Author Notes: They look modest but their strength is the explosion of flavors: sweet yellow peppers filled with salted anchovies and capers, a slice of fresh tomato, slowly oven-roasted in olive oil and a touch of butter. Such an elementary taste does not even need salt or pepper.
I have been baking this appetizer for more than two decades and I have no clue where did I get the recipe from. It certainly has a strong Italian character, but I cannot tell, if I got the recipe from a friend, I read it on a food magazine – in pre-internet times – and whether I had added my own modification or not.
Yet, what I can claim for sure is that this works only with yellow bell peppers, because they are the sweetest of all.
—Cookingly Yours
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
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4
large yellow bell peppers
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12
anchovy fillets in olive oil
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1
medium tomato cut in thin slices
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2
tablespoons capers
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3
tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
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15
gr butter
Directions
- Preheat oven in 180 Celsius or in 365 Fahrenheit.
- Wash peppers and cut them following the ‘natural’ marking: each pepper usually cuts into three boat pieces.
- Remove stem, seeds and white membrane and place them in a baking tray.
- Fill each pepper ‘boat’ with one tomato slice, an anchovy fillet and 3-4 capers
- Drizzle with the olive oil and add a tiny piece of butter in the middle of each pepper wedge.
- Cover the tray bottom with water.
- Put the tray in the middle of the oven and roast for 50-60 minutes.
- It’s ready when the peppers have kind of collapsed and their edges have some brown spots.
- Remove tray from oven, arrange peppers on a plate and drizzle with 3-4 tablespoon tray juices.
- Let the peppers cool in room temperatures for at least one hour.