Piperki palneni postni (Vegetable stuffed peppers)

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Peppers stuffed and mushrooms topped - ready for the oven

The stuffing mixture - cooked, ready to stuff the peppers

The stuffing mixture - just before the cheese goes in)

(Most of) the ingredients for Piperki palneni postni (Vegetable stuffed peppers)

These Bulgarian stuffed peppers come with a yoghurt sauce.

Ingredients

• 150 ml oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 medium carrots, scraped and finely chopped
• 1 stick of celery, cut into moons
• 1 large potato, peeled and finely chopped
• Garlic to taste, crushed
• 3 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
• 125 g feta or haloumi, crumbled or grated
• 8 medium-large peppers, top sliced off and seeds and veins removed (reserve the top)
• 150 ml water or vegetable stock

For the sauce

• 150 ml yoghurt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tablespoon flour
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon of paprika (Hungarian)

Mise en place

• Pre-heat the oven to 200°C [400°F - gas Mark 6]

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large pan to a medium heat and add the onion, carrots, celery, potato and garlic.
2. Sauté, stirring often, for about 10 minutes.
3. Add the tomatoes and the seasonings, and cook for a further 10 minutes, stirring from time to time.
4. Stir in the parsley and cheese, cook for a further 5 minutes and then remove from heat, setting aside for 10 minutes to cool a little.
5. Meanwhile, spoon the mixture into the peppers and replace the tops.
6. Put the peppers into a large casserole dish, standing upright and pour in the stock or water.
7. Cover the dish and bake for 45 minutes.
8. I used an old potato with the base cut flat to support the peppers whilst they cooked.
9. While the peppers are cooking, make the sauce by combining all the ingredients in a bowl.
10. When the 30 minutes cooking time is up, pour the sauce over the peppers.
11. Carry on cooking until the sauce has thickened and turned golden.
12. Serve immediately.

Serving suggestions

Serve with salad and potatoes and/or rice.

Variations

You can this mixture to stuff other vegetables, eg 8 medium-large tomatoes, 8 medium courgettes, 10-12 artichoke hearts or even portobello mushrooms.

Chef's notes

Not having any celery, I used a large bunch of leaves from my cutting celery - I also added plenty of fresh basil too. Following Delia's advice of years ago, I used crème fraiche instead of yoghurt because it is far less likely to split when heated.

I would reduce the salt if you are using halloumi cheese or if the stock you are using is already fairly salty.

This recipe was a great chance to use lots of Annabelle's lovely dark and nutty olive oil, pressed from here own plantation - second pressing.

The sauce turned into a sort of cement. It tasted really nice but was rather odd!