The parent dish of this salad is peperonata.  It must be sixty plus years since Elizabeth David’s ‘A Book of Mediterranean Food’ was published in the UK and brought it to our notice.   I do think we’ve got over the grief of not being a misplaced mediterranean country now, but peperonata remains a lovely part of my summer.  It’s that silky mix of sweet peppers, onions and tomatoes. Sometimes with garlic, basil and, I read the other day, potatoes …

Really lovely – and I make it and use it in all kinds of sacrilegious non antipasto situations.

Here, the same ingredients become something different.  Rather than stew everything together over a low heat for 40 minutes or so, I’m roasting my peppers and onions.  It’s super easy to make and, like the French-Style Potato Salad, sits perfectly happily in the sunshine.

If you want to make it ahead, it will only taste better if it’s been allowed to sit in the fridge overnight.  It makes a good side dish for a barbecue or buffet and the leftovers are fantastic in a wrap.  (Try it with hummus.)  I love it in a baked potato with or without cheddar.  And, if I’m still trying convince you to give it a try, it freezes brilliantly.

It begins with lots of good things.  This is the recipe in which to make use of the bowls of small peppers you find at the market or bagged together at the supermarket.  If they are particularly small, simply add an extra pepper or two in.  As far as colour goes, I like a sunshine mix but it really doesn’t matter.

Cut off the top and the bottom.  Then run your knife along the remaining pepper strip, removing the seeds and the pith.

And slice into 5mm strips.

If presentation were my main concern I’d probably use the ends for something else, but it isn’t – and I don’t.  Slice them up.

A bowl of summer sunshine.  I’ve used 6 medium sized peppers here.

Then, top and tail the onions.  Peel and slice into 5mm crescents.  1 onion for every 3 peppers.  Roughly.  It really isn’t an exact science.

Don’t be horrified at how much garlic is going in this.  Once it has been roasted it’s sweet and mellow.

2 whole bulbs of garlic went into my salad.  1 bulb for every onion.  Roughly.  Peel and cut in half if the clove is particularly enormous.

Place everything into a big bowl.  Add 4 teaspoons of dried oregano, 2 teaspoons of ground cumin, a grinding of peppercorns and a drizzle of olive oil.

Then spread out onto baking trays.  You want the vegetables to roast rather than steam, so don’t overfill the baking trays.  Cook at 200ºC/Gas Mark 6/400ºF for 15 minutes.  (Aga Roasting Oven:  fourth set of runners for 10 minutes.)

Meanwhile, prepare the tomatoes.  6 tomatoes.  De-seed.

And cut into cubes.

When the initial cooking time is up, add the chopped tomatoes.  Give everything a stir and return to the oven for a further 15 minutes.  (Aga: 10 minutes).

Squeeze the juice from a lemon.  (I used a microplane grater to remove the zest first.  You don’t need it for this, but it freezes.  I made ‘rock cakes’.)

Place all the roasted vegetables into a big bowl and add the juice of the lemon.  Give everything a stir and let it all cool.

Just before serving, roughly chop a large bunch of parsley and add that to the salad.  Basil is a nice alternative.

Eat.

Roasted Pepper Salad

Serves 8

• 6 medium-sized peppers in a mix of colours, de-seeded and sliced into 5mm strips
• 3 onions, peeled and sliced into 5mm crescents
• 2 bulbs of garlic, separated into cloves and peeled
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil
• 3 teaspoons of oregano
• 2 teaspoons of ground cumin
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 6 tomatoes, de-seeded and cut into cubes
• juice of 1 lemon
• large bunch of chopped parsley

Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC/Gas Mark 6/400ºF.

Place the pepper strips, the onion crescents and the peeled garlic cloves into a big bowl.  Add the oregano, ground cumin, freshly ground black pepper and olive oil.  Mix everything together.

Lay everything out in a shallow layer on baking sheets and cook for 15 minutes.  (Aga:  Roasting Oven fourth set of runners – 10 minutes.)

Add the chopped tomatoes and give everything a stir.  Return to the oven and cook for a further 15 minutes.  (Aga:  Roasting Oven fourth set of runners – 10 minutes.)

Transfer everything into a bowl and add the juice of a lemon.  Allow the salad to cool.  Just before serving add a large bunch of roughly chopped parsley.  Stir.

Eat.

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French-Style potato salad as opposed to one that’s dressed in mayonnaise or soured cream.  I did play about with calling it ‘Herby Potato Salad’ because there are a lot of herbs, but the vinaigrette dressing swung it.  In my house, this is just called ‘Potato Salad’.  It’s my default setting for any summertime barbecue and I love it – not least because it’ll sit in the sunshine without coming to any harm.

You know how chefs say they go to the market and look for what’s fresh and their imaginations start buzzing with ideas of what they’ll create .. well, it wasn’t quite like that.  I went to the supermarket and there was a trolley full of reduced Jersey Royal potatoes .. and I immediately thought, ‘Good, potato salad’.

Does that count???  It’s certainly the way I cook.

