Pasta with Garlic Scapes and Peas

I've known my husband since Culture Club was number one on the charts, and yet this whole time he carefully kept a secret from me that he recently revealed: he doesn't like peas. He will eat them, but he would prefer they not be on his plate. Hmmm...That revelation made this dish harder to carry out, but it was entirely successful--and yet so different from the original recipe that I'm going to post my own version.

Claire agreed to make this dish when I told her it involved pasta, pesto, and peas. Unlike her father, Claire adores peas. She eats them frozen from the bag--often a very large bag a week. But this time, in honor of spring, I had bought shell peas, so we shelled them and discussed our strategy for adapting the recipe.

The clue came in some creative reading I'd done with the recipe: I somehow understood that Melissa had mixed the peas and ricotta in with the pesto. Given that Sami admitted to liking split pea soup, we decided that if we puréed the peas, they would be less objectionable. So after being blanched, they went into the pesto after these delicious and expensive pine nuts that I almost burned.

Big dollops of goat's milk ricotta, and the dish was finished. It's a beautiful spring green color, and it tastes really, really good. I've seen recipes for "peacamole" that you can spread on crackers, and this "pea-sto" (that's for you, Sharmyn) would also be a great spread/dip. 

So here's my version of Melissa Clark's recipe for people who have no access to garlic scapes and who have family members who are pea-shy. You won't regret it.

About 1-1/2 cups freshly shelled (or frozen) peas

1/3 c. grated Parmesan

2 green onion tops, coarsely chopped

1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped

1 bunch basil, leaves torn from stems

1/4 c. pine nuts, carefully toasted (watch out: pine nuts go from white to burned in seconds)

1/3 c. olive oil

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 lb. pasta--your choice. I used fresh fettuccine.

Ricotta or other creamy cheese of your liking

Freshly ground pepper

More grated Parmesan

In a large pot, bring some well-salted water to a boil. Add the peas and let cook for 2-3 minutes. Scoop out the peas with a large slotted spoon. Depending on the type of pasta you're using, add it to the boiling water now and let it cook while you make the pesto (if you're using a quick-cooking pasta like fresh fettuccine or angel hair, you might want to make the pesto first).

In a food processor, grind together the Parmesan, green onions, garlic, and basil. Add the pine nuts, oil, and peas and process until creamy. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and lemon juice.

When the pasta is done, scoop out about 1/2 cup of the pasta water before draining the pasta. Mix the pasta with the pesto. Serve topped with ricotta, pepper, and/or grated Parmesan. 

Matzo Brei

Matzo is not something I buy or eat on a regular basis. When we were kids, we would sometimes get it and eat it spread with salted butter. But other than that, it's pretty much been a novelty item to eat at Seder meals.

So when Maddy proposed we make the Matzo Brei, I had to think about whether matzo was even available at the grocery store here. Fortunately, since it's Passover now, there was in fact plenty of matzo to be had. Of course, the first thing I made with it was this. And Claire sampled it with butter and salt and pronounced it good.

 But now it was time to make the Brei. In German, Brei means porridge, and that kind of makes sense here, since you soak the matzo down to a soft mass.

 The recipe is basically a matzo frittata: you beat eggs and milk with salt and plenty of pepper, and then you thrown in your soaked and drained matzo.

 Strangely enough, while I was cooking this recipe, this story popped up on my iPod, so I could fully appreciate the effort that went into my matzo.

 But matzo brei? Not so much effort. Now we're ready to melt the butter. Melissa calls for SIX TABLESPOONS of the stuff. This is probably half that, and it's still pretty darned buttery. (If you're wondering about the little white things, the salted butter here has large salt crystals--yum--that create that effect.)

Your matzo mixture goes in the pan and cooks for a while until it's nice and brown. What's nice is that you can flip it over in quarters, so you don't stress as you might with a frittata.

 I did the caramelized onions on the side because we're a family of caramelized onion fans (Claire said she wanted the whole batch for her dinner). It was a good decision: I liked this better with the onions than with the honey, especially when it's for dinner.

While this recipe seemed weird, we all really liked it. Julia said it was like a German pancake. It's substantial yet fluffy, and I can see taking it over to the sweet side some time. Claire tried it with a variety of toppings, from honey to sriracha, and she said she liked it best with ketchup and caramelized onions. The rest of us stuck pretty much just to the caramelized onions and that was just fine. I made two batches for the four of us (one batch=4 squares of matzo and 4 eggs), and that was just right for everyone but me--I couldn't finish mine.

