A good Sicilian peperonata is one of the most underated and economical meals around.  It’s really great when we have vegan or vegetarian guests and it’s very easy on the pocket – important nowadays.  Peperonata can be eaten hot and also at room temperature – the advantage of eating this kind of food at room temperature, is that it tastes so much better because the heat doesn’t interfere with the actual flavour. When something is too hot, it never tastes so good because the tongue is burnt.  Even though it’s really easy to make, the dish can easily be botched, so here goes – the classic peperonata!

Ingredients

• 1 extra large green sweet pepper
• 1 extra large red sweet pepper
• 1 extra large yellow sweet pepper
• 5 tomatoes, deseeded
• 1 handful Italian black olives, deseeded
• 50 grams capers
• 5 anchovy fillets in oil, drained
• 1 white onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed with the skin on – if the skin comes off, discard it
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 3 tablespoons white vinegar
• 3 tables white wine vinegar
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Extra virgin Italian olive oil
• If you feel like it, you can throw in a handful of toasted pine nuts – it’s delicious!

Method

• Deseed all the peppers, remove the stems and cut lengthways into medium chunks.
• Do the same to the tomatoes.
• Heat the pan and add a good splash of olive oil to sauté the onions until they are a light golden colour.
• Add the tomatoes and the peppers and cook on a medium to high heat until everything just starts to wilt.
• Now add the garlic, not before because burnt garlic tastes awful.
• Put the lid on the pan and simmer for about 15 minutes until everything is well wilted.
• Remove from the heat, stir with a wooden spoon to make sure nothing got stuck, not that it should because there should still be some liquid left.
• Add vinegar and the olives now and stir -fry for about 10 minutes until the liquid is a little syrupy.
• The anchovies are stirred in now with the capers, the parsley and a good amount of freshly ground black pepper.