With the evenings getting shorter and the weather turning nippy, these wholesome dishes are the ideal way to help you stay warm this winter.
Stuffed peppers
Ingredients: four large red peppers; two onions, finely chopped; two cloves of garlic; 200g rice; 300g tomatoes, peeled and chopped; one tbsp of fresh mint, chopped; 100g feta cheese, crumbled; salt and pepper; olive oil.
Method: cut off the tops off all the red peppers and keep them to use as lids when baking them later. Scoop seeds from cavities.
Cook the rice in a pot of boiling salted water. While the rice is cooking place a pan on the simmering plate and cook the onions and garlic with a dollop of olive oil and leave to cook for a couple of minutes. Then add in the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and allow to cook for a further 10 minutes. Once the rice is ready, drain it and pour into a big mixing bowl, follow with the crumbled feta, fresh mint and the tomato mixture — mix well. Fill the peppers with the feta, rice and tomato filling, place the lids on top, drizzle with olive oil and place in the roasting oven bottom set of runners for 30 minutes.
Lentil sausage stew
Ingredients: 300g green lentils; six pork free range sausages, chopped; 100g smoked bacon, diced; one onion, chopped finely; one clove garlic, crushed; salt and pepper.
Method: soak the lentils for an hour. In the Aga casserole dish on the simmering plate pour in a dollop of olive oil, followed by the diced smoked bacon, sausages, onion, garlic and cook until the sausages have browned. Stir in the drained lentils and cover with water. Place in the roasting oven for 30 minutes.
Chocolate meringues
Ingredients: five egg whites; 220g caster sugar; 90g good quality dark chocolate, grated.
Method: in a bowl pour in the eggs whites and whisk until a soft peak forms. Then carefully whisk in the sugar until it reaches a soft peak again.
Fold in the grated chocolate. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper and spoon little blops of the meringue mixture on to the greaseproof paper. Place in the simmering oven of an Aga for one and a half to two hours.
Tips: For plain meringues omit the grated chocolate or for extra chocolatey meringues add in three tsps of cocoa powder to the meringue mixture.
