Stuffed vegetables with summer quinoa and hasselback potatoes

My aim for The Veggie Tree Christmas food is to make life simple and use the best of what we have at our fingertips. For me this means having food that won’t take ages to do on the day and, even better, can be made in advance. The potatoes will have to be prepared just before cooking them though, or they will go brown. The quinoa stuffing can be made two days in advance and the vegetables can be stuffed the day before.

Serves 4

1 aubergine, cut into

large dice

1 tsp salt

¼ cup olive oil

1 red onion, diced 2 cloves garlic, sliced 1 cup quinoa, white,

red or mixed 1 Tbsp dried oregano

or 4 sprigs fresh 2 bay leaves 400g tomatoes (canned, passata or grated)

¼ cup olives, pitted

and sliced

1 sweetcorn cob,

kernels only

1 tsp salt

½ tsp freshly ground

black pepper 4-6 capsicums 1 marrow

4-6 tomatoes

4-5 potatoes

2 Tbsp butter or olive

oil

4 sprigs fresh sage

leaves

¼ cup almonds 200g feta cheese or dairy alternative, crumbled

1 Put the diced aubergine into a colander and shake them while adding the salt. Leave to drain for 10 minutes.

2 In a medium pan heat the oil onion and fry the onion for two minutes. Dry the aubergine in a tea towel, then add to the pan along with the garlic. Fry for four minutes, then add quinoa, oregano, bay leaves and 400ml water.

3 Stir in the tomato and olives and cover. Simmer for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add the sweetcorn kernels and salt and pepper. Stir in and cook for a further two minutes. Remove from the heat and cool. 4 Heat the oven to 190C.

5 Meanwhile prepare the vegetables for stuffing. Cut the tops off the capsicum, (reserving the tops) and scoop the seeds out. Cut the marrow into 3cm thick slices and remove seeds. Cut the tops off the tomatoes, preferably with the stalks intact and reserve, scoop the seeds out. Scrub the potatoes and slice halfway through at 3mm intervals.

6 Oil a roasting tray. Stuff the capsicums, marrow pieces and tomatoes with the quinoa mixture. Put the tops back on the capsicums and tomatoes and arrange in the roasting tray with the marrow and prepared potatoes. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and cracked black pepper and bake for one hour until the capsicums are cooked and starting to slump. 7 Melt butter or olive oil in a frying pan on a medium heat. Gently fry the sage leaves until crispy and remove with tongs or slotted spoon to a wooden bowl or paper towel. Then toast almonds until golden. 8 Scatter sage, almonds and feta over the vegetables. Serve with pesto (right).