Salata Mechouia, Algerian Roasted Pepper Salad

Roasted pepper and eggplant salads or dips are perhaps two of the most ubiquitous appetizers for an Algerian dinner. My friend Bruno, a chef instructor at Le Cordon Bleu in Ottawa, came over for dinner the other night. So my wife made this simple variation of roasted peppers.

Trader Joe's sells sweet bell peppers in packages of three, one each of red, yellow and orange. The yellow and orange peppers tend to sweeter and meatier than green peppers. You can add some hot peppers for heat, but we wanted to have a mild, sweet version.

The peppers were roasted one at a time over a gas burner set to very high heat, turning them as each side charred. The skins blacken, but the peppers cook only slightly on the inside, retaining their crunch and fresh flavor with their sweetness heightened just a little bit.

After the peppers are blackened allover scrape of the skin with a knife. They should come off very easily, cut off tops and remove seeds. I used this method to remove the skin and for the way it lightly cooks the peppers. I did not use this method for the smoky flavor, so I rinsed them very quickly to remove any black bits that remained after scraping with a knife. I know there is a particular kind of foodie who would consider this a crime against roasted peppers. My response is to advise against applying "foodie" notions of the correct methods and flavors willy-nilly across a range of food cultures. In this application for Algerian roasted peppers a strong smoky flavor is not desirable.

At this point (as shown in the photo), the peppers can be dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. Roasted garlic puree or finely minced raw garlic are optional. The chopped peppers can be added a chermoulas or salsa tomatish (tomato salsa).

Or they can be cooked further in a pan with olive oil for 15 minutes to bring out their sweetness even more. I sprinkled this with finely ground toasted almonds and toasted and herbed breadcrumbs.

Comments

[Farid Zadi]

Salata Mechouia just means salad grilled/roasted. Sure it's made in Tunisia and Morocco, plus a lot of other pepper eating Mediterranean countries.

However, all the recipes I post here are Algerian versions. That's not to say no other food culture makes the same or similar versions.

[ra_u]

I think that it's a tunisian salad but maybe I'm wrong.
Nevertheless, it's delicious !!!!!