Recipe: Italian style quinoa stuffed peppers

Stuffed peppers are such a fun dinner to make--for some reason people are always more impressed by a grain/vegetable pilaf stuffed into a pepper and baked than they would be by the same pilaf served up as a side in a standard dish. There are endless possibilities for pepper stuffing, and my latest favorite is this one:



The filling is a mixture of quinoa, zucchini, celery, canned tomatoes, onion, and garlic, mixed with some Italian herbs and a healthy dose of white wine. The filling is then stuffed into peppers and baked for a bit to finish things off. Served with a nice salad, one of these peppers is absolutely a meal in itself. I like using quinoa instead of more standard fillings like rice because it has a high protein content, as well as calcium and iron. Plus it's delicious! Be sure to rinse the quinoa to remove bitterness before cooking.

To make four stuffed peppers of your own, you will need:

4 large green peppers, seeds removed

For the stuffing
1 tbsp olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small onion, diced
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp basil
1 bay leaf
1 zucchini, diced
1 c. quinoa, rinsed
1 14oz. can tomatoes
1/2 c. white wine
1 c. water or vegetable stock

1. In a medium sized saucepan on medium heat (note: you will be cooking the quinoa in this pan as well, so a fry pan will probably NOT cut it), heat the oil. Add onions, saute for 4-5 minutes, until softened. Add garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes more.

2. Add oregano, thyme, basil, bay leaf, and zucchini. Saute for 3-4 minutes.

3. Add quinoa. Stir for 1 minute, all ingredients should be evenly mixed. Add tomatoes, wine, and water or vegetable stock. Cover pot and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and cover mixture, allowing to cook until liquid has been absorbed (~25-30 minutes). When the liquid is almost all absorbed, start the oven preheating to 350F.

4. Spoon filling into peppers, making sure to fill each one completely. Place peppers on a greased baking sheet and pop them in the oven for 30 minutes, or until outsides of peppers are beginning to brown.

5. Remove peppers from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Serve whole or sliced in half to show off the stuffing:

farmer's market stir fry

Stir fry is one of my favorite dinners to make. It's quick, hard to mess up, and versatile. I've been trying to pick up new vegetables at the farmer's market for culinary experimentation, and there is one stand that is always selling unusual bunches of leaves for $1. Recently I picked up a bunch of okra leaves, which I was informed made an excellent addition to stir-fry. I promptly went home to test this advice:


In addition to the okra leaves, I threw in a zucchini, an eggplant (which I always salt and sweat ahead of time, as I do not buy this business about eggplants that are now bred to be less bitter), and some baked tofu. For seasoning, I crushed a few cloves of garlic, then added red pepper flakes, a generous splash of mirin (a Japanese cooking wine--it has a thick consistency and is on the sweeter side), and a dash of sesame oil. Sounds yum, no? Here, have a close up to drool over:


So how did the okra leaves turn out? The flavor is quite mild, similar to actual okra. The guy who sold me the leaves said they would also behave like okra and produce the same thick juices (or "slime" for the okra haters out there) that okra does when cooked. Honestly, I did not notice that there was much of a thickening effect, certainly nothing like what I would have expected from a comparable volume of okra. Still, they were cheap, added bulk, and the taste was good, so I'll probably be adding them into the stir fry rotation again.