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Roasted Red Peppers with Ricotta
Roasted red peppers bring a wonderful combination of sweet and bitterness and go well with many things – omelette, grilled chicken, lentils, or whole grain spelt – or as part of a mezze.
- 3 red peppers
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- Balsamic vinegar
- Salt
- Optional: 80g fresh ricotta
- Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC / fan 180ºC / gas mark 6
- Deseed the red peppers and cut them lengthways into 6 pieces.
- Put them into a bowl and add a good pinch of salt and 2 teaspoons of olive oil.
- Mix it well with your hands – this way a very little oil can completely coat them, and the salt starts to draw out the juice, ready for caramelising during the roasting.
- Put them on a baking tray large enough for them to have plenty of room to lie flat, and roast them for about 40 – 60 minutes, turning them from time to time.
- Put in a bowl, drizzle over some balsamic vinegar, add extra salt if necessary, and allow to cool.
- If you want to add some ricotta, tear it into small pieces and scatter over the peppers
Diva notes.
Peppers need to be either raw or really well done – and cooked long enough for their juices to begin to caramelise. Anything in between is insipid and unpleasant.
So far, my MP has ignored my suggestion to make serving half-cooked peppers a criminal offence. They do not want to be burnt and crispy either. The peppers that is; not those responsible for half-baking them. But do not despair: people all over the world cook them every day and it’s really quite easy.
Precisely how long they take will depend on the peppers and your oven, so check them after about 20 minutes – turning them over if they have browned a bit – and then check on them every 10 minutes or so (more often when they are nearly done), turning them when needed. When they are glistening and streaked with brown, and looking limp and on the verge of crinkly, take them out, put them in a bowl, and drizzle a teaspoon or two of balsamic vinegar over them. And take a moment to admire your culinary brilliance
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