Herb marinated peppers on bruschetta with home made pesto

Method

1. Set the oven to 200°C/gas 6. Make the bruschetta by cutting the baguettes into slices about 1 cm thick. Rub the slices with garlic, drizzle them with olive oil, and then bake in the oven for 2-3 minutes. Keep an eye on them - after you've burned 2 or 3 batches, you'll begin to appreciate how quick they are to cook! Set aside and leave to cool.

2. Meanwhile, put the peppers on a baking tray and pop them into the hot oven for about 30 minutes, until they blacken. Tuck them into a plastic bag and leave them to cool.

3. Pull out the core and squeeze the peppers; the seeds and juice should come out easily. Peel them and slice up the flesh into long juicy strips. Throw them (nicely!) into a bowl.

4. In a separate bowl, mix the chopped garlic and shallots and add the lemon juice. Stir in the oregano, olive oil and sherry vinegar (sherry vinegar is fabulous, it has the sexy sweet flavour of Balsamic, but without the overwhelming strength). Season to taste with a good grinding of sea salt and black pepper.

5. Add the peppers and leave to marinate for a couple of hours.

6. Meanwhile, make the pesto. Put the basil, pine nuts, Parmesan and garlic into a food processor and whiz until coarsely chopped. Trickle in the oil in a thin stream until the mixture has a fairly thick consistency, taking care not to over blitz; pesto is always best really chunky.

7. Cover the pesto and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours to allow the flavours to develop. This pesto will keep in the fridge for 2 weeks, but may be spooned into small freezer bags and frozen for up to 4 months.

8. Serve the bruschetta bases topped with the peppers and pesto.

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Ingredients

2 medium baguettes
2-3 garlic cloves, peeled
5-6 tbsp Olive oil

For the peppers:

6 good sized red peppers
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4-5 Shallots, finely chopped
juice of 2 Lemons
1 tsp dried oregano
5-6 tbsp Olive oil
2-3 tbsp sherry vinegar
salt and fresh ground black pepper

For the Pesto:

250g fresh basil leaves
75g Pine kernels
100g Parmesan, broken into small pieces
3 garlic cloves, peeled
5-6 tbsp light olive oil
salt and fresh ground black pepper

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