Bell peppers with cheese

At one point of time grilled bell peppers were part of the menu several times a week. One member of our family is known for his liking for this particular kind of capsicum. Truth be told he will eat the green one as well but not with as much appreciation as the red and yellow and on the rare occasion orange and purple.

We always make sure we have enough to go around ,maybe even keep a second dish handy when having company over. Let me shed a little more light on why… So we make this bell pepper and potato dish which looks rather pretty and tastes really good. The bell peppers fan over the potato ,looking like the open petals of an exotic flower and is visually so appetising.

We had veggie friends over and the table was set. Since children tend to get hungry ,especially when they are very young, we let them go ahead and start eating since keeping meal times is important at that growing up stage.So as we grown ups took our time chatting and made our way to the table, I was in for a shock !

There lay the dish completely devoid of all bell pepper strips leaving the potato wedges looking rather sad and forlorn. The caterpillar in question continued to munch on keeping up all pretenses of ‘childlike innocence’. There wasn’t much I could do but apologise and be thankful this happened with friends who were like family.

Today it makes for an endearing memory and I so wish I could turn back the clock. The times that the family wants a hearty side dish is when we make these stuffed bell peppers. The options for stuffing are so many really but this just makes a great use of leftover rice which we Indians always seem to have and turns it into a not so Indian meal. a good extra virgin olive oil is great with the bell pepper, we even do a stuffing with just tomatoes which I shall share soon. The cheese used here is from the hills in Kodaikanal, a mozzarella. It melts like a dream and perfect for this quick dinner.