Roasted bell peppers salad

A German friend of mine is an "India"-freak, if I may say so. She is a vegetarian, loves Indian food (she had lived in England for a year), and has fullfilled her dream of seeing India on a trip with me and wishes to go again. Last year she even tried a class called "Bollywood dancing" with another colleague of hers. The first time I heard about it I had to laugh. Though I did not want to be mean to her tried to resist it not to make fun of it. But, with time I realised that I am the one not up to date, as it looks like, it is a serious business now. I was recently reading in the online New York Times an article and my eyes fell on this article heading in the sidebar on Bollywood Excersise (note: not Hollywood, just in case you didn't know about it) in Health blog column "Well" at NYT.
Bollywood is big in coming here, so much so that they now show Indian movies, as always translated in German, on German TV channels like RTL. And I have heard from a French friend of mine who is now living there, that there also they get to see these translated movies on TV. And from what I know they produce Bollywood films now keeping the 'global' viewers in mind with the third generation of 'Indians' growing up outside India and globalisation showing its impacts on Indian culture as well.

Now coming back to the lovely roasted bell peppers. I had been wanting to eat them like this since a while until I finally took out the book and checked the ingredients, got some nice fresh bell peppers and the anchovies in salt and brine I required for it and got going that very day.

Roasted mediterranian bell peppers

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Based on a recipe from the book Le Cordon Bleu 'Vegetables'

Ingredients:
1 red belll pepper, washed, cleaned, stem and seeds removed, and cut into stips lengthwise
1 yellow bell pepper, (same as above)
1 green bell pepper, (same as above) - I substituted it with red bell peppers
1 red onion, halved vertically and then thinly sliced
olive oil to brush on bell peppers while roasting/grilling
2-3 tbsp capers, optionally with a few tsp of the brine (if using capers in salt, soak in warm water and use the water)
4-5 anchovies, finely chopped
3 -4 tbsp fresh basil leaves, washed and chiffonaded
2-3 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped
1 garlic, finely chopped
5 tbsp olive oil (EVOO)
1-2 tsp lemon juice, as per taste


fresh green lettuce leaves like Roma
some Italian bread (like Ciabatta), sliced

Method:

• wash the salad leaves and set aside
  
• Clean and cut the peppers into 6-8 long strips each and brush the skin with olive oil
• spread the sliced onions in a small flat baking dish
  
• place the bell peppers on a baking try with the cut skin showing upwards along with the onion and grill in a preheated oven for 20 minutes till the skin gets charred and the peppers have turned soft
• set the onion aside to cool down
• place the bell peppers in a freezer bag, close it for a few minutes till the peppers cool down a bit
  
• remove the peppers from the bag and peel the skin
• In the mean time chop anchovies, herbs, capers and garlic and mix with the olive oil and lemon juice
  
• add the peeled bell peppers along with the onions to it and refrigerate for a few hours to let them take up flavour
• serve with some Italian bread slices and fresh salad leaves

NOTE: I for got to add the onion while taking the first picture, but you see it in the next one, which i just about remembered to take. :)

In addition to the salad and the bread I had also boiled some potatoes and to make them a little more flavourful I mashed the potatoes and fried a small onion in 1 tbsp olive oil in a fry pan till golden and added the potatoes on top of it and pressed it down and cooked for another two minutes to have a 'sort of' rösti.
We all enjoyed our meal fully. I had put a bit too much of olive oil at the very end before serving. But, no one of us minded that. :D I think I'll have to do some dieting soon, I've been eating so uncontrolled lately :I
Recently we got to know of sunny boy's allergies, right now we know that he is allergic, though mildly, to wheat, rye and spelt. Haven't tested it with other things like barley and he seems to be doing fime with oats, though I'm not 100% sure. The doctor says the important thing is to see how his body reacts to the food than the tests. But since we don't use barley as such much I don't care. Luckily he is only mildly allergic and we can live with it. Luckily his Kindergarten can offer gluten free food so I don't need to worry in that regard.
So, I always have to have an option for sunny boy which he can eat. Here it was potatoes, or we would have simply eaten bread, toasted or plain withthe peppers.

Pizza Pizza Pizza!!

Today was Pizza day!
A spontaneous idea. And they turned out good.
So, thought of noting down the recipe:

Preparation time: 30-45 minutes
Oven temp: 200°C (390°F) electric oven / 180°C (355°F) convection oven
Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
Pizza base:
1 packet (with 2 bags) Mondamin Pizzateig (pizza flour)
250-270 ml leukewarm water

Tomato base:
1/2 - 2/3 tin (400g) of pizza tomatoes
a pinch Italian herbs, dry(rosmary, thyme and oregano)
1 tsp fresh thyme and rosemary, finely chopped
1 tbsp capers
1 tbsp olive oil
salt, to taste

Mushroom Pizza:
1 green bellpepper, washed and diced or cut into thin slices
200-250g brown crimini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
salt, to taste
parmesan, a small piece
gauda, grated
1 tsp fresh thyme and rosemary
a few slices of (cherry) tomato
4-5 slices of salami - only on one half (for my DH)

Tuna Pizza (half Pizza):
1/4 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 tsp fresh thyme and rosemary, finely chopped
3 cherry tomatoes, sliced
1 tin of tuna fish
1 tsp capers
parmesan, a small piece
salt
gauda, grated

Pizza Hawai (half Pizza):
2 thin slices of cooked ham (italian style, as per the packet), cut into small squares
2 slices of canned or fresh pineapple (fresh tatses better), cut into small pieces
1/4 yellow bell pepper, diced
parmesan, a small piece
half a hand ful of basil leaves
a pinch of fresh thyme
1 ball of mozarella, sliced
salt, to taste

Method:
Knead the dough using both the bags of pizza flour with 250 ml of lukewarm water, if needed add a few tablespoons more of water slowly while kneading. Divide into two. Roll out each dough immediately (no waiting required) into thin pizza bases, round or square.
Mix all the ingredients of the tomato base in a bowl and spread on both the pizza bases.

For Mushroom Pizza:
Fry the mushrooms and green bell peppers quickly on high heat in a tablespoon of olive oil and the herbs and salt. Spread on one Pizza base. Put some slices of tomato over it. Grate parmesan evenly over the pizza. Spread grated gauda cheese over it. Bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes.

For Tuna Pizza:
Fry the yellow bell pepper with some salt and olive oil on high heat for a minute. Take out and set aside. Fry tuna in olive oil for a minute with the herbs and salt. Spread both on one half of the Pizza base. Grate parmesan evenly on it. Put capers (careful-are quite salty!) and sliced chery tomatoes over it. Put grated gauda on it. It is ready to be baked.

For Pizza Hawai :
Fry the yellow bell pepper with some salt and olive oil on high heat for a minute. Spread on the pizza base along with ham, pineapple and basil leaves. Grate parmesan over it. Put the Mozarella slices over it. bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.