Chorizo and Squash-Stuffed Sweet Peppers

Cooking with friends who love food the way we do is one of our greatest pleasures. Last weekend I had a cooking date with my friend Talea Bloom, and she made me these stuffed peppers for lunch. They're incredibly rich and flavorful, especially with bell peppers at the peak of ripeness and sweetness.

In the middle of lunch, I realized I hadn't taken a photo to post with the recipe. "Stop cutting!" I said. "I need a picture!"

She patiently let her pepper grow cool while I set up a nice shot. That's one of the drawbacks of food blogging when you're hungry - snapping pics of food that's getting colder (or warmer) while you drool on your camera.

We live in an area of a lot of ethnic diversity, and one of the local grocery stores makes tasty fresh chorizo. One of these days we're going to try making it ourselves, using the sausage-making techniques I developed in my book, The Complete Guide to Food Preservation: Step-by-step Instructions on How to Freeze, Dry, Can, and Preserve Food. I'll be sure to post recipes if we do it!

Ingredients

6 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp reserved for topping
1 tbsp butter
3 medium shallots, diced
1 cup arborio rice

1 lb fresh chorizo
1 cup butternut squash, peeled and finely diced

¾ cup white wine
1 cup boiling chicken stock

½ cup minced dates

1/3 cup fresh cilantro, 1 tbsp reserved for topping

½ cup asiago cheese, grated
4 large yellow or orange peppers

Directions

Heat the oil and butter together in a large frying pan. Sauté the shallots until glossy and translucent. Add rice and sauté till white. Place the rice and shallots in a bowl and set aside. Remove the chorizo from its casing and crumble it into the pan. Brown the meat on all sides. Stir in the squash.

Pour in the wine and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half.  Pour in the chicken stock and rice mixture. Simmer covered for 15 minutes, or until rice is nearly tender. Add dates, cilantro, and asiago cheese. Stir well, then turn off the heat and leave the pan covered for 5 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the peppers in half lengthwise and core them. Oil a 9x12 baking pan and lay the peppers in the pan. Divide the chorizo mixture evenly between each pepper half. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 25 minutes, or until the peppers are just tender. Sprinkle with the reserved cilantro before serving.

Serves 8.