Meatless Mondays - Stuffed Bell Peppers With Feta

I am sure no one will care/do this, but don't hold me to Meatless Monday being an actual weekly thing. Ezra Poundcake does it so I was inspired to follow suit. PLUS my dear roommate is on a kick of trying to up her protein intake but is interested in doing so in a non-Atkins sort of way so last night I came up with these guys:


(I apologize for the picture quality. I meant to photograph them hot from the oven with my camera instead of cold from the Tupperware with my phone.)

The beauty of the recipe is that you can use up odds and ends of bits of veggies, sneak in some very lean protein with the fake meat, and it's all very pretty. If you have leftover rice, this would also qualify as something pretty quick to put together but since I made the brown rice just for these peppers, they took like an hour and twenty minutes. But you know, have a glass of wine, watch clips of the horrible new show Baggage, and get even more ideas for variations on this recipe by reading Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Suppers.

Stuffed Bell Peppers With Feta (makes 6 servings)
3 red, yellow, or orange bell peppers
2 cups cooked brown rice (I cooked mine in vegetable broth)
Few Tbs. olive oil
1 shallot
2 medium diced carrots
1 diced tomato
1/2 package (plus) of Gimme Lean (ground beef OR sausage style)
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
1/4 cup water
2 Tsp. Italian seasoning
2 Tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 package sliced mushrooms
1 cup raw broccoli florets
Handful frozen corn
Handful raw spinach
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Salt & Pepper
Chiffonade of basil for garnish


Get yer rice going. It will take a while.

You could certainly use white rice, couscous, or quinoa, but I like the added texture of the brown rice for this. Also, I felt like a giant a-hole at the co-op when I had to ask "um...is this the ONLY bulk quinoa you have right now?"

Slice shallot roughly and add to a Tablespoon or so of oil in a good sized pan with sides. Eventually ALL of your filling will be in there so make sure you have room.

Once shallot starts to soften add carrots. Cook these for about 10 minutes until they are no longer super crisp. Add salt, pepper, and a little water while they cook and then remove from the pan and set aside.

Add another glub of oil to the pan and turn up the heat a bit so your fake meat will get brown. Crumble in about a half tube or maybe a bit more of the Gimme Lean. Once brown, add the diced tomato, mushrooms, Italian seasoning, pepper flakes, and tomato paste. Pour in a bit of water or wine to loosen and combine the paste. Add the carrots and shallot back into the mix and bring everything up to temperature.

Get a pot of salted water going and slice your three peppers top to bottom. Remove seeds and pith and drop pepper halves in the water for about four minutes to soften a bit. Turn your broiler on low.

When your rice is just about done, put in your quick cooking vegetables (the ones you want to have retain their colors) like the corn and broccoli. After a minute or so (remember, these guys go under the broiler too) remove from heat and stir in a handful of raw spinach leaves. Add the rice and mix everything together. Check seasoning.

Stuff peppers with as much filling as they can handle. Any leftover filling can be served on the side. Top stuffed peppers with a generous sprinkle of feta and pop under the broiler until the feta gets toasty.

Garnish with chiffonade of basil. Real good.

Traditional English Trifle (Without Peas, Beef, or Onions)

My sister made this amazing and beautiful trifle for Easter dessert. I only ended up having a little bit of it because we had many, many other treats. Including these slightly scary looking Rice Krispie bunnies:



Provided you have a properly tall, cylindrical dish for putting this trifle together there isn't a very specific recipe for it. The layers are comprised of homemade pound cake (I suggest Ezra Poundcake's Sunshine Poundcake without the glaze), whipped cream, various fresh berries and bananas, raspberry jam, and English custard (recipe follows). Top with silvered almonds.

Vanilla English Custard for Trifle
2 2/3 cups milk
1 1/3 cups double cream (heavy whipping cream)
5 free range egg yolks
4 1/2 ounces caster sugar
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped OR 2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Put the milk and cream in a saucepan and bring slowly to the boil. Meanwhile whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until pale and creamy. As soon as the milk and cream mixture comes to the boil, pour onto the egg mixture and beat well.

Return to the pan and place over a very gentle heat (or in a basin over a pan of simmering water) and stir continuously until the custard has thickened. Allow this mixture to cool prior to layering over the pound cake and jam.

On a side note, I made this Roasted Vegetable Torte for a potluck last week and had about half of it leftover. I plopped all of it into a pan and heated through with chicken stock. Then I pulsed in a couple of times in the food processor, added Italian sausage and olives and let it simmer until it was a nice thick ragout. It was lovely over spaghetti.

Gracious Easter Eggs

If ever you are looking for a way to get all of your friends to rapidly exit your house and make their way to the bar, might I suggest boiling eighteen eggs? I learned firsthand that the smell really hangs in the air for a long time. Even after you devil said eggs. And though they are putzy, smelly, generally gross in concept, and produce extra-foul mouth noises when people eat them, I love me some deviled eggs.

The internets had really piss poor answers for what falls into the category of deviled food:

I don't buy it. It must refer to something about their cooking method...or something about their place of origin. Like how things "florentine" always have spinach and are in some way rooted in the food culture of Florence, Italy. I don't really buy that these eggs are deviled because they are hot. Because 1) they are served chilled and 2) they are not spicy in any way.

I think this wiki question must have been answered by Kenneth the Page.

Well this just gives me all the more reason to start referring to these as "gracious eggs" which is what my sister's friend Brad calls them. Someone in his family just didn't feel comfortable with something deviled being presented at an Easter feast.

I really fancied mine the eff up:

Gracious Easter Eggs for a CROWD (makes 36 gracious eggs)
18 eggs, hard boiled and peeled
1 Tbsp. prepared Dijon mustard
2 1/2 tsp. vinegar (I used white but tarragon or champagne would also be great)
Abut 1 tsp. truffle oil
2 Tbsp. mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. creme fraiche
1 1/2 tsp. celery seed
Salt & Pepper to taste
Minced fresh oregano or tarragon leaves for garnish
Smoked paprika for garnish

Basically boil these suckers using your preferred method, cool, peel, and halve.

Once all your yolks are in a bowl, add all the above ingredients and mix until smooth. Mash with a fork first and finish mixing with a spoon.

Add filling to a pastry bag and pipe into emptied out whites. Garnish with herb leaves and paprika and chill until you serve them.

Check out this exhaustive blog about deviled eggs. This woman really knows her shit. She also recommends tipping your unboiled eggs sideways in their container for 24 hours before cooking so that the yolks "right themselves." I guess you should do that if you are making deviled eggs for like, Alton Brown.