So. What's for Dinner?

[Tannin]

This is my Stuffed Capsicums Moroccon Style, which we had tonight, together with some of Robyn's excellent sourdough bread. Well, probably Moroccan. I put lots of cumin in it, does that make it Moroccan? Or possibly Indian because of the curry leaves. I dunno. I just cook stuff.

Stuffed Capsicums Moroccon Style

Serves 4. (Or 5 normal people if one of the four isn't me.) Don't be intimidated by the length of the ingredient list, it's easy-peasy.

5 large capsicums
500g minced steak
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 onion, chopped
1/2 a red chilli (fresh or dried, seeds removed and chopped finely)
1 TB cumin powder
1 tsp tumeric powder
2 tsp cinammon
10-20 curry leaves
2 TB couscous
50g raw rice (1/4 cup)
3 medium tomatoes or 250ml passata
1 lemon, juiced and zested.
2 TB pine nuts
2 TB sultanas
2-3 TB rice bran oil (or Olive oil, whatever you have)
1/4 cup water
5 sticks of cheese the size of your little finger. (Any sort. I used Parmesan.)
Fresh corriander leaves to serve. (Or parsley.)


Pre-cook the rice, ideally leaving it semi-hard. Remove the capsicum stalks and seeds, being careful not to pierce the bottoms. Rinse out and set aside to drain. Preheat oven to 180c.

Brown the mince in a large pan on a medium-high heat and set aside. (It doesn't have to be cooked right through, but should be well-carmelised for flavour.) Do not clean the pan.

In the same pan, fry the garlic and chilli in a generous amount of oil for a few minutes. Add the spices (cumin, cinnamon and tumeric), cook until they become aromatic but without burning. (A few minutes.)

Add the onion and cook until just soft and the pan is brown.

Deglaze the pan with a little water. Add the passata, rice, couscous, curry leaves, pine nuts, lemon juice and zest, and sultanas. Stir the mince back in and cook until everything is warmed through.

Spoon the filling into the capsicums, poking a length of cheese into the top when full. (I.e., if the capsicum was an apple, the cheese would be the core. Or you can grate cheese and just mix it in with the stuffing. Feta works well. Or a strong cheddar.)

Coat with a little oil and bake for 55 minutes at 180c. Serve with a generous garnish of chopped corriander leaves, and fresh crusty bread rolls.

Variations:

Use anything you like instead of capsicums: pumpkin works brilliantly, eggplant is good. Instead of beef, any minced meat should work. Or lentils. Fish? Dunno. Try it and see!

I regard the cumin, cinammon, tumeric, garlic, and onion as essentials. Ditto the lemon. And it needs a little something sweet, if not the sultanas then something else (such as chopped dates).

Vary the chilli to taste or leave it out, but don't add more than one whole one or there is no point in adding all that other nice stuff. It won't taste of anything except chilli. The curry leaves add something but can be left out. Couscous and rice is guilding the lilly a bit. For simplicity, double one and leave the other out. It works without pine nuts, but is better with them. A handful of finely chopped parsley in with the stuffing mix is good.

[watt price tully]

^ Yes please: sounds absolutely delicious . Yum

[Tannin]

tonights homework, how do we get China and the middle East to blow each other to smithereens without collateral damage to anyone else?

150 words or less, keep it tight and succinct and points deducted for emotive language. Lets go people, on my desk (this board) by 9:30am.

Easy:

Send shiploads of sweet and sour pork to all countries in the Middle East
from China

Funny you should say that.

Sunday night's dinner here at the Tannin house was Morrocan style stuffed chicken breasts wrapped in bacon. How did it go now ... er ...

2 large chicken breasts
4 rashers bacon
1 onion, diced
1 large mushroom, sliced medium-thin
about 5 coriander roots and stems, diced finely
1/2 a red capsicum, diced
1/2 a red chilli, seeded and sliced very small
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
the same amount of fresh ginger, chopped finely
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, roughly ground
cooking oil
1 TBS flour

Preheat oven to the first temperature you think of, 200 maybe.

STUFFING
Saute the garlic, chilli, ginger, and cumin in oil. Add the coriander and onion. When starting to soften, add the capsicum & cook until just soft. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

CHICKEN
Slice large pockets in the chicken breasts, keeping the hole as small as you can. Fill them with the stuffing and place on a tray. Wrap in bacon (neither tight nor loose), making sure that the ends of the rashers are underneath. Bake until the bacon is well done and the chicken cooked through. (About 45 minutes, maybe.) Remove from tray and set aside to keep warm.

GRAVY
Sit the tray on a hotplate, add water to deglaze, and stir with a wooden spoon. Add the mushroom and cook until just soft, then add a tablespoon of flour and cook for another 5-10 minutes, stirring often and adding water as needed.

Serves two apostates.

[stui magpie]

^

Looks yum. Funny enough I had Moroccan chicken Sunday as well. I just cheated,

While drinking a decent Cab Shiraz, brown 1kg of chicken thigh cutlets in some olive oil in a medium pan, add some diced carrot and zucchini, a tin of chick peas then tip over 2 jars of Chicken Tonight Moroccan Chicken sauce, cover and simmer for an hour or so, stirring when you remember. Server with some Ainsley Harricot Moroccan cous cous while watching masterchef.

[stui magpie]

For tonight, a Pork and Apple Strudel, from Paddy's butcher shop.

It's minced pork, minced apple and F knows what else wrapped in pastry, just like a big strudel.

Bake at 180 for 45 min (probly do an hour, I'll see) and serve with baked potato, baked sweet potato and steamed veges.

[eddiesmith]

Sounds good Stui, when will it be ready?

[stui magpie]

Dinner is 8pm. Does that work?

[K]

Soylent Green has been mentioned in GD.

[Tannin]

I like your chicken recipe, Stui. I think I'll try it.

[think positive]

damn hell all you bloody boys with your recipes, dinner is what ever vegies were in the fridge, chopped to size depending if what was on tv was interesting, roasted tonight in that onion soup stuff, as im out of satay seasoning, chuck in a small roast beef, bought with long list of ingredients on the cover, and a couple of left over chicken thighs, plus some 90sec roast gravy.

go me!

[David]

[stui magpie]

$$%^%%$ hell all you bloody boys with your recipes, dinner is what ever vegies were in the fridge, chopped to size depending if what was on tv was interesting, roasted tonight in that onion soup stuff, as im out of satay seasoning, chuck in a small roast beef, bought with long list of ingredients on the cover, and a couple of left over chicken thighs, plus some 90sec roast gravy.

go me!

Ehhhh, thanks for the invite to dinner, I've got to wash my hair

[think positive]

Well that won’t take long!

I think I might try some popcorn shortly! Keep me out of trouble,

[stui magpie]

Popcorn? Punch it up, make some lolly gobble bliss bombs.

https://thepaddingtonfoodie.com/2013/08 ... iss-bombs/

[Dark Beanie]

Loved those as a kid.
Might try that recipe on the weekend.