Couscous-stuffed Peppers with Feta, Olives and Pinenuts

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Perfect as a vegetarian main course, but just halve the quantities for a light lunch or starter.

Ingredients

4 large yellow peppers, halved lengthways, seeds removed but stalks left on
100g sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds or pine nuts
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped
250g pre-cooked couscous
400ml hot vegetable stock (or 1 heaped tsp Marigold vegetable bouillon with 400ml boiling water)
4 plum tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
12 green and black olives, stoned and chopped
4 spring onions, sliced
100g feta cheese, cubed
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Serves: 4 Preparation: 15 Cook Time: 50 Total Time: 65min

Preheat oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4 Place the peppers cut-side up in a roasting tin or baking dish and bake for 40 minutes until softened.
Five minutes before you take the peppers out of the oven, toast the seeds or pine nuts briefly on a baking sheet. Watch them carefully as they burn easily.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the onion until soft (about 10 minutes). Add the garlic and sun-dried tomatoes and cook for another minutes, then stir in the couscous. Pour in the stock, bring to the boil then remove the pan from the heat. Leave the couscous to absorb the liquid (about 2-3 minutes).
When the liquid has been absorbed, transfer the couscous to a large bowl and fluff up with a fork. Fold through the plum tomatoes, olives, spring onions, feta cheese and season with salt and pepper.
Spoon the mixture into the softened pepper halves and return to the oven to heat through for about 5 minutes. They can also be stored in the fridge and reheated just before serving. If serving as a starter, place on a bed of wild rocket drizzled with a little lime juice.

Source: Terry Farris