Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

A few weeks ago, or maybe it was a few months ago, I received this text message from my friend Lynn.
"Do you know how to make Quinoa Stuffed Peppers"

Now Lynn has had my Stuffed Peppers before but I have never made nor thought of stuffing my peppers with Quinoa. So I texted her back saying that if I did make them, I would use mushrooms, spinach and quinoa to stuff the peppers. Maybe some pine nuts to.

I then asked her if she wanted a recipe or if she was asking me to make her a batch someday. Her reply was a simple "What do you think?!!"

So... when we had a few friends over the other night for dinner and to watch the Germany - Argentina Semifinal Quarterfinal match of the 2010 World Cup I made the Quinoa Stuffed Peppers.


For a change, I didnt have to make all the food as Ms Kong Piang made a delightful Paella as well as a Sourdough ham sandwhich (this one just for me to try.)

The Lovely Wife made a Salad out of her Jamie Oliver cookbook while I made the peppers and a lovely dessert. I'll post about the Salad and Dessert soon (hopefully!)

Lynn brought along some lovely Brie Cheese and crackers for the appetizer while TLW whipped up some Salsa that we enjoyed with Corn Chips. So yes, quite a feast or Festmahl as Lynn called it as we all wanted Germany to win that night. By all, I mean Lynn, my two children and I - as Ms Kong Piang, TLW and Kevin really weren't all that bothered about the football!



This is what I did with the Peppers.

Ingredients
4 cloves garlic - chopped
2 tsps basil
250g Button Mushrooms - sliced
1 bunch baby spinach - blanched and chopped
1 cup quinoa
Handful of raisins
Salt
Black Pepper
6 medium capsicums
Method
Bring 1.5 cups of water (with a little salt) to the boil and add in the quinoa. Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes or till quinoa is cooked. Set aside.
Sautee garlic with a little black pepper. Add in the basil and fry till fragrant. Put in the mushrooms and cook till juices are released. Add in the chopped spinach and mix well before adding in the raisins. Add in the cooked quinoa and season with salt and pepper. Let sit for awhile to absorb the flavours.
Cut off tops of capsicum and remove the seeds. Coat the insides and outsides of the capsicum with a little olive oil before stuffing with the mixture. Bake in a preheated 190C oven for about 30 minutes or till capsicums are soft.

I was rather pleased with how the peppers turned out - being vegetarian and all! The Quinoa lent a nice nutty flavour and texture to the capsicum and the mushrooms and spinach combined really well while the raisins provided a little sweetness. The capsicums were really juicy too and that made it even better. I decided against pine nuts as the Quinoa was already nutty. Maybe adding more vegetables like celery or carrots would improve the flavour but it was still delicious as it was.


Dinner with good friends and good food is alway a plus point and we all had a gerat time. Two bottles of wine didnt hurt the festivities either! Kevin showed how manly he was by washing up all the dishes AND I mean ALL the dishes! Thanks Kevin!

Finally, Germany didn't just win but THRASHED Argentina 4-0! A magnificent ending to a wonderful night. Now lets just hope they win the World Cup since Brazil is already out...!

Stuffed Peppers with Spiced Beef

In my previous two posts, I talked about Dinner for the Girls where some of The Lovely Wife's friends came over. This is the last post about that and I feature the Stuffed Peppers that I made.

I've made stuffed peppers before and even posted about it. Usually, I slice the capsicum into quarters and then stuff them but this time I decided to stuff them whole.

I found some lovely 'mini' capsicums at the market and I lobbed of their heads before stuffing them. I realised that the bottoms of the capsicums weren't flat so I would need to stand them in something. I used my muffin pan!

After stuffing them, I place the 'heads' back on top, fastened them together with a toothpick and then baked them.

This is what I did:

Stuffed Peppers with Spiced Beef
Ingredients
12 small capsicums
1 medium onion - chopped
2 cloves garlic - chopped
2 tsp oregano
4 red chillis - sliced
500g minced beef
2 slices whole meal bread
3 handfuls sunflower seeds
4-5 Tbsps Tomato Paste
Method
Cut of tops of capsicum and place in a muffin pan or similar container
Sautee onion, garlic and oregano till fragrant. Add in chiilis then then beef and cook well. Make breadcrumbs by whizzing the bread in a food processor. Set aside. Add the tomato paste to the beef and season with salt and pepper. Lightly fry the breadcrumbs and sunflower seeds till crispy and quickly stir into the beef mixture. Spoon into the capsicums and cover with tops. Fasten with a toothpick and bake in a preheated 200C oven for about 20mins or till capsicum is tender.

When it was time to serve the stuffed capsicums, I realised that they woulnd't stand on their own either, so I place each pepper into cupcake moulds.


I actually wanted to use Pine Nuts instead of sunflower seeds but pine nuts are just so blasted expensive in this part of the world.

