Peppers Wendy Style

I would say that this is a Tuscan Recipe just because is part of my know-how and I am Tuscan. But this recipe was suggested to me by Wendy, a fellow student during my years at Durham who, unlike the majority of the other people I met, was a fantastic cook and I am positive that she has even improved her skills in these years that we have not met each other. I do not remember her original input and I am positive that I have changed the recipe during the years. I will provide you the latest and simplest version!

I post this recipe as I prepared it for my Indian friends last weekend and they were really positive! They call peppers capsicum, which sounds a little bit posh to me as this is the scientific name, but apparently this is quite common in India. And being strict vegetarian it is always a challenge for me to prepare something for them, as in Tuscany we do not consider a proper meal unless there is some blood on our dish!

For 4 persons:

4 peppers (mixed colors for a better effect!)

4 ripe tomatoes

2 cloves garlic

Parsley and

2 tablespoons of capers in salt.

1 chilly pepper



Cut the peppers in halves by the length trying to cut in two also the stem that is at the end! Remove the white stuff and the seeds from the inside (being careful not to cut the pepper) and wash with plenty of water. Place the peppers on a roasting pan with some olive oil on the bottom, so that the cavity faces you (and you can fill it!).

Cut the tomatoes in dices and fill the peppers with it. Finely chop the garlic, the parsley and the chilly pepper and distribute on top of the peppers. Season with salt and pepper and plenty of olive oil. Preheat the oven at 200 Deg and place the peppers at a medium height for 30-40 min (or until soft). Serve with ciabatta bread and enjoy!

For a better result you could place an anchovy fillet in each of the peppers, it will dissolve during the cooking and give plenty of flavor. However, in this way it would no longer be a fully vegetarian dish!

At home I have seldom eaten peppers. There was always the idea that they are heavy and difficult to digest! How can vegetables be heavy? The reason is that the way we prepare them in Italy are in the Peperonata, that is fried with onions and tomatoes. If you wish I will give you the recipe in a separate post. However this comes from the preparation and has nothing to do with the vegetable, which is fantastic!

Peppers look so Mediterranean and it is amazing to think that they are originally from America and were introduced in our gastronomy only recently (16th century… but if you have 3000 years of history as we have in Tuscany this is recent!).
Leonardo da Vinci or Dante never tried Peppers.