I love capsicums (or bell peppers!), I always have.  I like them in any shape or form and made in any sorts of ways, but this is by far my favourite recipe.  My mum would make these often, and the house would be filled with the aromas of baked capsicums… yum!  So hearthy!  The filling is somewhat a Zangara’s trademark, in the sense that we use this same stuffing (with slightly different proportions) for a few different recipes (see the pork involtini or the eggplant involtini recipes for example) and I find that it is a winner with both meat and vegetable based dishes.  These capsicums are great both as an appetiser (especially if you manage to find smaller ones) and as a main dish.  I remove the skin and I find that by doing this, capsicums are much easier to digest.  I also think that they look quite pretty, what do you say?  Buon appetito everyone!

Ingredients: (for 4 people as a main dish)
4 medium-big capsicums (bell peppers), red or yellow
½ medium onion, finely chopped
100 gms salami, chopped small
100 gms provolone piquant, cubed small
8 tbsp Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated
2 cups breadcrumbs
4 tbsp tinned diced tomatoes
10 tbsp extra virgin olive oil + some to brush the capsicums
1 tsp salt

To make the stuffing, put the chopped onion, chopped salami, cubed provolone piquant, grated Parmigiano Reggiano, breadcrumbs, diced tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil and salt in a bowl and mix well.  You may have to add more extra virgin olive oil, depending on the breadcrumbs and how much they absorb the liquids.  You need to obtain a soft enough stuffing so that when you press it with your hands, it retains the shape you give it and doesn’t crumble.  Keep it aside.

Cut off the tops of the capsicums and clean the inside by removing the seeds and the white parts.  Rinse well.

Fill the capsicums with the the suffing and close them with their tops.  Brush/spray them with some extra virgin olive oil and put them in an oven proof dish lined with baking paper.

Bake them in a pre heated oven at 180ºC – 350ºF for about 30 minutes or until cooked through (they will have to be soft).  When ready, cover them tightly with some aluminium foil for 5 minutes, then remove the skin (be careful, they will still be hot! But if you let them cool down, removing the skin will be very hard!).