So I'm glad Maddy picked this recipe and that the store had matzo. I would never have tried the recipe otherwise, and that would have been a shame.

Gingery Split Pea Soup

Let me begin this post with a travel tip: if you're leaving for a week-long trip to a fabulous mountainside apartment, you probably shouldn't pack your things at 5 AM with a raging fever. You'll probably forget a lot of random things, like sunscreen and long underwear and sharp knives. All this to say that although I cooked this soup in idyllic conditions (above is the view from the apartment we were loaned for the week), the cooking conditions were not exactly ideal.

If you've ever cooked in a vacation apartment, you'll know that the equipment furnished is generally sketchy at best. Dull knives are a given, and things like graters and peelers don't always exist. But I had remembered my cookbook and a bunch of important ingredients (though I also forgot a few), and I was determined to cook the soup and stay on schedule.

 So the vegetables got an, ahem, rough chop. This was kind of a problem for the ginger. I had brought my remaining red lentils, but they weren't enough. The minimart at the ski village where we were staying didn't stock split peas, but the kitchen we were staying in had green lentils, so I threw them in. And I had forgotten to bring rosemary and bay leaf, so I threw in some herbes de provence. Close enough, right? And I used a bouillon cube because it was there.

But check it out--I cooked the soup in a pressure cooker--probably one from the 70s. It scared me, but it did not in fact explode, and the soup cooked really quickly--by the time I had cleaned the kitchen and set the table, the soup was done. Such is also the nature of the vacation home kitchen--sometimes you have a pleasant surprise.

It was kind of fun to cook in this tiny kitchen, with the two-burner stove and tiny fridge and toaster oven. It was very similar to the kitchen I cooked in when I was a college student in Germany. Except I had better knives even back then.

And the soup? Well, it all got eaten--I'm beginning to really appreciate that about Melissa Clark's recipes. But no-one really went crazy over it. The ginger didn't get chopped finely enough (yes, that's the blame-avoiding passive right there), and so it dominated a bit much for my taste. The rosemary would have added a nice touch,  and I also think I would have liked the soup better with split peas. I guess to summarize, I wasn't thrilled with the soup as I made it, but I believe the soup as it was originally conceived would be really good. I'll have to try it again now that I once again have a clear head and a well-equipped kitchen.

Fragrant Lentil Rice Soup

 When Michelle decided to change from the Valentine's cake to this lentil recipe, I had mixed feelings. I always love to bake, and I usually make something chocolate for Valentine's day. On the other hand, the recipe in the Melissa Clark cookbook involved buttercream--the kind with egg whites and three sticks of butter. I had been scheming about how to wiggle around that (a scheme involving cupcakes) when the change was made. And now we have lentils and rice and spinach. What better way to show your love than to cook a really delicious and healthy meal?

So there I was on a Monday night, facing the stove with tears streaming down my face. Four onions is a lot to chop! Three of them went in a pan to caramelize.

 I then turned my attention to the "soup" pot (this ended up more like a pilaf), sautéing onions with aromatics like garlic, ginger (family favorite!), bay leaf, and cinnamon stick. I added these "coral lentils", as the French call them, and some stock and water and let the lot simmer. Note that I should have added the rice at this time, even though I used plain basmati rice rather than the brown basmati Melissa calls for.

In the meantime, the onions continued to caramelize. Although I followed the recipe fairly closely, adding a bit more oil and cranking up the heat, the onions never achieved the "crispy" stage. They were still deliciously caramelized. I've had more luck using the oven to get crispy onions, though they very quickly go from crispy to carbonized.

 In the meantime, as Melissa suggests, I had been making paratha dough, and when the lentils and rice seemed almost done, I cooked up some parathas.

Mmm...flaky, buttery flatbread. I'm sure the whole-wheat flour totally makes up for all the butter in these.

Now that the paratha is almost ready, it's time to add the spinach. I decided to leave out the mint because I wasn't feeling it. I'm curious to see if others used it.

And here's the finished product. The spinach freshens up the whole affair and keeps it from being exclusively brown food: unfortunately, red lentils lose some of their pretty color in cooking. The flavor is aromatic without being spicy: I didn't love the cinnamon flavor and might try to dial back on that (maybe adding some cardamom instead) another time. I liked the pilaf texture and loved the caramelized onion topping. As with the parsnip soup, a squeeze of lemon (no limes to be found right now) brightened and enhanced the flavor a lot. Everyone seemed to enjoy this dish, and it was the perfect amount for four people.

