Recipe: Roasted Red Peppers

These roasted red pepper look gorgeous, taste delicious and are really very easy to make. Perfect piled up on a platter as part of a sharing style starter alongside some cheese, bread & charcuterie or a good side dish for roast chicken, fish or a summer tart.

Serves 8 as a side or part of a sharing style starter

4 red bell peppers

12 cherry tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic

4 anchovies (from a tin)

A handful of basil leaves

50 ml olive oilSalt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 140˚C.Cut the peppers in half length ways through the stalk and remove the core and seeds. I like to leave the stalk on as it looks more dramatic.

Drizzle with about 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Give the peppers a good rub with your hands to ensure the inside and outside of the peppers are lightly coated in oil and seasoning.

Finely chop the anchovies, roughly chop most of the basil (save a few leaves for garnish) and grate the garlic. Mix all this with the remaining oil and season with pepper and a little salt (remember the anchovies are already quite salty). Put a teaspoonful of this mixture into each half pepper.

Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and put three halves (cut side down) into each pepper. Drizzle with any remaining oil.

Put in the oven and roast for about 90 minutes until tender and just starting to collapse.Serve warm or at room temperature garnished with some fresh basil and plenty of bread for dipping in the luscious juices!

For a veggie/vegan version replace the anchovies with a handful of finely chopped black olives. Adding a few capers into the oil is also yummy.