My First Attempt at Collegiate Cuisine

This opportunity came to be via the Penn Vegetarian Society deciding that a veg-love potluck was in order for last night's meeting along with riveting discussions and movie-watching.  I was a little hesitant at first never having "cooked" in the college environment and a little fearful of the sketchy kitchen two floors below my room with a countertop version of a convection oven supplementing a perfectly good oven as part of the stove unit.  I was not sure what to expect.  Having raided the free fruits and veggies given as part of the "Eat Local Challenge" day on Tuesday, I was prepared with all sorts of bell peppers, and my apple stock returned to an acceptable level for possibly the rest of the week!

Naturally with so many bell peppers, I decided to stuff some of them with...well...more peppers!  I used the love of my life, brown rice, as well as several other vegetarian whole-food goodness to make a really tasty meal.  They turned out SO beautifully cooking away in the shady oven, and I brought them with flair on my Calphalon tray covered in Saran wrap all the way across campus, only to be devoured within the first half hour of the potluck feast.  Of course the recipe was totally off-the-cuff, because who uses an actual recipe when you don't have half of the ingredients you could want in a college dorm?  I hope you enjoy these as much as I and my fantastic friends did last night!

Stuffed Bell Peppers

6 Bell Peppers

• red are sweetest, orange are tastiest according to me, green hold up the best in the oven, and zucchini can be substituted
• Split lengthwise if ginormous
• Cut the top off with the stem and reserve if normal-sized
• de-rib and de-seed the peppers
• blanch 1-2 min and shock the bell peppers to bring out their beautiful colors

Brown Rice: 2 rice cooker cups' worth (use a rice cooker just for the rice)

Mushroom stock: for cooking the rice (depends on amount of rice you make)

Veggies:

• 2 plum tomatoes, diced and salted
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 medium onion (I used a red onion)
• 1 can black beans, drained(or dried & cooked separately)
• 6 large stalks chinese broccoli - blanched and shocked (significantly longer time than peppers) due to thick stems
• 1 large red bell pepper, diced
• 1 large green bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 medium summer squash
• small bunch of parsley

Spices:

• cumin, palmful
• coriander, palmful (slightly less than cumin)
• cayenne pepper, 1 tsp (if you like it spicier or milder adjust accordingly)
• salt & pepper
• 1 T olive oil, separated

Method:

1. cook BR
2. prep and blanch peppers and greens (kale or collards or something on the hardier side can be substituted)
3. rub peppers with olive oil, salt, and pepper (just enough to coat - 1 tsp?)
4. chop garlic into a paste with salt and sauté, add onions and cook until translucent
5. add diced peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, and greens
6. add cumin, coriander, and cayenne to taste
7. add black beans & test for need to re-season
8. remove from heat; using a fork, crush and mash some of the beans by vigorously stirring and mashing what's in the pot (leave some whole)
9. add salt and pepper to taste
10. stir in cooked rice to combine
11. spoon mixture into seasoned peppers, put tops on those that were prepared in that style and put in the oven at 350F for about 15 minutes (I used a convection oven with this time and temp)
12. remove and enjoy...they're even better the next day or two days later reheated!

Try sprinkling them with cheese if not particularly vegan or toasted (whole grain) breadcrumbs or try using quinoa instead of BR as the grain.