My Mother's Recipe: Stuffed Peppers

A sprig of  lovage on the top of stuffed peppers

After a week of traveling and eating out I am back to cooking. A home made meal, a cup of a warm soup on a chilly night and a few out of the oven peppers are a must upon our return. If we were coming to my parent's home, that's what my mother would have made for us. It's her signature "Welcome"  dish (see the second photo from the top on the linked page) for many-many guests in our home.

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My Mother's Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:
8-9 bell peppers, washed and seeds removed 
1 cup rice
1/2 cup barley
1/2 cup buckwheat
2-3 carrots, shredded
2 medium onions, chopped
1 cup smashed tomatoes, or tomato sauce
2 cups tomato juice
2 cups water or vegetable stock
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh lovage
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 Tablespoons sunflower oil (or any other oil of your choice)

Gluten Free option: skip the barley and add a whole cup of buckwheat.

For Meat lovers: when mixing grains and tomato/carrots/onions mixture add 300 grams (a little over half a pound) grinded meat of your choice. Then you will need to adjust seasoning and use 3-4 more peppers.

Buckwheat

Pre-heat oven to 400F / 200C

1. Wash and pre-soak rice and buckwheat in hot water for 20-25 minutes.
2. Wash and pre-cook barley (bring it to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes).
3. On a high heat pre-heat oil in a large skillet, turn it to medium-high and add onions. Sprinkle with salt and stir for about 3-4 minute (until onions become translucent).
4. Add carrots, and stir for another 3 minutes.
5. Add 1 cup smashed tomatoes  and sugar, and let cook for another 5 minutes, stirring a few times (it may burn very quickly, don't leave the kitchen, stir!)
6. Drain all grains and combine in a large bowl.
7. Add the tomato/onion/carrot mixture to the grains and mix well.
8. Add 1 teaspoon salt and grind some pepper (about 1/2 teaspoon). Add chopped lovage, dill, and mix again.
9. Fill all peppers. To make it easier, I place peppers in the Dutch oven and then fill it.
10. Pour 2 cups tomato juice, 2 cups water (or vegetable stock), and a teaspoon of salt over stuffed peppers.
11. Cover and bake on the middle rack for 60-70 minutes.  Then take the lid off and check grains for doneness. It may need another 10-15 minute in the oven (depends what rice you use and how you oven bakes).
12. Serve stuffed peppers with some cooking juice and sour cream (optional).

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Aroma of baked peppers perfumed my kitchen...
Can you smell it?

See you,
Marina

Cold Summer Salad: Spicy Barley and Sorrel

Spicy Barley and Sorrel Salad

Why sorrel, a culinary herb with lemony flavor and delightful green leaves,  a common ingredient in salads, soups, stews, and even sauces for hundreds of years, vanished from many kitchens? 

Sorrel

It rarely appears in US markets as it must be used immediately after harvest (shelf life of sorrel is 2-3 days), hence to have a reliable supply of sorrel I grow my own. 

Sorrel and parsley from my garden

Europeans grow and use sorrel as an herb and for medicinal use. As medicinal remedy sorrel was highly valued for centuries for it's ability to prevent scurvy due to high  level of vitamin C. It also has vitamin A, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. 
However, people with rheumatism, kidney and bladder stones should eat a small amount of sorrel, as oxalic acid can exasperate these conditions. 

Sorrel soup

I start cooking with sorrel when the first young light-green tender leaves appear in the garden, and use it in my cooking until frost damages leaves in late fall. 
I am not the only one who enjoys sorrel as a meal: rabbits love to nibble on young leaves too. We "negotiated" with rabbits by building a net fence around the herb garden, and whatever grows beyond the net, rabbits can have.

Dicing instrument is a workhorse when it comes to chopping 

Spicy Barley and Sorrel Salad

Cook 1 cup pearled barley according to instruction (usually 1 cup barley is boiled in 4 cups water for 40 minutes), drain the excess water and refrigerate.

Now, it's dicing time: one bell pepper, 5-6 cucumbers, 2-3 tomatoes.

Combine all diced ingredients with chilled barley, squeeze one lemon in it, a teaspoon olive oil (optional), add 4-5 chopped parsley sprigs, and a handful of sorrel chiffonade (stack the leaves, roll tightly, and cut across into thin ribbons).

Mix well, salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours for all flavor to bland. Serve with a few slices of chili pepper. 

Barley and sorrel salad (not spicy yet)

This salad was a gamble with my men: Mr. I.V. doesn't like barley, except in this meal, and teenager has his very own view on what is food. My job is to blend something healthy in what they eat. We negotiated to have a salad before each meal, and here my creativity is put to the test.  I was pleasantly surprised when they both asked for more. Today it was my little victory! 

What is your favorite meal with sorrel?

See you,
Marina

Porcini Mushrooms and Barley Soup

When I did a rotation in my pantry last week I also found a jar of barley that hasn't been used in a few months. To pay my respect to this grain (I always feel guilty when I abandon some of my grains for more than two months) I made a very simple but aromatic and full of flavor soup. 

With just a handful of dried porcini mushrooms,   half a cup of barley and an onion my dinner was ready in less then an hour.

First, you need to pre-soak dried porcini for about 15-20 minutes. I usually wash any dried mushroom first from any debris, and after that I place mushrooms in a bawl and cover it with about 1 liter (1 qt) of cold water. Then I prepare all other ingredients: chop the onion, wash the barley. 

Next, heat a tablespoon of olive oil in the cast iron dutch oven or a stainless still pot. 
Add the onion and stir, sprinkle with a little salt and stir again. 
Fish the mushroom from the bawl and reserve the soaking water (It should have a reach amber color). Chop the mushrooms and add to the onions. Stir a few times and add water from the mushrooms. 
To make sure there are no debris, I run soaking water through coffee filter placed inside the strainer. 
Bring it to the boil, reduce the heat to a medium and cook until barley is done (about 30-35 minutes). 
Season with salt, dried dill (optional) and serve with toasted bread (I made rosemary-garlic  crostini from homemade rye bread). Can you smell it?!

I thought I made enough soup for us to have for dinner and for the next day's lunch. Silly me, thinking I would have some leftover! I could only hear crunch-slurp-crunch-slurp... until all soup was gone. We loved it, and to our surprise, the Teenager even made a comment, that we should have this soup more often! 

I am making a list of grains in my pantry to print and stick it to my refrigerator. This way I may cook with grains not just whet I do  the next rotation in the pantry, I think... :)

How often do you use your grains? 

What grains do live in your pantry? 

See you,
Marina