Manchego, Quinoa, and Olive Stuffed Piquillo Peppers
Piquillo peppers are grown in northern Spain. They are cone-shaped red sweet peppers which are fire-roasted imparting a rich, spicy-sweet flavor. In my book Sharing the Table, I include a recipe like this one only stuffed with Dungeness crab meat. Whenever I serve these, they are an overwhelming favorite appetizer.
ONWARD:
Most Spanish recipes for piquillo peppers call for stuffing them with salt cod. It seems that years ago Scandinavian sailors would salt their beloved cod to preserve and take with them when traveling. That is how salt cod made it to Spain. Salt cod must be soaked in fresh water over several days to make it palatable. Recently I was in a northern Spanish open-air market and saw numerous offerings of salt cod. To make this recipe into a plant-based recipe I have taken the liberty to replace salt cod with quinoa much to my delight they turned out marvelous!
4 to 6 appetizer size servings
INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 ½ cup cooked quinoa
½ cup pitted green olives, sliced
2 tablespoons dried currants
2 tablespoons red pepper, minced
1 tablespoon scallions, green part only chopped
½ cup Manchego cheese, grated
1 (9.9 ounces) jar Piquillo peppers, drained, rinsed, and pat dry
Patted dry piquillo peppers ready to be stuffed.
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Coat the bottom of a round baking dish (like a ceramic pie pan) with the olive oil.
Mix the mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, and lemon juice together.
Blend the quinoa, olives, currants, red pepper, scallions, and cheese into the mayonnaise mixture.
Stuff each Piquillo pepper with the quinoa filling. Place in the oiled baking dish.
Bake until thoroughly warmed and the cheese is melted, about thirty minutes. Serve hot.
Manchego, Quinoa, and Olive Stuffed Piquillo Peppers
Piquillo peppers are grown in northern Spain. They are cone-shaped red sweet peppers which are fire-roasted imparting a rich, spicy-sweet flavor. In my book Sharing the Table, I include a recipe like this one only stuffed with Dungeness crab meat. Here I have created a plant-based recipe using quinoa in place of crab. Whenever I serve these, they are an overwhelming favorite appetizer.
ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 ½ cup cooked quinoa
- ½ cup pitted green olives, sliced
- 2 tablespoons dried currants
- 2 tablespoons red pepper, minced
- 1 tablespoon scallions, green part only chopped
- ½ cup Manchego cheese, grated
- 1 (9.9 ounces) jar Piquillo peppers, drained, rinsed, and pat dry
instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Coat the bottom of a round baking dish (like a ceramic pie pan) with the olive oil.
- Mix the mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, and lemon juice together.
- Blend the quinoa, olives, currants, red pepper, scallions, and cheese into the mayonnaise mixture.
- Stuff each Piquillo pepper with the quinoa filling. Place in the oiled baking dish.
- Bake until thoroughly warmed and the cheese is melted, about thirty minutes. Serve hot.