Roasted Yellow Pepper and Caramelized Onion on Ciabatta

So I finally got around to trying a different cookbook than veganomicon. This was in 'The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen' and called a 'golden slipper' - ciabatta being the Italian word for slipper and the golden part pretty obvious. However I felt that made it sound like a bad disney movie and had to change it. This was amazing, you really want virtual smell or taste with this post as I realize it just looks like peppers and onion on toast but it's so much more. Roasted peppers with caramelized onion cooked in light stock and olive oil infused with garlic and fresh sage then a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar stirred through at the end all on a crisp ciabatta. Perfect...my only complaint was how long it took to make, I started at noon already hungry thinking a sandwich wouldn't take too long and sat down to eat at half 1! So be warned....but it is worth it.

Only change I made was that this was supposed to be a sandwich but I find ciabatta sandwich's too thick and difficult to eat. So I doubled the filling and spooned it over the split ciabatta open faced style. I feel this works much better and gives a better proportion of filling vs bread.

Makes 1 open faced sandwich:
1/4 cup (2 fl oz) vegetable stock made with 1/4 tsp marigold vegan granules (not low sodium)
1 Tbsp olive oil
4 large fresh sage leaves
1 1/2 cloves garlic, or 1 large and 1 small, lightly crushed
1 sweet onion, sliced thin
1 yellow pepper, quick roasted, peeled and sliced into thin strips
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
ciabatta - about 80g, I used tesco's ciabatta rolls - very handy as you don't have to cut to size.
fresh black pepper

First roast the pepper - adjust the oven rack to about 4 inches from the grill and preheat to broil. Top and tail the pepper, remove the seeds and white membrane and slice in half lengthwise. Slice each half into half again and place skin side up onto a baking sheet. Broil until partially charred, about 5 minutes. Place in a bowl (not plastic) and cover with cling film. Leave to sweat for about 15 - 20 minutes. Peel off skins with your fingers or a knife, they should peel off very easily. Slice into thin strips.

In a medium skillet or pot with a lid, combine the broth, oil, sage and garlic; bring to a brisk simmer over medium heat. Cover and remove from the heat. Let stand for 20 minutes. Remove the sage and garlic, squeezing out the excess liquid back into the pot.

Preheat oven to 200C. Add the onion and some grinds of black pepper to the stock and cook over medium heat, stirring often until the onion is very soft, golden and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the roasted pepper and vinegar, toss well to combine. Split the ciabatta in half and place all the filling on the bottom half. This will seem like too much as this is a double amount of the filling but it's ok. Top with the other half of ciabatta and wrap the sandwich tightly in foil. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes, unwrapping the foil for the last few minutes to brown. Place the top of the ciabatta on a plate and re-distribute the filling evenly over both halves. Serve immediately.