Black Bean Puree Stuffed Peppers

Are you looking for a meatless meal that doesn’t involve seafood or tofu? Well I have a great one for you! During the past year Howard and I have come up with quite a few meatless recipes; we have at least one meatless day a week. Now, seafood and tofu are great and there are so many options for both, but sometimes you just want something else. One such something else is beans. Yes, beans. They’re full of protein and fiber and are great as the star of a meatless meal.

What You’ll Need…

5 Bell Peppers (Whole)

1 Quinoa (You can use rice instead if you want.)

1 Cup Dry Black Beans

Chili Powder (To taste)

Garlic Powder (To taste)

Herbes de Provence (To taste)

Black Pepper (To taste)

Salt (To taste)

½ Large Onion (Chopped)

1 Cup Mushrooms (Chopped) [Optional]

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 – 1 ½ Cups Tomato Sauce (Your favorite)

Parmesan Cheese (To top)

For this recipe we start out with the beans because they take the longest. Sort, rinse, and drain one cup of black beans before adding them to a pot with about 4 cups of water. If you plan ahead you can allow the beans to soak overnight and drain and rinse them in the morning. If you have not thought that far ahead, fear not. Allow the beans to come to a boil and allow them to boil for two minutes. After two minutes turn off the heat and allow the beans to sit, covered, for one hour before draining and rinsing.

Once the beans have soaked and been drained and rinsed, add them to four more cups of water and allow them to simmer until tender. About 40 minutes.

While the beans are cooking wash all five peppers, cut off the tops (keep the tops), and remove the seeds and ribs. Place four of the peppers in a greased pan and allow them to bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

After placing the peppers in the oven, move onto the quinoa. Add one cup of quinoa and two cups of liquid to a pot. (You can use vegetable stock or water.) Also, add pepper, garlic powder, and chili powder to the water. Cook over medium heat and stir every few minutes. The quinoa is cooked when all of the water has been absorbed.

While everything else is cooking chop the mushrooms, onion, and the remaining whole pepper as well as the pepper tops. (Obviously not the stem, but why throw away a perfectly useable part of the fruit?) Once the vegetables are chopped sauté them until soft.

When 30 minutes have passed remove the pepper from the oven and carefully pour out the excess water. Shortly after this the beans should be tender. To make sure that the beans are all cooked complete the “five bean test”. This is where you bite five beans to make sure that all of the beans are cooked because not all beans cook at the same speed. Drain the beans and allow them to cool for just a few minutes.

After the beans have cooled slightly carefully move them to a blender with about a ¼ cup of water as well as the garlic powder, chili powder, pepper, salt, and Herbes de Provence. Blend until almost smooth. You can always add extra water if needed.

Now, combine the bean puree, quinoa, vegetables, and sauce in either one of the pots that you used for cooking or in a mixing bowl if you don’t mind washing another dish. =] The amount of sauce you use really depends on how much sauce you and those you are feeding like.

After all of the components of the filling have been combined spoon it into the peppers. I like to have the filling come slightly over the top of the pepper, but you can leave it level with the top of the pepper if you like. Also, I like to pack as much filling as I can into each pepper.

Top each pepper with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Enjoy the pepper as is after removing them from the oven, or if you like extra sauce feel free to plate your pepper on top of some more delicious tomato sauce.