QUINOA-STUFFED BELL PEPPERS

Quinoa (pronounced "kee-nwah") was an important staple of the ancient Incan diet, and still is eaten frequently in certain areas of South America. Containing more protein than most other grains, it's a healthy option that's gaining popularity.

Sunday night I stumbled upon a recipe clipped from a magazine for Quinoa-stuffed bell peppers, and decided to try it. I substituted a few items from the recipe, according to what we had on hand in the kitchen, and it turned out quite well! This is a one-dish meal, with grains, vegetables, and nuts all in one, and it's quite filling. I especially like the contrast of textures in this dish - with the crunch of the toasted almonds and the small grains of quinoa. And it's always fun to be able to eat your "bowl" - the bell pepper - as you go!

QUINOA-STUFFED BELL PEPPERS

30 min. prep time, 30-60 min. cooking time
Serves 6

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup shredded carrots
8 oz mushrooms, chopped
1 cup packed baby spinach, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 tsp paprika
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
6 green, red, orange or yellow bell peppers, tops removed, cored and seeded
1/4 cup toasted chopped almonds

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Saute onion, red bell pepper, and carrots for 5 min. or until softened. Add mushrooms and saute for 5 min or until softened. Add spinach and parsley, saute for 2-3 min or until spinach is wilted. Stir in quinoa, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper.
3. Stuff bell peppers with quinoa mixture, gently packing it down. Arrange upright in baking dish. Sprinkle with almonds.*
4. Cover and bake in preheated oven for about 1 hour or until peppers are tender.**

*I chopped the whole almonds and toasted them on a tray in the toaster oven for a few minutes until golden. Then let cool a bit and sprinkle them on top of the stuffed peppers.
**I only baked for 30 minutes because we were all hungry and didn't want to wait! The bell peppers were a bit more crunchy than soft, but everyone liked it!

Suggestions for Cooking

Last night I was attempting to cook rice noodles for dinner. The dry, brittle sticks of "rice vermicelli" as they're sometimes called have various means of preparation depending on the type of noodle. Some noodles need to be soaked in warm water before cooking. Some should be dropped into boiling water briefly.

The instructions on my particular package of rice noodles weren't very helpful, but they were quite humorous! I particularly like the title - "Suggestions for Cooking." No exact measurements or precise directions in Asian cooking - only suggestions! Notice, also, the very specific ingredients such as "condiments, etc." Here, for your reading enjoyment, are the word-for-word instructions on the bag of rice noodles.

Suggestions for Cooking

1. Frying: Pour some oil in a pan and heat. Saut'e pork shreddings, shrimps, dried mushrooms, condiments, etc. Add proper broth and bring it to the boil. Then put in rice vermicelli and stir up until done.

2. Boiling: Fry the sub-ingredients in a pan to half done. Add much broth and bring it to the boil. Then put in rice vermicellit and boil until done.

3. Deep-frying: Put rice vermicelli in boiling oil and stir up until done. It is savoury and crisp when used to help down congee or assorted with other dishes.

Exploding Chestnuts

There are little bits of chestnuts on my kitchen ceiling. They are hopefully all of the remaining evidence of a culinary catastrophe that occurred here on a recent Saturday afternoon - the day I was hosting a party for some international students from a local university.

Being the over-achieving perfectionist hostess that I am, I started getting nervous about the party days ahead of time. Did I invite too many people? Not enough? Did I forget anyone? What if nobody shows up? What if everybody shows up? What if people don't talk to each other, don't like the food, don't have fun...???? The night before the party I could hardly sleep. Right after breakfast on the day of the party I started cleaning and preparing for the event. I was too nervous to eat much lunch.

When my friend Jiadi dropped off the ingredients for the Chinese dishes she wanted to prepare and gave me hurried cooking instructions before rushing off to her class, I felt a sense of impending disaster. She assured me that it was simple, but I felt very inadequate to complete the task. How would I know when the steamed eggplant "looked done" if I'd never done it before? How could I "season to taste" when I didn't know what the sauteed sausage and vegetables was supposed to taste like? However, with only a few minor snags, the preparations actually went quite smoothly. In between calling to check on who was coming, giving directions to those who needed it, dusting, straightening up, and setting out paper plates and wooden chopsticks, I simmered and stirred and steamed and sauteed like a pro.

It was while I was on the phone with my Indian friend who was explaining to me why he couldn't come that I heard a loud bang inside the oven. It sounded like an oversized popcorn kernel popping. My mother, who had come home from her errands, opened the oven door quickly and shrieked, "Mi-CHELLE! What did you DO?" I calmly told my Indian friend that I had a little problem in the kitchen and hung up to see what was going on.

Apparently, the fresh chestnuts that my friend Jiadi had bought at the Asian market were exploding from the heat and pressure, splattering their insides all over the oven walls! Taking the pan of chestnuts out of the oven, my mom grabbed a knife and started jabbing at them furiously, telling me to help. I grabbed a knife too and started poking holes in the chestnuts as quickly as I could, to allow the steam to escape and keep them from bursting. But it was a dangerous mission. The chestnuts were still exploding as we worked, and soon we had bits of the soft yellow insides on our glasses, in our hair, and all over our clothes. When one of the popping chestnuts burned my mom's hand, I decided we should use potholders and oven mitts to protect ourselves and avoid getting hit by projectile particles. We'd hold the potholders over the chestnuts with our left hands and then jab at them frantically from the side with the knife in our oven-mitt covered right hands.

Finally, the popping stopped. Unsure whether the danger was really past, I kept stabbing the chestnuts with the knife for a few more minutes, until I was sure every last one had a slit in it. Then I stopped to survey the damage. There were specks of yellow chestnut flesh everywhere - on all the cabinet doors, on the walls, on the floor, on the stove and refrigerator, and on the ceiling! With just an hour until guests would arrive, I tried not to panic and quickly began the clean-up process. After scrubbing the whole kitchen and cleaning the inside of the oven, I quickly took a shower and changed my clothes just as the appointed time for the party arrived, so that I could greet my guests at the door with a calm and welcoming smile.

Needless to say, we didn't serve chestnuts at the party. And nobody would have known what had happened, except that it was such a great story I just had to tell everyone about it! And I was sure to point out the tiny yellow spots on the ceiling, the only evidence that remained - a silent testimony to my foolishness.

So if you get cravings for "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" (or in an enclosed oven) during this holiday, please don't make the same mistake I did. Be sure to poke a hole in them FIRST before roasting or baking to avoid exploding chestnusts in your kitchen!

p.s. Here are pictures of the exploding chestnuts and the specks in my mom's hair!