Claudia Roden's Stuffed Peppers & Tomatoes

We have plenty of nice big peppers and tomatoes in the veg box. They look shiny and tempting so I’m stuffing them using Claudia Roden’s recipe from her classic, A Book of Middle Eastern Food. She wrote a recent book on food from the region, and her face looks so kindly on the back cover.

225g minced beef or lamb

90g  rice

1 peeled, chopped tomato

2 tbsp finely chopped parsley

Salt & pepper

¼ tsp ground allspice

A few pine nuts and raisins if you have them

6 tomatoes

6 peppers

First cut a slice from the stem end of the peppers and tomatoes. Remove the membrane and seeds from the pepper and gently scoop out the flesh of the tomatoes and reserve.

Unfortunately the next part of the recipe says start on the filling – fry the onion. You’ll notice there is no onion in the original ingredients list so we’re on our own kids. I’m using 1 medium sized one, finely chopped. Brown the meat and then add everything else except the chopped tomato.  The recipe then recommends adding the same volume of water as rice but doesn’t say how to gauge this. This is where the American cup system is so handy. I’m going to suggest 2/3 of a cup of water. You can always boil it off if it hasn’t all been absorbed. Cook for 10 mins and allow it to cool.

Stuff the vegetables and pop their lids back on. Arrange in a baking dish – I try and have them tucked against each other so they don’t fall over as their skin softens. Put the chopped tomato in a bowl with about 60ml water, a glug of olive oil and plenty of salt and pepper. Mix and pour over the vegetables. Add enough water to the pan to come half way up the Peppers and cover with foil. Bake at 180 /Gas 4 for an hour, adding more water after 40 mins or so if it needs it.

If you’re planning on serving this as a cold dish adjust the stuffing - omit the meat and use twice as much rice, and about the same amount of chopped tomato and a large chopped onion. Dress with olive oil.

I actually like the way these old recipes don’t hold your hand that much and leave you to figure out what they meant. Elizabeth David does it all the time. But this way the recipe becomes yours and hers, so this has now become mine and Claudia Roden’s (and the honour really is all mine).

We’re having it hot. The original suggests serving  with rice and salads but I’m convinced this is rice overload so we’re just doing salad. Assure the guy it does have meat in it so being confronted with all those vegetables isn’t too much of a shock to the system.