Roasted sweet peppers are often on the summer menu at Melfi's, the Charleston Italian restaurant where John Amato was opening chef and where he remains an owner. These days, he brings peppers and other fresh vegetables from his urban farm, The Culinary Garden, to share with Executive Chef Ashley Kegu and her team. Typically, the vegetables wind up roasting in the wood-fired oven and get adorned with ingredients like fromage blanc and pickled garlic.
Here, Amato shares a simple yet beautifully flavored roasted sweet peppers dish for home cooks to master and enjoy. It's the perfect summer appetizer for a family BBQ when sweet peppers are in season. Over the past month, he has been harvesting Italian Bull Horn and Lunchbox peppers, but any sweet summer peppers from a garden or farmer’s market will do.
This recipe pairs the roasted peppers, served warm and charred over a cool and tangy creamy whipped goat cheese, then tossed in a sweet pickled garlic, capers, extra virgin olive oil, and saba vinaigrette. Saba is a grape must that has been cooked down into a delicious syrup and is one of the main ingredients used to make the balsamic vinegar of Modena. The amazing flavor and freshness, the beautiful bright colors, and the incredible aroma this plate offers are sure to make it a summer go-to.
Roasted Sweet Peppers With Goat Cheese
Yields 4-6 People Served Family Style
Ingredients
for the whipped goat cheese
4 ounces fresh goat cheese
2-3 ounces heavy cream
pinch of salt
for the peppers
About 2 pounds of small or medium red, yellow, and orange sweet peppers, such as Italian Bull Horn Italian or Lunchbox
5-6 cloves sweet pickled garlic, sliced thin
2 teaspoons capers, strained and rinsed
2-3 tablespoons EVOO
1/4 cup loosely packed Italian flat leaf parsley
kosher salt to taste
sea salt to taste
Method
1. Preheat the oven 500° F
2. Use a knife to cut the tops off the peppers, just beneath the stem, scoop out the seeds and pith (small peppers less than 3 inches can be left whole, anything larger can be cut into larger pieces, uniform in size), place them in a bowl
3. Warm a large cast iron or heavy duty pan on the stove on medium heat.
4. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the bowl with the peppers, toss to coat them evenly, season with a pinch of salt
5. Add the pepper to the cast iron pan and immediately place in the center rack of the oven (the peppers will roast between 10-15 minutes, you want them to soften and the skins to begin to blister. A nice touch is to move them to broil on the top rack for the last couple of minutes of cooking, a little char is good)
6. Use a whisk to beat the goat cheese in a small bowl, add the cream a little bit at a time until you have a creamy consistency, similar to ricotta (depending on your goat cheese, you may add a little more or less cream) season with a pinch of salt
7. Spread the cheese on the base of a platter. Make a little nest of cheese where the peppers can lay
8. When the peppers are cooked and still hot add them back to the bowl. Add the pickled garlic, capers and parsley. Season to taste with salt. Drizzle with saba and remaining olive oil and toss.
9. Spoon the warm pepper mixture over the top of the goat cheese. Finish with sea salt and serve.
*pickled garlic and saba can both be found online or at your local Italian market.