Fried green Salentine peppers

This colourful side dish will delight lovers of Mediterranean flavours. It is prepared, in Salento, with the classic 'friggitelli' peppers, also known by many people as 'cornetti': they are green but not spicy, and "the death of them", as they say in local slang - ie the best way of cooking - is to fry them. This is not a recipe for a healthy diet, in short, but it's really excellent and definitely worth trying. These peppers are also very common in Calabria, where they are also fried, with potatoes, such as in the recipe 'Pipi e patate'. Here, in Puglia, on the other hand, they are served on their own or, as we did, with a delicious, ripe bunch of cherry tomatoes. Serve them as a side dish, or as a filling for a lovely sandwich to take to the beach or on a trip, or maybe as a topping for a typical salentine "frisa", or dried bread, completing a Puglia-themed dinner.

Wash the peppers, dry them, then remove their stalks and seeds. Fry the peppers in a finger-width of extra virgin olive oil. Half way through cooking, turn them over and finish frying. Place them on some kitchen paper and then in the same pan and in the same oil, add the garlic and cherry tomatoes. Fry these in the same way and then also place them on some kitchen paper. Mix everything together in a serving bowl, adding salt and fresh basil.