Jersey Royals are usually expensive and have EU protected status.  The reason is not the type of potato but the growing conditions.  They’re been grown on the island of Jersey since 1880 and are planted on the steep south facing coastal slopes in well-drained and nutrient-rich soil.  Vraic, which is the dialect word for the locally collected seaweed, is used as a fertiliser and the steep slopes mean much of the crop has to be harvested by hand.

99% of the harvest ends up on the UK mainland, the rest the islanders eat themselves.  This late in their season they’re getting larger than the ones that appear in May.  Best are the ones with mud clinging to them – but I’m grateful for my bargain.

With a Jersey Royal it’s skin-on.  Always.  The skins are paper thin and all the nutrients are just beneath it.  I’m inclined to do that with all small waxy potatoes.  I’m going to sell it on the grounds of health, but I hate scraping potatoes.  Give them a good wash and, for preference, steam rather than boil.  Conventionally, it takes about 20 minutes.  Aga – bring to the boil in cold salted water.  Give it a couple of minutes on the boiling plate and then drain completely of water.  Replace the lid and pop into the simmering oven for 30 minutes.

You are looking for ‘tender at the point of a knife’.

Then cover the saucepan with a clean tea-towel, replace the lid and let it steam dry for a further five minutes.

Hopefully, they’re now dry and cool enough to handle.  Cut into bite sized pieces.  Smaller ones I cut in half, the larger potatoes into four.

Place them in a bowl and pour over a glug of white wine.  Most recipes that call for that will tell you to use what’s left in a bottle.  Who are these people?  Nigel and I would finish the bottle!  So, whenever I open a bottle, I take a little bit off the top and freeze it.  Useful for making a risotto, too, and probably better for us to consume a little less alcohol.  If you don’t drink alcohol, you could miss this stage out completely or use a little bit of chicken stock.

Give it all a stir and then cover with plastic wrap.  The potatoes will soak up the wine.

Meanwhile, make the vinaigrette.  It can be as simple or as complicated as you like.  Considering the quantity of fresh herbs I’m about to include, I keep it really simple.  One part good quality white wine vinegar with three parts good olive oil.  I do spend money on the ingredients for a dressing because they have nowhere to hide.  In this case I actually didn’t use olive oil but a cold pressed rapeseed oil.

Then, I added a blob of Dijon Mustard, salt and pepper.  Give everything a shake and taste.  Now’s the time to make any adjustments.  If you don’t use all of it in this potato salad it’s a lovely dressing on a green salad and will keep happily in the fridge for a few days.

The herbs are the stars of the salad.  Parsley – flat leaf or curly.  I can’t see that it matters.

Basil.

The easiest way to chop basil is to pile the basil leaves up and roll into a cigar.  Then chop with the sharp knife.  If you have any green sludge on your board it’s because your knife is too blunt and you are bruising the herbs rather than chopping them.

And that’s a chiffonade.

I served this potato salad with salmon which made dill an obvious choice.  In fact, any ‘soft’ herb is lovely and when my herb bed is really flourishing I have fun.

I like the tang of spring onions and chop both the white and green parts.  When Seb is home from uni I often omit them and use chives in their place.  Of course, in the interests of honesty, I should mention I get fed up with accommodating his preferences and will revert to spring onions when he’s been home a few weeks.  (You might like to remind yourself of my problem when making cottage pie.)  Finely chopped shallots are also lovely.

By now the potatoes will have sucked up the alcohol.  Add as much of the vinaigrette as you need to coat everything, but not so much as you have a pool of it at the bottom of the serving dish.  Then add the herbs and the spring onions.

If you want to keep this in the fridge, do bring it to room temperature again before you serve it.

Eat.

French-Style Potato Salad

Serves 8 generously

• 1.5kg/3lb waxy potatoes
• 50ml/2 fl oz white wine
• 50ml/2 fl oz white wine vinegar
• 150ml/6 fl oz good olive oil or cold pressed rapeseed oil
• 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
• 1 tsp of salt
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 8 spring onions, both the white and green parts, chopped
• 3 generous tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley
• 3 generous tablespoons of chopped basil
• 3 generous tablespoons of chopped fresh dill

Thoroughly scrub the potatoes to get rid of any dirt and steam until they are ‘tender at the point of a knife’.  Cover with a clean tea-towel, replace the lid, and allow to steam for 5-10 minutes longer.

Cut into bite sized pieces and place in a shallow bowl.  Add the white wine and give everything a gentle stir.  Cover with plastic wrap and allow the potato to absorb the wine.

Meanwhile, make the vinaigrette.  I like to use a parfait jar or empty jam jar.  It’s one part white wine vinegar to three parts oil if you like to do it by eye.  Otherwise, 50ml/2fl oz of white wine vinegar in the bottom of the jar.  Add 150ml/6 fl oz of good quality olive oil or cold pressed rapeseed oil.  Add 1 tsp of Dijon Mustard.  A teaspoon of sea salt and ½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.  Replace the lid on your jar and give everything a shake.  Taste.  You can add more seasoning, more vinegar …

Chop your choice of soft herbs.  Parsley, basil and dill are easy to buy and are my default selection.

Remove the plastic wrap and add enough of the dressing to coat the potatoes.  Then the herbs.  3 generous tablespoons of each.  Give everything a gentle stir and serve at room temperature.

Eat.

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