Vegetarian Stuffed Bell Peppers with Israeli Couscous
If you’re looking to make a simple dinner with a bit of a wow factor, try these vegetarian (and vegan!) stuffed peppers. They’re filled with Israeli couscous salad, made with fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, lemon zest, fresh basil, and other herbs and spices. They’re individually portioned in their own perfect bell pepper bowls. Stuffed bell peppers are a little bit of a retro dish- the classic version being stuffed with beef and topped with cheese- but this vegetarian take is much brighter, fresher, and more delicious than it’s outdated meat-filled counterpart. These peppers need to cook for about an hour, so after you make your couscous it will be pretty hands-off until dinner time.
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Fresh From the Farm
There’s a moment when I feel my muscles relax, joy spread through my limbs, my lungs inhale like I’m breathing for the first time, and I feel so happy and at peace I want to cry. It’s a little bit of an awkward experience to have at the dusty roadside farm stand, but looking at the piles of fresh produce and the fields behind them and smelling the plant growth and dirt, I feel it. I feel connected to something greater than me- almost as if the land is telling me something. It’s a feeling that I normally come across in the middle of the woods, but there haven’t been too much woods in my life lately. So now I commune with produce.
If you can find a farmer near you, go out and buy their produce. Organically grown or not, produce tastes best when it’s picked straight from the farm. You can get the fruit and veggies picked ripe (instead of picked green and ripened with gas), and before they’ve sat around for days and aged. Plus, when you buy produce from a local farmer, you’re supporting that farmer. You’re not supporting the large grocery store or distributer. Prices are often actually cheaper than what you would pay in at a grocery store, and your peppers and tomatoes haven’t traversed the country, burning fuel and bruising on their way to your table.
Why You Don’t Cook Purple Peppers
One thing I did learn from my trip to the farm stand is not to cook purple peppers- I got some of the most beautiful bell peppers ever from a farm stand near where I’ve been staying in California. For those of you in Santa Cruz County, the spot I visited was Nelson Family Organics, a small family run farm specializing in their dry farmed tomatoes (a process which makes good use of the dry California weather to produce smaller yields sweeter tomatoes without needing to be watered). At their little side of the road farm stand, a pile of purple-striped bell peppers greeted us, looking almost like eggplants. They were so beautiful, they actually inspired me to make this recipe (complete with some of the dry farmed tomatoes in the filling). But when I cooked them, something tragic happened- those beautiful, glossy, purple skins faded to a non-descript, pale green (see image above). They still tasted delicious (better than store-bought), but when you’re a food blogger, looks do matter. And that’s why I’m no longer going to cook purple peppers- their beauty is much better suited to being dipped raw in hummus.
Looking for Farm-Fresh Recipes? Try one of these!
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- Swiss Chard Recipe: Ohitashi & Japanese Pickled Stems
- Pea Tendril Vegan Pasta Salad with Orange Dressing
- Fennel and Apple Salad in Belgian Endive Cups
- Rhubarb Vegan Hot and Sour Soup
Making These Couscous Stuffed Bell Peppers
These peppers are stuffed with Israeli couscous, which is larger than typical couscous. It cooks in about 8 minutes, giving you time to chop up the vegetables while it boils. Once the couscous is cooked, mix in the veggies and spices, and adjust the salt levels to taste. This will be stuffed into the peppers. To prepare the peppers, check and see if they’ll stand up on their own on the cutting board. If they do, great! If not, slice the tiniest layer off the bottom so that they can stand, but you haven’t cut through the peppers bottom. Cut off the top of the pepper and remove the stem and seeds, and spoon in the couscous mixture. Then it’s just into the oven for an hour, and we’re set!
Vegetarian Stuffed Bell Peppers with Israeli Couscous
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups dried Israeli couscous
- 4 large bell peppers
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 medium-large tomatoes
- ½ small onion
- ½ lemon (zest and juice)
- ¼ cup fresh chopped basil
- ¼ cup fresh chopped parsley
- ½ tsp. dried thyme
- ½ tsp. ground cumin
- ¼ tsp. dried oregano
- ½ tsp. salt
- Oil, for greasing
Instructions
- Bring two cups of water to a boil and add the Israeli couscous. Reduce to a simmer, and cook until tender and the water is absorbed (about 8 minutes).
- While the couscous is cooking, preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and grease a glass baking dish. Slice the tops off the bell peppers and remove the seeds- if necessary, slice a tiny amount of the bottoms as well so they are able to stand, and set aside. Mince the garlic, and chop the tomato and onion into small pieces.
- Once the couscous is cooked, mix the onion, garlic, tomatoes, lemon zest and juice, basil, parsley, thyme, cumin, oregano and salt into the couscous. Taste and adjust seasoning to taste. Spoon the filling into your bell peppers, filling them to the top. Place the standing stuffed peppers in the baking dish, and cook in the preheated oven for an hour.
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