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Puglia-inspired Baby Bell Peppers From The Mediterranean Dish

This excerpt from The Mediterranean Dish: Simply Dinner showcases a simple vegetarian side (or main) that comes together in minutes.

Suzy Karadsheh is the queen of the Mediterranean diet — and she’s come out with a new cookbook: The Mediterranean Dish: Simply Dinner.

Karadsheh, who is author of the blog The Mediterranean Dish, has been sharing her intel on a Mediterranean-style of eating for a decade now and has garnered a following of nearly 650,000 on Instagram

Suzy Karadsheh of The Mediterranean Dish in a kitchen wearing a black dress
Suzy Karadsheh, author of the blog The Mediterranean Dish. Photo: Caitlin Bensel

In celebration of the release of her cookbook, Karadsheh has shared a newly published recipe with Appetito: Puglia-Inspired Baby Bell Peppers and Tomato with Toasted Almonds.

“This is the meal I first made in Puglia, Italy while on tour with a group of the Mediterranean Dish audience,” says Karadsheh. “It was lovely to make in just a few minutes with a few simple ingredients we bought from the market that same day.”

Mediterranean Dish cover

In the dish, she said, bell peppers and tomatoes act as main characters.

The recipe proves “making a simple meal that is entirely vegetarian can be satisfying and absolutely delicious,” says Karadsheh.

The Mediterranean Dish: Simply Dinner is available on Amazon.

Puglia-Inspired Baby Bell Peppers and Tomato

Puglia-Inspired Baby Bell Peppers and Tomato

Recipe by The Mediterranean Dish
0.0 from 0 votes
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

20

minutes
Cooking time

15

minutes

Ingredients

  • Extra-virgin olive oil

  • 1 cup 1 whole blanched almonds

  • 1 pound 1 red, yellow, and orange baby bell peppers, cored, seeded, and cut crosswise into ½-inch-wide rings

  • 4 4 or 5 Roma (plum) tomatoes (about 14 ounces), roughly chopped

  • ¼ cup roughly chopped sun-dried tomatoes

  • 3 large 3 garlic cloves, crushed

  • 2 teaspoons 2 fresh thyme leaves

  • Kosher salt and ground black pepper

  • Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

  • 1 1 loaf hearty Italian bread, for serving

Directions

  • Line a small plate with a paper towel. Place a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 2 teaspoons of the olive oil. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the almonds and toast, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon, until golden brown, 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer the toasted almonds to the paper towel–lined plate to drain.
  • Add about 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan and raise the heat to medium-high. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the peppers, Roma tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, and thyme.
  • Season with a big pinch of salt and black pepper (about ½ teaspoon each).
  • Cook, stirring occasionally, until the peppers are tender and the tomatoes have fully collapsed, creating a bit of a sauce, 10 to 12 minutes.
  • Stir in the lemon zest, 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice, and cup of the toasted almonds. Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle the remaining almonds on top. Serve with Italian bread to sop up all the juices.

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