BBQ-Style Stuffed Peppers

A few years ago, I made a dish of onions stuffed with a ground beef mixture from Joyce Goldstein's Cucina Ebraica. It was quite delicious, and I'd resolved to make it again (in fact, in my cooking notebook I'd written down a variant which I have yet to make, but perhaps will appear here one day), but sadly that resolution was lost between the pages of numerous cookbooks I've acquired since.

Fast forward to last week. I had ten people coming for dinner and only a package of ground beef in the freezer. I thought to myself, "how can I make one pound of ground beef stretch for ten people?" My first thought was to fall back to my reliable sweet & sour meatloaf. But then in the back of my mind I recalled the deliciousness of those stuffed onions, and thought of another iconic form of stuffed produce: stuffed peppers.

As it happened, I recently had some stuffed peppers at Abigael's - but they were stuffed with barbecued brisket. I liked the idea of barbecued beef inside the pepper - instead of the classic tomato sauce-drenched dish. But my one complaint about that dish was that the brisket felt a little dry. I knew I had to get the barbecue flavor and ensure a moist, juicy texture to the meat.

The key to that was to cook the meat almost like a stew, with plenty of liquid in a heavy-lidded pot which retains heat well. I created my own savory-sweet barbecue sauce to be cooked in with the beef, and when combined with soft basmati rice, the mixture retained moisture and flavor excellently. Most stuffed pepper recipes call for pouring tomato sauce on top. I debated this for a while but Faigy advised that doing so would drown out the flavor of the meat and the pepper too much.

The rice and meat mixture can be made ahead of time. Just stash them in the fridge for up to a day or two. Reheat the meat in a dutch oven (add a little extra water or broth if it seems dry), then add the rice and warm together (the rice should absorb the remainder of the liquid).

Also, you can make this dish pareve/vegetarian/vegan by using a good ground beef substitute (we like Trader Joe's Beef-less Beef) and vegetable broth.

Red and green peppers will lend different flavors - experiment with both!

Hearty Wild Rice Soup

Reading through the latest issue of Cooks Illustrated, a recipe called "Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup" caught my eye. It looks hearty, healthy, and perfect for winter. However, I knew I'd have to do quite a bit of tweaking to make it kosher because it uses chicken stock and heavy cream.

I decided to use the chicken stock because it seemed that the meaty flavor would be too good to pass up with the wild rice and mushrooms. I also further highlighted this aspect by incorporating many vegetables that boosted the umami flavor, such as carrots, sweet potatoes, and sun-dried tomatoes.

Instead of the cream, I used vanilla almond milk because I liked the idea of having a sweet nuttiness in the soup. I also added a lot more vegetables because I love a very chunky soup and they add nice color and flavor. I also made a bunch of other tweaks, changes, and adjustments just based on my own preferences and what I had on-hand. 

So in fact, I would bet this soup tastes quite different than the original, but it was delicious all the same. There are some great tricks in here from the original recipe, including the use of baking soda to speed up the cooking time of the rice and cornstarch to thicken the soup. 

This soup is unctuous and has a sweet and earthy flavor with an almost velvety texture. It has a nice blend of creamy thickness and chunky heartiness. It's perfect on a chilly or rainy day.