the great stuffed pepper experiment
Sep. 5th, 2007 09:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snugglekittyOver the past month, we have been getting a few green peppers in our farmshare every week. Eventually, you can no longer give them to your friends, and instead, you must consume them yourself. I decided to try making stuffed peppers. My rice allergy is what makes this interesting.
Other than the peppers, not many farmshare veggies were left in the house, since tonight we'll get our new shipment. So I went with what we did have.
3 bell peppers
1 cup dry quinoa
4 c water
3/4 cup dry lentils
1/2 large tomato (from <lj user="desiringsubject">, in this case)
2 small onions
1 bulb fennel
1/2 c walnuts
1 portion bouillion
grated sharp cheese (I used asiago, parmesan or cheddar would probably also work)
stale croutons
Cook lentils and quinoa in weak stock on stove until al dente. Finely chop and sautee onions and fennel. Slice peppers in half lengthwise. Mix quinoa, lentils, onions, fennel, tomato, and walnuts. Preheat oven to 350. Grate cheese onto the mixture and stir. Stuff each pepper half. Place in a baking dish and use remaining stuffing to surround peppers. Grate additional cheese over the peppers, and top with croutons.
Here's the cool experiment part - I put two of the pepper halves in the microwave, and four of them in the oven. Different recipes called for different things, so I wanted to try both. <small>And not all of the peppers could fit in one dish...</small> The stove-made stuffed peppers were much, much better in terms of texture, both inside and outside, though both kinds were tasty. You could probably use a toaster oven instead of a regular oven, though, if it was really hot. Or if you didn't have an oven.
Anyway, since this is my recipe, and I think that the oven peppers came out best, that's what I recommend. When oven reaches temperature, slide the baking dish in. Bake for 30 minutes, then check. If the top is not brown and slightly crunchy, turn the oven up to 400, and bake for another ten minutes. Remove baking dish from oven and let cool. Enjoy!
If you wanted to get fancier with this, a sauce to drizzle over the top might be nice. <i>(ETA: Something cheesy and rich, maybe. Or sweet and tangy.)</i> Another option is to coordinate the stuffing more - ie, Mexican style stuffed peppers with rice, beans, and salsa, or Middle Eastern style peppers with artichokes, olives, and feta. But for being the first stuffed peppers I had ever made, and the first I had eaten in at least ten years, I think they came out pretty darned well.
My roommate and I both ate two halves, so one pepper per person seems like a pretty good rule of thumb. This recipe would be easy to scale up.
<i>ETA: Next on my list of things to cook is pea tendrils with beets, cheese, and walnuts. We'll see if that actually happens, though.
Other than the peppers, not many farmshare veggies were left in the house, since tonight we'll get our new shipment. So I went with what we did have.
3 bell peppers
1 cup dry quinoa
4 c water
3/4 cup dry lentils
1/2 large tomato (from <lj user="desiringsubject">, in this case)
2 small onions
1 bulb fennel
1/2 c walnuts
1 portion bouillion
grated sharp cheese (I used asiago, parmesan or cheddar would probably also work)
stale croutons
Cook lentils and quinoa in weak stock on stove until al dente. Finely chop and sautee onions and fennel. Slice peppers in half lengthwise. Mix quinoa, lentils, onions, fennel, tomato, and walnuts. Preheat oven to 350. Grate cheese onto the mixture and stir. Stuff each pepper half. Place in a baking dish and use remaining stuffing to surround peppers. Grate additional cheese over the peppers, and top with croutons.
Here's the cool experiment part - I put two of the pepper halves in the microwave, and four of them in the oven. Different recipes called for different things, so I wanted to try both. <small>And not all of the peppers could fit in one dish...</small> The stove-made stuffed peppers were much, much better in terms of texture, both inside and outside, though both kinds were tasty. You could probably use a toaster oven instead of a regular oven, though, if it was really hot. Or if you didn't have an oven.
Anyway, since this is my recipe, and I think that the oven peppers came out best, that's what I recommend. When oven reaches temperature, slide the baking dish in. Bake for 30 minutes, then check. If the top is not brown and slightly crunchy, turn the oven up to 400, and bake for another ten minutes. Remove baking dish from oven and let cool. Enjoy!
If you wanted to get fancier with this, a sauce to drizzle over the top might be nice. <i>(ETA: Something cheesy and rich, maybe. Or sweet and tangy.)</i> Another option is to coordinate the stuffing more - ie, Mexican style stuffed peppers with rice, beans, and salsa, or Middle Eastern style peppers with artichokes, olives, and feta. But for being the first stuffed peppers I had ever made, and the first I had eaten in at least ten years, I think they came out pretty darned well.
My roommate and I both ate two halves, so one pepper per person seems like a pretty good rule of thumb. This recipe would be easy to scale up.
<i>ETA: Next on my list of things to cook is pea tendrils with beets, cheese, and walnuts. We'll see if that actually happens, though.