peppers

Mom’s Stuffed Peppers

by Lisa on November 21, 2011

I cannot remember when my mom started making stuffed peppers, but they have become a staple at all holiday appetizer tables in our family. They are so popular that when my mom came to visit me through the years, we would stop at Whole Foods, get the ingredients and there would be a jar in the fridge before she left.

When Jeromy and I started hosting Thanksgiving a few years ago, I knew I had to make these. Given TSA regulations, my mom could not just carry a couple of jars on the plane with her because of the oil and vinegar. If I didn’t make them, we wouldn’t have them on Thanksgiving. You have no idea yet how unacceptable that would have been.

These are so easy and delicious. The hardest part? Waiting one to two weeks to eat them!

Mom’s Stuffed Peppers

Print this recipe!

Ingredients

Whole cherry peppers—I bought about 28 in 4 jars {I had to go to four stores to find them!!}
1/3 lb. thinly sliced prosciutto
1/3 lb. thinly sliced provolone
3-4 cloves of garlic
olive oil
balsamic vinegar

Method

First it is advisable to use some food grade gloves for this project. You don’t want to handle the peppers and then accidentally touch your eye! Or a baby, that would not be fun. We keep a box of these gloves in our kitchen and they’re great for handling raw meat, poultry, fish or spicy peppers.

Drain all of the peppers and cut off the tops. Reserve the tops, do not discard.

Some of the peppers won’t be usable if they have holes in them or are a little brown, set them aside with the tops.

Using a melon baller, remove the seeds and ribs, taking care not to split open the pepper.

Next, trim the pepper from around the stem. Discard the stem.

Mince the pepper tops and any cleaned peppers that can’t be stuffed, with the garlic. Place 3/4 of this mixture in the bottom of a mason jar. Ordinarily I would just use the jar the peppers came in but since I had to buy four small jars it was easier to put them into one large jar.

Lay out two pieces of prosciutto end to end and place two pieces of provolone on top. Repeat once, then roll tightly.

Slice into 1 inch or so pieces that can be stuffed into the peppers.

Carefully, stuff the peppers. Repeat these steps until all of the peppers are stuffed.

Some will stick out above the top of the pepper, that’s totally fine.

Others will fit pretty well.

Put all of the stuffed peppers in the mason jar on top of the minced peppers and garlic.

Top with the remaining minced peppers and garlic.

Fill the jar halfway with olive oil then the rest of the way with balsamic vinegar. Give it a good shake and stick it in the refrigerator.

Every couple of days, pull the jar out of the refrigerator, let it come to room temperature, give it another shake them put it back in the refrigerator upside down. The next time, put it back in right side up. After one week, they’ll taste good, after two weeks, they’ll taste great!

To serve, cut the peppers in half. If you have a high tolerance for spicy, use the olive oil vinegar mixture as a salad dressing. I can’t handle that, but my mom can.

Only three days until we can pop open that jar!

Enjoy!

{ 3 comments }

Viva Mexico! {Fish Tacos}

by Lisa on October 11, 2011

We experienced a bit of a heat wave in Northern Virginia over the weekend and it left me craving something light and refreshing. Fish tacos with quick & easy salsa fit the bill!

Ingredients

1 pound tilapia fillets, skin removed {or another flaky white fish}
1/4 cup canola oil
1 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon ancho chili powder
1/2 of a Serrano pepper, coarsely chopped {can also use a jalapeno pepper. If using a jalapeno, use the entire thing}
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
corn tortillas
quick & easy salsa {recipe below}

Method

Combine the canola oil, lime juice, ancho chili powder, Serrano pepper and cilantro. Pour over the tilapia and let marinate for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a grill pan or a cast iron skillet with a splash of canola oil. Then add the fish, cook for 4 minutes, flip then cook for another 30 seconds. Remove to a plate and allow to rest for five minutes before flaking.

Serve on top of warmed corn tortillas {wrap the tortillas in damp paper towels and microwave for 30-45 seconds} with sliced avocado, sour cream, salsa and cilantro leaves.

{Quick & Easy Salsa}

Ingredients

3 tomatoes, cored and quartered
3 tomatillos, cored and halved
1 clove of garlic
1/2 of a Serrano pepper, seeded and ribs removed
1 lime, juiced
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Bring a small pot of water to boil. Add the tomatillos and boil for 2-3 minutes. Remove to an ice bath.

Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Process until desired consistency. Chill until the tacos are ready to serve.

These tacos were so light and refreshing, they were exactly what I was craving—I’m not sure I believe in light meals in the winter!

Serving with avocado, sour cream and salsa is just a suggestion—make these tacos your own!

Enjoy!

Fish recipe adapted from Bobby Flay. Salsa recipe is original.

{ 2 comments }

On the Side {Sweet Corn Confetti Salsa}

by Lisa on June 1, 2011

I absolutely love corn on the cob. In fact, I love corn in any form. Corn is the only canned vegetable that I can stand to eat. But getting fresh, sweet corn on the cob is hard to come by most of the year, so as soon as it started showing up at Trader Joe’s and the farmer’s market, I grabbed some!

Unfortunately, when I was at the store this weekend they did not have any unshucked {is that word?} corn, so I had to buy 4 packaged ears. I had in my mind that I wanted to make corn salsa for when Leah came over for lunch on Memorial Day and I wasn’t going to let a package of partially shucked corn deter me.

