Recipe: Grilled Peppers & Smoked Cheese

Recipe

Grilled Peppers & Smoked Cheese

Smoked cheeses add great depth of flavor to any dish. Here, colorful peppers are sliced and topped with smoked cheese, then grilled. The sweet, warm peppers, which remain slightly crisp and crunchy, are then topped with pungent anchovy fillets. Serve these as a side dish or appetizer, right from the grill.

Ingredients

4 medium bell peppers, mixed red, green, orange and/or yellow
olive oil
fresh cracked pepper
1/2 pound smoked cheese (mozzarella, provolone, or Gouda) thinly sliced
12 to 20 anchovy fillets in oil
Italian parsley for garnish

Preparation

Prepare the grill.

Cut the peppers lengthwise into 3 or 4 large pieces. All peppers are shaped differently, but the goal is to end up with large, flat or boat-shaped pieces that can hold other ingredients. Discard the core and seeds. Brush the olive oil on both sides of the peppers and crack some fresh pepper on the insides of the peppers. Place slices of cheese on the inside of the peppers, trimming to fit.

Place the peppers on the grill, skin side down. Cover the grill with a lid or tent the peppers with foil to hold in the heat. Grill over medium heat 5 minutes, or until the peppers are cooked but still firm, and the cheese is softly melted. Remove to a serving platter. Add 1 or 2 anchovy fillets on top of the melted cheese and garnish with parsley leaves. Serve warm.