Stuffed Long Sweet Peppers

These turned out perfect.The saltiness of the feta and olives, tang of herbs, slight smokiness of the garlic and aubergine and the soft couscous complemented the almost juicy sweetness of the peppers and added a lovely contrast to it. I kind of made up the recipe from a few different elements and its not strictly stuffed peppers as such, but it worked very well for us, and was a lovely dinner on today's hot summer evening with a glass of chilled Okanagan apple cider, my summer tipple of choice.

Recipe:

Around 8 – 10 medium sized sweet peppers
About 250 g couscous
400 ml boiling vegetable stock
Handful of finely chopped mixed herbs (I used coriander and parsley, and a little sage)
Around 150 g feta, coarsely crumbled.
About 10 – 12 black or green olives
About a quarter of an aubergine, finely chopped
Olive oil
1 flake of minced garlic

Method:

Put the couscous in a big bowl and pour over the stock. Cover and leave for 5 minutes till the couscous is cooked. You want it a little sticky, so may want to add a little more stock (or use package directions to make the couscous, making it a little more sticky).

Pour a little olive oil in a pan and sauté the aubergine and minced garlic for about 4 minutes on a medium flame.

Add the aubergine and garlic mixture, herbs and olives to the prepared couscous, then stir in the crumbled feta.

Slit the peppers lengthwise and stuff the couscous mixture into them. Put into a baking dish, and drizzle through some olive oil. Bake on around 150 C for about 45 - 50 minutes, turning once, until the peppers are cooked and soft and ever so slightly charred.

Serve with warmed pita and houmous.

You can make this with herbed rice instead of couscous. And you can also use the mixture to stuff tomatoes and bell peppers.

Enjoy!