Stuffed Peppers with Sausage and Quinoa

It seems as if more and more people are becoming familiar with quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) and wanting to use it in different recipes for its health benefits. 

When I started researching quinoa, I found conflicting information about it being a grain or a seed. What I took away from my self education is quinoa is known as an ancient grain, but is actually a seed from the Chenopodium or Goosefoot plant and is from the beet/spinach family. When used in cooking it is often treated as a grain, because of its cooking characteristics. There are many different color varieties, with the cream color seen above appearing to be the most popular and accessible at grocery stores. 

Quinoa is easy to make and great for you. It is gluten free, full of iron, and a complete protein (has all 8 essential amino acids). It is light in flavor, so can be a very versatile ingredient. To me, it doesn’t have a ton of flavor on its own (some say a ‘nutty’ flavor), which means it will absorb any flavor you put with it.

When I was first started getting interested in quinoa, I searched for different recipes (which there are a lot of them out there) to get comfortable using it. I found a couple on the Whole Foods website, utilizing it cold in various salads and also warm - my favorite recipe was adding it to meatballs.

After I got comfortable with cooking recipes that incorporated quinoa, I tried my own recipe - hope you enjoy! 

Stuffed Peppers with Sausage and Quinoa

Serves 4

Ingredients:
Bell Pepper, 4

Quinoa, 1/4 cup uncooked

Ground sausage, 1/2 lb

Kidney beans, 1/2 can rinsed and drained  

Chipotle Pepper in Adobo Sauce, one from the can minced finely (adjust to desired level of heat by adding more or less)

Cheese, any shredded variety, approximately 1/2 cup

Milk, 1/2 cup

Flour, 1 T

Panko bread crumbs, approximately 1/4 cup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Rinse quinoa and cook in boiling water according to package directions (usually about 15 minutes). As it cooks it will become translucent in color and open up. While quinoa cooks, blanch peppers in boiling water for 5 minutes or so, until tender. Once cool, slice off the top and remove the inside flesh and seeds. If you want the peppers to lay on their side instead of sit upright, simply remove one side of the pepper. Then remove the top stem, flesh and seeds inside the pepper. 

Brown sausage in saute pan. Add kidney beans, minced adobe pepper and cooked quinoa to sausage once it is close to browned. Add combined mixture to inside of the peppers. 

In the same pan, without removing sausage drippings, add 1 tablespoon of flour. Stir in milk, scraping the bottom of the pan to remove sausage drippings. Make sure to stir continuously, so the flour doesn't clump. A typical thickening agent (a roux) consist of a fat, usually butter, and flour. For this recipe, I didn't add any additional butter or oil because there is already some fat in the pan from the sausage. Lastly, stir in 1/4 cup cheese until melted.

Pour the thickened cheese and milk mixture inside peppers, keeping in mind if you did the cutting method down the side (instead of the top), you won't be able to use as much liquid without some leaking. Sprinkle the top of the pepper with more cheese and bake for 5-7 minutes at 375 until cheese melted. 

Sprinkle panko bread crumbs over top and broil a few more minutes until brown and enjoy!

 

Better Bonus Tip: Think ahead to maximize your time and ingredients. Brown the entire 1 lb of sausage, even though you only need 1/2 lb for this recipe. It takes the same amount of time and energy to make 1/2 lb as it does the entire 1 lb. You could add the remaining sausage and some shredded cheese to scrambled eggs or an omelet the following day for breakfast or brunch. If you decided to cut the peppers as I did, by removing one side of the pepper (instead of removing only the top), you will have some left over that could be chopped up and added as well.

Happy (early) Food Day - Monday, October 24th!

~Ashley