Red Peppers

I mentioned that one of our purchases in Carrefour in Calais was a bag of red peppers. They are of such a superior quality to what's available here, we always bring some back with us.

They are presumably grown under glass somewhere on the continent and there never seems to be a problem of supply in large, flat-sided fruits which are economical and stunningly beautiful to work with. This time we decided to de-skin them, for use in various other dishes. It's a simple matter to cut them into even, flattish pieces and grill them till their skins char. You can then peel the skins off, once they've cooled down. It's a bit fiddly, but pleasant and satisfying work, with the strong sweetish smell of the flesh as an added bonus.

You can then make them into a salad on their own, or incorporate them into pasta dishes, pates, or even preserve them in oil. You can make up an Italian tricolore salad with mozzarella and basil, too, which looks gorgeous. I've seen these squarish pieces cut into decorative shapes to decorate formal fish dishes, and you can also thread them onto kebabs. Having been only partially cooked, they need to be eaten quickly, and in any case kept in the fridge or with a vinaigrette to cover them. Here we made up a small batch to give as a present to a visitor.