Stuffed capsicums with spinach and tomato salad

When you see 'stuffed' in the name of a dish you tend to think that it's a little bit fancy (sorry for quoting a McDonald's ad), but more often than not it's merely a matter of convenience whenever I stuff something.

Usually I'll look in the fridge or pantry, despair of having enough ingredients to make a satisfying meal, and then the wise words of Homer Simpson will come to me - "Bring me your finest dish, stuffed with your second finest dish!". Oddly enough, the idea of simply combining two really good base ingredients into a tasty whole is the start and finish of this meal.

Stuffed capsicums with spinach and tomato salad

You can use any old capsicum to make this, but we had on hand quite sweet baby capsicum, and in terms of plating and presentation, I think they're the best choice. The stuffing is essentially a risotto, too, so you add any of the normal variations of that dish to this one; for this meal, I kept things relatively simple, relying instead on the flavours of stock and mushrooms to strengthen the dish.

ingredients

Four baby capsicums

Chicken stock

Cup of arborio rice

Knob of butter

Brown onion

Garlic

Shallot

Basil & oregano

Snowpeas

Swiss brown mushrooms

Shiitake mushrooms

Parmesan cheese

White wine

Baby spinach

Vine tomatoes

Balsamic vinegar

Salt & pepper

The little bit of brie is entirely for pre-dinner nomming.

First up, melt a goodly knob of butter in a heavy-bottomed pan, get a pot of stock simmering away, and bring your oven up to heat. Finely chop the onion, and add to the butter along with the green herbs, salt & pepper and chopped shallot. Saute gently - you don't want the onion to brown, merely go all nicely transparent.

While the niceness develops, chop the tops off of your capsicum and remove the seeds and the gnarly center bit. Keep the tops. Slice the mushrooms and add to the onion, which should be approaching transparency, and when they get there add the cup of rice.

What you want from your rice, like in any risotto, is for the rice to start absorbing the liquids and oils from the ingredients. Conversely, the pan will start to dry out at this stage, so you need to keep stirring and making sure nothing is sticking to the pan or burning. Like the onion, you wan to wait until the rice is just turning slightly transparent, and then add the first measure of stock. Just enough to cover the rice and other ingredients.

Making risotto this way is bit of a time sink, as you need to keep stirring regularly to stop it from sticking, and keep adding stock as its absorbed by the rice - but it does deliver, I think, the best risotto.

Keep tasting the rice until it's just about losing it's crunch, then stir the snowpeas through (which are chopped roughly in half or thirds). The snowpeas added now will keep their crunch, and that adds a great texture to the final dish. Take the risotto off the heat, and prepare for stuffing!

Take each capsicum and spoon ricey goodness into them, tamping it down slightly but not stuffing them fit too burst. You want a bit of overflow, too. Place your capsicums in a baking dish of a size that will allow them to stand up, and pour some more stock - about a half centimeter - into the dish. We'll be baking the capsicum, so if you don't add some liquid the capsicum will dry out, and using stock adds a lot more flavour to the dish. Being the guy I am, I also added a similar amount of white wine.

With all your capsicums stuffed and standing proud, you can also add a splash of wine to each one - maybe a thimble full. Add some grated parmesan to the top of each one, and put the top of each capsicum back on. Whack it all in the oven, refill your wine glass, and wait about twenty minutes, or until the parmesan is browning and the capsicum is lovely and tender.

Serve with a simple salad of spinach leaves and chopped tomato, with a balsamic dressing.

You get a wonderful layering of flavours in a dish like this. The outer layers of rice take up the sharp flavour of the capsicum, the capsicum itself takes up the stock and wine from the dish as it bakes, and the top layer of rice and the parmesan is infused with white wine complexity. All the while the rice itself is enriched with the strong earthy tones of the mushrooms, and the occasional fresh snap of snowpeas makes for a great taste and a pleasing mouth feel.

It is a bit of a messy dish, though. You should really stir some of the parmesan through the rice mix, as you would a traditional risotto, and that would give the rice much more adhesion and support. As it is, each stuffed capsicum tends to fall apart after a few mouthfuls are cut away. But I think the flavour complexity of my iteration of the dish more than makes up for it.