Veggie Stuffed Pepper Cups
This dish is a flavorful side dish filled with garden vegetables. The stuffed peppers act as a small bowl for a delicious saute of your favorite summer vegetables. With the addition of cannellini beans, chick-peas and/or chopped walnuts or pine nuts this would make a delicious vegetarian main dish as well.
Ingredients
- 4 bell peppers halved with seeds and stems removed
- 2 tbsp olive oil plus more for drizzling
- 1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 large onion chopped
- ½-1 pint cherry or grape tomato diced
- 1 cup fresh green beans diced small
- ⅐-1 small zucchini seeded and diced
- ½-1 pint mushrooms chopped
- 4-6 large garlic cloves minced
- 2 handfulls fresh spinach
- 10-15 leaves fresh basil chopped
- 8 whole basil leaves
- 1 egg beaten (optional)
- 4 tbsp seasoned breadcrumbs (optional)
- ½ cup romano, parmesan, or asiago cheese grated, plus more for topping
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Cut peppers in half and remove seeds. Place cut side down in a baking dish with a couple of tablespoons of water in the bottom. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 4-6 minutes until partially cooked.
- While the peppers are pre-cooking in the microwave, drizzle some olive oil in a pan over medium high heat. Add a pinch crushed red pepper to infuse the oil with this flavor.
- Sauté onions, green beans, and mushrooms until softened. If your green beans are especially thick, you may need to steam these a bit prior to cooking. If chopped small enough, or they are thin enough, this is not necessary. This will take 5-8 minutes depending on how large you chopped these vegetables.
- Add chopped tomato and zucchini cook and cook another 3-5 minutes.
- Add garlic and saute for another minute or two until fragrant. Add more oil if needed.
- Add spinach and stir to soften and incorporate.
- Take veggies off the heat add bread crumbs and/or cheese if using. Mix in fresh basil. If the stuffing seems dry, add a drizzle of oil.
- The stuffing mix will be loose. The peppers act as small bowls for your veggie mixture. If you prefer more of a bound together stuffing, let it cool then add beaten raw egg. This step is optional.
- Oil or spray the bottom of the baking dish. Fill the peppers with the veggies and top with a whole basil leaf, and more cheese if desired, and a drizzle of oil.
- At this point, you can cool, cover and refrigerate until ready to bake. When ready, bring to room temperature and bake at 375° for 20 -30 minutes or until heated through. Top with more cheese if desired prior to serving.
Notes
Sauté cannellini beans, chick peas, chopped walnuts or pine nuts into the stuffing mixture to increase the protein and serve as a main course. If you do this, make sure you keep tasting the stuffing mixture to ensure it has enough flavor/spice.