A New Twist on Stuffed Peppers
July 23, 2010 in Main Dish, Wheat Berry Recipes by Joyce Bunderson
A Mediterranean-Style meal; note the whole grain wheat berries, extra virgin olive oil, tangy cheeses, lack of meat, and a variety of vegetables and herbs. Best of all it tastes really, really good. For more information, see A Mediterranean Eating Style – A Few Guiding Principles.
Ingredients
Topping
2 cups cooked wheat berries
1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ cup chopped onions
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
½ cup chopped parsley
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cups chopped spinach
¾ cup crumbled feta cheese
5 red, orange or yellow bell peppers
Bottom filling
2 cups Ricotta cheese
1 Egg
½ Salt
½ teaspoon dry leaf basil
Final finishes
Additional extra virgin olive oil for final drizzling.
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400° F.
Cut five peppers in half lengthwise. Remove the membranes and seeds. Blanch the pepper halves for 3 minutes. Do not over cook. Arrange the halves in a vegetable sprayed baking dish.
Warm 1-tablespoon oil in a skillet. Add onion, garlic, mushrooms, cumin and pepper. Saute until onions are clear and beginning to brown lightly. Add spinach. Sauté until the spinach is wilted. Remove from heat add the parsley, whet berries and feta and toss together.
Mix ricotta cheese, egg, salt, and basil.
Spoon ricotta cheese mixture into each pepper half. Top with the wheat berry mixture. Drizzle ½ teaspoon of olive oil over each pepper half. Sprinkle with a little Parmesan cheese.
Bake in oven for 30 minutes.
Add oil to spices and onions.
Cook mushrooms, onions and spices until onions are clear.
Ricotta cheese, basil, egg and salt.
Mix ricotta filling - a couple of whisks.
Add greens to wheat berries.
Flavorful feta cheese.
Blanch the peppers.
Peppers in the baking dish.
Put ricotta filling in the bottom.
Put wheat berry mixture over the ricotta mixture.
Drizzle a little oil on the top.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Ready to serve.
julie karami said on January 22, 2011
Mushrooms? It’s not listed in the ingredients.
Joyce Bunderson said on January 24, 2011
Dear Julie,
Oh dear, I’m so sorry. There should be one cup of chopped mushrooms in the ingredient list. You can use Portabella or your favorite variety. I hope it didn’t ruin your recipe – the recipe really is quite excellent.
Sorry again for my mistake. Good health Can Be Yummy!
Joyce
Nick Williams said on January 26, 2011
I missed the mushrooms too. I added a cup of cooked quinoa instead!
Nick Williams said on January 26, 2011
Is one serving a half pepper or 2 halves? Thanks
Joyce Bunderson said on January 27, 2011
Dear Nick,
Oh dear, I’m so sorry that I made that mistake. I would generally use quinoa as a substitute for the wheat berries, not for the mushrooms, but hey if it worked – super. I try not to put too much starch in one recipe, but one cup of cooked quinoa is not as starchy as a cup of wheat berries – so not much to worry about, adding that much to the whole recipe.
Sorry again for the omission of the mushrooms.
Best regards,
Joyce
Joyce Bunderson said on January 27, 2011
Dear Nick,
I’ve steered away for serving size, because serving sizes have been so manipulated by industry.
But if you want to know how much we eat, my husband generally eats about 3 or 4 halves. I eat two halves. This is great eating for diabetics, those wanting to eat a Mediterranean-style diet and for those trying to lose or maintain weight.
Did you enjoy the peppers? We sure did.
Remember, Good Health Can Be Yummy!
Joyce
Lena said on March 2, 2011
Thanks for this recipe, Joyce! I had fun making it and my family enjoyed it quite a bit. It is tasty and also very pretty!
Joyce Bunderson said on March 3, 2011
So glad that you liked it. I think that bright red peppers make so many meals appealing – the taste does the follow up. This recipe is certainly one that works well for our motto: Good Health Can Be Yummy. The recipe also meets the Mediterranean-style of eating on so many levels (whole grains, olive oil, vegetables); but seriously taste is number one.
Best to you,
Joyce
manal said on September 10, 2011
I tried this recipe and loved it. Great twist on stuffed peppers.
Joyce Bunderson said on September 10, 2011
My husband, Vic, loves this recipe, too. Glad you liked it.
Good Health Can Be Yummy!
Sending my Best,
Joyce
Suzanne Meyerson said on February 21, 2012
Are wheatberries not pre-cooked before the baking?
Is the dish left uncovered during the baking?
Thanks.
Joyce Bunderson said on February 21, 2012
Suzanne,
Yes, the two cups of cooked wheat berries have to be cooked first. Just put about one cup or more of wheat berries into double (two or more cups) the amount of water and simmer for about an hour or an hour and a quarter until tender. I like to cook up a big batch and keep the extra in the freezer. Then when I need cooked wheat berries, like this recipe, I just scoop them out and don’t have to wait to cook them. Very handy to have them already cooked.
No, need to cover the stuffed peppers. They’re just like regular stuffed peppers – the oven gives the top a nice browning.
