Easy to prepare and stunning to behold, stuffed peppers make a great starter, buffet dish and accompaniment to roast and barbecued meats. Use this as a recipe template and just experiment with what you’ve got in the fridge. Avoid the anchovies for a vegetarian option.

Ingredients

• 4 red peppers
• 4 tomatoes
• 2 anchovy fillets
• 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
• 8 black olives
• olive oil
• mozzarella, goats’ or feta cheese
• basil leaves or fresh pesto
• green salad
• toasted pine nuts

Method

Slice the red peppers in half and take out the seeds. Quarter the tomatoes and tuck them inside the pepper halves with a snipped up anchovy fillet, 3 or 4 slivers of garlic and 2 olives halved and stoned. Drizzle with olive oil and black pepper. Bake for 50 minutes at 180ºC (Gas mark 4). When the peppers are soft and starting to blacken remove from the oven and distribute some crumbled chunks of cheese around the dish and some basil leaves or pesto.

This dish makes a great main course served with a green salad with toasted pine nuts, and it also works as an accompaniment to roast or barbecued lamb or chicken.