August Summer Salads: Piemontese Peppers

So when the sun briefly appeared last week, our stomachs grumbled for the delights of fresh summer salads and dinner on the patio.  I whipped up three easy salads – I call them salads, but in fact they could also be side dishes, or part of another meal – some toast and cheese.

My three ‘salads’: Piemontese Peppers, Marinated Green Beans, and a Mixed Tomato and Basil Salad.

Piemontese Peppers

*These are my version of Tamasin Day-Lewis’ Piemontese Peppers, minus the anchovies as we didn’t have them, and done under the grill…I couldn’t wait 40 minutes for them to cook in the oven!*

Feeds 2 as part of a meal

1 red pepper
couple of small tomatoes (cherry ones are great)
1 clove of garlic
some feta cheese
extra virgin olive oil
sprig of thyme
salt and pepper

Preheat your grill on a medium setting.

Cut your pepper in half and carefully remove the stalk and seeds.  Halve them again and place on your grill pan.

Dice up the tomatoes and pop a few chunks into each quarter of pepper.

Next, thinly slice the clove of garlic and add a couple of slithers to the peppers.

Sprinkle over some thyme leaves, followed by a good drizzling of olive oil and season with salk and pepper.

Bung under the grill and cook until soft and starting to char at the edges (don’t forget about them like I did or you’ll have to remove some of the more singed bits!).

Remove to a plate and crumble over some feta cheese.

Serve warm or at room temperature – also a great dish you can prepare ahead of time and pop in the fridge until you’re ready to eat.

Up next: Marinated Green Beans