Peperoni Farciti
Crossposted to 
cookbook_challenge
From my mother's cookbook. This is a newspaper clipping of unknown provenance. It starts by stating the recipe is from "Leaves from our Tuscan Kitchen" so I had some hopes of dating the clipping by googling the recipe book. However it transpires that Leaves from our Tuscan Kitchen was first published in 1899 and my mother is not that old.
Ingredients
6 large peppers
1 onion
4 tbsps olive or vegetable oil
4 oz cooked chicken
4 oz long grain rice
3/4 pint chicken stock (or water and stock cube)
1/2 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme or 1/4 tsp dried
Freshly ground black pepper
Method
Cut a slice off stalk end of peppers and scoop out seeds and core from inside.
Cook peppers in boiling, salted water for 10 minutes and drain well.
Peel and finely chop onion.
Finely chop chicken.
Heat 2 tbsps oil in frying pan. Add onion and cook over low heat, until onion is soft and transparent.
Add chicken and rice and continue to cook over low heat, stirring, for 3 minutes.
Add stock and thyme, season with salt and pepper and cook for 12 minutes over medium heat until rice has begun to swell.
Pack peppers into lightly greased baking dish, open end up and pack three-quarters full with risotto mixture.
Pour remaining oil and stock over sides of peppers and bake them in a hot oven (400F, Reg. 6) for 30 minutes.
Changes, Mistakes and Substitutions
I did not pre-cook the chicken. I was using breast and didn't want it to dry out and figured if it was finely chopped it would cook just fine. I also substituted arborio rice for long grain rice since the stuffing was described as a risotto.
We were a little dubious about boiling the peppers before we stuffed them (not something we normally do with stuffed peppers) and indeed one did fall apart when I drained it, but the others were fine and I think it just needed a little more care.
I also filled the peppers to the top. I hadn't even noticed it said three-quarters until I ran out of risotto - however given one pepper had fallen apart anyway this wasn't a disaster.
Verdict
As this reviewer notes, it is difficult to imagine this as a Victorian recipe, it feels very modern, which just goes to show, I suppose, that modernity is not as novel as we might think. Obviously the unknown newspaper columnist may have updated the recipe (the mention of using a stock cube, for instance) but I'm sure the essence of the idea of stuffing peppers with risotto must date back.
We really liked it, and also thought the general concept was an interesting one and are now contemplating our various other risotto recipes with a viewing to stuffing them into peppers. This entry was originally posted at https://purplecat.dreamwidth.org/812624.html.
cookbook_challenge
From my mother's cookbook. This is a newspaper clipping of unknown provenance. It starts by stating the recipe is from "Leaves from our Tuscan Kitchen" so I had some hopes of dating the clipping by googling the recipe book. However it transpires that Leaves from our Tuscan Kitchen was first published in 1899 and my mother is not that old.
Ingredients
6 large peppers
1 onion
4 tbsps olive or vegetable oil
4 oz cooked chicken
4 oz long grain rice
3/4 pint chicken stock (or water and stock cube)
1/2 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme or 1/4 tsp dried
Freshly ground black pepper
Method
Cut a slice off stalk end of peppers and scoop out seeds and core from inside.
Cook peppers in boiling, salted water for 10 minutes and drain well.
Peel and finely chop onion.
Finely chop chicken.
Heat 2 tbsps oil in frying pan. Add onion and cook over low heat, until onion is soft and transparent.
Add chicken and rice and continue to cook over low heat, stirring, for 3 minutes.
Add stock and thyme, season with salt and pepper and cook for 12 minutes over medium heat until rice has begun to swell.
Pack peppers into lightly greased baking dish, open end up and pack three-quarters full with risotto mixture.
Pour remaining oil and stock over sides of peppers and bake them in a hot oven (400F, Reg. 6) for 30 minutes.
Changes, Mistakes and Substitutions
I did not pre-cook the chicken. I was using breast and didn't want it to dry out and figured if it was finely chopped it would cook just fine. I also substituted arborio rice for long grain rice since the stuffing was described as a risotto.
We were a little dubious about boiling the peppers before we stuffed them (not something we normally do with stuffed peppers) and indeed one did fall apart when I drained it, but the others were fine and I think it just needed a little more care.
I also filled the peppers to the top. I hadn't even noticed it said three-quarters until I ran out of risotto - however given one pepper had fallen apart anyway this wasn't a disaster.
Verdict
As this reviewer notes, it is difficult to imagine this as a Victorian recipe, it feels very modern, which just goes to show, I suppose, that modernity is not as novel as we might think. Obviously the unknown newspaper columnist may have updated the recipe (the mention of using a stock cube, for instance) but I'm sure the essence of the idea of stuffing peppers with risotto must date back.
We really liked it, and also thought the general concept was an interesting one and are now contemplating our various other risotto recipes with a viewing to stuffing them into peppers. This entry was originally posted at https://purplecat.dreamwidth.org/812624.html.