This is a starter that ticks lots of boxes as it's light, can be prepared in advance and is easy to serve. What's more it's vegetarian, cheap, gluten free and oh so pretty. It's a solution we came up with last weekend when we were serving a Mother's Day/ birthday meal/Sunday roast. Starters are as important as meeting someone for the first time; a starter with the perfect seductive initiation of colours, flavours and style can beguile your guests and build your confidence enough to help you sail you through the often more trickier courses to follow. So grab some peppers, a sharp knife and get ready to paint a colourful picture on a plate.
You will need
half a red pepper per person
2-3 cherry tomatoes per half pepper1-2 finely chopped red onions
mozzarella cheese sliced (parmesan would work just as well)
a few spoonfuls of ready made pesto
olive oil to drizzle
chives
fresh basil
salt and pepper
Method
Half the red peppers including the stalks (this helps keep the peppers intact and also looks prettier). Clean out the inners of the peppers and then fill with halved cherry tomatoes. Scatter some finely chopped red onion on top and lightly drizzle with olive oil. Season and bake on a baking sheet in the the oven at 200C for 20-30 minutes until beginning to color. Remove from the oven and add slices of mozzarella and then roast for another 10 minutes to allow the cheese to melt. Serve each pepper half on a large plate with torn basil leaves and a few long chive stalks for added interest. A smear of pesto to the side and you're done. Luckily the peppers stay hot for quite a long time to allow for such adornment.
