SUMMER COMFORT FOOD- Roasted red pepper recipe

Home grown tomatoes

When I started this blog back in the dark cold months of January I couldn’t wait for the summer.

 The sunshine, eating out in the garden, picking my home grown veg and fruit, Heaven!

Instead, this year the table and chairs are still under covers, any foray into the garden is quick, and in wellington boots, as the garden is fast becoming a bog. Most of the strawberries turned to mush or went mouldy, and the tomatoes, well, what tomatoes!!

Have had a crazy few weeks so Teen V and I felt in need of a quiet day and some comfort food, and here I was stuck.

I realized that all my comfort food was more winter based. Thick tagines and bean hot pots didn't quite feel right, it is summer after all!! 

I wanted escapist comfort food. Something warming, that would still remind me of sunshine!

ripe red peppers

Garlic

We had a few ripe cherry tomatoes and some lovely red peppers and so I created a simple dish, inspired by one a dear friend’s mother had prepared for us in the South of France a few years ago.

So here, if you need it, is a simple yet delicious roasted red pepper recipe. Its subtle flavours will remind you of sunshine and the softness of the peppers  almost melt in your mouth.

ROASTED RED PEPPERS

This serves 2 but can easily be double, tripled ad infinitum..you get the idea

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

2 Red peppers

1 Clove of garlic

10 small cherry tomatoes or there about, depending on the size of your peppers..you might need more if they are huge!!Or two big vine tomatoes

2 slices of Halloumi cheese

3 good slugs of olive oil

Salt and pepper

WHAT TO DO:

1.     Turn oven on to 170 degrees to warm.

2.     Cut the peppers in half length wise and lay in an oven proof dish.

3.     Chop the garlic up small then cut the tomatoes in half and half again. Put them all in a bowl with a slug of olive oil and stir.

4.     Chop half the halloumi and add to the mixture.

5.     Season well with salt and pepper, mix again, then, spoon into the pepper shells.

6.       Place in a pre- heated oven and leave for 35 minutes.

7.     Remove from the oven spoon the juices over the peppers and add the last pieces of halloumi to the peppers and leave for a final 10 minutes.

The peppers at this point should be soft but still have shape.

Roasted red peppers with halloumi

You can use more halloumi however beware that the saltiness of the cheese will detract from the natural flavours of the peppers, garlic and tomatoes if you use too much.

Serve with crusty homemade wholemeal bread (see recipe for wholemeal bread rolls June) to soak up all the delicious sweet juices.

home made light wholemeal bread

These can also be made as a starter or an alternative without the cheese when you have non dairy eating friends coming.

Roasted peppers with basil

 I am so sorry for my blog silence.  

It has been a crazy few weeks with end of term, plays, exams, as well as other exciting projects taking off..time has gone too fast.  I am looking forward to getting back to 

Not Just For Rabbits 

and thinking about food and recipes again!

Hey the sun has finally come out so I’m going in the garden with my coffee.

CLASSIC CHILLI CON CARNE AND CHILLI CON VEGETABLES

Peppers

As you know one of the reasons I started this blog was to share recipes that made life easier when catering for vegetarians and meat eaters at the same time.

Offering two dishes in the time it takes to make one.

Along the way I have rediscovered my love of photography and have managed to encourage Teen Vegetarian to take more of an interest in what she eats.

So it is proving to be a very positive experience for all of us. The fact that so many of you lovely people are checking it out, reading and commenting, well that’s the icing on the cake for me. Thank you!

Do sign up to follow, comment and feedback, it is great to hear what you think.

Red Peppers

Anyway...

Yesterday we were all cold..AGAIN..the problem with the boiler continues and so yet again we had no heat or hot water, I am assured that the new boiler will be up and running tonight so hopefully this will be that last time I mention it!!  

I PROMISE!

As the day progressed I developed an urge for a warming chilli and once the idea took hold, all other plans went out the window.

My Mum, an excellent cook, made me a recipe book for Christmas a few years ago and this is one of her classic recipes.

All I have done is make it straightforward for the cook when catering for vegetarians and meat eaters at the same time. This way you make one big vegetable chilli that gets divided into a con carne pot and con vegetable pot.

Saving on time and agro. 

Two for one! My favourite type of recipe.

Unfortunately in the afternoon I got side tracked looking at some rather beautiful food blogs so ended up making this in a rush. The good news is, it tasted just as good even though I cooked it for the minimum time, not the normal hour plus.

Luckily I’d been to the market up the road and got some lovely looking peppers and other veg so could just throw it together.

Green peppers

Here is my version of my lovely Mum’s recipe.

CHILLI CON CARNE AND CHILLI CON VEGETABLES!

This is an adaptation of my Mum’s delicious chilli con carne recipe that I have modified to make easy to prepare for meat eaters and vegetarians at the same time. Just make sure you have enough pans it is easy to make the two chilli’s simultaneously.

 Ideally you need 2 frying pans and 2 saucepans or casserole dishes.

Preparation time 10 minutes

Cooking time 45 minutes or longer if you have time! The ideal is 2hrs to develop a rich flavour but if you are in a hurry I have done it in 45 minutes and it was delicious

 It serves 4-6 people - 4 meat eaters and 2 veggies though this can be easily adapted!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 large red onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 large red pepper

1 green pepper

2 carrots

1 tin of red kidney beans

2 tins of tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato paste

11/2 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tbsp black treacle

500g pack of beef mince

1 handful of spinach and 2 florets of broccoli or cauliflower what ever you have.

WHAT TO DO:

1.     Slice the onions, peppers, garlic and carrots and fry in olive oil for about 3-5 minutes. At the same time gently fry the mince in A SEPERATE FRYING PAN.

2.     Add the cumin, chilli and treacle to the vegetable mixture and stir in well then add the tins of tomatoes, kidney beans and tomato paste and stir well.

3.     When the mince has browned transfer it into a casserole and add 2/3 of the vegetable tomato mixture, stir to combine it together and cover. Just make sure you have kept as much of the vegetable mixture as you need for your vegetarians.   Transfer this remaining vegetable chilli into a smaller casserole or saucepan. At this stage add the handful of spinach and the broccoli florets, cover and simmer gently.

4.     That’s it now just let it simmer, have a beer, if you are really going for it make some guacamole and cheese nachos if not set the timer and forget about it.

This fed 4 hungry people easily with rice and guacamole. With left over’s for lunch the next day.

Today I heated the leftovers, put them in an oven proof dish, sprinkled them with nachos and grated cheese and baked for 10 minutes until the cheese melted. More delicious food for no effort..

Chilli and nachos

 Quick, easy, delicious.