Recipe: Neapolitan-Style Baked Peppers (with capers, olives, anchovies, and pine nuts)

NEAPOLITAN-STYLE BAKED PEPPERS
(Grilled peppers are topped with fresh bread crumbs and olive oil before baking.)

4 yellow bell peppers
4 red bell peppers
3 tablespoons capers, rinsed and chopped if large
3 tablespoons chopped imported black olives
8 salted anchovy fillets, rinsed and chopped
3 tablespoons pine nuts
Salt to taste
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs

Prepare a charcoal fire or preheat a gas grill on high for 15 minutes. Grill the peppers, turning, until their skins blister black on all sides. When cool enough to handle, peel, core, seed, rinse and quarter peppers. Drain for a few hours or damp-dry with paper towels.

In a large bowl, toss peppers with capers, olives, anchovies and pine nuts and season with salt.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Lightly oil an 8- or 9-inch-square baking pan with 1 tablespoon of oil and fill with pepper mixture, pushing down to compact. Sprinkle bread crumbs over peppers and lightly drizzle with remaining olive oil.

Bake until top is golden, about 35 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 4-6 servings
Source: A Mediterranean Feast: The Story of the Birth of the Celebrated Cuisines of the Mediterranean from the Merchants of Venice to the Barbary Corsairs, with More than 500 Recipes by Clifford A. Wright