Bell Peppers a la Momo's

[emotional leper]

This is something I cooked one day at the Pizza place I worked when we were bored and slow. We often took turns cooking each other lunches, either with stuff on hand, or with things we ran out to the store to get.

What you will need:

Bell Peppers, Any Colour, Large-ish. (One per person per adult minimum, one half per child minimum.)

Goya tomato sauce. Two cans per three peppers.

Cooked yellow rice, enough to fill half a bell pepper for each pepper you have. Extra can be served on plate.

Segmented Mandarin Oranges (the kind in a can,) or, if you're more adventurous, get some Clementines and segment them yourself. One half a clementine/orange's worth of segments per pepper.

A meat. I used thinly sliced steak. Anything that you can either cut into very thin (light cardboard thickness) strips or into small chunks works. If you're vegan, try some Morningstar Fake Meat. Their chicken strips are rather good as far as fake meat goes.

Shredded "mexican" mix cheese.

Cilantro, if you like it.

Lemon/Lime juice, if you like it. You should be able to find some near the goya, or get a little squire bottle from Produce.

Steps:

Put the yellow rice on. While you're doing this, begin to cook your meat, depending on what kind it is. If you're using thinly sliced steak, I suggest rubbing it with a light oil on both sides, and spritzing it liberally with your lemon/lime juice, if you have any.

If using thin steak, it should cook considerably quicker than the rice, depending on the quantity of rice you're making. Time accordingly.

In a pot, put the Goya tomato sauce. Chop your cilantro up finely, or bruise and add. Open up the can of mandarin oranges and add them, or, if using clementines, add the segments. If using Mandarin oranges in can, drain the liquid first, and save it. If not, add a sprirtz of lemon/lime juice to the sauce. Put over high heat and stir, but stir very, very carefully so as to not break up the segments. Bring to boiling.

Cut the tops off of the bell peppers and gut them. Cut the tops in a way so that they can be saved, because you're gonna have to put them back on, with the stem acting as a little 'handle.'

When the sauce reaches boil, remove from head.
When the rice is done, add enough for each bellpepper to the tomato sauce and orange segment mix. Stir until mixed, but gently. When meat is done, remove and cut as neccessary. Add to mix aswell.

Now, fill your bellpeppers upalmost to the top with the sauce/rice/meat mix. Fill the remaining half to quarter-inch of the pepper with cheese, then put the top back on, and sprinkle a little cheese ontop for looks. Wrap in aluminum foil, put in oven, and bake until peppers are tender. I recommend putting them on a baking sheet that has an upwards curving lip, as juice may leak out.

Serve remaining, unused yellow rice on plate. Another item may be desired. Beans of some kind, maybe?

Sorry it's not more specific.

[Menolly]

Yum, that sounds hearty, basic, and yummy EL. Thanks for posting!

[Avatar]

I do something similar with couscous, but no cheese.

--A

[emotional leper]

I do something similar with couscous, but no cheese.

--A

I like the cheese because it helps to form a 'lid,' on the extremely rare occasions it holds the cap of the pepper on. Of course, maybe something with toothpicks to hold it in place would work too, while it was cooking.

[aliantha]

My mom used to stuff green bell peppers with cooked hamburger and...I dunno what else, onion, maybe? Maybe white rice, too? Then she'd cook the hell out of the peppers 'til they were mushy and sorta grey. It was nasty. I hated it. But this...this has possibilities. Especially if you don't bake the hell out of the peppers.

I like the addition of the mandarin oranges and cilantro -- interesting.

[emotional leper]

My mom used to stuff green bell peppers with cooked hamburger and...I dunno what else, onion, maybe? Maybe white rice, too? Then she'd cook the hell out of the peppers 'til they were mushy and sorta grey. It was nasty. I hated it. But this...this has possibilities. Especially if you don't bake the hell out of the peppers.

I like the addition of the mandarin oranges and cilantro -- interesting.

I'd listened to an NPR broadcast with a Spanish (from Spain) chef, who lamented the lack of citrus use is Spanish/Latin American cuisine that he saw, as he felt that Citrus was vitally important (and told many stories of how, when he was a child, citrus played a key roll in many dishes.) So I figured I'd try it. I felt really good when Ryan, who'd gone to culinary school, said he liked it alot. When a guy who's a trained chef says he thinks you did good in the kitchen, you sort of have to bow to his wisdom

[Wyldewode]

I don't particularly like peppers, but this looks interesting.