#nuttelex

Hello friends,

WELL, it is has been a tough couple of weeks, and I'm not talking about the good kind of tough. Dan came down with a terrible stomach bug last Sunday and he's only just starting to feel like himself again. Yes, there was even a moment when I was driving us home from the market where he nearly spewed in my car. Not fun for anyone! So while poor Dan was wrapped up in bed without the slightest trace of an appetite, I was throwing together a very lazy dinner for one. I made this, and then I made this. What can I say, I stress cook! And they certainly filled me up quite nicely. Mac and cheese followed by cookie dough... comfort food anyone? 

I decided to make the cookie dough slice in memory of a dear friend who passed away a couple of years ago, and who would have celebrated her birthday last week. Boy, did she lurrrve herself some cookie dough! Right from the tube! I'm pretty sure we made more than our fair share of cookie dough trips to Woolworths during our lunch hour at school. So naturally I had to turn to the queen of cookie dough for a satisfying recipe - Angela Liddon from Oh She Glows. Her recipes are so decadently wonderful (and vegan, of course), and this one was no exception. I highly recommend.

Eating cookie dough fudge and thinking about how lucky I was to have had such a wonderful friend in my life felt like a nice homage to a brilliant friendship.

Now that Dan is starting to feel better and things are just a little less hectic around here, I thought I'd introduce some more veggies back into our lives. You know how we love us some veg! This recipe simply came to be while I was rifling through the fridge and cupboard for dinner inspiration. I'm still very much on the winter roast veg wagon, but I think we're just a little souped out at the moment... only just. So roast capsicum seemed like a perfect option. Red capsicums are high in both Vitamin C and A (more than their green and yellow counterparts), perfect for boosting the immune system of my sickly boyfriend.

I used some regular cous cous for the stuffing, because that's what I had on hand, but by all means use wholemeal if you feel that way inclined! That's what I'll be doing next time :)

Ingredients:

3 tbsp of olive oil

2 large red capsicums, rinsed

6 button mushrooms, brushed and diced

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 handful of chopped fresh chives

1 handful of chopped fresh parsley

1 cup of dried cous cous

1 cup of vegetable stock, plus 1/8 cup

1 tbsp of nuttelex or any other vegan spread

1 handful of raw cashews

1 tbsp of nutritional yeast

sea salt and cracked black pepper, to season

Preheat your oven to 180c fan-forced.  Prepare your capsicums by slicing them in half lengthways, then scooping out any white flesh or seeds - this important because if there is too much white flesh left behind, it will cause the capsicum to taste bitter once roasted.

Before:

After:

Place the capsicum halves on a baking tray and drizzle with a tbsp of olive oil. Massage the oil in thoroughly. Place in the oven for 20 minutes or until soft.

Meanwhile, heat a tbsp of oil in a saucepan over medium heat, then add the garlic, parsley, chives, mushrooms and 1/8 cup of the vegetable stock. Stir and season to taste.

You want the mushrooms to be simmering away nicely in the stock. Once the stock has absorbed and the mushrooms have browned, remove from the heat.

Heat 1 cup of vegetable stock in a medium-sized pot on medium heat. Once boiling, add the cous cous and stir to avoid any clumps. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil and stir for about 2 minutes until thick. Remove from the heat, add the Nuttelex and leave covered for a couple of minutes more, then fluff with a fork.

Stir the mushroom mixture through the cooked cous cous to combine.

Once everything is done (this requires some good timing, I'll admit!), take the capsicums out of the oven, and scoop the cous cous mixture into each half. Feel free to pack the cous cous and fill the capsicums all the way up. There will be some left over cous cous as well.

Sprinkle each half with the nutritional yeast, cashews and some more salt and pepper to taste.

Set your oven to the grill setting, and let the filled capsicums grill for about 2 minutes - be careful not to overdo it! We just want the cashew crumbs to brown up and go crunchy. 

Remove from the grill and serve on 2 plates - you can use the extra cous cous as a bed for the capsicum halves like I have, or you can always refrigerate it for another day (it would make a nice lunch on its own). Enjoy with a glass of red wine.

Happy cooking,

Bec