Comfort food has never looked so colourful or so healthy. “The vibrant sight of this dish will have everyone taking pictures,” says cook Farah Sawaf of her meat and vegetable dish. “The rich, creamy flavour hits the spot for any occasion.”
Stuffed Capsicums with Spaghetti Shaped Zucchini
Serves 4 to 6 | Cooking time: 1 hour
INGREDIENTS
- 7 to 8 large various coloured capsicums, tops carefully cut in the form of a lid, inside taken out, cleaned and dried
- ½ kilo good quality ground beef
- 2 cups tomato puree, using ½ cup with beef mix and 1½ later
- ¾ cup soft ricotta
- 2 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped (use dried if fresh not available)
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped (use dried if fresh not available)
- 1 tsp grated salt
- 1 tsp grated pepper
- 1 ball of buffalo mozzarella
- 1 medium yellow zucchini
- 1 medium green zucchini
PREPARATION
- Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius.
- Cut off tops of each capsicum forming a lid for each capsicum. Clean out the inside allowing the inside to be completely hallow. Dry and set aside.
- In a large saucepan place beef and sauté for only two minutes. Mix in ½ cup of tomato puree. Then ricotta. Blend well until thick and pasty. Mix in oregano, thyme, salt and pepper. Don’t over cook. Even if a bit raw. It will completely cook inside the capsicum. Set aside off the heat.
- In a large baking dish, arrange the capsicums and carefully stuff each one with the meat mixture, set lid aside until after cooked.
- Over each capsicum, rip a small piece of the buffalo mozzarella stuffed over the top of meat.
- With the remaining 1½ cups of tomato puree, place in a bowl. Blend in seasoning as well as oregano. Mix well. Pour around he capsicums so they are all sitting in the sauce right up.
- Place in oven for approximately 35 to 40 minutes.
- While capsicum is baking. Take your zucchini and twist them in spaghetti shaped cutter found in many gourmet stores. Almost like sharpening a pencil. It comes out in thin spaghetti lines. Sauté over a bit of olive oil for one minute and set aside.
- When capsicums are ready. Cool and place lids over each capsicum. You can lay one capsicum, pour the baking sauce over and serve with zucchini on the side.
For more recipes from Farah, visit cookingwithamanicure.com
