Unstuffed Peppers

Last week, my mom and I picked up some fresh fruit and vegetables from a local farmer's market. We had plans to use some of them, but then others ended up sort of sitting around for a bit.


So a cubanelle pepper has been staring at me for a few days now. Today, I decided to finally use it. But, how would I cook it? It's a sweet pepper, so it can be used in a lot of different ways.


There are a lot of recipes online for stuffed peppers; I got it into my head that I would stuff the peppers with a rice/veggie mixture. But as time went on, I didn't really feel like roasting it in an oven "forever". I like my lunches to be quick-yet-delicious.


Eventually, I used some stuff from our fridge and pantry and came up with a Spanish rice-style dish. Fair warning, this is a combo of ingredients that might sound... a little strange. But it's delicious, I swear!


Unstuffed Peppers



What You'll Need:

• one pepper of choice (cubanelle, in my case)
• (red) onion
• handful of baby carrots
• grape tomatoes
• one clove of garlic
• 1/2 small can of tomato sauce
• 1(ish) cup of water
• 1/2 cup of rice
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• seasoning (salt/pepper, cumin, chili powder)

How I Cooked It:

• Piecing together some of the Spanish rice recipes I found online, I started the olive oil in a saute pan on medium heat.
• While the pan heats up, mince the garlic, chop the carrots and tomatoes into small circles, roughly chop however much onion you'd like and dice the pepper into bite-sized pieces.
• Add to the pan and get them cooking together for about five minutes.
• Pour in the uncooked rice; stir it all together for another five-ish minutes, until the rice is golden.
• Sprinkle a couple of pinches of seasoning and stir until combined.
• At this point, lower the heat under the pan to low/medium-low. Add the tomato sauce slowly, and stir until combined. Then slowly add the water. (I didn't really measure the water level, but it should be enough to cover the rice).
• Bring this to a boil. Cover the pan, then reduce the heat to low/medium-low and let it simmer for at least 20 minutes.
• It'll be done when the rice has absorbed most of the liquid. Uncover, remove from heat. Stir and serve!

Now, I'm notorious for slightly ruining Spanish rice; somehow, I always add too much water. If you find that it's been about 20 minutes, and the rice still hasn't cooked the water away, just gently increase the heat then let it sit for five-ten more minutes.

The best part of Spanish rice is the bottom of the pan; the rice there has formed a delicious crust, so don't be afraid when you notice it's sticking to the pan a little.

This made enough for lunch, and then some!, so be prepared to save or share.