stuffed peppers

Autumn is when peppers are at their best, and we have lots of tomatoes, courgettes and apples from the garden, so here are a few ideas.

Stuffed Peppers
from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/stuffedpeppers_82902

4 red peppers
4+ tbsp olive oil 
5 oz peas
1 large red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic
5 oz breadcrumbe
1 egg
s&p

1. Preheat oven to 180/350/4
2. Cut around stalk and remove tops of peppers.  Remove any seeds.
3. Heat oil and saute peas, onion and garlic.
4. Soak bread in water for a few minutes.
5. Add breadcrumbs and egg to pea mixture.
6. Stuff the empty peppers with mixture and replace their tops.
7. Place on baking tray and season and drizzle with oil.
8. Cook about 20 - 30 minutes until soft and cooked through.

The downsides of this recipe were: the mixture was rather crumbly and there was too much pepper to eat.  

My variation of this would be to add another egg to the mixture and use fewer breadcrumbs.  Then cut the peppers lengthwise, lay on a dish, heap on the mixture and possibly cook with a little grated cheese on top.

And some other ideas:

http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/526229/baked-stuffed-peppers

http://sortedfood.com/#!/stuffedpeppers/

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4404/easy-stuffed-peppers

Aubergines, Courgettes, Tomatoes and Peppers from the Allotment

With so much suitable produce from the allotment, Ratatouille seemed good to make for dinner tonight.  Being a great fan of Nigel Slater here is his take on this classic recipe, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jun/27/nigel-slater-classic-recipe-ratatouille:

The recipe

2 onions, sliced
4 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 aubergines, thickly sliced
2 courgettes, thickly sliced
2 red or yellow peppers, seeded and quartered
4 plum tomatoes, sliced
2-3 sprigs thyme
1 handful basil leaves

Sweat 2 sliced onions in 4 tbsp of olive oil until they are soft, add 4 sliced garlic cloves and cook until soft. Remove to a deep roasting tin or baking dish. Fry each of the other vegetables separately, adding more oil as necessary, until each is pale gold. Remove as each one is ready and add to the tin or dish, followed by 4 thickly sliced plum tomatoes, seasoning with salt, black pepper and thyme. Bake at 180C/gas mark 4 for about 40 minutes until soft and tender. Stir gently with a handful of torn basil leaves and serve.

The trick

One reason ratatouille may have lost favour is because it is too often cooked like a stew, with all the ingredients lumped in together. It takes longer to cook them separately, but the individual attention allows each ingredient to keep its own character. You end up with layers of flavour rather than a casserole. Like quiche, this is better served warm than hot.

The twist

I often make leftover ratatouille into a savoury pie. A crumble top of flour, butter, thyme leaves and grated cheese forms a suitable contrast to the soft ingredients underneath. I also like it cold, as a salad. So versatile is this mélange of summer ingredients that it often ends up as a pasta sauce, working well with larger, tube-shaped pastas. I have also seen it cooked in tiny metal moulds and turned out to form a neat mound on the plate with a surrounding drizzle of tomato sauce and perfectly positioned basil leaves. In which case it might be better called rata-twee.

Thank you, Nigel, am looking forward to making what's not eaten tonight into a crumble for tomorrow ...

courgette ideas: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/top-10-things-do-courgettes