BAKE RED PEPPERS STUFFED WITH FENNEL

By Kiep

This delightful combination of flavours makes an attractive first course. I serve them on an old faded plate I have, which shows off their outstanding colour. People can help themselves to one or two as they please. They need lots of really good bread as there’s a profusion of fragrant juices.

Ingredients

• 4 large red peppers, stalks on
• 14 oz/400 g can of whole Italian plum tomatoes
• 2 small fennel bulbs
• salt
• 8 dessertspoons good quality olive oil
• 1 rounded teaspoon mixed pepper berries (white or black)
• 1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• rock salt
• juice of half a lemon

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to Mark 4/35OF/18OC. With your sharpest knife, slice each pepper in half lengthways, cutting right through the green stalk end and leaving it intact. Place peppers on baking tin. Drain the tomatoes (you don’t need the juice), and divide them into 8 equal portions, placing each inside a pepper half.
Now deal with the fennel by paring off any brownish bits, then cut bulbs first into quarters and then again into eighths, carefully keeping the layers attached to the root ends. Put them in a saucepan with a little salt, pour boiling water on and blanch for 5 minutes. Then drain them in a colander and, when cool, arrange two slices in each pepper half.
Sprinkle 1 dessertspoon of oil over each pepper half, brush oil round edges and sides. Lightly crush pepper berries, coriander and fennel seeds with a pestle and mortar, or the end of a rolling pin and bowl. Grind on rock salt.
Bake peppers for about 1 hour on a high shelf in the oven until they are soft and the skins wrinkled and tinged with brown.
Remove from oven and sprinkle with lemon juice. Cool and serve or garnish with a little finely chopped spring onion.
If you want to make them ahead of time, after cooling, cover with foil but don’t refrigerate, as this spoils the fragrant flavour.