This fresh and filling recipe highlights many of my summer garden staples and I love how beautiful they look when serving to loved ones! They’re great as a vegetarian main or are a festive lunch or side for those looking to include more whole foods into their day to day. Packed with flavour and perfectly seasoned, I can’t wait for you to try them and dream of looking out over the Mediterranean sea too 🙂
Mediterranean Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- ½ cup / 100g long grain brown rice
- ½ cup / 80g black lentils sub with French / Du Puy lentils
- 1 tsp. fine sea salt
- 1 large red onion
- 1 Tbsp. expeller-pressed coconut oil or ghee
- ½ tsp. fine salt
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 tsp. fermented black garlic, optional
- 1 Tbsp. dried oregano
- 1 medium yellow summer squash or green zucchini about 1 lb / 450g
- ½ tsp. fine sea salt
- 1 Tbsp. tapenade
- 1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- ⅓ cup / 50g Kalamata olives, pitted
- 1 jar favourite pasta sauce about 580ml / 2 ¼ cups
- 12 g / .5oz fresh basil leaves torn, plus more for garnish
- 150 g / 5.25oz sheep’s milk feta
- 7 medium bell peppers red, orange, or yellow
- 1 tsp. fine sea salt
- 2 Tbsp. cold-pressed olive oil
Directions
- Combine the rice and lentils. Soak them in plenty of fresh, filtered water overnight or for 8 hours, if possible. Drain and rinse well. Place in a pot with about 2 cups of fresh water, add 1 tsp. of salt and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook covered, until the water is absorbed and the rice and lentils are tender, about 40-50 minutes. If the pot becomes dry at any point, add a little water to prevent burning.
- While the rice is cooking, dice the red onion and place in a large skillet with your fat of choice. Sprinkle with salt, toss to coat and let cook for 7-10 minutes until the onions are translucent. Mince the garlic and add to the pan, stir and cook for 2 minutes. Add the black garlic puree and dried oregano and stir well. Dice the zucchini and add it to the pan, sprinkle with salt and cook for 7-10 minutes until the zucchini is tender. Lastly, fold in tapenade, vinegar, olives (chopped or whole!), pasta sauce, fresh basil and feta. Once warmed through, remove from heat and set aside until the rice and lentils are cooked.
- Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C. Slice the peppers down the center lengthwise, and remove the seeds, keeping the stems intact. Sprinkle each inside with a little salt. Stuff each pepper with the rice mixture, packing firmly, heaping it on top. Place peppers on a lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes until they are tender (but not mushy!). Drizzle with olive oil, garnish with extra basil and serve one or two per person, depending on how hungry everyone is!
- Say thank you and enjoy. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to three days, enjoy cold or reheat in the oven for 7-10 minutes.
Notes
Serves 7 as a meal – 14 as a snack / side
For the pantry staples I used in this recipe, check out Solspring’s line of Biodynamic products. I used the olive oil, tapenade, olives, sea salt, pasta sauce, balsamic vinegar, and fermented black garlic in this recipe!