Stuffed vegetables (namely mushrooms and peppers) are huge in the “what do I cook for a vegetarian if they’re coming to dinner” world. But in their natural state, they’re not great for vegans. Almost every recipe you’ll see for stuffed peppers will be laden with cheese, mozzarella, cheddar, feta.. yeah, I miss cheese.

Cheesy these ain’t, but they still taste good and they probably have about a third of the calories of your standard dairy based veggie starter and they’re cruelty-free. The gooey texture that cheese would usually lend to a dish like this has not been lost, our good friend avocado has done a stand-up job of replacing it. And when do roasted tomatoes not taste fantastic?

5 or 6 sweet peppers
a handful (7 or so) cherry tomatoes, chopped
1/2 avocado
1 garlic clove, chopped finely

1. In a bowl, mash together the garlic and avocado, keep a few chunks in there but you want this to be relatively smooth. Then add the tomatoes and stir carefully so as not to crush them.
2. Pre-heat your oven to Gas 6 (conversions here)
3. Chop the tops off your peppers and discard those, then cut out the seeds and white pith. This is a little fiddly, I don’t have any solid advice, just go in there with a knife and wing it (grown-ups only). Make sure you don’t chop the peppers up in the process, you want them to be nice hollow vessels for the filling.
4. Carefully spoon the avocado and tomato mixture in to the peppers, filling them right to the top and pushing down with a spoon to make sure it’s all packed in tightly.
5. Lay them out on a baking tray, drizzle over about a tablespoon of hemp oil (or olive if thats what you have) and sprinkle with a little salt.
6. Put the baking tray on the top shelf of the oven and roast for 20-30 minutes, turn them over once half way through cooking.

These would make a great starter for two served with a little rocket. I’m loving rocket right now, which is why I’ve gone for Elton John as your track recommendation..

Thanks for reading x