The answer to the question on everyone’s lips: what exactly does celebrity chef Karen Martini stuff inside her hearty baked capsicums?

“This is a signature family recipe, passed down from my paternal grandmother to my mother,” says Karen Martini. “When growing up,  it was always a pleasure to come home and recognise the comforting scent of these capsicums as they gently baked. In a way, it’s our version of meat and (almost) three veg, just all in one delicious dish. My girls love it when I make these.”

Ingredients
Serves six

  • 8 red or green capsicums
  • 80 ml (2½ fl oz/⅓ cup) extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for frying
  • 2 onions, finely chopped
  • 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 3½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons chilli flakes
  • 1 tablespoon dried mint or oregano
  • 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) minced (ground) beef
  • 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) minced (ground) lamb
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 100 g (3½ oz/1¼ cups) fresh breadcrumbs
  • 100 g (3½ oz/½ cup) basmati rice, soaked in boiling water for 15 minutes, then drained
  • ½ bunch of flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, leaves roughly chopped
  • 800 ml (27 fl oz) tomato passata (pureed tomatoes)
  • 600 ml (20½ fl oz) good-quality chicken stock, or water
  • 150 g (5½ oz) peas (1 cup), frozen
  • flaked salt and freshly ground black pepper, to season

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (390°F).
  2. Cut the stem out of each capsicum with a paring knife, then scoop the seeds out with your fingers and discard them.
  3. Heat a large glug of oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened, about 6 minutes. Add the cinnamon, chilli and dried mint, then season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat.
  4. Tip the onion mixture into a large bowl. Add the beef, lamb, eggs, breadcrumbs, rice and parsley, season generously with salt and pepper and combine well with your hands. Spoon the mixture into the capsicums, packing it in reasonably firmly (but not forcefully), leaving a little space at the top for the rice to expand.
  5. Drizzle a generous amount of oil into an ovenproof dish over medium heat and nestle the capsicums inside, lightly browning them for 10 minutes.
  6. Combine the passata, stock and oil, season, then pour the mixture over the capsicums. Scatter the peas over. Cover with lid and bake for 60 minutes.
  7. Remove the lid and bake for a further 10 minutes before serving.

Cook Green

This is an edited extract from Cook: Green by Karen Martini published by Hardie Grant Books. Photography: © Armelle Habib. Available in stores now including at great independent retailers such as Readings and Hill of Content.