clove of garlic, chopped
Salad
- 12 cherry tomatoes, halved
- Handful basil leaves, chopped
- 100 g feta cheese, crumbled
- Ciabatta croutons
Special equipment
- Blow torch (although if not available, you can use a griddle pan instead)
Method
Roasted peppers
- Char each pepper using a blow torch until skin blackens.
- Wrap each pepper in cling film for 10 minutes.
- Unwrap the peppers and remove the blackened skin.
- Or, if you don’t have a blow torch:
- Cut each pepper into quarters and remove membrane and seeds.
- Cut each quarter in half on a long diagonal.
- Place in bowl and rub with olive oil.
- Grill in a griddle pan until slightly charred and beginning to soften.
Salad
- Chop the peppers and mix with a drizzle of olive oil and the chopped garlic.
- Toss the peppers and garlic with some halved cherry tomatoes, basil leaves, crumbled feta and some ciabatta croutons to create a yummy salad.
To Serve
Serve with crusty bread and a selection of antipasti. Any excess peppers can be stored under olive oil in a kilner jar in the fridge for four days.
Did you know?
The heat or pungency of chillies is rated in something called Scoville Heat Units. At the bottom of the league is the bell pepper which has a rating of 0. Tabasco chilli is rated at about 40,000 and the scotch bonnet weighs in at 150,000.
Content last updated: 21/05/2007








