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I made a stuffed pepper for dinner last night and it was goooood. As usual, I downloaded a recipe to get the basic idea and then messed around with the ingredients. This is approximately it:
2 small bell peppers (or one big one, cut in half)
1/2 tube of Gimmie Lean soy "beef"
4 cloves garlic
about 1/5 cup parmesan cheese (I just dumped some in from the container and it looked like a little less than 1/4 cup)
about 1/5 cup dry breadcrumbs (same deal as the cheese)
1/2 tomato, diced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
a dash each of:
- ground black pepper
- savory
- fennel seeds
- ground corriander seeds
two dashes of dried parsley (I would've used fresh if I'd had any)
about 1/4 cup olive oil
Preheat the oven to 350° and boil a pot of water deep enough to accomodate the pepper. Cut open the pepper(s) and scoop out the innards. Cook the pepper in boiling water for about 8 minutes then dump out the hot water, fill the pot with cold water and let the pepper sit in it. Meanwhile, cook the "beef" and garlic in the olive oil, stirring frequently, until the "beef" just starts to cook (about 5 minutes). Add the tomato, cheese, breadcrumbs, seasonings and tomato paste (save a little smear for on top) and cook a little longer until the cheese is melted and mixed in. Retrieve the pepper from the water and put it in a lightly oiled baking dish. Stuff the stuffing in and smear a little tomato paste on top. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes.
Mmmm. I finished making it then realized I had no side dishes so I left it in the warm oven and made some broccoli cheese Rice-A-Roni to go with it. Plain rice pilaf might have been a better match. Anyway, it was still good.
I always have to resist the temptation to over-season things. I start out going through my supply of dried herbs (unless I've specifically got some fresh ones for the dish) and smell them and figure out which ones I'll use, then I remind myself that not everything is improved by oregano and basil and I remove those from the set unless it's a tomatoey dish with few other seasonings. I definitely wanted to use the fennel seed because I wanted a bit of a sausage-y vibe, though I didn't want to open up the soy sausage packet just to use a little bit. The corriander (which I never used until I made ratatouille recently) was a nice surprise but I smelled it and thought "yeah, this'll be good!" The savory is my default seasoning for mushrooms but I wanted to add a little to this too. It's sort of a good basic seasoning for dishes that are, well, savory. It's nice and subtle, it doesn't risk overwhelming the dish like cilantro or basil can. I love cilantro and basil but I mostly use them fresh and sparingly.
2 small bell peppers (or one big one, cut in half)
1/2 tube of Gimmie Lean soy "beef"
4 cloves garlic
about 1/5 cup parmesan cheese (I just dumped some in from the container and it looked like a little less than 1/4 cup)
about 1/5 cup dry breadcrumbs (same deal as the cheese)
1/2 tomato, diced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
a dash each of:
- ground black pepper
- savory
- fennel seeds
- ground corriander seeds
two dashes of dried parsley (I would've used fresh if I'd had any)
about 1/4 cup olive oil
Preheat the oven to 350° and boil a pot of water deep enough to accomodate the pepper. Cut open the pepper(s) and scoop out the innards. Cook the pepper in boiling water for about 8 minutes then dump out the hot water, fill the pot with cold water and let the pepper sit in it. Meanwhile, cook the "beef" and garlic in the olive oil, stirring frequently, until the "beef" just starts to cook (about 5 minutes). Add the tomato, cheese, breadcrumbs, seasonings and tomato paste (save a little smear for on top) and cook a little longer until the cheese is melted and mixed in. Retrieve the pepper from the water and put it in a lightly oiled baking dish. Stuff the stuffing in and smear a little tomato paste on top. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes.
Mmmm. I finished making it then realized I had no side dishes so I left it in the warm oven and made some broccoli cheese Rice-A-Roni to go with it. Plain rice pilaf might have been a better match. Anyway, it was still good.
I always have to resist the temptation to over-season things. I start out going through my supply of dried herbs (unless I've specifically got some fresh ones for the dish) and smell them and figure out which ones I'll use, then I remind myself that not everything is improved by oregano and basil and I remove those from the set unless it's a tomatoey dish with few other seasonings. I definitely wanted to use the fennel seed because I wanted a bit of a sausage-y vibe, though I didn't want to open up the soy sausage packet just to use a little bit. The corriander (which I never used until I made ratatouille recently) was a nice surprise but I smelled it and thought "yeah, this'll be good!" The savory is my default seasoning for mushrooms but I wanted to add a little to this too. It's sort of a good basic seasoning for dishes that are, well, savory. It's nice and subtle, it doesn't risk overwhelming the dish like cilantro or basil can. I love cilantro and basil but I mostly use them fresh and sparingly.
