Christmas Stuffed Vegetables With Summer Quinoa & Hasselback Potatoes
70 mins
Serves 4
"Summer Christmas time here in New Zealand is all about relaxing outside with friends and family with delicious food and drink. My aim for The Veggie Tree Christmas food is to make life simple and use the best of what we have at our fingertips. For me, this means having food that won’t take ages to do on the day and even better, can be made in advance. The potatoes will have to be prepared just before cooking them through, or they will go brown. There is an easy way to prepare hasselback potatoes; just place a wooden spoon alongside each potato to ensure you don’t cut too far through. The quinoa stuffing can be made two days in advance and the vegetables can be stuffed the day before." Anna Valentine.
Our thanks to Anna Valentine for sharing this recipe! Click here for more delicious recipes.
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Ingredients
Refer to next section for ingredients.
Directions
1. Gather your ingredients:
- 1 aubergine, cut into large dice
- 1 tsp salt
2. Put the diced aubergine into a colander and shake them while adding the salt.
3. Place in the sink while preparing the following ingredients:
- 1 red onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced
- 400g tomatoes, canned, passata or grated
- 1/4 Cup olives, pitted and sliced
- 1 sweetcorn cob, kernels only in a medium pan heat:
- 1/4 Cup olive oil
4. Add the prepared onion and fry for two minutes.
5. Dry the aubergine in a tea towel, then add to the pan along with the garlic.
6. Fry for four minutes, then add:
- 1 Cup quinoa, white or red or mixed
- 400ml water
- 1 Tbs dried oregano or 4 sprigs fresh
- 2 bay leaves
7. Stir in the tomato, olives and cover.
8. Simmer for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally
9. Add:
- Sweetcorn kernels
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
10. Stir in and cook for a further two minutes.
11. Remove from the heat and cool.
12. Preheat the oven to 190°C.
13. Meanwhile prepare the vegetables for stuffing:
- 4-6 capsicum, tops cut off and reserved, but seeds scooped out
- 1 marrow, sliced into 3cm thick slices with seeds removed
- 4-6 tomatoes, tops cut off (preferably with the stalks intact) and reserved, but seeds scooped out
- 4-6 potatoes, scrubbed and sliced halfway through at 3mm intervals
14. Oil a roasting tray.
15. Stuff the capsicums, marrow pieces and tomatoes with the quinoa mixture.
16. Put the tops back on the capsicums and tomatoes and arrange in the roasting tray with the prepared potatoes.
17. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and cracked black pepper and bake for one hour until the capsicums are cooked and starting to slump.
18. For the topping melt in a frying pan on a medium heat:
- 2 Tbs butter or olive oil
- 4 sprigs fresh sage, leaves only
19. Gently fry the leaves until crispy and remove with tongs or slotted spoon to a wooden bowl or paper towel. Then toast until golden:
- 1/4 Cup almonds
20. Scatter the almonds over the top of the cooked vegetables. Add the crisp sage leaves and:
- 200g feta cheese, dairy or alternative, crumbled
21. Serve with steamed snow peas or beans and pesto.
