Ingredients / Shopping List
4 medium red peppers400g tin lentils50g sun dried tomatoes1 onion200g mushrooms250g Halloumi cheese100ml rapeseed oilBay leavesFresh ground black pepperSea salt
Prep to Cook: Chopping board, vegetable knife, table spoon, mixing bowl, shallow roasting dish Oven 190ºC / Gas Mark 5
Prep:
Slice the red peppers through the stalk to the tip.
Lay in a roasting tray with cut sides uppermost ready for filling. Remove the seed pods.
In a mixing bowl:
Drain the lentils and tip into mixing bowl.
Dice sun dried tomatoes and add.
Dice mushrooms and add
Season with black pepper and sea salt.
Mix well.
Slice the Halloumi cheese then dice into cubes.
Spoon the filling into the red peppers filling each one.
Scatter the halloumi cheese evenly over each pepper
Drizzle with rapeseed oil.
Insert a bay leaf into each pepper.
Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes at 190ºC or Gas Mark 5.
Remove cover after this time and return to oven for further 15 mins.
Peppers are technically fruits. The bulbous fruit or bell peppers are sometimes called Capsicum from their botanical name. Red peppers are sweeter than most other types and contain more lycopene which is good for health.
Cooks Know How: Cooking with peppers means you have a ready to eat container just waiting for scrumptious fillings. Matching up some strong flavours with nourishing, filling pulses such as lentils makes for a healthy and tasty main meal dish or accompaniment. Dice the selection of ingredients into pieces that will cook evenly and compliment the flavour of the peppers. During cooking the vegetables will tenderise and lose their firm structure, some of their juices will be squeezed out and will mingle to develop flavour. The cheese is extra protein with a strong salty flavour, firm texture and white colour. During the final part of the cooking with the foil removed some of the cheese will brown and contrast against the other ingredients in the filling.