Creamed corn stuffed peppers with pickled jalapeños

These impressive-looking peppers are deceptively easy to pull together, and a sure way to put that bag of frozen sweetcorn to good use.

Eat this alongside some roasted potatoes, for a complete meal.

SERVES 4, as a light lunch PREPARATION TIME 20 minutes COOKING TIME 1 hour 15 minutes

● 1 green jalapeño, thinly sliced, seeds and all (15g)

● 2tbsp apple cider vinegar

● 1tsp caster sugar

● 250g frozen sweetcorn kernels, defrosted

● 100ml double cream

● 50g quick-cook polenta

● 3 garlic cloves, crushed

● 1 egg

● 7tbsp olive oil (105ml)

● 75g low-moisture mozzarella, roughly grated

● 75g mature cheddar, roughly grated

● 4 medium red Romano peppers

● 2 onions, cut into 5 x 1cm rounds

● 5g thyme sprigs

● 10g fresh coriander, finely chopped

1 Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan) mark 6.

2 Put the jalapeño, vinegar and sugar into a small bowl and mix to combine. Set aside to pickle.

3 Put the sweetcorn, cream, polenta, ²/³ of the garlic, the egg, 1tbsp oil,

³⁄4 tsp salt and a generous grind of black pepper into a food processor and pulse to a very rough purée. Transfer to a bowl and stir through the cheeses.

4 Use a small, sharp knife to make an incision lengthways into each Romano pepper (making sure not to cut through the ends), keeping the stem intact. Gently use your fingers to remove and discard the seeds, then stuff each pepper with the sweetcorn mixture.

5 Put 1tbsp oil in the base of a large, cast-iron saucepan or sauté pan and then top with the onion rounds and thyme to cover the base, sprinkling with a little salt and pepper. Place the peppers, slit side up, on top of the onions and drizzle them with 1tbsp oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper, then pour 200ml water into the pan, making sure not to pour it on top of the peppers. Bake for 30min, then turn the heat up to 220°C (200°C fan) mark 7 and bake for another 20min, or until everything is soft and nicely coloured.

6 Meanwhile, put the remaining 4tbsp oil, the coriander, the remaining garlic, ¹⁄8 tsp salt and a good grind of pepper into a small bowl and stir to combine.

7 Spoon the coriander oil and pickled jalapeño slices over the peppers and serve warm.