Grilled Red Bell Pepper with Capers
You have to try this recipe; your taste buds and your body will thank you! As the summer is here, we find ourselves wanting to get outside and grill more. It is time to take advantage of the grill to increase the nutrition of our diet while enjoying delicious food. Bell peppers come in yellow, orange, green, and red. Around my kitchen, the red bell pepper is the most popular of these peppers during the summer. The sweetness of red bell peppers adds a wonderful flavor to so many dishes. But, more importantly, it adds valuable nutrition. The red bell peppers have more antioxidant than yellow and green. They are also rich in vitamin C, carotenoids, and vitamin B. They are low in carbohydrates and in calories.
I recommend you always have some of these beautiful red vegetables on hand, stored either in the fridge or in the freezer, to add to your daily dishes and recipes.
In this recipe, I mixed the capers with red bell pepper to add more flavor. Capers are pickled edible flower buds that are popular in the Mediterranean cooking. They have a sweet and sour taste that adds a fantastic flavor to so many dishes such as fish, salads, meat, and dips.
Capers are rich in vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and antioxidants; but the amount of the nutrients that we are getting from capers in this recipe is small as we are only using a small amount. You don’t need a lot of capers, the little nutrients from here and there will add up.
Capers are pickled therefore they are high in salt. This is why we use a small amount! Also, you will need to soak the buds in a cup of water for 10 to 15 minutes to decrease the salt content. Especially if you have high blood pressure, kidney disease, or congestive heart failure.
We are not using any added salt in this recipe as the salt in capers will diffuse out to the bell peppers.
Heart healthy: yes
Diabetic diet: yes
Guilt-free: yes
Low calories: yes
Low carbohydrates: yes
Nutritious: yes
Ingredients:
Two red bell peppers
1/4 of red onion, sliced thin
Dressing for this recipe:
One tablespoon of pickled capers, drained
Two teaspoons of fresh lemon juice
Pinch of black pepper
One teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil
One teaspoon of cilantro chopped
Juice from bell pepper that infused out while cooling
Directions:
Clean the red bell pepper thoroughly and remove any tags.
You can cook the red bell peppers in oven or grill (I recommend a grill!).
Cooking the red bell peppers in the oven: Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the whole red bell pepper in a baking pan and place in the bottom rack to cook quickly. Turn the bell pepper at the 20-minute mark. The cooking time is about 40 minutes or so depending on your oven. When the bell peppers are soft and tender, it is time to remove from the oven.
Cooking the red bell peppers on grill: Heat the grill to 350 degrees, place the bell peppers on the grill and turn when the skin becomes dark. Turn the bell pepper to allow all the sides to cook just like in the picture below.
Place the roasted/grill red bell peppers in a container and cover. Let them cool to room temperature. This will allow the skin to be removed easily.
Soak the capers in one cup of water to decrease the salt amount in them. Drain.
Slice the red onion thin and place to the side.
In a small bowl, add lemon juice, black pepper, extra virgin olive oil, capers, and cilantro. Mix and set aside.
Peel the bell pepper skin off and slice lengthwise. In the bottom of the container, you will find juice of the bell pepper that infused out while cooling. Save the juice, it will be added to the salad dressing in this recipe.
In a bowl, add the sliced bell pepper and the juice from peppers. Add the mixture of capers and the rest of the ingredients and mix. On a serving plate, place the bell peppers in the middles. Add the red onion around the as shown in the picture. Et voila. Tasty and healthy.