Lily K. Morris lives on Chappaquiddick and devised this recipe for a dinner at the Noepe Center during one of their writing workshops. She used peppers from Slip Away Farm’s CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), but any good peppers will do.
Stuffed Peppers
4-6 small sweet peppers or 2-4 large peppers
2 cups brown basmati rice cooked with water, whey, or stock and a bit of salt
1 Tbsp coconut oil, ghee, or olive oil (or your preferred cooking fat)
1 onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 ear of corn, kernels cut off the cob
1 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 lb. Slip Away sausage, cut into rounds and browned, then chopped into 1/4” pieces, or just browned if not in links.
3-5 plum tomatoes, chopped, about 1.5 cups
1 Tbsp fresh oregano, finely chopped
1-2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
sea salt to taste (~ 1/2 t.)
Cook rice if not already cooked (1 cup rice to 1.5 cups water for 40 minutes). Halve peppers and remove seeds and stems. Toss with a bit of olive oil and salt and set aside. For larger portions, and if peppers are squat, try slicing off the top and using one pepper per serving, trimming the bottom if needed so peppers will stand up-right.
Sauté onion in 1-2 t. coconut oil until beginning to brown. Clear a space in the middle of the pan, add a bit more oil and brown coriander and cumin for a minute. Add garlic and stir. And corn and stir.
In a separate skillet, brown sausage, remove from pan and chop. Add chopped tomatoes to sausage pan, stir and cook for a minute to deglaze pan. Add tomatoes to onion mixture with sausage, rice and oregano. Stir well to get brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Season to taste with salt and cumin.
Pack filling generously into each pepper and place in baking pan or skillet. Cover with foil or a tightly fitting lid and cook for approximately 45 minutes, or until peppers pierce easily with a fork and filling is hot. Uncover and top generously with cheese and return to oven for about 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and just beginning to brown.
For a vegetarian version, use walnuts and 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast instead of sausage.
