Cooking it by the book

A few months back a read a novel called Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. Its a magical novel, unlike anything I've read before. It is a book infused with stories of family, food, love, frustration. Each chapter explains (in very vague terms!) a dish made by one of the main characters.

I thought that the Stuffed chillis in Walnut sauce sounded like they were do-able. Although the quantities and ingredients are listed at the start of the chapter, it is a little bit of a detective job to figure out the method.

So, here is my version of the recipe, with quantities cut down to a manageable size, method deduced (& guessed in places!), enough for lunch for 5 or 6 people:

2 - 3 bell peppers, halved, de-membraned & deseeded
Garnish:
1 pomegranate
10g cashews per portion
10g sheeps cheese per portion
Stuffing Ingredients:
300g minced pork
20g raisins or sultanas
50g blanched almonds
50g walnuts
1/3 can tomatoes
1/2 onion, peeled & sliced
1/4 peach, peeled & diced
1/4 apple, peeled & diced
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
salt & white pepper
1 tablespoon of fresh chopped parsley

Method:
Chop the nuts lightly, but don't pulverise them to a powder. You want to keep decent sized chunks and texture.
Fry the onion in 1 teaspoon olive oil over a medium heat until softened. Add the mince and cumin and keep it all moving until the meat is browned. Stir in the apple and peach, walnuts, almonds, raisins, chilli powder, and tomatoes. Stir it all together, add some salt. Let most of the liquid cook off.
Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley. Allow to cool slightly then spoon the meat mixture into the pepper halves. Pack it in quite well.
These can be kept in the fridge for at least 24 hours before serving.
When you want to eat, preheat the oven to 190C. Sprinkle 10g sheep or goat cheese on each pepper half. Bake the peppers for 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven and serve, either hot or cold, garnished with 10g salted cashews per person and a tablespoon of pomegranate seeds.



I served one pepper half per person for lunch, with carrots and sweet potatoes. The peppers were yummy, and definitely one to make again, but I would serve them with a different accompaniment next time. Maybe a dollop of yoghurt mixed with some mint, and flatbreads or spicey potato and sweet potato wedges.



Who'd have thought that a novel would offer up a gorgeous dinner recipe?!