Recipe: Peppers, with Rosemary & Balsamic Vinegar

Another one from the master, Bruno Loubet. Originally, he paired this dish with his splendid recipe for Cod wrapped in Parma Ham - but in fact, it will work just as well with any fleshy white fish fillet, or even with something like a plain grilled chicken breast or a piece of roast pork. Although a great deal less work than ratatouille, this is more than just a poor man's version of that; the flavours here of rosemary, basil, and balsamic vinegar are beguiling, and give to the finished dish a first class status all of its own.

For four.

Ingredients: 4 Peppers (Capsicums) of assorted colours; 1 tablespoon Olive Oil; 2 cloves Garlic, minced; 1 teaspoon capers (cut up, if large); the needles from 1 sprig Rosemary, finely chopped; Salt, to taste; 4 large, fresh Basil leaves; 2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar.

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 200 degrees C. Halve the Peppers, discarding cores and seeds, and place cut-side down in a roasting dish; brush the skin of the Peppers with Olive Oil and roast in the oven for twenty minutes or so, until they begin to blacken and the skins are visibly swelling.

2. Put the Pepper halves in a bowl, along with all of the juices in the bottom of the roasting dish, and cover with clingfilm. Leave for twenty minutes or so, then remove the skins from the Peppers and cut each one into four slices.

3. Put the sliced Peppers into a saucepan, along with their cooking juices. Add all of the remaining ingredients apart from the Basil and the Vinegar. Cover the pan and cook over a medium heat, stirring from time to time for about thirty minutes. Just before serving, stir in the Balsamic Vinegar, and the Basil leaves, finely sliced.