Household Blog

From our new Purple House contributor, Damon:

As anyone who’s spent any amount of time at the Purple House knows, food is pretty important around here. My knowledge and passion for food has increased dramatically since being introduced to it. Not only does this serve as my first post to the PH Blog, but it is also my first post to any blog whatsoever. I’m honored to have the chance to cut my teeth on behalf of a home and its inhabitants whom I love so greatly.

As promised, here’s an old stuffed pepper recipe of mine that’s undergone some modifications since joining the Purple House. Most any of the ingredients can be substituted—meat can be added, grains or herbs substituted, different cheeses used, etc. This recipe is just a framework from a recently successful batch. Look around at what you have on hand and what’s in season and
experiment!

Stuffed Peppers

• 4 bell peppers
• 1/2 cup dry rice, soaked and/or sprouted, then cooked
• 2 medium tomatoes
• 8 oz feta
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• fresh herbs to taste: marjoram, thyme, rosemary, you choose
• salt
• parmesan

Prepare the sprouted rice first by cooking it while prepping the stuffing. Dice tomatoes and place in a large bowl. Add salt to taste. Coarsely chop about your fresh herbs—I used 1/4 cup fresh marjoram, 1/4 cup fresh thyme, a tablespoon of fresh rosemary. Crumble the feta cheese and add it and the herbs to the tomatoes. Toast sunflower seeds till golden brown and add to tomato mixture, combine, and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375. Choose 4 peppers that stand upright nicely and have large bodies, wash them, and cut out their tops. Shake out the seeds and remove ribbing on the inside carefully with your fingers or a spoon.

Add the cooked rice to the tomato mixture and combine. Don’t be worried if the rice is still a bit hard—it will cook further in the oven. Use a spoon fill each pepper to overflowing and top it with a sprinkle of shredded parmesan. (Any extra stuffing goes great in omelets!)

Place peppers in the casserole dish and add 1/2 inch water to the bottom of the dish. Bake for about 1 hour or until the peppers are just barely starting to brown and wilt slightly. Consider a side of steamed greens and a piece of cheesecake for dessert. Dern tasty…

Credit for this simple epitome-of-summer recipe goes to my wonderful grandparents, Buddy and Marie. For as long as I can remember, this (along with their recipe for tomato pie) has been the ultimate summer meal. Fresh in-season ingredients brought in still warm from the garden, chopped, mixed, et voila: perfection. Serve with some fresh corn on the side, and it truly is the quintessential summertime meal. For me anyway. And the amounts are not specific—sorry—the measurements are just sort of till-it-looks/tastes-right.

Tomato Basil Pasta

• Tinkyada gluten free spaghetti or fettucini pasta
• 2 cloves garlic
• sea salt
• 2 or 3 large fresh tomatoes or the equivalent amount of grape or cherry tomatoes, coarsely chopped into bite-sized pieces
• a couple handfuls of fresh basil, coarsely chopped
• olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• Parmesan for garnish, optional

Smash and peel garlic cloves, and put the whole smashed cloves in the bottom of a mixing bowl. Mix in enough sea salt to coat the garlic and press garlic into the salt. Add tomatoes, basil, a drizzle of olive oil (not too much, just a tablespoon or so, max), and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside at room temperature to let the flavors develop.

Cook your pasta per usual and drain, then immediately toss pasta with the tomato mixture. Serve, garnishing with parmesan, if desired. That’s it!

What’s your favorite summertime dish?