Roasted Capsicums with Goat Cheese

I've been quite busy for the past couple of weeks preparing for my month-long vacation (big smiley here). This will probably be the last post for quite some time unless I find time during my holiday to post pictures of my meals.

Decided to do something out of the norm with capsicums. Capsicums and tomatoes are two of my favourite vegetable-like fruits and with capsicums, they are usually served raw in a salad or simply sauteed Chinese-style with other veggies like cabbage.

I came across this recipe on TV and it was supposed to be a sandwich but well, no bread for me so this can be a side dish. It can also be a simple meal on its own but I feel it is rather low in fat to become one.

I used:
5 whole capsicums (red, yellow or green you decide)
a block of goat cheese
balsamic vinegar
some chopped garlic
pepper
salt

Place your washed capsicums on a lined baking tray

Place them into a preheated oven at 180°C for about 30-40 mins

They'll look like that when done. I turned them onto their sides during the roasting because their tops were getting too charred. Don't worry about it if they're too burnt though, you'll have to peel off the skins eventually and you can remove the blackened parts.

Cover the hot capsicums with a tin foil so they'll sort of "sweat out" the heat and leave them until they are cool. Pull off their stems and remove the skins and seeds. This will be easy because the capsicums will be very soft to handle. Slice them into fat strips and they should look like this.

Now, there will be lots of juice left behind by the capsicums during the roasting process which you will want to keep for the sauce. Look!

Next, add about 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar as well as some chopped garlic to the leftover juice. This will make the sauce for the capsicums. You can season the sauce with a generous amount of pepper and a dash of salt too if you like.

Balsamic vinegar should be easy to find in the local supermarkets. I use this from Alce Nero:

Dip the sliced capsicums into the sauce to be coated with evenly.

When done, break the goat cheese into crumbles and place them over the capsicums. Why goat cheese, you may ask. Goat cheese has a creamier texture and a much milder taste as compared to the usual cow's milk cheeses and that makes it to be a fantastic combination with the balsamic vinegar. 

You will also note that goat cheese is more expensive. I got 250g of it at $11+ if I remember correctly. By the way, they can only be found at bigger and more specialized supermarkets like Cold Storage and NTUC Finest.

There you have it. This is once again, a fairly minimalistic dish to prepare yet tastes so amazing.