Peppers stuffed with quinoa, black beans and kale

A friend of mine shared this recipe recently. The original is from Vegetarian Times. I adapted a few things and my 14-month old nephew went crazy for the filling. I am always looking for new and interesting ways to use quinoa, and I will be making this one again! Someone also suggested stuffing portobello mushrooms - I would be happy to eat it as is.

Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers

Serves 8

This dish freezes well for future meals. Quinoa provides whole-grain goodness and a serving of protein.

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped (1 cup)
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 2 ribs celery, finely chopped (½ cup)
• 1 Tbs. ground cumin
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp chili flakes (optional)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
• 2 bunches of kale, stripped from stems and finely chopped
• 2 15-oz. cans diced tomatoes, drained, liquid reserved
• 1 15-oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
• ¾ cup quinoa
• 3 large carrots, grated (1 ½ cups)
• 4 large bell peppers, halved lengthwise, ribs removed

1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and celery, and cook 5 minutes, or until soft. Add cumin and garlic, and sauté 1 minute. Stir in kale, sauté 2 minutes. Add drained tomatoes. Cook 5 minutes, or until most of liquid has evaporated.

2. Stir in black beans, quinoa, carrots, and the reserved tomato juice plus enough water to equal 2 cups water. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 20 minutes, or until quinoa is tender. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour a small amount of liquid in bottom of baking dish.

4. Fill each bell pepper half with heaping 3/4-cup quinoa mixture, and place in baking dish. Cover with foil, and bake 1 hour. Uncover, and sprinkle each pepper with cheese as desired. Bake 15 minutes more, or until tops of stuffed peppers are browned. Let stand 5 minutes.

Detoxify Me

 

Full of rich foods from Christmas dinner, starved of nutrients from a month of working too much and eating crappy food?
This should help ~ it certainly made me feel better!

Teriyaki Soba
serves 4

1 lb soba noodles
3 japanese eggplant, cut in medallions
1/2 lb king oyster mushrooms (regular are also okay)
2 peppers, julienned
1 lb baby bok choy, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 sheet toasted nori, julienned

Sauce:
4 tbsp chopped ginger
1 cup tamari
4 tbsp mirin
4 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp Himchimi Togarashi (Japanes chili powder)


1. Combine sauce ingredients, bring to a boil and simmer for five minutes. Remove from heat, allow to steep for 15 minutes, strain to remove chopped ginger, set aside.
2. Cook noodles according to pkge directions
3. While noodles are cooking, stir fry the vegetables, starting with eggplant and mushrooms. Then add the julienned peppers. Add a splash of sake or water to help speed the cooking process along. Add bok choy and sauce, allow to cook until vegetables are tender. Remove vegetablkes from wok and reduce the pan juice until thick and syrupy.
4. To serve, spoon vegetables over noodles, drizzle sauce over top and sprinkle with sesame seeds, nori threads and green onions.

From Rebar, with a few very minor modifications.

Peperoni Ripieni (Stuffed Peppers)

Rob made dinner last night, as I have beeen working a lot and am starting to feel the effects. And what a dinner it was; beautiful halibut with a dill sauce, roasted asparagus and the highlight, the stuffed peppers. The recipe is from Mario Batali and was made totally untweaked. Perhaps a little heavy on the garlic ~ cut back to one clove for those days that you have to be in close proximity to the general public. Also, we discussed cutting the oil back and subbing stock instead.

Peperoni Ripieni (Stuffed Peppers)
Recipe copyright 2000, Mario Batali. All rights reserved.
2 fresh dinner rolls, outside grated off, inside shredded by hand
3 tablespoons plus 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch Italian parsley, finely chopped to yield 1/4 cup
4 canned anchovy fillets, rinsed, drained and finely chopped
2 tablespoons plus 2 tablespoons freshly grated pecorino romano
2 tablespoons pickled capers
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 yellow bell peppers, tops cut off and reserved, seeds and pith removed

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, place the shredded bread and drizzle with 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. Add the parsley, anchovies, 2 tablespoons cheese, capers and garlic and mix well to combine. Season aggressively with pepper and timidly with salt, then slowly mix in the remaining 4 tablespoons olive oil to form a fairly soft paste. Divide the mixture evenly among the 4 hollowed peppers (do not pack the mixture in too tightly) and top with the remaining 2 tablespoons of cheese. Replace the top of each pepper and place each pepper in a baking dish that has been brushed with extra virgin olive oil. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Serve hot or cold.


Episode#: MB2C05
Copyright © 2006 Television Food Network, G.P., All Rights Reserved