I’ve just had a wonderful weekend down south in Margaret River, talking at the Readers & Writers Festival – the event was organized and hosted by Pauline McLeod from the Margaret River Bookshop. The equally wonderful food writer Jane Cornes kept it all (and me) under control, Hamish Mc Leay from Bunkers Beach Cafe, provided some gorgeous food to illustrate the theme and Cullens provided their glorious bio – dynamic wines. It was a perfect evening and I met many wonderful people.
But, life goes on, and when I got home the next day the eternal question remained – what to have for dinner? As you can imagine the cupboards were pretty bare, so it was into the garden to see what was on offer. As it seems that winter will never arrive and summer is here to stay, the capsicums are doing brilliantly, and there was one ripe. I decided to stuff and bake it, and let me tell you, it was mighty good. I’m not a big fan of raw capsicum, but roasted, well that’s a different thing. It’s flavour concentrates and sweetens, and this particular one was extremely sweet and full – this is typical of organic vegetables eaten close to picking. It’s hard to give an exact recipe, and the brilliant thing is you don’t really need one. Really, it was put together with what I had in the fridge, what was in the garden and some truly wonderful vegetables I’d bought back with me from the Margaret River Farmers Market. The only salt I had was one my daughter Nessie had made during summer – grinding up sea salt with fresh rosemary, then drying it out, but as I had little in the way of fresh herb, it was perfect. My garlic was not a strong one, hence the 4 cloves, so you could reduce that if you wanted to. If I had any onion I would have caramelized that to begin the dish, and leek or spring onion would also be good options, but alas I had none. Best of all it didn’t take very long at all – I only wish I’d done more for left overs!
1 – 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 small zucchini, cut into small pieces
salt and pepper
3 – 5 small silver beet (Chard) leaves with a little stem – well washed
sourdough bread crumbs (about 2 small slices worth, crusts removed and cut into small dice)
fresh basil – I only had a few leaves, but you can never have too much
feta
pine nuts
Pre heat oven to 180c.
Add 1 tablespoon oil to a frying pan and warm over a medium heat. Add the zucchini and salt, and cook for 2 minutes or so – a light golden colour is nice. Add the garlic and a good handful of finely chopped silverbeet stems, reduce the heat (so you don’t burn the garlic) and cook for 2 minutes or until it’s all lovely and soft. Add the remaining oil and bread crumbs, increase the heat a little, and see if you can lightly brown the bread – about 2 minutes or so, stirring often. I couldn’t brown them too much, as the garlic would have burnt, but they soaked up the oil and flavours, and were fine. Turn this mix into a small bowl and add the finely sliced silver beet leaves to the frying pan. Cook over a gentle heat until wilted and well cooked, roughly chop them and add these to the bowl. Add the finely chopped fresh basil, a good chunk (finely chopped) of quality feta cheese – I would have used about 1/2 cup, season to taste with salt and pepper and gently mix together.
Cut the capsicum in half lengthways and remove the seeds. Rub the outside of the capsicum with olive oil. Gently press the stuffing into the hollow – you may not be able to fit it all in, that’s fine, you can add it later when the capsicum flesh has softened a little. Place on an ovenproof baking tray or dish, and lightly cover the capsicums with some foil (this is just to stop the top browning and drying out). Bake for 20 mins or so – really, you want to see the capsicum flesh soften and relax. Add the remaining stuffing, sprinkle with the pine nuts, leave the foil off and return to the oven. Bake until the capsicum flesh is very soft – mine was slightly brown in places, and the tops are golden and crispy. I served mine with roast pumpkin from the garden and the most gorgeous baby beans from the Margaret River Farmers Market.