Walnuts, preserved lemon and the sweet, caramelised taste of yellow peppers with a smoky little kick of ground chipotle sounds pretty good to me!
Ingredients
—1½ Tbsp olive oil 1 medium-large onion, peeled and finely chopped 1 tsp ground chipotle powder, or smoked paprika 1 cup Puy lentils 2½ cups hot water 2 Tbsp preserved lemon ¼ cup roughly chopped walnuts Flaky sea salt Freshly ground black pepper 4 regular or 6 smallish yellow peppers (bell peppers / capsicums) Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
Method
—1 Heat oil in a medium saucepan over a medium heat, add onion and cook gently for about 10 minutes until softened, lowering the heat and adding a splash of water if it is cooking too quickly. Stir in chipotle powder, or smoked paprika then lentils and water. Bring to a gentle boil, lower heat, partially cover pan with a lid and cook for about 20 minutes, until lentils are about three-quarters cooked. Remove lid and continue cooking, stirring often, until the liquid has evaporated.Ingred
2 Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F). Rinse preserved lemon under running water, discarding the pulp. Dry lemon rind with paper towels and chop finely. Add to lentils with walnuts and salt and pepper to taste (be frugal with the salt until you taste as the lemon will provide a salty kick).
3 Prepare peppers by carefully removing the caps with stalks intact. Remove seeds and white membranes without piercing peppers. Season inside peppers with a little salt then pack peppers with lentil mixture. Transfer to an ovenproof dish. Drizzle lentils with a little extra virgin olive oil, put caps in place and drizzle peppers with a little more oil.
4 Bake peppers for about 25 minutes, until they have started collapsing and browning a little around the sides. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Recipe Notes
Puy lentils are a premium product and usually don’t require rinsing. If using other lentils, put them in a sieve and rinse with cold water just before adding to pan to wash off dust.
You can add cubes or small chunks of feta to the lentil mixture along with basil, and drizzle with lemon oil to enhance the lemony flavour.
Line the baking tray to make washing up easier.
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