The Capsule Pantry: Corn Chowder Stuffed Peppers
Incredible vegetarian food step on down
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I have a problem with vegetarian food.
Not the food itself - I cook vegetarian a lot and I love it. But I hate fake vegetarian - “chicken” nuggets, “vegan” bacon, and the like.
Why do that when you could cook incredible ways with vegetables instead?
Whenever I visit the UK, I stay with my brother and sister-in-law. She’s vegetarian which is great because it means I can flex my cooking muscles with a bit of a challenge. Meat-based dishes are always so easy. Vegetarian takes a bit more care and attention, if you don’t want to resort to “chicken.”
Whilst poking around in an Ottolenghi recipe book (if you’ve not come across him, his food is almost all veggie and always incredible) I found a recipe for stuffed peppers.
Great, I thought, but we could improve on it. Make it flexible. Make it Simple and Straightforward-worthy.
The result is corn chowder stuffed peppers with herb yogurt. One of the best dinners I made for my sister-in-law. It got thumbs up all round the family, including from their 5 and 2-year-olds.
Enjoy.
The original recipe
Serves 4
4 bell peppers
250g/9oz frozen sweetcorn kernels (or the same weight in fresh)
50ml/quarter cup double cream
3 garlic cloves
150g/5oz cheese - a mix of cheddar and mozzarella is perfect
2 onions cut into 1 inch slices
Olive oil
To serve
Herb yogurt (1 cup plain yogurt, 1 clove garlic smashed to a paste, dried or fresh mint, dill, parsley - a mix of any or all)
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 Celcius / 360 Farenheit
If using frozen, defrost the sweetcorn.
Add the sweetcorn, the garlic cloves, a pinch of salt and pepper into a food processor and pulse until a rough paste.
Drizzle in the double cream and continue to pulse until you have a relatively smooth paste (but still with a little texture). You may need more or less cream depending on texture - you want to keep it as a relatively thick paste.
Transfer to a bowl and add the grated cheese.
Cut the top off the bell pepper, scoop out the insides, fill with the sweetcorn mixture and put the top back on.
Take a small roasting tray and pour in some olive oil - a couple of tablespoons to coat the bottom of the dish will do.
Layer the bottom of the pan with the onions.
Carefully place the peppers on and around the onions, ideally so they stand up (be warned, they will fall over during cooking but that’s cool).
Bake for at least 30-45 minutes. After 30 minutes, keep an eye on the vegetables. If they’re looking a little overdone, add a splash of water to the pan. You want those onions and peppers to be wilted and a little blackened.
Serve with white rice and herb yogurt
Variations
The vegetable
Bell peppers are great but Romano peppers (the long thin ones) work just as well. You could also stuff onions or tomatoes.
The corn chowder filling
Make it meaty - fry some ground mince until browned, add finely chopped onion and garlic and some tomato paste. Season, then use instead of the corn.
Grab some lentils, cook as per packet instructions, whack in some cooked garlic and onion and fill away.
The accompaniments
Whack on a few jalapenos on top to make it spicy
Change up the yogurt - add grated cucumber to make Tzatziki. Take out the herbs and add turmeric, ground cumin, and coriander.
Make a good quantity of flatbreads instead of rice. Roast potatoes would also be excellent.
Bring on the meat
If you want to make a feast, this could be a side to grilled pork chops or steak. Boom.