Between my two veggie sources, I had a bunch of bell peppers and tomatoes. So tonight I figured I would try my best to use both of them. The result? Peppers stuffed with cherry tomatoes and couscous with tomato dressing and chard. You can see the original recipe I based the stuffed peppers on here. I followed it for the most part, but I did use some additional herbs since I had not only basil, but parsley and oregano in my garden. I also upped the cooking time to 25 minutes to ensure that the peppers were tender. Finally, I added some of the dressing I made for the couscous over the top of the cooked dish. Speaking of couscous...
COUSCOUS WITH TOMATO VINAIGRETTE AND CHARD
-1 cup couscous (I used whole wheat)
-1 1/4 cups water
-3-4 stalks chard, chopped
-a few basil leaves
-2 garlic cloves
-1 tomato, chopped (I used a Ramapo)
-mustard
-red wine vinegar
-extra virgin olive oil
-First, saute the chard in a bit of olive oil until tender. Set aside.
-Bring the water to a gentle boil. Add the couscous and stir to combine, then turn the heat off and cover the pot. Let sit for 5 minutes.
-In the meantime, prep your viniagrette. Add the garlic cloves, basil, red wine vinegar, mustard, and tomato to a blender. Blend until smooth. While the blender is running, stream in the olive oil. *A quick note: I am terrible with measurements. Just add this stuff by eye; you're going to want about 1 1/4 cups of this total.
-Take the lid off the couscous and fluff it up with a spoon. Mix together the couscous, the cooked chard, and 1 cup of the vinagrette (remember to use the extra 1/4 cup of the vinagrette over the top of the roasted peppers when you take them out of the oven). Serve!
This meal was really tasty, healthy, and gave me lunch to bring to work tomorrow. The dressing for the couscous has such awesome flavor, thanks to a whole, freshly picked, raw tomato blended in. The peppers were a little bit decadent with the mozzarella melted in. This dish would be great for a party too. It would be really easy to get more peppers and filling, and simply put them in a bigger baking dish so as to not increase the cooking time. And most importantly, it is high tomato season! There is nothing better than a freshly picked Jersey tomato. If there's a time to use them, it is now.
2 comments:
My only comments (besides that dinner was excellent), is that there could be some more balance in the meal. I understand that it is tomato season, and, rightly so, we should have tomato based meals. That being said, maybe a hunk of crunchy bread (or even garlic bread?) would have gone nicely to offset overarching tomato flavor. The couscous added a decent textural contrast to the stuffed peppers, but it's nice to have even more variance to gain greater perspective on all parts of the meal. Also, consider that the peppers were cooked tender. There was no crunch. And I know how you like crunchy things. A side salad could have worked for this element as well.
You have a good point that I do love crunchy more than any other texture. I think the toasted garlic bread would have been right on the mark. Next time!
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