Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa and Ground Beef

Growing up, Sundays used to be my mom’s cooking day. She’d start by chopping up a big mess of vegetables, then slowly cook most of the food we’d eat that week, working through each recipe one by one until, by dinnertime, she’d made six days’ worth of lunch and dinner for four people. We’d “help” by keeping her company, aka watching football and getting in her way.

Obviously, I’m not nearly with it enough to plan and make that much food in one sitting. (Also, I don’t have the patience.) But sometimes, I kind of love day-long “cooking projects.” Most days, I don’t have a ton of time to spend slaving away in the kitchen, so on those occasions when I do, it’s nice to spend a few hours chopping vegetables, turning on the oven, stirring multiple pots and pans and just generally working towards creating a real meal. It’s my version of my mom’s cooking days, only the only person getting in my way is me (not hard to do — I have basically one square foot of usable counter space) and no one yells at me for cheering too loudly when my team scores.

These stuffed peppers with quinoa and ground beef can be a project, or, if you don’t have the time, something that can be assembled in parts over multiple days. You could cook the ground beef in 20 minutes one day, the quinoa in 15 on another day and then spend 30 minutes assembling and baking on a third. Start to finish, the recipe takes a little over an hour, so it’s not a terribly difficult endeavor regardless, though there will be a lot of dishwashing involved. You’ve been warned.

Is it worth it? Totally. Every day that I’ve brought these peppers to work, my co-workers have raved over them, and they’re just going off how good they smell. They have a nice crunch from the nuts and from the quinoa, which gets toasty when the stuffed peppers go in the oven for the final time. The raisins, which I added because they were in the back of my pantry and needed to be used up, actually taste good here (shocking, I know!), adding a slight sweetness to balance all of the savory, spicy notes. If only all of my cooking projects turned out this delicious …

Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa and Ground Beef
Makes 4 servings

As I mentioned above, if you don’t have 90 minutes to make these in one sitting, you can cook the ground beef and the quinoa separately beforehand, and then assemble later. You could also double-wrap the stuffed peppers in tin foil and freeze them (for up to 3 months), then heat them for an additional 7-10 minutes when baking them in the last step.

– 1 tablespoon olive oil

– 1 small red onion, diced

– 2 large cloves garlic, minced

– 1 pound 90% lean ground beef (or you could use ground lamb or ground turkey)

– 1 tablespoon cinnamon, divided

– 1 tablespoon ground coriander, divided

– 2 teaspoons cumin, divided

– 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

– 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

– 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

– salt and pepper, to taste

– 1/2 cup quinoa, cooked according to package instructions and cooled (should yield about 1-1/2 cups cooked quinoa)

– 1/2 cups pine nuts, toasted*

– 1/2 cup raisins

– 4 large bell peppers, rinsed and dried

– 1/2 cup feta crumbles

*To toast the pine nuts: place the pine nuts in a dry skillet on low heat. Toast, stirring frequently, until the nuts have become golden brown (5-7 minutes). Remove from heat immediately. (In this recipe, you can do this while the beef is cooling.)

1) In a large skillet, heat the olive oil on medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and saute until the onions have softened and are beginning to brown, 7-10 minutes. Add the ground beef, using a wooden spoon to break the meat into crumbles.

2) Add 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon, 1/2 tablespoon coriander, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1/2 teaspoon paprika, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and salt and pepper, to taste. Saute, stirring occasionally, until the meat is cooked through, an additional 7-10 minutes. Transfer the meat to a large mixing bowl and set aside to cool.

3) Once the beef is cooled, stir in the cooked quinoa, toasted pine nuts and raisins. Toss with the remaining 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon, 1/2 tablespoon coriander, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1/2 teaspoon paprika, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. Taste, and add salt and pepper if necessary.

4) Preheat the oven to 375F. Prepare the peppers: cut the tops off of the peppers and remove all of the seeds and ribs. Halve, and lay flat, skin side up, on a lined baking sheet. Roast for 5 minutes, then flip and roast for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from the oven (leaving it on).

5) Stuff the peppers with the filling. Top with the feta, then return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes, until the filling has heated through. Serve immediately.