Stuffed Bell Peppers | Preserved Bell Peppers

My bell pepper bush has exploded with these gorgeous bright red gems. The question I had was... what do I do with them? I have been asking my foodie friends and experimenting and here's what I've found out...

Stuffed bell peppers

1. Cut the top off and deseed the bell peppers. 
2. Place right side up in a large saucepan and just cover with olive oil. Make sure each one is filled with oil.
3. Poach the bell peppers for about 15-20 minutes until softened, but still in shape. Don't let them fry.
4. Let them cool in the oil, then remove. (Keep the oil for future use. It's got a good kick to it). 
5. Mix about 100 grams of soft goats cheese, 2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese, 4 tablespoons of flat leaf parsley and a drizzle of the oil you used to cook the bell peppers.
6. Put the stuffing mixture into a piping bag (or a plastic bag with the corner cut off) and fill each bell pepper with the mix. 
7. Serve with a nice cold beer or a glass of Pinot Gris.

My friend Amy, who gave me this recipe says...

"Just use your instincts on the filling. Truthfully, I use whatever I've got and have been known to add any number of stuffings:
- basil pesto and half a bocconcini ball sitting in the top (massive crowd pleaser)
- parsley, anchovy, feta
- olive, parsley, chunky breadcrumbs"

Thanks Amy - these are a winner!

 

Preserved bell peppers

 I have also preserved the bell peppers with success. This takes a bit longer to make, but it also lasts longer than the stuffed ones (the stuffed ones get eatten pretty quick!), they are nice to have on hand for cooking.

1. Place the peppers on a grill or bbq plate and grill until the skins are blackened and the peppers are soft.
2. Place the peppers into a paper bag and close, to allow them to steam. 
3. Once cool, peel, deseed and slice the peppers (yes, it gets messy!)
4. Place sliced bell peppers in a medium saucepan, with a couple of sliced garlic cloves and a few spigs of thyme, and cover with olive oil.
5. Bring to the boil, and then spoon into steralized jars and seal immediately.
6. Once opened keep the jar in the fridge. You can use the oil, as well as the peppers, in all sorts of dishes.

 I had about 600grams of bell peppers and it made one medium sized jam jar worth.

 Other uses for bell peppers...

You can also simply de-seed and freeze them to use in cooking later on. I also give them away to neighbours and friends. There's nothing better than sharing your crop for others to enjoy... it also sweetens the deal when you ask them to feed your dogs when you go on holidays!

June in the garden

 As far as gardening in June goes, I didn't do any...

   

 We were away for the whole month. I was really surprise at how well the garden held up while we were sipping cocktails and sunning ourselves on a tropical island! 

The bell pepper bush has exploded with gorgeous red bite-size gems. I love collecting them from the garden by using my shirt as a holder... it reminds me of adventures in the garden with my sister, Clare, when we were kids. I have preserved one batch with garlic and thyme, and am poaching and stuffing another batch with goats cheese, parmesan and parsley today. Yummy!

 

The parsley is lucious and gorgeous green. I will be taking some to my next girls dinner to give to the girls. Nothing better than sharing your produce with loved ones!

 This lovely plant is adding some much needed colour to the garden, now all the marigolds have died back and gone to seed. The edible flowers and leaves are a great addition to a winter salad. I got this plant from my Grandma's garden, so it makes me smile every time I see it.

 My "weeds"... corriander. I have not planted corriander for YEARS. It just pops up all over the place. This bed was left empty before I went away, and when I came back it was full of delicious corriander. It's even in the lawn, smells great when mowing!

 

"Laura's Strawberries" all the way from the Atherton Tablelands. Laura is my little sister, and she sent me some strawberry plants in the mail as little babies. They are growing well and starting to flower! 

 

Before and after...  the lemon grass is taking off.

 A shot for Mum...the 3 beds along the side fence.

 Dad came to visit a while ago, and he can never bloody sit still! So I gave him a job to do... "prune" the mock oranges. These used to be about 2 meters high. I must say, they loved the prune and so did the rest of the garden.

As a result of the garden having more sunlight, the rosemary hedge finally stands a chance!

I love succulents, and I'm experienting with making different patterns out of the various varieties. I'm thinking a stripe pattern like this will work well out the front around our mail box.

An old milo tin, covered in fabric and planted with succulents.

 
Succulents in an olive oil tin.


More ovely succulents...

This plant was a gift from the birds.

An old tree stump turned pot plant. I just dumped a head of potting mix into the centre and planted some crawling plants in. A old eye sore is now a beautiful feature.


The pot came from a flower arrangement I was given, and I got the climber as a cutting from a neighbour (they may or may not know about that part!)