Friday, March 4, 2011

Chili n' Pasta Stuffed Red Peppers : Creative Leftovers

I was at a loss the other day , as to what I wanted to make/eat .   I decided on some of my chili , as it was already made ...  and I was in the mood for easy !  While I was letting the chili defrost I thought I ask on my FB Food page , if anyone had a suggestion for a future blog post ....  " Something Stuffed " was the reply , and a light bulb went off !! I could use the chili to stuff some red peppers...   Hmmmmm what to use, i was not in the mood for the usual rice style....   Curly Pasta!!!  That would be perfect , and very filling.   So Rotini it was.  This is such a simple and easy recipe , and can even be prepared ahead of time , that I'm sure it will be used again ( Most likely soon!!! )  Also , a single one of these would make a great appetizer.

Ingredients required : 
I made way too much , this will easily make 12 halves.

4 cups of your favourite Chili ( Ill be doing a Chili blog post soon, stay tuned !! )
2 cups of dried rotini pasta
6 Red Bell Peppers ( or the colour of your choice )
Mozzarella , One slice per half.
Feta Cheese - One small cube per half ( Teaspoon sized )
Olive Oil
Sea Salt & Black Pepper
Basil



It all starts with a pot of chili :))  

Red Bell Peppers,  cut in half lengthwise , with the seeds removed ( a sharp knife and a spoon work well for this ) 

Boil, and drain the pasta as per the package, you can under cook it if you like, as it will be going into the oven for about 30 minutes.  Mix it well with the chili .  ( This shot is from the day after , it filled most of this pot ) 

Simply fill the pepper halves... 

You can add some fresh onions , or mushrooms ..  whatever makes you happy 

A little bit of Feta , and a 3/16" thick slice of Mozzarella , basil and S&P and into a 350F oven for 20 minutes ,  then 5 minutes ,  or so,  more on grill ( Keep an eye on it after the 20 minutes )  

Thats it!!  Its time to eat.  I had two halves for dinner,  one for brunch the next day .  

Ive been practicing my camera work , this is without a flash ,  what do you think ?? :)) 


Of course , there is always the option of skipping the red pepper altogether lol as I did for this midnight snack :))  I also switched out the Feta for cheddar and added a couple of dashes of Lea & Perrins .
There you have it ,  a Simple and Easy way  to be Creative with Leftovers...  or a great little Appetizer that can be made ahead of time.  If you have any comments or questions please follow the link below.
Happy Cooking!! :)

5 comments:

  1. Rich, I have never seen anyone cut the peppers in half for stuffing. They always cut off the top and filled it like a cup.

    That said, the presentation with the bit of stem on (first picture)looks beautiful!
    ":<>

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  2. :)) Thanks Lynda , I used to cut the tops off, but the peppers always wanted to fall over while i was heating them creating a huge mess. So I started cutting them lengthwise .. much better , hardly any fall over now , and I think they become easier to eat this way.

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  3. Love this idea ... wonderful way to utilize one of the ingredients as the container! Especially with the cheese melted over the top. Oh yeah, I'm drooling, LOL!

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  4. These look incredible! I love stuffed bell peppers - but I love your idea even more about using chili, pasta, onion, oh... and CHEESE in your dish! Drooling as I type! My compliments to the chef! - Jenny Kelley, ILoveFlavor

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  5. Thank you Heritage Cook :))

    And Jenny!! Thank you very much :)) oh and dont forget to wipe your keyboard :)) Hahahaha

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