This is a vacation week for me and while I have no grand trip, excursion or even to-do list planned, I have loved having the time in the evenings to cook. No rushing. No throwing something in my stylish insulated lunch tote for dinner. Nope. I have the greatest gift of all — time. And with that, I spent Sunday evening flipping through my recipe binder, searching for items I love and dishes I’ve wanted to try.
Enter Thursday night’s dinner: Stuffed Red Peppers.
The actual preparation time isn’t long, especially (I’ ve learned) if you take the time to chop and assemble all your ingredients before actually starting to cook. The dish came together quickly. The long wait was for it to actually bake. But, like I said, I was in no rush. I fired up Pandora and belted out the Glenn Miller Orchestra Channel (cuz I felt like rolling with jazzy standards from the 1940s) got out the good dishes from my grandmother and had myself a nice little dinner. I added an Abita Pecan Harvest brew because, like I said, it’s my vacation.
I adapted the recipe slightly from one I found in Everyday Food to make two peppers (one for dinner and one for lunch the next day) and to use the cheese I had on hand. (Find the original recipe on iVillage.com).
Stuffed Red Peppers with Quinoa and Walnuts
Ingredients:
- 2 red bell peppers
- 1Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- salt and peper
- 1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed
- 1/2 cup vegetable broth
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmigiano Reggiano
- Grated Parmesan Cheese
Directions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees and place oven rack in the upper third.
- Slice off top of red peppers, just below the stem. Remove seeds and ribs. Discard the stems and chop the tops.
- In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, coriander and chopped pepper tops. Season with salt and pepper. Stir occasionally and cook until onion has softened, about 4-5 minutes.
- Add quinoa and cook about 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup vegetable broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until quinoa has absorbed all the liquid, about 11-13 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir n parsley, walnuts and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
- Divide mixture evenly and stuff the peppers. Place in a baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake about 1 hour. Uncover and top with Parmesan cheese. Bake until cheese melts, about about another 5 minutes.
