Serves: 8
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Oven temperature: grill
- 3 red or yellow sweet peppers
- 2 large brinjals
- olive oil
- 1 oval Portuguese bread
- 1 packet of sun-dried tomatoes in vinaigrette and/or olive oil
- handful of fresh rocket
- 200g mozzarella cheese, sliced
- basil pesto
- salami, ham or Parma ham
1. Cut the peppers into quarters and place them skin side up on a baking tray. Place the baking tray directly under the grill and roast them until the skins blacken. Remove the peppers from the tray, allow to cool and then remove the burnt skins. (Don’t rinse the peppers under the tap – you’ll wash away all the flavour.)
2. Slice the brinjals lengthways in 5mm-thick slices. Brush the slices with olive oil, arrange them side by side on a baking tray and grill until golden brown on both sides.
3. Cut across the top quarter of the loaf and remove this ‘lid’. Hollow out the bread to about 1½ cm from the side and the bottom.
4. Drain the sun-dried tomatoes, reserving the vinaigrette and/or olive oil and brush the inside of the hollowed-out bread with this.
5. Arrange half of the sliced brinjal on the bottom of the bread, followed by half the peppers. Then add rocket leaves and a layer of mozzarella. Brush the mozzarella with the basil pesto and finally add a layer of salami, ham or Parma ham on top. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used up and the bread is filled to the top. Drizzle a little olive oil over this and put the ‘lid’ back.
6. Wrap the bread tightly in foil and put it on a wooden chopping board. Place another board on top of the bread with a weight on top, such as a few cans of food. It should be fairly heavy so as to compress the bread and filling. Place the bread, boards and all, in the refrigerator for at least a few hours or overnight. Remove from the fridge in good time so you can bring the bread back to room temperature before cutting and serving.
