Stuffed Red Pepper
A wonderful vegetarian dinner which is not only healthy but exciting with the use of spices.
English
Serves 2
Ingredients
2 red peppers
100g brown rice
1 vegetarian stock cube
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
25g pine nuts
1 onion
1/2 teaspoon each ground cumin and coriander
1 tin chickpeas
30g raisins
1 small bunch flat leaf parsley
500g spinach
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
Salt and pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 180° C. Dissolve the stock cube in 300 ml hot water in a small pot set over a low heat. Add the turmeric and rice to the pot, bring to the boil and cook gently for 20 minutes until the stock has been absorbed. Finely chop the onion and parsley.
Heat a frying pan and toast the pine nuts until golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the pan and fry the onion until golden brown. Add the ground cumin and coriander, the drained chickpeas, raisins and pine nuts and sweat for 1 minute.
Drain the rice and add it along with the parsley to the frying pan. Season with salt and pepper.
Slice the red peppers lengthways in half and remove the seeds. Fill the peppers with the rice pilaf and lay in a roasting tray. Mix the balsamic vinegar, honey and 200 ml water together and pour into the roasting tray. Drizzle the peppers with 2 tablespoons olive oil and roast for 35-40 minutes in the oven.
Heat a wok with 2 tablespoons olive oil and fry the spinach until wilted. Season with salt and pepper.
Divide the spinach between 2 plates. Place 2 filled pepper halves on the spinach and spoon over the juices from the roasting tray.
Nederlands
voor 2 personen
Ingrediënten
2 grote rode paprika’s
100g bruine rijst
1 groente bouillonblokje
1/2 theelepel kurkuma
25g pijnboompitten
1 ui
1/2 theelepel elk gemalen korianderzaad en gemalen komijnzaad
1 blik kikkererwten
30g rozijnen
1 klein bosje bladpeterselie
500g spinazie
6 eetlepels olijfolie
2 eetlepels balsamico
1 eetlepel honing
zout en peper
Bereiding
Verwarm de oven voor op 180°C. Los het bouillonblokje op in 300 ml warm water in een pannetje en verwarm het op een laag vuur. Voeg de kurkuma en de rijst toe, breng aan de kook, laat 20 minuten zachtjes koken totdat de bouillon opgenomen is. Snijd de ui en peterselie fijn.
Verhit een koekenpan en rooster de pijnboompitjes goudbruin. Haal ze uit de pan en zet ze opzij. Voeg 2 eetlepels olijfolie toe aan de pan en bak de ui goudbruin. Voeg de koriander en komijnpoeder, de uitgelekte kikkererwten, rozijnen en pijnboompitten toe en laat dit 1 minuut smoren.
Giet de rijst af en voeg samen met de peterselie toe aan de koekenpan en breng op smaak met zout en peper.
Snijd de paprika’s over de lengte in tweeën en haal de zaadjes eruit. Vul met de pilaf en zet ze in een ovenschaal. Roer de azijn, honing en 200 ml water door elkaar en giet het in de ovenschaal. Bestrooi met 2 eetlepels olijfolie en zet in de oven voor 35 tot 40 minuten.
Verhit een wok met 2 eetlepels olijfolie en wok de spinazie totdat deze geslonken is en breng op smaak met zout en peper.
Verdeel de spinazie over 2 borden. Plaats 2 gevulde paprika helften er bovenop en lepel de sappen die vrijgekomen zijn er overheen.
Eyal Shani's World Famous Roasted Cauliflower and Pita Breads
Most of you have come across the whole roasted cauliflower in some form or another. It's actually the creation of famous Israeli chef, Eyal Shani. It's served in his restaurants in Israel and around the world.
Here is the definitive recipe as well as a recipe for traditional pita breads to have alongside. After making these, you'll never buy pita from the supermarket again.
Roasted Cauliflower
Ingredients
2 small cauliflower with leaves attached
extra virgin olive oil
coarse sea salt
Method
Preheat an oven to 250 C.
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Use 2 teaspoons salt per liter of water. Place the cauliflower with their leaves still attached upside down in the pan and cook the cauliflower for about 10 minutes.
Drain the cauliflower and allow to stand for a minute or so until all the water has drained out. Rub your hands with a generous amount of olive oil and massage it into the cauliflowers, then sprinkle them with coarse salt.
Scrunch up 2 pieces of grease proof paper and shape into 'bowls' to go around the cauliflowers. Roast them in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes so that the top gets dark and charred.
Remove from the oven and drizzle with a little extra olive oil. You can also sprinkle over a little extra salt if you wish. Serve the cauliflower in the baking paper with a bowl of tahini and pita bread on the side.
Pita Bread
Makes 14 small or 10 large pita breads
Ingredients
500 g wheat flour, plus extra for dusting
25 g fresh yeast or 7 g instant dried yeast
15 g castor sugar
10 g salt
300 ml cold water
45 ml olive oil
Method
Place all the dry ingredients in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix all the ingredients and add the water and olive oil.
Knead for about 10 minutes on a low speed until the dough is elastic.
Place the dough on a wooden board, cover with a damp tea towel and allow to rise for about an hour or until doubled in size.
Dust the work surface with flour and cut the dough into 14 pieces of about 60 grams (for small pitas) or 10 pieces of about 80 grams (for large pitas).
Roll each portion of dough into a ball. Spread the dough balls over the work surface leaving enough space between them as they will expand. Cover once again with a damp tea towel and leave for about 20-20 minutes until they have doubled in size. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 240 C.
Roll the dough balls out with a rolling pin into circles with a 12 cm diameter for small pita breads and to 16 cm diameter for large ones. All the breads should be the same thickness so that they rise evenly in the oven.
Line 2 large baking trays with grease proof paper. Place on the dough circles and allow to rise for a further 10-15 minutes.
Bake the pita in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes until well risen and ballooned. This usually means they are cooked through. To give them a good brown colour, you cam leave them in the oven for a further 1-2 minutes.
Remove the pita breads from the oven and place in a deep dish covered with a clean tea towel. This will ensure that the pita's get softer before serving.
Baby Beetroot
Autumn is the season for root vegetables and one of our favourites is beetroot. If you are able to find them, spend that little extra and treat yourself to a bunch or two. They are a bit of a pain to clean. Be sure to rinse them well to remove all the sand. Trim off the leaves, leaving a little bit of the stalk. If the leaves are fresh and in good condition, you can use them too. Just walk briefly until wilted and they make a great side dish.
Place the beetroot on an oven tray lined with foil. Lay the beetroot on top, add some fresh thyme, whole unpeeled garlic cloves, a good drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of coarse sea salt. Wrap the ends of the foil tightly together and place in a 210 C oven for about 1-1,5 hours until tender. Allow to cool slightly and then peel of the skin with the help of a small knife. Serve as is or with a balsamic and olive oil dressing. The uses for beetroot are seemingly endless.