TAPAS FOR DINNER: Roasted Peppers

Background Story:
One of my husband's and my favorite restaurants in San Francisco and tapas places outside of Barcelona is Iluna Basque in North Beach. Beside their delicious sangria, their roasted pepper tapas dish is a must-have every time we go. We've yet to order something there we didn't find delicious.

Inspiration:
Just this past weekend, one of my best girlfriends and I were walking around the farmers' market in downtown Palo Alto. There we found a table of peppers that immediately caught our eye. It was a rainbow of vegetables made up of bell peppers in a variety of beautiful colors. Of course there were green, red, orange and yellow peppers-- but there were purple, chocolate, white and tie-dyed peppers, too! We had to know what a purpley pepper tasted like.

It had me thinking: what special dish could I make with this purple, yellow, tie-dyed pepper? What's the best thing I've had involving a bell pepper? Of course! The tapas dish at Iluna Basque. Mission: Recreate that Dish!


ROASTED PEPPERS WITH MUSHROOMS AND MANCHEGO CHEESE
recipe from Trish Garber
serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 bell peppers (red or purple variety)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 shallot, minced
  
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  
• 1 lb fresh brown mushrooms, sliced
  
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  
• 1/3 cup parsley, finely chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 lb manchego cheese
  

Method

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
2. Wash, halve and seed bell peppers. Lightly coat the peppers with olive oil and salt and pepper on both sides. Put the peppers (inside facing down) on a sheet pan and roast in the oven for 18-20 minutes. Set aside.
   
3. Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Mince the shallot and thinly slice the garlic cloves. Cook the shallots and garlic until soft.
4. Slice the mushrooms and add them to the shallots and garlic. Cook down. Right about when you think they're done, add the vinegar. Cook until the vinegar is absorbed.
   
5. Chop and add the parsley, salt and pepper and cook another 3 minutes. Turn off the heat.
   
6. Place each pepper half into a ramekin or individual baking dish if you want to serve them as tapas. Otherwise, any baking dish will do. Top each pepper with 1/4 of the mushroom mixture.
   
7. Cut the cheese into 1/8 - 1/4 inch slices. Place 1/4 of the slices of cheese on top of each pepper's mushrooms, covering them as much as possible.
8. Broil until the cheese bubbles and browns.