Side dish

Delia Smith's Piedmont Peppers recipe

Name: Delia Smith's Piedmont Peppers
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 3 peppers (red, orange or yellow); 2-3 cloves of garlic; 6 anchovies (or a handful of sliced black olives - see notes); 200g cherry tomatoes; salt and pepper; olive oil; basil leaves (to finish)

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Delia's classic and delicious peppers are divine with good bread. I never tire of eating these peppers.

Prep15m
Cook45m
Total1h

anchovies starter vegan-adaptable

Peppers, tomatoes, garlic, anchovies and basil

I don’t really get excited about stuffed peppers but these are truly special. Anchovies, garlic, tomatoes and peppers combine to make a dish that is so much greater than the sum of its parts.

The peppers come out of the oven charred and filled with juices that demand good bread for dunking. Even if you don’t like anchovies, try these peppers, but use half an anchovy per pepper instead of a whole one (or use black olives - see notes). I eat these peppers as often as I can and as a side to any Italian dish. They sit firmly within my top five foods of all time and I can’t recommend them enough.

Delia’s recipe involves skinning the tomatoes but I don’t bother. She’s absolutely right about not using green peppers though. Red, orange and yellow are fine but green peppers aren’t sweet enough and are better off being saved for another dish.

Notes

I've recently made this dish with sliced black olives instead of anchovies and it's really good. Personally I'd still choose anchovies but sometimes compromises are needed.

Recipe

Delia Smith's Piedmont Peppers

Prep15m
Cook45m
Total1h

Serves: 2

Ingredients

3 peppers (red, orange or yellow)
2-3 cloves of garlic
6 anchovies (or a handful of sliced black olives - see notes)
200g cherry tomatoes
salt and pepper
olive oil
basil leaves (to finish)

Method

Preheat your oven to 200°C (180°C fan).
Cut 3 peppers (not green, see intro) in half leaving the green stalk in place. Place in an oiled baking dish or tray - something with a lip that will catch any overflowing juices.
Finely slice 2-3 cloves of garlic and distribute among the peppers.
Use scissors to snip 1 anchovy (6 in total) into each pepper (or use sliced black olives - see notes).
Halve 200g of cherry tomatoes and place into the peppers.
Season with salt and pepper then drizzle generously with olive oil.
Bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until charred then remove and top with a few basil leaves. Serve with bread (focaccia, ciabatta, etc) to soak up the juices.