Look up stuffed pepper recipes and you’ll mostly find Southwestern vibes, maybe something Mediterranean. I wanted something different that I hadn’t tried before and when I couldn’t find it, I made it up. So I present to you chicken florentine…in bell pepper form.
Start by browning 1 lb ground chicken, along with 1-2 minced shallots (or 1/2 onion) and 1 clove of garlic (minced). Once it’s cooked through, add a ton of fresh spinach until it wilts down. Remove from heat and place in a bowl, adding shredded mozzarella, grated parmesan, some cooked quinoa (I used leftover), and salt. I didn’t measure any of those ingredients – just add enough for it to bind together so it doesn’t crumble out when you cut the peppers. Slice the tops off 4 bell peppers, remove the ribs, and fill them with the chicken mixture. Load the peppers into a baking dish, cover with foil, and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle the tops with a little more mozz, and bake another 15 minutes.
This had all the flavor of chicken Florentine without the creamy sauce, so I’d like to think I healthified it a bit. Quinoa was actually a great replacement for rice – I may have even preferred it. Something about the size of the grain and the ratio of spinach to meat to quinoa made the filling jive. Every bite had everything. You weren’t digging in your fork hoping this would be a meaty bite. They were all meaty bites.
Peaches to Apples 