I made two different toppings for baguette slices: a "classic caponata" and garlicky roasted bell peppers with feta cheese. Interestingly rumor has it one of my guests would eat an entire baguette with spinach dip given the opportunity.First up, the peppers. This is my variation on a recipe that my uncle learned from a Greek neighbour. My uncle and father make this by barbecuing the peppers to blacken them. I'm not equipped for that, so I use my oven following the guidelines of Clotilde. Bell peppers take nearly an hour to roast at 400 degrees, with several turns. I used two green peppers and one red, since I wanted a mix of colours and flavours. After sweating the peppers in foil and peeling them, I sliced them into strips and tossed them with about two tablespoons of olive oil, a minced clove of garlic, salt, and pepper. I then refrigerated them overnight as these things get better with time. It's key to roast the peppers on foil as pepper juices can burn and pretty much ruin a baking tray. I know because it happened to me a few months ago. These are my peppers after roasting and sweating, don't be alarmed at the burnt spots because they peel off for the most part when you skin the peppers by hand.
I really like the taste of the peppers combined with feta cheese slices and bread. I've eaten that combo four separate times in the last two days because I had leftovers since three peppers is more than five people need. Every bite is good with it's combination of salt, creaminess, breadiness (bread is good, don't you know?), and the indescribable but so good flavour of roasted pepper. As a variation, you could use hot peppers like my uncle does. In this case, the feta is a necessary cooling agent. Even so, three years ago I could barely eat one piece of his roasted chili. It was freaking hot.I made the caponata from this recipe on Epicurious. I'd never had caponata that I know of, but it sounded good and I like eggplant. Plus, the recipe was well rated. I made a bit less than the full recipe, which was nevertheless a lot. I used a one pound eggplant, 3/4 of an onion, two tablespoons of red wine vinegar, and a little less than the recommended amount of olive oil. I omitted the pine nuts since one of my guests was probably allergic, plus I'm lazy and cheap (actually I'm not sure if they're expensive). Also, I boiled the mixture considerably longer than recommended. I think this helped the flavours to meld together and to soften the eggplant. Here you can see the onions, garlic, and eggplant sauteing. It looks pretty good right there.
This was a good make-ahead appetizer. My guests seemed to like combining it with feta cheese as well, which is fine by me. I'm really not a food Nazi who tells people exactly how to eat my cooking. I actually just want people to enjoy what I make for them. The flavour of the caponata is a bit tart with plenty of eggplant texture. The capers in it add a tart and salty dimension. If you haven't tried capers, you really should. I'm experimenting with mixing the leftovers with pasta for lunch tomorrow.
This was a good make-ahead appetizer. My guests seemed to like combining it with feta cheese as well, which is fine by me. I'm really not a food Nazi who tells people exactly how to eat my cooking. I actually just want people to enjoy what I make for them. The flavour of the caponata is a bit tart with plenty of eggplant texture. The capers in it add a tart and salty dimension. If you haven't tried capers, you really should. I'm experimenting with mixing the leftovers with pasta for lunch tomorrow.In conclusion, tasty things on bread are a winner as starters for a dinner party. Plus, they can be made the day before and I'm pretty sure my friends liked them nearly as much as I did.
