Insalata di Peperoni Arrostiti

There are two ways to approach a roasted pepper salad. One involves stripping the pepper of everything that makes it interesting, rinsing it under water until it tastes like nothing in particular, then drowning it in balsamic vinegar. The other is the Piedmontese way.

In Piemonte, sweet peppers are charred until their skins blacken and blister, then peeled without water touching them. The smoky flavor remains. The natural sugars concentrate. The flesh becomes silky and yielding. You dress these peppers simply: good oil, a whisper of vinegar, anchovies that dissolve into the sauce, capers for salt and texture, garlic sliced thin enough to read through.

What you keep out matters here. No dried oregano. No balsamic reduction. No roasted garlic paste. The pepper must remain the point. Everything else supports it without competing for attention.