My best to you, Good Health Can Be Yummy,
Joyce
P.S. If you want more complete instructions for cooking and storing wheat berries go to ‘Cooking Wheat Berries’ in the Library section of the Dr. Grandma’s website. http://www.doctorgrandmas.com/library/wheat-berries/cooking-wheat-berries/
Sue said on June 18, 2012
Wonderful recipe, which I found when googling for wheat berries.. having accidentally cooked some, thinking they were a variety of rice (ahem).
Am slightly puzzled as to what size your bell peppers must be, though! I happened to have seven large ones – and making the mixture (missing out mushrooms, as we were having a mushroom-hating friend to dinner, and also spinach, as I’d forgotten to buy any…) it absolutely filled all fourteen halves and there was still some over.
Joyce Bunderson said on June 18, 2012
Dear Sue,
I’ve made this recipe a several times and it’s worked out. So I’ll try to guess what’s going on. Did you measure the wheat berries before cooking. That would just about double the yield. The wheat berries are the main volume in the filling – both the mushrooms and spinach shrink considerably when cooked. It is just plain puzzling. The wheat berries would provide less than a 1/2 cup per pepper (1/4 cup in each half) if you stuff 5 peppers and since you stuffed 7 it would be barely over a 1/4 cup per whole pepper. My other guess is that I pile it up a bit. If that happens to you again, you can add the leftovers to a salad. Sorry that happened to you.
I’m glad you liked the recipe.
Sending my very best,
Joyce
Sue said on June 19, 2012
Oh, I wasn’t complaining, just curious! And I think you’ve answered my question, that your peppers must be a lot larger than the ones we get here (Cyprus). Just the ricotta part almost filled mine up – actually I used anari (which is common and inexpensive here) rather than ricotta (which I haven’t found) but it’s the same idea. I halved five peppers at first, as in the recipe, and put about a tablespoon (heaped) of the anari mixture into each, and that made them each about 3/4 full – hence why I used the other two peppers as well. I measured the wheat berries after cooking them, but of course they were mixed with the feta and onions etc.., Had I put the spinach and mushrooms in too, that would have been a huge amount. I tried heaping it but the mixture just fell out. Anyway, they were much appreciated… and they’re very good eaten cold, too 🙂
Joyce Bunderson said on June 19, 2012
Dear Sue,
How long have you lived in Cyprus? I’ve had the ‘travel bug’ for years, but have never been to Cyprus. The closest I’ve gotten is Crete and Turkey. My husband has been to Israel, but I’ve never been there. It sounds like a really interesting place to live.
You have perfect input to this blog; the idea is that you can make many delicious recipes using the ingredients that are native to wherever you are and whatever you have (eg the anari). Thanks for the idea to try them cold. I’ll have to make extras and have them cold.
This summer we’re going to Russia, the Baltic States, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria and Berlin. It’s a tour; we were afraid of the language issues. But we’re excited to see that area of earth.
If you ever have time, tell me a little of your experience in Cyprus. You can write to me at jbunderson@doctorgrandmas.com.
Sending my very best,
Joyce
Nancy said on July 10, 2012
We loved this recipe. I found it searching for recipes with wheatberries – a favorite. One thing I wish for when I find great recipes is the nutrition info. We are living in a 1200 calorie diet and eat little to no meat – so it is helpful to know the protien count, calorie count, etc.
anyway, just a thought. thanks again.
Joyce Bunderson said on July 30, 2012
Dear Nancy,
Thank you so much for the nice complement on the recipe. Yes, it is nice to have the calories if you count calories. Unfortunately, it is very time-consuming and I’m already spending a lot of time, just keeping up with the research and writing the articles, recipes and taking pictures. You can find the calories on line, just write, “calories of red peppers” for example and you will be able to calculate them. It was very nice when I had a staff of dietary technicians, but that is no longer the case.
So sorry that this response is so late; we’ve been traveling in eastern Europe for the past three weeks and just got home yesterday.
Sending my very best,
Joyce
Rachel said on January 1, 2013
Could you suggest a substitute for mushrooms? Both my husband and I hate them.
Joyce Bunderson said on January 2, 2013
Dear Rachel,
If you hate the texture, then you may want to try using some firm tofu; eggplant; cauliflower; or bell peppers, any color. If you like the flavor of the mushrooms, which is known as umami, but only have a problem with the texture, then you may want to add a litte osyter sauce or maybe a little fish sauce. If you don’t like the flavor either, then just use additional herbs and spice. In my stuffed pepper recipe, if I did not want to add mushrooms, I would just bump up the veggies and/or wheat berries a bit.
Sending my best,
Joyce
Stephanie said on January 11, 2013
Hi Joyce,
Could you let me know the purpose of blanching the peppers? I am a food-novice, but I understand blanching to be typically used before freezing veggies. Is there another purpose? I am going to try this recipe next week for some friends!
Thanks!
Steph
Joyce Bunderson said on January 12, 2013
Dear Stephanie,
You can make them without doing that step. The reason for the blanching step is to slightly cook the peppers so they won’t be crisp at the end of the baking time. Browning the mushrooms and onions is essentially for the same purpose. It doesn’t taste as good, to bite into a crisp onion or mushroom in a baked or roasted dish.
Sending my very best,
Joyce