Eco Lesbo Vego

Friday Feast: Stuffed Capsicums

Yankee Elv and her mother found this recipe a long time ago in a newspaper; tried it; modified it very very slightly, and loved it! She made it for me and I think it tastes great! It’s also incredibly easy to make.

The recipe I’ve written down is for one capsicum (which is, for any American readers, a bell pepper). Usually, you’ll serve one capsicum per person – so I’ve given the recipe for a single serving. If you have two people, multiply by two. If you have four people, multiply by four… etc, etc.

You can use any colour capsicum you like, however we’ve found that green isn’t as sweet or tasty. We also like the colour contrast of the yellow or orange capsicum with the red tomatoes. For those reasons, we tend to go for yellow or orange capsicums, but red and green will work fine if that’s what you have. The capers are optional, but I recommend opting for them! They add this great little bite to the meal. Yankee Elv uses grape tomatoes as they’re a little bit smaller than cherry tomatoes, but cherry tomatoes are fine if you can’t find or don’t want grape tomatoes. You do want to use a good quality olive oil because you will taste it a bit. Nasty olive oil will affect the flavour of the dish.

Use an oven safe glass or pyrex dish to bake the capsicums in. Metal is ok, but glass or pyrex is better.

Serve on a bed of couscous (or rice, pasta, quinoa, whatever – I like couscous). It can be a main meal, or a side dish. You can see in the picture that it is on a bed of tri-colour couscous and has sweet potato casserole as a side. Yum.

Stuffed Capsicums (Bell Peppers)

Stuffed capsicum on a bed of tri-coloured couscous, with (you can just see it) a side of whipped sweet potatoes.

Ingredients:
- 1 yellow or orange capsicum – split lengthwise (stem to bottom), stem and seeds removed, insides cleaned out
- 1/2 medium to large garlic clove, sliced very thinly
- 10 (or more) grape tomatoes (enough to fill the 1/2 capsicum when it’s lying on it’s side, but not so many that they overflow)
- 2 heaped forkfuls of capers (about 10 per 1/2 capsicum)
- extra virgin olive oil

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C (350 degrees F).
2. Rub olive oil all over the capsicum halves, inside and out, getting it allllll over.
3. Layer the garlic slices inside the capsicum halves.
4. Fill the capsicum halves with the tomatoes.
5. Add the capers to the capsicum halves, trying to spread them evenly throughout. Poke a few down so they get near the garlic, and leave some up near the tomatoes.
6. Drizzle some more olive oil evenly but very lightly over the whole thing.
7. Grease an oven safe glass or pyrex dish liberally with olive oil. If you have leftover glarlic slices or tomatoes, you can place them in the bottom of the dish to create a gorgeous aroma and maybe to eat on the side of the capsicums (although the garlic will likely be a little to brown to taste nice after this – the tomatoes will be good though).
8. Place capsicum halves (cut side up, of course) in the dish and bake for an hour to an hour and a half (how long you bake them depends on how soft you want the capsicums – poke them with a fork to check).
9. Remove from the oven and let cool for about five minutes, then serve on a bed of couscous.

January 16, 2009 at 1:16 am 4 comments