Hot Pickled Peppers with Cream Cheese & Za'atar Pitta Chips

This dish is so easy to make! I always make way too much of the pickled peppers so that I leave it in an air tight jar until I want to reheat to make the dish again. Its one of those great go to dishes if you always keep a bottle of the pickled peppers.

Ingredients

SERVES 6–8
3 large yellow peppers
3 large red peppers
250ml red wine vinegar
200g granulated sugar
4 pitta breads
olive oil, for drizzling
2 tsp za’atar
250g soft cream cheese

Method

Remove the seeds from the peppers and slice the flesh into 1cm strips. It’s best not to cut them any thinner than that, as the strips do shrink a little in the vinegar and you want lots of lovely crunch and texture.

Put the vinegar and sugar in a saucepan with 500ml of water and gently bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Once the sugar has dissolved, add the sliced peppers and simmer them gently for 1–2 hours until most of the liquid has gone and the peppers are sticky and caramelized. Tip them into a bowl and leave them to cool slightly while you cook the pitta chips. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6. Slice the pitta breads into fingers. Drizzle them with olive oil, then sprinkle on the za’atar and toss until they are all well covered. Spread the pitta chips on a baking sheet and bake them for 5 minutes until they’re beginning to crisp. Gently whip the cream cheese until it’s soft, then dollop it on to the centre of a serving dish. Pour the hot peppers and their sticky pickling juices on to the cream cheese.

Serve with pitta chips and enjoy.