It hasn’t been lost on me that my last few recipes have been tomato-heavy. Apparently that was what I was fancying for the last few weeks. It’s been hot and summery and tomatoes taste the best in hot weather.
But for this week’s recipe I tried out something I’d never had before, Peperonata, which is an Italian side dish. I decided to serve this with sausages and new potatoes.
For this recipe I halved a recipe I found which was intended for 4 people.
This recipe is so super easy:
You fry 1.5 cloves of garlic (which has been thinly sliced) and 1/2 an onion in oil for around 8 minutes until they’re golden. I have lazy garlic which is diced, so I just used that.
For this recipe I used one yellow bell pepper and one red sweet pointed pepper, both sliced into strips.
These were added to the pan and cooked for 5 minutes.
Then you add vinegar (0.5 tbsp), passata (63ml) and season it. The recipe then states you need to simmer the whole lot for 25 minutes.
I personally feel that what was in the pan was too dry to simmer, and 25 minutes was a little too long. But I persevered!
Once the whole lot had cooked down, I removed it from the heat and stirred in a handful of fresh basil and some sliced black olives.
And this is the finished article! The flavours and textures were very good. I liked the basil and olives, as they added a nice texture and freshness.
As you can see, it’s a little dry-looking and thankfully the peppers added some moisture, however I feel like if I make this again I’ll make enough for 4 because I think by halving the amount it reduced the required amount of liquid to cook it all properly.
The verdict:
This tasted really good, but there wasn’t enough punch of flavour to make it ‘delicious’. I think I’d like to try making it one more time to see if I can get it right, and then decide if it’s something I’d like to have regularly.
I give this recipe 6/10
Musings of a So-Called Shutterbug 