The Stuffed Peppers turned out really delicious and they looked very colourful too! Next time I do this, I might toast the breadcrumbs and then sprinkle them on top before capping the peppers to get a 'crusty' layer on top. Nonetheless, the addition of breadcrumbs into the meat helped hold the meat together and it didnt all collapse when it was cut into.





This could even work as a main meal if you use large peppers. I will definitely make these again. I think stuffing whole peppers look a lot better, taste a lot better and are easier to do as well!

More about Dinner for the girls...

I posted in my previous post about how The Lovely Wife had a few of her old school mates (nothing old about them though so I guess I should reword that) Ex school mates over for dinner. I didn't take pictures of all the food as I've posted about most of them before.

Lynn however, did take pictures and I am sharing her pics here! It also gives me a chance to be lazy and not write too much of a story as sometimes pictures are better than words!

Thanks Lynn for the photos!

The rice tarts - still in their moulds. I should really have taken them out while they were still hot as some of the rice stuck to the bottom and it didn't hold its shape up as well as they did the last time.




The Peppers that I had to bake in a muffin pan so that they stood up properly! I'll post the full recipe and more pics soon.





The Olbigatory Salad - compliments of The Lovely Wife...



The Chicken Pie that was very well received. The Lovely Wife still says this is one of her favourite dishes. Somehow, I find that it seems to taste even better the next day. It certainly cuts better after a night in the fridge!





And Dessert was featured and explained in the last post as well! Come back again anytime girls!

Roasted C3 = Loge(Carrot.Capsicum.Corn)

Okay, Okay, so mathematically that just doesnt make any sense. I know that. Sorry. Just trying to have a bit of fun. Trying to act smart....

It's a good thing cooking is not as complicated as Maths can be. It's been a really long time since I did any complicated Math and although I did enjoy my Math and Physics, I have to admit it was all rather complicated. Sometime I wonder how I managed to get through my Engineering degree!!



So anyway, having gone off tangent (once again), let me just say that off late, I have become quite fixated with corn. I love the crunchiness, I love the sweetness, I love the taste. I just love it. So any opportunity I have to use it to throw together a vegetable dish, I grab very quickly.

Not too long ago, I posted my Steamed Vegetables tossed in butter and my Snowy Vegetable Combo - both of which featured corn. This is along the same lines except that this time I roasted everything, including the corn.

This is what I did.

Ingredients
Rosemary
Oregano
2 Carrots
2 green Capsicums
1 Can of Corn
Salt
Black Pepper
Method
Cut the capsicum into large pieces
Cut the carrots into strips
Add in the Can of Corn. Toss together with rosemary, oregano and olive oil. Season with salt and black pepper. Place in a baking dish and roast in a preheated 200C oven for about 20 mins or till carrots are tender. Some like the carrots crunchy, some like them soft - your choice!

I've always loved roasted vegetables and adding corn to it just gives it that little bit of an extra kick. See how simple this is? If only Math and Physics were just as simple - although when you really think about it, cooking DOES rely a lot on Physics - especially Thermodynamics and Heat and Mass Transfer but I guess I'll leave the analysis of that for another day...

No Rules Stuffed Peppers and the science of Capsicum

When I was in Secondary school, in The Victoria Institution, I did Agricultural Science for 3 years. This involved studying about flora, fauna, vegetables, farm animals and even actually planting vegetables and rearing chickens. All very interesting really!

It was here that I learnt that the scientific name for black pepper is Piper Nigrum and that it comes from the Piperaceae family. Black Pepper is actually the dried fruit which is then known as a peppercorn. White pepper is the same fruit but with its skin removed.


Pepper has nothing to do with the vegetable known as Pepper. See how confusing it can get? That is why I always refer to the vegetable as Capsicum although really, a Capsicum is actually a fruit... just like a tomato is really a fruit. But lets not confuse ourselves further.

The capsicum, comes from the family Solanaceae and is known by various names all over the world. The Chilli is a form of a capsicum as it comes from the same family although what we refer to as capsicums are no where as hot as chillis.

So much for the quick lesson on Agricultural Science. On to the cooking!
I've always liked stuffed peppers and the beauty about stuffing peppers, or for that matter any type of vegetable, is that you can use anything you like. No fixed rules and no fixed ingredients.

No fixed Ingredients but this is what I did!
capsicum of various colours - each colour gives a slightly different taste. I used red and yellow
Salami
Pine Nuts
Bread Crumbs - i usually make my own breadcrumbs by whizzing bread slices in a food processor

Method
Slice the Salami into strips and fry. Set aside
Quarter the capsicum, removing the seeds
Fry breadcrumbs in a little oil until crisp then add in the pine nuts till lightly toasted. Season with salt and pepper
Rub some olive oil over and inside the capsicums. Place in a baking tray.
Stuff the quartered capsicum with the salami, breadcrumbs and pinenuts. Bake in a preheated 190C oven for about 20-30 minutes or till the capsicum is tender. I like mine a little firm and not too tender.

A very versatile dish that makes quite a stunning appetiser. I also like to stuff the capsicum with minced beef, chicken. There's just so much stuff to stuff with!!