Deeply flavourful yet light and healthy, this vegetable dish is featured on the globally inspired menu at The Peninsula Shanghai’s elegant, mural-clad Lobby Restaurant. The recipe yields 4 servings.

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 180º C.
• Clean the bell-pepper halves of seeds and membrane, then drizzle them with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast them in the oven for 8 minutes, then allow them to cool.
• Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Heat some olive oil on medium heat in a large saucepan. Add half of the mushrooms and sauté on high heat. (Avoid stirring or shaking the pan too much; this lets the mushrooms caramelize and develop flavour.)Cook them until golden brown, season with salt and pepper and remove them from the pan and set aside.
• Sauté the remaining mushrooms, then do the same with the eggplant. Remove the vegetables from the pan and set aside.
• Using the same pan, sauté the garlic, onions, carrot and celery together on medium heat until just tender. Add in the cooked mushrooms and eggplant. Reduce heat to low and add the tomato paste. Stir until fully cooked, about 2-3 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the wine and let it reduce by 2/3.Add in the dried herbs and stir. Remove the mixture from heat and allow it to cool for 10-12 minutes.
• When the mixture has cooled slightly, fold in the fresh basil, breadcrumbs, and parmesan cheese. Season to taste.
• Spoon the mixture evenly into each of the 4 pepper halves.
• Reduce the oven temperature to 160º C.
• Line a tray with aluminium foil. Place the peppers on the tray 5 cm apart from another. Spoon a little bit of tomato sauce on top of each. Evenly sprinkle the mozzarella and parmesan cheeses over the tomato sauce.
• Bake in the oven uncovered for 15 minutes, or until mushroom mixture is bubbling and the cheese has turned golden brown. Remove from the trays, garnish with some torn basil leaves and serve immediately.

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