Stuffed vegetables recipe
As our courgette plants start to yield lots of produce it is time for me to get a bit more creative with dinner. I started making this recipe many years ago and it comes from my first vegetarian cookbook I owned which is a St Michael's (yes M&S) recipe book called Vegetarian Feast from 1985. I really can't believe that is almost 35 years ago! This is a variation on that recipe (well it was bound to have evolved in that time) and is a good way of using up some courgettes. I have included a stuffed pepper but you can just use courgettes if you prefer. This year we are lucky to have very prolific sugar snap pea plants so they are featuring heavily in our meals too. You can also adapt the recipe to include large Portobello mushrooms.
Ingredients - serves 2
- Extra virgin olive oil.
- Quarter of a large onion.
- Quarter of a teaspoon of lazy garlic or a clove of garlic chopped.
- One courgette.
- One yellow pepper.
- Quarter of a red pepper.
- Two mushrooms.
- Two medium sized tomatoes.
- One slice of bread (preferably wholemeal seeded but if not any bread is fine)
- Quarter teaspoon of mixed herbs.
- Quarter teaspoon of Marmite.
- Ground pepper to taste.
Method
- Turn the oven to 180 degrees C.
- Cut the courgette in half and scoop out the central flesh and keep for the next stage. (My funny shaped courgette snapped in the middle but that does not matter).
- Cut the yellow pepper and remove the stalk and seeds. (Feel free to use a red pepper).
- Brush with oil inside and out and arrange in a roasting dish.
5. Heat a few teaspoons of oil in a shallow pan.
6. Chop the onion and red pepper into small pieces and add to the pan.
7. Add the garlic and fry gently for about 5 minutes until they all start to soften.
8. Chop the mushrooms, tomatoes and courgette flesh and add to the pan stirring well.
9. Make the slice of bread into breadcrumbs. It is easiest to break it into large pieces and blitz it in the food processor for a few seconds.
10. Now add the breadcrumbs to the pan with the mixed herbs, marmite and pepper. Stir well to combine. It will form a sticky mixture. Cook for a few minutes.
11. Distribute the mixture between the courgette and pepper cases.
12. Gently pack the mixture down into the vegetables.
13. Add 2-3 tablespoons of water to the bottom of the roasting pan.
14. Cook in the oven for 35-40 minutes until the mixture is starting to brown and the vegetable cases are tender when tested with a fork.
Serve with new potatoes and a fresh vegetable such as sugar snap peas.