Roast caprese stuffed mini sweet peppers
Every Friday morning at the farmers’ market I pause over the tubs of sweet mini peppers and inhale deeply. When I think back to the veg on offer when the market first started, the range of produce could probably be counted on two hands. Farmers now understand more about what people want through connecting with customers over the last seven years. This means that there is something new every season and pocket-sized peppers in yellow, orange, red and green are here to stay in the Emirates. Freshly picked, powerfully fragrant and oh so sweet, they are just irresistible.
Mostly, I’ve been tossing them in a slick of oil and roasting whole. The seeds don’t seem bitter so I just slather onto toasted, crusty, sour dough with a sprinkle of seasoning. I had a brain wave to put a twist on a favourite recipe I’ve been making for about twenty years. And it works beautifully. When took these to book club they went down a storm.
Roast caprese stuffed mini sweet peppers
An Italian-inspired vegetarian appetiser recipe perfect to serve to a crowd
Ingredients
- 12 mini sweet peppers
- Olive oil, for brushing
- 75-100 very small tomatoes
- 12 black olives (dry cured preferred), stoned and halved
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
- 1 teaspoon raw honey
- Sea salt and black pepper
- 1 tub of mini mozzarella (12-15 pieces), each halved
- Fresh basil
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 180 C. Cut the mini peppers in half lengthways and remove the inner membrane and seeds. Brush with olive oil and lay cut side up on an oiled baking or roasting tray. Place in the oven for 20 minutes until soft but not coloured (some edges might start to catch a little).
- Meanwhile toss the tomatoes and olives in a bowl with the olive oil, pomegranate molasses, raw honey and seasoning.
- Remove the peppers from the oven and fill the cavities evenly with the tomato mixture. Return to the oven for 5-10 minutes until the tomatoes are soft but not bursting (too much). This stage can be done ahead of time.
- When ready to eat, top each pepper with half a mozzarella and put back into a hot oven or under a hot grill for 3-5 minutes until the cheese is melted and slightly bubbling.
- Top each pepper with a small individual basil leaf or shredded fresh basil and serve.
If you are inspired by this farmers’ market haul there’s more over on Instagram…
All pics taken on my iphone as I’m still dithering about my new camera choice!
And that’s it! Uncharacteristically brief post from me. Let me know if you make them and what seasonal produce you can’t get enough of right now.
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My Custard Pie 
How cute and oh so pretty! It’s easy to get stuck in a rut and sometimes it takes someone to prod you out of it. E.g. my mother introduced me to these babies on a shopping trip. On another one she bought those long, deep red peppers that are super sweet. Nature offer so much variety!
Great twist on what is one of my favourite recipes too. These look delicious.
This looks beautiful!! Really, what a beautiful plate of food it makes. Probably delicious as well.
Ooh I love your sweet spin on stuffed peppers! I rarely resist picking up a bag of mini peppers, usually just roasting them plain or dotting the halves with chopped anchovies and herbs. This really looks fab, Sally. And it’s nice to see a little of what you’ve done with your huge and envy-making market haul 🙂
These look delicious and what a lovely recipe to take along to a pot-luck or a book club. Love the idea of adding a drizzle of pomegranate molasses too – Italy meets the Middle East.
Fantastic brain wave. The peppers look fabulous.
Have a wonderful weekend.
🙂 Mandy xo
So wonderfully vibrant and colorful! Loving that brain wave of yours and I so hope I can once make it to Dubai when the food markets are in season!
Gorgeous Sally and I read somewhere recently that red peppers contain more vitamin C than oranges…..
wow these look so good and I love the addition of olives, I want to eat this now!
Wow – all these photos are taken on your iphone? Fantastic! And, I used to live in Abu Dhabi and went to Dubai often to visit family – so nice to bump into ya on the interwebs! Btw, this is such a delicious and colorful way to enjoy sweet peppers!
These mini peppers are sooo cute! My Mum would love those, she recently stuffed peppers but then pickled them in olive oil.
Oh what a great idea for stuffing peppers. I love the added olives, yum!
Ooh yum. Good quality produce doesn’t need much doing to it, but I never say no to a nice bit of gooey mozzarella! These look right up my street.
Ah, summer. I can’t wait!
What a colorful and fun recipe! Since I don’t have access to all of the ingredients in South Africa, I’ll enjoy these stuffed peppers vicariously through your photos.
I love your spin on making this roasted, I can’t wait for summer!
Miss that market. And following your Instagram posts and now reading this delicious recipe, I can’t believe how much indeed local produce increased. So wonderful, so happy to know that local farmers are both do tremendous work AND find a market for their farm fresh produce!
I have gone through with it. It’s quite delicious blog.
https://goo.gl/I05j3e