Cook this now? If you'd like something healthy, somewhat exotic, and not too complicated to put together, I would say yes!

Vegetable Couscous

I asked my German host family what they'd like to eat for dinner--was there anything typically French they'd like to have? They had no particular wishes, so Sami suggested couscous, which is what his parents like to serve guests. We all agreed that was a good idea. Since they don't eat much meat, I made up a vegetarian version, and it came out great.

I used raz al-hanout, a North African spice mix, in my couscous, but if you don't have it, I would use a bit more cumin, some coriander, and maybe some curry powder.

Vegetable Couscous

2 T. olive oil

2 medium onions, diced

Salt and pepper

1 red pepper, diced

4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 T. cumin

1 T. raz al-hanout

1/4 t. red pepper flakes (increase if you want this spicy)

1 large can crushed tomatoes

2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks

2 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 bag baby spinach

Couscous--about 1/3 cup per person

Butter

In a large pot over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the onion along with some salt and pepper, and sauté until translucent. Add the pepper and carrots and continue to sauté for another 5 minutes or so. Add the garlic and spices and sauté another minute. Your kitchen should smell really good. Add the tomatoes and about half a can of water, stir that well, and then add the potato chunks. Cover and turn down the heat to medium low; cook for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are just about tender. Add the zucchini and chickpeas and cook for another 10 minutes. Add the spinach and cook for another 5 minutes. Check the seasoning.

Cook the couscous according to package directions. When it's cooked, add a bit of butter and fluff with a fork or with your fingers. Serve the vegetable stew over the couscous--with harissa on the side, of course.

Vegetable Lasagne

I actually started with the recipe from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, but this ended up being more like the vegetarian lasagne Mom made from the Pleasures of Cooking. Except that recipe had at least 3 pounds of cheese in it. I went for more vegetables than cheese, and I think it worked out well. Feel free to play around with the vegetables.

Vegetable Lasagne

1 T. olive oil

1 large onion, diced

1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced

1 lb. carrots, shredded

Salt, pepper, Italian seasoning or your favorite dried herbs

1/2 c. red wine

1 large can tomato purée

8 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed

9 lasagne noodles (I used the no-cook kind)

8 oz. mozzarella, grated

2 oz. Parmesan, grated

8 oz. ricotta

1/4 c. chopped basil

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté the onion until translucent. Add the carrots and mushrooms and sauté until the mushrooms have started to give off liquid. Season with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Pour in the wine, scrape up the bottom, and let cook down for a few minutes. Add the tomato puree (and about a cup of water if you're using the no-cook noodles) and let simmer for 15-20 minutes.

In the meantime, heat the oven to 400. Cook your lasagne noodles if you're using the regular kind. Mix together the mozzarella and Parmesan; mix the ricotta and basil and season with some salt and pepper. Grease a deep 9-inch square pan.

Layer up the lasagne: one-fourth of the tomato sauce, three noodles, one-third of the mozzarella mixture, one-half of the ricotta mixture, noodles, tomato sauce, cheese, remaining ricotta, noodles, tomato sauce, last of the mozzarella. Put in the oven (it's not a bad idea to put it on a foil-lined baking sheet first to catch drips) and bake for 30 minutes, until bubbling. Let rest a few minutes, then cut and serve. Feel virtuous about how healthy your lasagne is.

Tarte aux Carottes

This is translated from a French food blog I follow, Canelle et Cacao. I would never have thought of putting grated root vegetables in a tart/quiche, but it works--it's substantial and light at the same time because of the high veggie/custard ratio. My change to the recipe was to add some cheese, and I'm glad I did. I used up some various bits of cheese hiding in the fridge, and I recommend you do the same.

Tarte aux Carottes

1-1/4 c. whole wheat flour

2/3 c. rolled oats

1 T. poppy or sesame seeds

1/2 t. salt

1/4 c. olive oil

2-4 T. water

Get out your food processor--you're going to want it for the carrots anyway. Put in the steel blade and then put in the flour, oatmeal, seeds, and salt; process for a few seconds. Add the oil and pulse a few times until you seem to have some crumbs forming. Add the water about a tablespoonful a time until the dough holds together. Shape the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic or wax paper; refrigerate at least an hour.

