Stuffed baby peppers

Last weekend ended our CSA. As a thank you, we received 7 pounds of whatever variety of apples they had (which was about 8) and two boxes of potatoes, tomatoes, & baby bell peppers.

I took those baby bell peppers & froze them as an appetizer for the future. Did you hear that echo? Let me say it again - Appetizer Forrrrr the Futurrrrrrrre!!



Here's what happened:

Stuffed baby bell peppers

1 package of cream cheese (1/3 less fat)
1/2 head of garlic (optional)
1/4 cup of sundried tomatoes (or your own oven-dried)
handful of fresh basil or other herbs
a quart or more of baby bell peppers

Preheat oven to 350. Slice one line into the baby bell peppers. This will be where we pipe the filling into the pepper. It makes sense to slice the line where the pepper naturally is face-up. Dig out (if you want) the seeds & ribs of the peppers. (I didn't on the 2nd time making these.)

Mince the garlic, chop the tomatoes into small pieces. Mix into the cream cheese. Place the mixture into a heavy duty quart-size ziploc bag. Snip one of the tips.

Pipe the mixture into each of the peppers. Lay onto a rimmed baking sheet or rimmed dish.

To make now: Bake until the cheese filling looks done - about 15-20 minutes.

To freeze for later: Lay the peppers onto a sheet pan & place in the freezer for about 3 hours. Make sure the peppers don't touch. Then, bag the peppers in a freezer ziploc bag & store for the Futurrrrrrre! I haven't used them since they've been frozen, but I would imagine that you'd bake them for 45-60min at 350 or 375 from frozen.

Yummy!

Onion tart.

This year, we celebrated Open That Bottle Night with a few friends.

For those of you who don't know:
Ever have a special bottle of wine that is sitting on the shelf... gathering dust... maybe looking a little lonely? Open That Bottle Night was created strictly for that bottle. It doesn't have to be expensive. It just has to be unopened & waiting.

For our Open That Bottle Night, we opened 5 bottles of wine. Of which, the best was last - an amazing 2003 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon. I'm not a big red drinker, but this one could convert anyone. Anyone, I say!

To pair with the wines, everyone brought a little something. Kate, our hostess, made lamb chops and roasted potatoes. Someone else brought a spinach bread & red wine chocolate cake. The man & I brought an onion tart and tea smoked chicken lettuce wraps.

The onion tart? It was phenomenal - a definite keeper. If you read the recipe, you'll see crème fraîche in the ingredients. Crème fraîche is the delight of sour creams & expensive to boot. If you can't find it or don't want to "waste" $5 for a tiny pot, substitute full fat sour cream. I doubt anyone will notice a difference in quality. (Except the cook - who will not be tempted to repeatedly dip a spoon into the sour cream & lick. At least, not me.)

I ended up making it twice this week. After all, we had the ingredients even the crème fraîche (*lick*lick*), & it was amazing. Even non-onion eaters loved it.

The tea smoked chicken lettuce wraps were also good, but not nearly as amazing as the onion tart.

Make it!! Make it tonight!