Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Like mini pizzas

I wasn't sure what to make for dinner last night after work, but Mark had been to the store and we had a bag of colorful bell peppers. Also, I had a loaf of sourdough bread from French Meadow in Mpls, so I decided to whip up these roasted pepper and goat cheese half sandwiches. I started making these last summer with goods from the Farmer's Market. You can modify it with whatever you have around the house, but here's the recipe I adapted from Barefoot Contessa:

3 or 4 large red, yellow bell peppers
2 Tbsp good olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tsp kosher salt
1 Tsp ground black pepper
2 Tbsp drained capers

For assembling: 1 ciabatta bread, halved
1 (11 oz) plain goat cheese
8-10 large basil leaves
3 thin slices red onion (I had scallions on hand, so I used those instead)

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place the whole peppers on a sheet pan in the oven for 30-40 min. Turn them twice during the roasting, then remove the pan and put the peppers in a bowl and seal the top with plastic wrap until peppers are cool enough to handle. Meanwhile, combine the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Remove the stem from each pepper and cut them in quarters. Discard stem, seeds and pour the oil and vinegar mixture over the peppers. Stir in the capers. You can prepare this ahead of time and let this mixture rest for a few hours in the fridge. Otherwise, I assembled the sandwiches right away by toasting in the already hot oven the slices of bread and goat cheese. Once the cheese is slightly melted, top with the peppers and salt and pepper to taste. Yum.

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