Roasted Red Peppers & Anchovies

Pimentos con Anchoas – La Rioja

These roasted red peppers are also great with fresh basil and garlic instead of olives and anchovies. Which gives them more of an Italian antipasti feel, instead of this rustic tapas recipe made famous in La Rioja, where the Pimentos Riojano, are known for their intense flavor and color.

Roasted red peppers with anchovies and olives.

• 4 large red bell peppers
• a handful of small black olives
• 12 anchovy fillets, best quality preserved in oil
• Extra virgin olive oil
• French sea salt

Heat the oven to 180°/350°F.  Line a baking tray with foil put the peppers in the tin and roast for about an hour, turn every now and then until the are soft, blistered, charred and floppy.

Or, you can char the peppers on the grill over high heat in about 7 minutes per side.

Once the peppers are done tip them into  a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Leave the hot peppers to steam away under the plastic wrap for 10 minutes which makes them beautifully simple to peel. You can also put them in a plastic bag to steam them.

Now the skins should be easy to peel away, discard the seeds, stalk and any membrane.

Cut or tear each pepper into thick strips and arrange in a shallow dish.

Add a sprinkle of salt and drizzle with olive oil. Arrange the anchovy fillets in a criss-cross pie-baking type pattern over the peppers, and dot each resulting diamond with olives.

Allow the peppers to sit for at least an hour a room temperature before serving.