Flavours of late summer and something different to use up fresh pesto. We loved this dish, so light but really tasty. Serve with salad and bread.
Wine Suggestion: We’d suggest a juicy Tempranillo with a touch of oak, like the Paco Garcia Rioja Seis; a modern style that doesn’t need food unlike some other Rioja wines. Very happily served alongside a dish like this.
Blistered peppers, pomodorini, torn mozzarella & pesto – serves 2
- 2 large red peppers
- 12 pomodorini or baby plum tomatoes
- 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 ball of buffalo mozzarella, torn into chunks
- 4 tbsp fresh pesto
Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6.
Cut the peppers in half lengthways, remove the seeds and rub all over with a little olive oil and seasoning.
Toss the tomatoes with some olive oil, seasoning and the garlic .
Heat a heavy oven-proof pan until hot. Put the peppers, cut-side down, into the pan and sear until blackened along the edges. Turn them over and add the tomatoes to the pan, then roast in the oven for about 10 minutes.
Put the tomatoes inside the peppers along with the chunks of mozzarella. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil, then return to the oven until the mozzarella has started to melt. Put a tablespoon of pesto on each stuffed pepper before serving.
Serve with salad and bread.
(Original recipe by Alastair Hendy in Olive Magazine, August 2014.)