Vegan mini pepper and caper salad: the magic of charred flavor

I’ve lost count of the number of times I posted recipes involving roasted peppers on this site. I may be a little bit obsessed with roasted peppers (lol), but I hope you understand 🙂

Nothing beats the sweet charred flavor and unique aroma you get when roasting veggies over an open fire. My mom has roasted peppers and eggplant on the stove for as long as I can remember, and she quietly passed the torch over to me in recent years. I’m definitely not complaining – after all, roasted peppers with salt, oil and vinegar were one of my favorite dishes to eat while growing up. I love making this dish, eating this dish, and seeing my family happily eating it too.

My recipe is easy and very economical – you don’t need lots of expensive ingredients, but just enough patience to roast the peppers. Their preparation is the most difficult – and the messiest! – part. I made this dish for posting with mini peppers, which I found on sale at the local grocery store. Usually however, we use large size bell peppers of various colors, which we roast whole and then cut into smaller pieces. The only change I made to mom’s original recipe was the addition of capers, which I first came across when invited for dinner over at our friends’ house. Thank you for the great idea, Mona!

Start off by washing the peppers and then roasting them over a stove top burner until they turn soft and their juices start running all over the place – yep, I think that’s a pretty accurate description of the ensuing messiness 🙂 As a tip, I always put aluminum foil on the stove, leaving the burners uncovered, to make the cleaning easier afterwards:

These mini peppers are so beautiful, don’t you think?

The roasting process is not that complicated – you just need to place the peppers on the open fire over medium heat, turning them regularly with tongs to avoid complete burning.

Once the peppers are uniformly roasted/blackened, put them in a large bowl and allow to cool down.  

Remove the burnt skin of the peppers under cold running water, and place them on a serving plate. Pat them dry with paper towel repeatedly to remove excess water and/or roasted pepper juice. In the case of large bell peppers, we usually scoop out the seeds and cut the peppers in smaller pieces. For a prettier presentation when dealing with small peppers such as these ones, I suggest you leave the peppers whole, and instruct your guests to take the seeded core out themselves, while eating.

In a small mixing bowl make a simple vinaigrette with quality extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, salt and freshly ground black pepper. We usually like the vinaigrette rather “vinegary” (for lack of a better word, ha ha) – you are welcome to use less if assertive vinegar flavor is not your thing. Add the capers and mix until combined. Pour the vinaigrette over the peppers. Serve slightly chilled.

This vegan salad can be turned vegetarian easily by adding torn burrata on the side or freshly grated Parmesan on top of the peppers. I for one like to dunk the peppers into the milky burrata center – it’s such a decadent treat! 

Anyone else in love with roasted veggies? Let me know in the comments 🙂

Print Recipe

Vegan mini pepper and caper salad

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time45 mins

Total Time1 hr 15 mins

Servings: 3 people

Ingredients

• 1 lb red mini peppers
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1.5 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp capers, drained
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

• Wash peppers under cold water. Place peppers on stove top burners over medium heat, turning regularly with tongs to avoid complete burning, until they become soft and start releasing juices. Tip: Put aluminum foil on the stove, leaving the burners uncovered, to make the cleaning easier afterwards. Once the peppers are uniformly roasted/blackened, put them in a large bowl and allow to cool down.  
• Remove the burnt pepper skin under cold running water, and place peppers on a serving plate. Pat dry with paper towel repeatedly to remove excess water and/or roasted pepper juice. In the case of large bell peppers, we usually scoop out the seeds and cut the peppers in smaller pieces. For a prettier presentation when dealing with mini peppers, I suggest you leave the peppers whole, and instruct your guests to take the seeded core out themselves, while eating.
• In a small mixing bowl make a simple vinaigrette with extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Use less vinegar for a less assertive vinegar flavor. Add capers and mix until combined. Pour the vinaigrette over the peppers. Serve slightly chilled. To turn this vegetarian, add torn burrata on the side or freshly grated Parmesan on top of peppers.
• Enjoy!

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