Roast peppers and shallots with basil, parsley and feta cheese

Autumn

Try to track down some longer red peppers and lovely banana shallots for this recipe – they fit together like a hand in a glove, collapsing together, becoming one with ease. Be generous with the basil and parsley, as they add a beautiful, fresh flavour. I’ve finished off with some crumbled feta cheese, but chopped Kalamata olives would work too.

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 long (Marconi) red peppers, halved lengthways and deseeded
4 or 5 banana shallots, halved lengthways
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 handful of basil, leaves picked
1 handful of flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked
100g (3½oz) feta cheese (optional)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Heat the oven to 170°C/150°C fan/325°F/gas mark 3.

Place the pepper halves, cut sides upwards, on a medium baking tray. Arrange the shallot halves inside the peppers. Depending on the size
of them you might be able to fit a few halves in each pepper. It doesn’t matter if they’re all a bit higgledy piggledy – the peppers and shallots will soften as they cook. Trickle the shallots with half the olive oil and season everything with salt and pepper.

Roast the vegetables for 1 hour, or until the peppers have collapsed and the shallots are lovely and soft. Remove the tray from the oven and allow the peppers to sit while you roughly chop the herbs. Crumble over the cheese, if using, and scatter over the basil and parsley. Trickle over the remaining olive oil and bring to the table.

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