Do you know what Siamese twins are? No, I don’t mean two chocolate-faced kittens from the same litter; nor do I mean two babies who emerged from their mother’s womb joined at the hip, even though both of these answers are technically correct. If I were to say they may also be called irreversible binomials, would that give you any clues? Nope – didn’t think so! So allow me to enlighten you: Siamese twins in a linguistic context means a pair or grouping of words that are always used together in an idiomatic expression, usually joined by the words “and” or “or”. And they are referred to as irreversible because the word order cannot be reversed without the meaning of the idomatic expression being lost or altered. Think, for example of
- rock and roll
- above and beyond
- heads or tails
- dead or alive
- now and then
- odds and ends
- short and sweet
- sooner or later
Nobody talks about Elvis playing roll and rock; or something happening later or sooner! Or at least if they do, you can be guaranteed they are not native English speakers 😉 
- My pattypan squash with a cheesy bacon stuffing
- Michelle’s’ bell peppers stuffed with couscous, pine nuts and raisins
- Nazima’s roasted squash stuffed with rice, sprouts and coriander pesto
- Ren’s globe courgettes filled with lamb and cinnamon rice
- Kellie’s tomatoes stuffed with sardines and chermoula
- Helen’s cheese, fig and bacon stuffed mushrooms
- Kalyn’s stuffed green peppers
- Sally’s stuffed courgettes
- Jan’s over-stuffed cheese and bacon jacket potatoes
- 2 medium to large courgettes
- ½ cup long-grain rice (uncooked)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 350g beef or lamb mince (preferably not lean)
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 2 tsp salt
- ¾ tsp black pepper
- 4-5 fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
- handful of shopped flat-leaf parsley leaves (and some extra for garnish)
- 500ml chopped tomatoes, including juice
- 250ml chicken stock
- half a lemon
- Hollow out each courgette, removing all the seeds. Work from both ends and start with an apple corer, then use a small melon-baller to hollow the courgette out until you are left with walls of about 8mm thick all along the courgette. Discard pulp and seeds.
- Wash the rice in cold water in a bowl until the water runs almost clear, then drain in a sieve.
- Heat the oil in a deep, heavy frying pan over medium heat and sauté the onion until it turns golden brown (about 6 to 8 minutes). Add garlic and cook for a further minute, stirring all the time; then remove the pan from the heat.
- Transfer about 60 ml of the onion mixture to a bowl and let it cool slightly. Add the rice, meat, allspice, parsley, mint, 1.5 teaspoons salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper. Mix well with your hands. Stuff the meat and rice mixture into the courgette shells with meat mixture but be careful not to pack them too tightly - the rice will expand during cooking and you do not want the shells to split.
- To the remaining onions in the frying pan, add the tomatoes with juice, chicken stock, remaining ½ teaspoon of salt, and remaining ¼ teaspoon of pepper and bring to a gentle simmer. Put stuffed courgettes into the tomato sauce and simmer, covered, until rice is cooked through. This should take about 60 - 75 minutes depending on the size of the courgettes. Cut one courgette in half to check doneness.
- If sauce tomato is too watery once the courgettes are cooked, remove the courgettes and keep warm then boil sauce to thicken and reduce it for about 5 minutes. Return the courgettes to the sauce before serving and finish with a squeeze of lemon and some flat-, stirring, until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes, then return zucchini to sauce. Squeeze lemon over dish before serving and sprinkle with the remaining flat-leaf parsley.