Piedmontese Peppers with Crispy Fried Capers
Piedmontese peppers originated from the Northern Italian region of Piedmont. This particular recipe has turned the classic dish into an appetizer. I have left the anchovy out to make it vegetarian, added some herbs, tapenade and goat cheese to give it some zing. This appetizer comes together quickly, is made in a large skillet or baking dish and you can serve it straight from the cooking vessel with some crusty bread or big hearty crackers. I literally ate two whole pans of this by myself in two days. If you love roasted peppers as much as I do, make a double or triple batch. It warms up nicely the next day, or if you have no shame like myself, straight out of the fridge on leftover baguette. It’s addicting. (Thank you to our friend Stacey Swanson for creating this wonderful recipe.)
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Ingredients
- Chosen Foods avocado oil spray
- Chosen Foods avocado oil
- 1/2 cup of Sutter Buttes lemon olive oil or 1/2 cup of olive oil and 1 1/4 teaspoon of Simply Organic or Frontier lemon flavoring
- 4 medium peppers (use red/yellow/orange or a combo, or you can even substitute a bad of those mini sweet snacking peppers)
- 1 small jar of sundried tomato tapenade, a pesto or an olive tapenade of some sort (use what you like)
- 2-3 ounces of crumbled feta or goat cheese
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of Frontier Co-op herb fest
- 4 tablespoons of capers drained but not rinsed
- Frontier Co-op salt & pepper to taste
- Baguette, focaccia, thick hearty crackers
- *optional sliced almonds, drizzle of thick balsamic syrup & fresh herbs
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Find a pan big enough to hold all the peppers and spray with avocado spray or a nonstick spray of some sort.
- If you are using whole peppers, cut them in half and remove the seeds/pulp and then cut each half into 3 wedges for a total of 6 pieces per pepper. If you have chosen to use mini snacking peppers then you will simply just cut them in half long ways.
- In a small bowl, combine lemon olive oil or olive oil & lemon flavoring, herb fest seasoning and salt and pepper to taste and whisk to combine.
- Place 1/2 of the lemon herb olive oil mixture in the bottom of the pan and then arrange peppers on top.
- Place 1/2 teaspoon or a small dollop of sundried tomato pesto or a tapenade in the middle of each pepper wedge.
- Crumble the feta or goat cheese over top the peppers and then drizzle the rest of the herbed lemon olive oil mixture over top.
- Bake until peppers are roasted and everything is bubbly, approximately 25 or more minutes depending on your oven & pan. You can always pop the pan under the broiler to get more color for a minute or 2 provided the pan is broiler safe.
- While the peppers are roasting. Place 1-2 tablespoons of avocado oil in a small fry pan with the capers.Fry the capers until crispy and throw in some sliced almonds for good measure right at the end to release the oils.
- Sprinkle the crispy capers andalmonds over top the peppers and serve with crusty bread or hearty crackers.
- *Optional drizzle of thick balsamic syrup and sprinkle with fresh herbs on hand