1 lb. carrots or mixed root vegetables (I used carrots, parsnips, and golden turnips)

1 T. olive oil

4 oz. cheese of your choice (really, anything in your fridge that's not Velveeta)

Minced fresh herbs of your choice (recipe calls for chervil; I used chives and parsley)

2 eggs

1/2 c. cream, milk, or half-and-half

Salt and pepper

Heat the oven to 350. Peel the carrots and shred them in the food processor. In a large skillet with a cover, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Sauté the carrots for a bit (season them with a bit of salt and pepper), then put the cover on and let steam for about 10 minutes; stir them occasionally so they don't stick and burn. They should be getting limp.

In the meantime, grate the cheese and beat together the eggs, cream, herbs, and about 1/2 t. salt and some pepper. Also, roll out the dough and line a 9-inch pie pan with it. Sprinkle half the cheese over the crust. When the carrots are done, put them on top of the cheese and then top with the egg custard. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over that and put the tart in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until it is golden on top and underneath. Enjoy eating your vegetables.

Roasted Red Pepper and Corn Tart

This comes from a back issue of the San Francisco Chronicle. I made a few changes, as always: I made my own pie crust, but I used canned corn because I live in the Land of Canned Corn. And I added cheese: a bit of grated Gruyère on the bottom to keep the crust from getting soggy (ha!) and a few dollops of chèvre on top for good measure. Those were the cheeses I had in my fridge: consider getting creative (Cheddar? Pepper Jack?) with what you have in yours. The recipe says it serves 6-8, which is a complete lie. Claire had the last piece this morning for breakfast.

Roasted Red Pepper and Corn Tart

* 1 ready-to-use pie crust

* 1 red bell pepper

* 1 tablespoon butter

* 2 tablespoons minced shallots

* 1 ear corn, shucked and kernels cut off the cob

* 2 eggs

* 1 cup whole milk

* 1 teaspoon kosher salt

* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano or marjoram leaves

Instructions: Preheat oven to 400°.

Place the pie pastry in a 9- or 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Line the pastry with a sheet of aluminum foil and add pie weights, rice or dried beans. Place in the oven and bake until the edges are firm, about 10 minutes. Remove the foil and the weights and bake until the bottom is opaque, about 2-3 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool.

Over an open flame or on a grill, roast the pepper until it is charred. Place it in a plastic bag for 10 minutes, then peel and remove the seeds and the fleshy ribs. Dice the pepper and set aside.

Reduce the oven to 375°.

In a frying pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. When it has melted, add the shallots and the corn and sauté just until the shallots are translucent, about 1-2 minutes. Remove and set aside.

In a bowl, combine the eggs, milk, salt and pepper and beat with a whisk to blend. Add the oregano or marjoram and the reserved corn and shallot mixture. Squeeze the peppers to remove any excess liquid and add to the bowl.

Pour the mixture into the tart pan and place in the oven.

Bake until slightly puffed and a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Remove to a rack and let cool 15-20 minutes before serving.

To serve, gently slide a knife around the edges to release any pastry that might be sticking, then remove the bottom and place the tart on a serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.

Indian Rice Salad

This is very loosely adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. Very loosely--but the book is all about improvisation, after all. It makes a ton, which is good, because rice salad makes an easy lunch that you can take along without worry about refrigeration or heating.

Indian Rice Salad

1 small head cauliflower, cut or broken into florets

1 large potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch squares

2 T. olive oil (or whatever oil you like)

1 t. salt

1 t. cumin seed

1/2 c. lentils

1-1/2 c. rice (basmati is nice; brown basmati might be even better)

1 c. frozen peas

a 1-inch piece fresh ginger

3 T. rice vinegar

1/2 t. salt

1 T. curry powder

1/2 t. turmeric

1/2 c. coconut milk

2 green onions, sliced thin

Heat the oven to 425. Toss the cauliflower and potatoes with olive oil, salt, and cumin seed on a large (foil-lined) baking sheet. Roast for about 15-20 minutes, or until fully cooked and tinged with brown. Let cool. In the meantime, heat a large pot of well-salted water. When it comes to a boil, add the lentils and cook for 10 minutes. Add the rice and cook another 10 minutes. Add the peas and cook for another 3-5 minutes. At this point, almost all the water might be absorbed--make sure you stir occasionally. Drain and let cool.

In a blender put the ginger, vinegar, salt, curry, turmeric, and coconut milk; blend for about a minute until the ginger is minced and an emulsion of sorts is formed. Get out a large bowl and put into it the green onion, the rice mixture, the cauliflower mixture, and the coconut milk mixture. Toss together well and taste. I needed to add more vinegar and more salt. Serve right away or whenever you're ready. You can make this well in advance.

