Russ and I were talking about stuffed peppers recently. I for one had never had a stuffed pepper, he had, but had horrifying memories of a green bell pepper filled with ground beef and nothing more. I decided I needed to make some.
This recipe is from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics (have I mentioned I am obsessed with the Moosewood cookbooks? Well, I am). The recipe serves six, but I adjusted it to feed just Russ and I. I did put cheese on at the end like the recipe calls for, but didn’t get a picture, I was too hungry.
- 1 cup raw quinoa
- 6 medium bell peppers
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup chopped onions
- 3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
- 1 cup peeled and diced carrots
- 3/4 cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced zucchini
- 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
- 1 1/2 to 2 cups grated Cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°. Lightly oil a baking pan.
- Place the quinoa in a fine-mesh sieve and rinse well under running water. In a covered pot, bring the quinoa and 2 cups of water to a boil.
- Lower the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the quinoa is soft and the water absorbed.
- While the quinoa cooks, cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise and, leaving the stems on, seed them.
- Brush the bell pepper shells with about 2 tablespoons of the oil, inside and out.
- Place them cut side down on the prepared baking pan and roast for 15 to 20 minutes, until softened and slightly browned, but not collapsed.
- When the bell peppers are roasted, reduce the oven temperature to 350°.
- Meanwhile, in a skillet, warm the remaining tablespoon of oil and saute the onions and garlic on medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the onions have softened.
- Stir in the cumin, coriander, red pepper flakes, salt, carrots, celery, zucchini, and corn.
- Cover the pan and cook for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are very tender.
- Combine the sauteed vegetables and the cooked quinoa and add salt to taste.
- Turn over the roasted pepper shells and spoon filling into each half.
- Sprinkle each bell pepper half with some of the grated cheese and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted.
Those look delicious! I remember ones similar to what Russ had but I guess it would’ve been more like meatloaf in the pepper… Not my best food memory
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oh yum! Adding this to my “to make” list!
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