Baked Lentil Stuffed Peppers (serve with wine)

I had some really gorgeous looking romano peppers in the fridge and, as I also had an overwhelming craving for lentils plus a veggie coming for dinner, I thought I'd try putting peppers and lentils together. There is precedent! I found inspiration on The Vegan Foodie's blog, and although, as always, I need to work with what I have rather than to someone elses recipe, I think this turned out pretty well.

I fried up some garlic, celery and onions, with cumin, ground coriander, dried chilli, sliced spring greens, cubed carrot and courgette until sort of half cooked. Then I added a load of green lentils (about 2 cups), a tin of tomatoes, a few bay leaves and about a pint of vegetable stock. Brought it up to a bubble and eft it be with a lid on for about 20 minutes. Reduced it down a bit towards the end and added salt and pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice.

After cutting the peppers in half lengthways and scooping out the seeds, I laid them on an oiled baking tray and spooned the lentil mix in, topping it with a mixture of bread crumbs, parsley and grated pecorino and drizzled a bit of olive oil over the top.

Popped it in the oven for about half an hour at 180 degrees. Served with green beans and a nice bottle of wine (or three).