Alessandra Zecchini: no waste

Showing posts with label no waste. Show all posts

Sunday, June 4, 2017

Capsicum staffed with couscous and crispy roasted capsicum skins

This recipe is also about not wasting food!

It is very common to find capsicums (bell peppers) staffed with rice, but couscous can be as good. First boil wash well and the whole capsicums for 5-10 minutes to soften. In the meantime place a cup of instant couscous in a bowl that you can cover with a lid, add some olive oil, salt, and a mixture of dried and semi-dried tomatoes, cut into stripes. Cover with boiling water (and here you can use the capsicums water, if you want to save it!). Cover with a lid.

remove the capsicums from the hot water (use for the couscous) and cut the top off (careful, they will be hot!) and if it peels off easy, the skin. Keep the skin aside. When the couscous is nice and fluffy use it to fill the capsicums. At this stage you can add more things, like feta, tofu or anything you like.

Place the capsicums top on and bake for approx. 30 mins.

You can also roll out the skins, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and then bake until golden.

They will come out like thin crisps, super delicious, and perfect as an aperitif or as a garnish to your stuffed capsicums. A good way to use the skin of tomatoes and other vegetables too!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Risi e bisi coi baccelli - Fresh pea risotto with pea pod broth

Peas are a precious crop for me, I don't like to buy big bags of frozen peas like everyone seems to do in New Zealand (and other countries), it makes them feel 'cheap' and 'common' and an everyday boring side veggie... In fact I think that in so many years of blogging I have posted only one recipe using frozen peas and it is here (cooked with some foraged onion weeds - so the point of that recipe was to have a very low cost dish).

I like my fresh peas and I like them to be the main player in a dish, like for risi e bisi, a traditional risotto dish from Veneto, Italy. And the best part of growing them? Is to keep the pods, and as I am a NO-FOOD-WASTE advocate, to use them to make stock, which will be the base of the risotto. So shell the peas and keep the pods, wash them well and place them in a pot with water (I used about 1.2 litres of water for a basket of peas) and rock salt and simmer for at least one hour. You can also add a little parsley or celery leaves to the stock, but not too much as they have very strong flavour. Filter the stock and keep hot. You can also cut the pods into tiny strips and add them to the risotto, but I just gave them to some hungry visiting chickens (big mistake, they are always around my house now!!).

To prepare the risotto chop an onion and saute with butter, plenty of butter! Butter should still be bubbling when you add the rice (I used arborio). Stir until the rice is hot then add the peas.

Stir again and then start adding the stock, little by little. If you use a good casserole you can cover the risotto from time to time and let is absorb the liquid, otherwise keep stirring and adding stock until the risotto is ready.