"Detox" split pea soup

I have a subscription to Elle magazine: I find it's a great way to learn French and keep up on trends in society. And it has pretty pictures :-). Julia and Claire also look at it, and Julia found this "detox diet" that she wanted to try. The thing about this diet is that it involves food that you'd actually want to eat (if you like fruits and veggies). So this soup is one of the diet recipes she tried out. She made a really yummy stew of winter vegetables, prunes, and orange juice (no, don't gag--it was really good!) for lunch today. I feel healthier already...

So here's the soup recipe, loosely translated from Elle.

Split Pea Soup

2 branches celery, diced

1 onion, diced

1 T. olive oil

3 sprigs fresh thyme

1 T. soy sauce

Pepper

7 oz. split peas, rinsed

2 bouillon cubes (or about 2 c. chicken or vegetable broth--French people use a lot of bouillon cubes)

Juice of one lemon

In a medium saucepan, sauté the celery and onion in the olive oil over medium heat. Add the thyme, soy sauce, and pepper and stir that around another minute. Add the peas and bouillon cubes and enough water to completely cover the peas. Bring to a boil; turn down the heat and let simmer for about 45 minutes, or until the peas are mushy. Add more water/broth if it looks dry. Remove the thyme and use an immersion blender or other tool to purée the soup. Squeeze in the lemon juice and serve. Feel virtuous. The diet suggests you serve this with steamed fennel as a starter and a pear for dessert. Just saying.

Moosewood Lentil Soup

..."gentle." I always love seeing that on the recipe page. Sami's off teaching in the French Alps, poor baby, so this is a good time for us to eat girl food like lentil soup. I began with the Moosewood recipe and took a couple of deviations. For one, Molly Katzen thinks you should cook your lentil soup all day, when lentils really only need about half an hour. I compromised and cooked it for about an hour. And I changed the order of the ingredients, though I didn't change much about the ingredients themselves. If you're an unreformed carnivore, smoked sausage is always nice in lentil soup.

Lentil Soup

1 T. butter

1 large onion, minced

2 large carrots, peeled and diced

2 stalks celery, diced (I used a hunk of celery root)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 t. dried thyme

2 t. salt

Freshly ground pepper

2-3 T. sherry (or red wine or white wine or vermouth)

3 c. lentils (the brown kind will make a smoother soup; the green kind will have more texture)

7 c. water or stock

1 16-oz. can diced tomatoes

Juice of 1/2 large lemon

1 T. molasses or brown sugar

1 T. red wine vinegar

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. When it has melted, add the onion, carrots, and celery and sauté for about 10 minutes, or until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper, and sauté for another minute. Add the sherry or other booze and use it to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Let it cook down to almost nothing, then add the lentils. Stir them until coated and then pour in the water/stock. Bring that to a boil, cover, turn down the heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the tomatoes, lemon juice, molasses/brown sugar, and vinegar and cook another 30 minutes. Serve with home-baked whole wheat bread and some 70s folk-rock.

Fettuccine Alfredo

Yeah, yeah, heart attack on a plate. But hey, a little goes a long way. And it's easy. And really good.

Since there are only about 4 ingredients here, use the best you can find. And serve some plain steamed vegetables or a big green salad on the side to assuage your conscience. And a nice white wine to cut through the cream :-)

This recipe is adapted from the Joy of Cooking. I cut down the butter and cream just a bit.

Fettuccine Alfredo

1-1/4 lb fresh or 1 lb. dried fettuccine

6 T. (3 oz.) butter

3/4 c. heavy cream (I used crème fraîche)

1 cup (about 3 oz.) grated Parmesan

Salt, pepper, and perhaps some freshly grated nutmeg

Cook the pasta according to package directions in well-salted water. While it's cooking, melt the butter in a large skillet. When the pasta is done, scoop it out into the pan with the butter and stir it around. Add the cream and Parmesan and salt, pepper (I like a lot), and nutmeg if you want. Taste before you season--if you salted the pasta water enough, you probably won't need much salt. Serve quickly with something green and healthy on the side.

Nutty Macaroni and Blue Cheese

I swear I'll get back to roasted vegetables--soon. I'm sure the walnuts in this add important antioxidants or what-have-you. But they were rather an unwelcome presence for the girls. Julia picked hers out--and she likes nuts normally. I kind of liked them. So use your judgement. Oh, and if you're a mac and cheese conservative (nothing wrong with that), leave out the blue cheese and walnuts and just put an extra cup of grated cheese (half Cheddar, half Parmesan?) in the sauce.

