This is my mother’s evergreen recipe (although she only ever uses red, yellow or orange peppers – ba dum PSSHHH!). Keep them handy in the fridge for up to a week and serve them as an antipasto, a veggie side, use the juices as a chicken marinade, or in a toasted panini with some ‘Better Than Cream Cheese’ Tofutti spread. These peppers can be served hot or cold, but I prefer them cold as I find that really brings out the original flavour of the peppers.
Ingredients:
8 peppers
bunch of flat-leafed parsley
2 cloves garlic
1 – 1 1/2 cups very good olive oil or extra virgin olive oil
1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place peppers on a foil-lined roasting tray and stick them in the middle of the oven.
2) After 20 minutes, go in and turn each pepper over with a pair of tongs. Some bottom sides should be blackened.
3) After another 20 minutes, take the peppers out of the oven and cover them carefully with another sheet of foil. Securing as much steam as you can inside will help the skins peel off when they have cooled.
4) Leave the peppers to cool and make the marinade: Roughly chop the parsley and place it in a jar. Throw in the garlic cloves (if you prefer a more garlicky flavour you can always chop, slice or finely dice the garlic — the smaller the pieces the stronger the garlic aroma) and pour in the olive oil until you can just “wet” all of the parsley.
5) Uncover the peppers and if enough steam was circulated inside during cooling, you should very easily be able to peel the skins from each pepper. Removing all stems and seeds, the flesh of the peppers should come apart easily in your hands, making nice and flat pieces.
6) Arrange in a dish and spoon over the parsley/garlic mixture.
Tip: To remove the seeds more easily and keep them from sticking to your hands, have a small bowl of cool water nearby to dunk your hands into. This workd to periodically wash off the seeds from your hands and prevent seeds from sticking to you.
Note: Peppers tend to be difficult to digest for some eaters, but peeling the skins off should ease the digestive process and keep your audience comfortable!
