Speaker: Quinoa Tabbouleh Stuffed Pepper. This is an excellent vegetarian main course or a wonderful side dish for your favorite meat or fish. Have you ever tried Quinoa, its grown in high in Andes Mountains. It’s an ancient grain, rich in flavor. Packed with protein and a buttery taste similar to pop corn. Here we take the classic Middle Eastern Tabbouleh salad and replace the cracked wheat with Quinoa.

Quinoa is as rice to cook as rice. Thoroughly wash two cups of Quinoa in a colander. Quinoa is covered with a layer called saponin which is a natural coating that has a slightly bitter flavor to keep the bird away from the grain while it grows. We just want to wash it off. Place Quinoa in a sauce pan and add three and a half cups of water. Bring it to a boil then cover the pot and reduce the heat to a simmer. It will take about 20 minutes to cook through until the Quinoa is tender.

When its done fluff it and spread it out on a cookie sheet to cool. Pre heat your oven to 350 degrees. Next, dice up a pound of fresh plum tomatoes. It’s best to remove the skin and seeds first. To do this, score the bottom of the tomato with a paring knife. Just criss cross with a shallow slit like this. And boil the tomatoes for just about 30 seconds. Then cool them in an ice bath and peel them. Scrape out the seeds and dice. Then combine the cooked Quinoa with two cups of chopped parsley three cloves of minced garlic. About a quarter cup of lemon juice. One and a half table spoons of minced fresh mint, olive oil, pine nuts and season with salt and pepper and mix.

Next, wash six peppers, I like to use all the different colors, green, red, yellow, orange. Then use a sharp paring knife and cut a circle around the stem, about half an inch from the top. Remove the seed mask from the stem cover and remove the pepper webbing and seeds from inside the pepper body. Place the pepper standing upright in the pan, then take the Tabbouleh mixture and gently pack it into the six peppers, making sure to fully fill each pepper.

Cover the pan and place it in the oven for 45 to 50 minutes. Check for tenderness. The peppers are done when there is a slight give to the flesh of the pepper. But remove them before the skin is soft. Quinoa Tabbouleh Stuffed Peppers, a wonderful addition to your dinner repertoire.

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