Salads
Grilled pepper salad with anchovies
Grilled red and yellow peppers, peeled by hand and dressed with olive oil, garlic and anchovies — a simple Provençal salad that tastes better the next day.
Published · Updated
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 35 min
- Rest
- 30 min
- Total
- 1 h 25 min
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Easy
Method
Heat the oven to 220 °C (425 °F), or light a barbecue and let the flames die down to glowing embers. Wash and dry the peppers and leave them whole.
Roast the peppers on a baking tray near the top of the oven, or directly on the grill, for 30–40 minutes, turning them every 10 minutes, until the skin is blistered and blackened in patches and the flesh has collapsed.
Put the hot peppers in a bowl, cover with a plate and leave them for 10–15 minutes; the steam loosens the skin.
Working over the bowl to catch the juices, peel the peppers with your fingers. Pull out the stalks, open them and scrape away the seeds. Do not rinse them under the tap — you would wash away the smoky flavour.
Cut the flesh into strips 3–4 cm (1½ in) wide and lay them in a shallow dish. Strain the collected juices over them.
Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with the finely chopped garlic, then drizzle with the olive oil and vinegar.
Lay the anchovy fillets over the peppers, or serve them alongside. Leave the salad to rest for at least 30 minutes at room temperature, then scatter over the torn basil or parsley just before serving.
Tips
- Choose heavy, thick-walled peppers with smooth, taut skin — they roast more evenly and are easier to peel.
- A few specks of charred skin left on the flesh are fine and add flavour.
- For a milder garlic taste, slice the clove thinly and remove it before serving instead of chopping it.
- Covered in the fridge, the salad keeps for 3 days and improves overnight. Bring it back to room temperature before serving.
Watch it being made
Poivrons grillés en salade — Carole Cuisine (YouTube). The player loads only when you press play.
Peppers, fire and olive oil
Grilled peppers dressed with olive oil are found all around the Mediterranean, and in Nice they are part of the everyday summer table. There is no great history behind the dish: it is what you do with a basket of ripe peppers when the oven or the barbecue is already hot. Fire does the work. It chars the skin, softens the flesh and draws out its sugars, so that a vegetable that can be crisp and slightly grassy when raw turns silky, sweet and faintly smoky.
The combination with anchovies is typical of the Provençal coast, where salted fish has long been used to season vegetables. The salty fillets sharpen the sweetness of the peppers, and the oil they are preserved in blends into the dressing. You can lay them over the salad or serve them in a small dish on the side and let everyone help themselves.
Choosing the peppers
Look for heavy, glossy peppers with firm, thick walls and no soft spots. Red ones are the sweetest; yellow ones add colour and a slightly more delicate flavour. Avoid green peppers here — they are unripe and grow bitter on the grill. Long, thin-skinned Italian-type peppers can be used too, but they cook faster and are more fiddly to peel.
The best flavour comes from a wood fire or a charcoal barbecue, which leaves a light smoky note. A hot oven gives very good results as well and is easier to manage in winter; a gas flame works for two or three peppers at a time.
Variations
- Add a few capers, black Niçoise olives or thin rings of sweet onion.
- Replace the vinegar with a squeeze of lemon, or leave out acidity altogether and use only a very good olive oil.
- Stir a little chopped basil or thyme into the oil instead of parsley.
- Mix the pepper strips with slices of grilled eggplant or zucchini for a larger platter of grilled vegetables.
Serving
Serve the salad at room temperature, never straight from the fridge, with plenty of bread for the juices. It is a natural part of a spread of Niçoise starters, next to a salade niçoise, grilled Swiss chard stems with anchovy vinaigrette or a dish of petits farcis. It also goes very well with grilled fish or lamb, or piled onto toasted bread with a slice of fresh goat’s cheese.
Questions & answers
Can I grill the peppers on a gas hob?
Yes. Set them directly on the flame of a gas burner and turn them with tongs until blackened all over, about 10–15 minutes. The flesh stays a little firmer than when oven-roasted.
Why use red and yellow peppers rather than green?
Ripe red and yellow peppers are sweeter and have thicker flesh. Green peppers are unripe and taste sharper and more bitter once grilled.
Can I make it without anchovies?
Of course. The peppers with oil, garlic and vinegar make a good salad on their own; a few capers or black olives bring back some saltiness.
