Stuffed bell peppers
Crossposted to DreamWidth.
Stuffed bell peppers with couscous and spinach
Serves 2 as (part of) a main course or 4 as a starter or lunch dish.
Ingredients
Method
Preheat the oven to about 180 degrees celsius.
Thaw and heat the spinach. In the mean time, add lemon juice and salt to the couscous and then prepare it according to directions (on mine, this was roughly 'Weigh, put in bowl, add 50ml water for every 30g of couscous, stir, cover, leave for 5 minutes'; I usually do that by placing the bowl on the scales, adding the couscous and the seasonings and then adding the water, keeping in mind that one ml of water weighs roughly one gram*). Drain excess liquid from the spinach but don't press it much. Mix couscous, spinach, onion and coriander.
Clean the bell peppers and slice them in half, so that you have four nice pepper halves to fill. Coat the bottom of an oven dish with oil. Fill the pepper halves with the couscous mixture (it fit nicely in mine, your mileage may vary). Place the pepper halves in the oven dish. Cover them with pine kernels first (push these slightly into the couscous), then with cheese.
Place the oven dish in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes.
I served my stuffed bell peppers with sausages, which conveniently took about 15 minutes to fry, but they would go equally well with grilled meat or fish of your choice, or on their own as a vegetarian (if you choose your cheese right) meal. Personally I'd add a little more cheese and pine kernels if they were the entire meal, but then I require a fair bit of protein, so if you don't they should be fine like this.
* For the scientifically inclined, yes, under the correct circumstances one ml of water is exactly one gram. I expect the circumstances in your or mine kitchen are not the correct ones, and I don't think the correct circumstances usually include the water temperature to be close to 100 degrees celsius.
Stuffed bell peppers with couscous and spinach
Serves 2 as (part of) a main course or 4 as a starter or lunch dish.
Ingredients
- 120 grams of couscous (I used wholewheat)
- 250 grams of frozen spinach (I used the kind not chopped too finely)
- Two bell peppers (I used a red and an orange one)
- A small onion, finely chopped
- A little salt
- A little lemon juice
- A handful of fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves, chopped
- A handful of pine kernels
- About 50 grams of grated cheese (I used a feta-like sheep's cheese; I expect a sheep's, goat's or feta-like cheese will match the dish best.)
- Oil
- Water
Method
Preheat the oven to about 180 degrees celsius.
Thaw and heat the spinach. In the mean time, add lemon juice and salt to the couscous and then prepare it according to directions (on mine, this was roughly 'Weigh, put in bowl, add 50ml water for every 30g of couscous, stir, cover, leave for 5 minutes'; I usually do that by placing the bowl on the scales, adding the couscous and the seasonings and then adding the water, keeping in mind that one ml of water weighs roughly one gram*). Drain excess liquid from the spinach but don't press it much. Mix couscous, spinach, onion and coriander.
Clean the bell peppers and slice them in half, so that you have four nice pepper halves to fill. Coat the bottom of an oven dish with oil. Fill the pepper halves with the couscous mixture (it fit nicely in mine, your mileage may vary). Place the pepper halves in the oven dish. Cover them with pine kernels first (push these slightly into the couscous), then with cheese.
Place the oven dish in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes.
I served my stuffed bell peppers with sausages, which conveniently took about 15 minutes to fry, but they would go equally well with grilled meat or fish of your choice, or on their own as a vegetarian (if you choose your cheese right) meal. Personally I'd add a little more cheese and pine kernels if they were the entire meal, but then I require a fair bit of protein, so if you don't they should be fine like this.
* For the scientifically inclined, yes, under the correct circumstances one ml of water is exactly one gram. I expect the circumstances in your or mine kitchen are not the correct ones, and I don't think the correct circumstances usually include the water temperature to be close to 100 degrees celsius.