Stuffed Peppers
Halved rather than hollowed, filled with underdone rice that finishes in the oven, and roasted uncovered until the edges char.
- Prep
- 30m
- Cook
- 40m
- Waiting
- 10m
- Total
- 1h 20m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 150 g | Boil the rice for 8 minutes only, then drain 12m Deliberately underdone. It finishes in the oven on the juices the peppers release. | Combine the filling and check the seasoning while it is warm 8m Season harder than feels right — the peppers themselves bring water and sweetness, not salt. | Fill the pepper halves generously and scatter the cheese over 10m Mound the filling. It settles as the rice takes up the last of the liquid. | Bake uncovered at 190°C / 375°F until the tops blister and char at the tips 40m Uncovered the whole time. Foil steams them pale and slack. | |
| 1 tsp | |||||
| 3 tbsp | Soften the onion with the spices and toast the pine nuts in the pan 10m | ||||
| 1 | |||||
| 3 cloves | |||||
| 1 1/2 tsp | |||||
| 2 tsp | |||||
| 40 g | |||||
| 200 g | |||||
| a large handful | |||||
| a small handful | |||||
| 30 g | |||||
| 1 tsp | |||||
| 4 | Halve the peppers through the stem, seed them and oil them well 6m Halving through the stem gives two neat boats that sit flat and cook evenly. | ||||
| 2 tbsp | |||||
| 1/2 tsp | |||||
| 150 g | |||||
| 1/2 | |||||
-
Boil the rice for 8 minutes only, then drain
12m- long-grain rice 150 g
- salt 1 tsp
Deliberately underdone. It finishes in the oven on the juices the peppers release.
-
Soften the onion with the spices and toast the pine nuts in the pan
10m- olive oil 3 tbsp
- onion 1
- garlic 3 cloves
- ground cumin 1 1/2 tsp
- dried oregano 2 tsp
- pine nuts 40 g
-
Combine the filling and check the seasoning while it is warm
8m- from 1 Boil the rice for 8 minutes only, then drain
- from 2 Soften the onion with the spices and toast the pine nuts in the pan
- chopped tomatoes 200 g
- parsley a large handful
- dill a small handful
- currants (optional) 30 g
- salt 1 tsp
Season harder than feels right — the peppers themselves bring water and sweetness, not salt.
-
Halve the peppers through the stem, seed them and oil them well
6m- red or yellow peppers 4
- olive oil 2 tbsp
- salt 1/2 tsp
Halving through the stem gives two neat boats that sit flat and cook evenly.
-
Fill the pepper halves generously and scatter the cheese over
10m- from 3 Combine the filling and check the seasoning while it is warm
- from 4 Halve the peppers through the stem, seed them and oil them well
- feta 150 g
Mound the filling. It settles as the rice takes up the last of the liquid.
-
Bake uncovered at 190°C / 375°F until the tops blister and char at the tips
40m- from 5 Fill the pepper halves generously and scatter the cheese over
- lemon 1/2
Uncovered the whole time. Foil steams them pale and slack.
Why the rice goes in underdone
A stuffed pepper is a sealed, humid environment. Peppers are about 90 percent water and they shed a good deal of it into the filling as their cell walls break down around 85°C. Rice that was already fully cooked has nowhere to put that liquid and turns to paste; rice pulled at eight minutes is still thirsty and drinks it, arriving tender exactly as the peppers slump. Roasting them uncovered lets the surplus steam off and the sugars on the pepper skin caramelise.
Notes
- Halved beats hollowed. More surface touches the tin, so you get browning rather than a boiled shell.
- They are as good at room temperature the next day, and the flavours settle.
- Sit them in a tin just big enough. A vast tray lets the juices spread and burn.