It occurred to me as I cleaned out the macaroni dish that if you put bread crumbs on the bottom as well as on the top of the macaroni, you could get a double crust. Either that, or a big clean-up headache. Next time I'm going to try that. We love that bread crumb crust.

This comes from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.

Nutty Macaroni and Blue Cheese

2-1/2 c. milk

2 bay leaves

1 lb. macaroni or other tubular pasta

4 T. butter, divided

3 T. flour

Salt, pepper, nutmeg, red pepper...

1 c. (4 oz.) grated Cheddar

1 c. (3 oz.) crumbled blue cheese (I would use the cheaper, milder Danish kind)

3/4 c. walnuts, chopped

2 slices of whatever bread you have, to make about 1 cup crumbs

Heat the oven to 400. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan or its baking dish equivalent. Measure the milk into a 4-cup Pyrex measure, add the bay leaves, and microwave for about 2 minutes on high, until it's steaming but not necessarily boiling. Let that sit and steep while you take care of the rest. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. While you're waiting for that, melt 3 T. of the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. When it's melted, add the flour and whisk a bit for it to brown just a tiny bit. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, and red pepper--or whatever seasonings you like. Fish the bay leaves out of the milk before gradually pouring it into the roux, whisking as you go. Cook this white sauce until it's thickened and bubbly. Take off the heat and add the Cheddar; stir until the cheese is melted. At this point, if not before, you'll cook the pasta a couple minutes less than the package directions call for. At some point you'll also want to put the bread and the remaining 1 T. butter in a food processor and process until you have crumbs. OK, now we're ready to assemble the mac 'n' cheese: Drain the cooked noodles and pour them into the baking dish. Top with the cheese sauce and stir that around. Mix in the blue cheese and walnuts. Top with the buttered bread crumbs and bake for about 15 minutes, until the crumbs have browned and the sauce is bubbly. Enjoy with a green vegetable and good intentions for moderation.

Mexican Bean-Stuffed Peppers

I seem to be continuing with the retro recipes. This one comes from New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant, which, as I see from the inscription, my cousin Cate gave me in 1987. I know for a fact that this book has traveled to Germany and back at least once, and now it's here with me--and there are still recipes I haven't tried. I liked this one--it's hearty but still has some good texture interplay, and if you leave out the cheese/sour cream thing (maybe top with avocado?), it's vegan.

The recipe recommended serving this with rice, but I didn't think that was necessary. Bulgur might also be nice if you want to be really healthy...

Mexican Bean-Stuffed Peppers

First, make a bit of a cooked salsa thing. Get out a food processor and put in it:

1 large can whole tomatoes, juice and all

1 bell pepper, green or red, seeded, cored, and coarsely chopped

(1-2 jalapeños, if you have them lying around, also cored and perhaps seeded)

1 onion, coarsely chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1 chipotle chili

2 t. cumin

2 t. coriander

2 t. salt

Whiz that all together until it's pretty much smooth. Put it in a pot over medium heat and let it bubble away for an hour or so. If you don't have time for this foolishness, you could just use salsa or even enchilada sauce. Your call. Now we'll stuff some peppers.

1 large onion, chopped

2 T. olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 t. cumin

2 t. coriander

1 t. ancho chile, if you've got it

4 garlic cloves, minced

3 large tomatoes, chopped (I used a basket of cherry tomatoes, quartered)

2 c. corn (I used a can of corn--I'm sure frozen or fresh would be better)

2 cans pinto and/or kidney beans, drained, rinsed, and mashed up with a fork just a bit

2 T. soy sauce (that's how you can tell this is a Moosewood recipe--leave it out if you like)

6 bell peppers--you can buy two of those "stoplight" packs

Grated Cheddar/Jack/pepper jack and/or sour cream and/or avocado

Get out a 13x9-inch pan and oil it. Put about a cup of the salsa you just made in the bottom of it. In a large skillet, sauté the onion in the olive oil over medium-high heat until translucent. Add the salt, pepper, and spices and garlic and sauté another minute. Add the tomatoes, corn, beans, and soy sauce, and heat until it's all hot. Take off the stove and get your peppers ready: cut them in half lengthwise, core and seed them. Fill each one with the bean mixture (I had way more beans than peppers; oh, well) and put into the pan that you've put salsa in. When all your peppers are lined up, cover the pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until the peppers are tender and everything is nice and hot. Garnish the peppers with cheese and/or sour cream and/or avocado and enjoy a taste of the 80s.