Stuffed Bell Peppers with Wild Rice

Posted by Rowena Dumlao Rowena Dumlao - Giardina 4/06/2015

Stuffed Bell Peppers with Wild Rice

I had a great Easter weekend. Did you? This year, my family and I stayed put in Rome and celebrated Easter Sunday with some relatives. My husband's aunt hosted the lunch in her house so our assignment was just to take the bottles of red wine. Again, no cooking for me. I was on a kitchen holiday and it had been a delicious treat. The food, as always, had been very good with some traditional homemade torta pasquale or Easter cheese bread (we had two versions), salame and egg to start the long and abundant meat-based lunch. To conclude it, we had some of aunt-in-law's pastiera napoletana, a typical Easter pie made with ricotta that originated from Naples.

Because it was the Easter weekend, diets were forgotten. After a Pasquetta or Easter Monday brunch, kitchens go back to normal and maybe, even much lighter than usual. We were sent home yesterday with leftovers from yesterday's lunch and we just finished everything. It's my signal to cook again and this time with lighter, vegetable-based food. A good bet for the coming meals is the Stuffed Bell Peppers with Wild Rice that I created for Skinny Ms., a site dedicated to healthy living with recipes and tips on how to take good care of your body. Scroll down for the recipe.

I filled the peppers with wild rice, capers, olives, anchovies (you can take these away if you want it vegan), herbs and extra virgin olive oil. Mediterranean flavors are quite big with me and my husband. So I hope you enjoy it too!

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Yields 4 servings
Ingredients:

4 medium red or yellow bell peppers
1 cup wild rice or whole grain rice
2 cups water
2 teaspoons capers, chopped
2 teaspoons green olives, pitted and sliced
2 anchovy fillets (optional)
2 teaspoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, halved

Directions:

Slice the top of the peppers. Reserve the top part to be used as cover when serving the peppers. Take away the seeds and core from the peppers. If the peppers cannot stand upright, slice a very thin layer at the bottom to stabilize them. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
In a small saucepan, combine the rice and water then over low - medium heat, cook for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, turn off the fire and mix in the capers, olives, anchovies, oregano, parsley, 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, salt to taste and pepper.
On a baking pan greased with extra virgin olive oil, place the hollow peppers upright with their tops beside them.
Fill up each pepper by distributing the rice and the remaining liquid in each one. Place half a garlic in each pepper.
Bake the peppers for 50 - 60 minutes (cooking time of rice differs by kind) or until the rice is tender.
Put back the tops on the peppers then drizzle with extra virgin olive oil before serving.