I also had it in my mind that I had a can of black beans at home. Nope, not true. So I used chickpeas instead. And taking a cue from Mama Pea, I shelled them. The whole can. The change in texture was absolutely worth it.

{Sweet Corn Confetti Salsa}

Ingredients

3 ears of corn, shucked and cleaned
2 avocados, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 limes, juiced
1/2 of a red onion, diced
3 tomatoes, diced
1 package cilantro, chopped
1 can chickpeas, shelled
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper

Method

Bring a pot of water to a boil, salt and add the ears of corn. Allow to boil for 5 minutes; remove corn from boiling water and cool.

Meanwhile, dice the avocados, green pepper, red onion, tomatoes and chop the cilantro.

In a separate bowl, combine the lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper {to taste} and whisk.

Drain and rinse the chickpeas, then squeeze them out of their translucent skins. Discard the skins.

Once the corn is cool enough to handle, cut the kernels off of the ear.

Next, combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Pour in the dressing and mix well.

Serve in a fun glass with tortilla chips. Or eat it straight out of the bowl with a spoon, like Leah and I did.

The verdict from Jeromy, Leah and I was that this is delicious. It’s light and refreshing on a hot day.

The only thing I would change about this recipe is to add an additional tomato and more lime. Maybe even a fresh jalapeno pepper just to make things even more interesting.

This is great especially when it’s a hot day out. If the grill is already on, why not grill the corn instead of boiling it? I bet that would provide another depth of flavor.

Enjoy!

{ 5 comments }

Backyard BBQ {Korean Steak Tips}

by Lisa on May 11, 2011

Backyard BBQs–one of the best things about summer! To me, there is literally nothing better than throwing some food on the grill, sipping a cold drink and hanging out with my husband until the sun goes down, forcing us inside {but only until my dad comes back and installs an electrical outlet on our patio!}

After living in our new house for over a week, tonight seemed like it was time to break in the patio and grill. I adapted this recipe from one I’ve used many time that I found in Food & Wine magazine. It is absolutely delicious and will leave you wanting more!

Ingredients:

Approximately 1 pound of steak tips
1 red onion, cut into one inch chunks
1 green bell pepper, cut into one inch chunks
1 red bell pepper, cut into one inch chunks
8-10 mushrooms
Korean Sizzling Beef marinade {see below}

For the marinade:

1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons white wine {dry is best, but I used what I had on hand since we’re not drinking right now}
1 tablespoon minced garlic {or 2 large garlic cloves, minced}
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seed oil
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes {I used slightly less as the flakes I have are REALLY hot}

Method:

Combine all of the ingredients for the marinade in a Ziploc bag.

Add the meat.

Seal the bag with little air in it and mix so the meat gets coated well with the marinade.

Stick the bag o’ meat in the fridge for 4 hours or up to overnight.

Shortly before dinner, prepare your grill {or in my case, ask your husband to do it }

Take the meat out of the refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature. Meanwhile, prepare the veggies to be skewered.

Then, start skewering! There’s really no rhyme or reason to it, I just try to put some aromatic vegetables near the meat {like the red onion}.

Next, to the grill. Grill to your desired level of doneness, we left ours on, turning the skewers periodically, for about 15 minutes. Normally we like meat cooked around medium rare, but since I’m pregnant, I’ve been eating meat cooked medium to medium well.

Once the skewers are off the grill, let them rest for about 5 minutes, then serve.

What did we eat on the side? Kale, of course! And rice pilaf.

This is more than enough to feed two people, we had dinner and leftovers. This combination of flavors is one of my favorites—I use this marinade time and time again.

When it comes to food, we are getting to my favorite time of the year filled with farmer’s markets, summer produce and light but delicious meals. And of course, the nice weather means sharing meals outdoors with family and friends.

What’s your favorite part of summer eating?

Recipe adapted from Food & Wine magazine.

{ 3 comments }

How To {Make Something From Nothing}

by Lisa on March 23, 2011

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I open the fridge and there seems to be a ton of containers with food, but nothing looks like a coherent meal. Here’s some sautéed kale, there’s some cooked rice and a bunch of fresh vegetables.

This is exactly what was staring back at me last week when I got home from work and had to put something together for dinner.

I had sausage. I had kale. I had rice. I had parmesan cheese. I had some tomatoes, mini sweet peppers, Portobello mushrooms, red bell peppers and spinach. So what did I make?

Stuffed peppers and Portobello mushrooms!

This recipe requires careful measurement. Just kidding. Here’s what I did:

Preheat the oven to 350.

I removed the sausage from the casing and browned it and put it in a bowl. I dumped the container or rice over the sausage. Diced up tomatoes and some mini sweet peppers and added them to the bowl along with the sautéed spinach and kale. Seasoned with salt and pepper and added olive oil and balsamic vinegar, to taste. Then, I filled 2 bell peppers and 2 Portobello mushrooms and put them in a lightly oiled baker.

In the oven for about 30 minutes, until the contents are warmed through, the mushrooms have released their juices and the peppers are nice and soft. Depending on your preference, stick the peppers under the broiler for a minute or two for a nice crispy crust.

I wasn’t so sure how these were going to come out, but I ended up liking them a lot! They were even great as leftovers for lunch. I think of these as a kitchen sink leftover—you can pretty much use any combination of flavors that you like to stuff a pepper or mushroom—leftovers don’t have to be scary or go to waste! In fact, sometimes leftovers can make you really creative. Cooking with leftovers: a win-win situation.