Pepper, Bean and Cheese Arepas

Pepper, Bean and Cheese Arepas

Last night, the vegetarian and I were looking forward to venturing up to Harlem for some soul food from Melba's, but, unfortunately, they were totally booked. How disappointing! (Luckily we called first.) 


Since we had promised ourselves a culinary adventure, ordering in was certainly not an option. I decided instead to cook--something easy, tasty and interesting that we could both make together. Inspiration began with one of my favorite cooking tomes, The Best International Recipe, a collection of (very detailed) International recipes by Cook's Illustrated Magazine (who are also the exceedingly helpful and knowledgeable folks behind America's Test Kitchen. I stumbled upon the section on arepas, Venezuelan stuffed corn cakes, and quickly decided that was what we would make. Since I'd never made arepas before, I followed the recipe to the T and was thrilled by how easy and delicious they turned out. If you've only ever had mozzarepas at street fairs, you're missing out!


But one of the best things about arepas is that they're really little sandwiches that you split open like English muffins and stuff with whatever you desire. So it was with the filling that I could play around. I chose beans and cheese, a traditional Venezuelan filling called domino. But I didn't want it to be too heavy and I wanted to incorporate a little sweetness, so I added some bell peppers. Ta-da! Because I used canned beans, the filling didn't require any cooking, making this ideal for a casual weeknight meal. Enjoy!


Pepper Bean and Cheese Corn Cake Filling
(adapted from The Best International Recipe)

• 1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 4 ounces Monterey jack, shredded
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, minced
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 tablespoon Himalayan salt
• 1/4 tablespoon pepper, freshly ground
• 8 freshly made arepas

Pour beans into a large bowl. Mash well with a potato masher (with his superior arm strength, this was the

Pepper, Bean and Cheese Filling

vegetarian's job). When beans are mashed into a paste, add bell pepper, cheese, cilantro, onions, lime juice, chili powder, salt and pepper. Set aside while you make arepas. As soon as the arepas are out of the oven, pry them open using two forks and a knife and stuff each one with about 3 tablespoons of filling. The warm arepas melt the cheese beautifully. Any leftover filling can be heated for another meal.

Make it a meal: Why tie yourself down to one cuisine? Serve this with bok choy instead of a salad. To drink? I recommend beer: John John Dead Guy, to be precise. And for dessert. raspberries. Bon appetit!

Links to other bean and corn noshes:

• Black Bean, Corn and Avocado Salad from Eclectic Recipes
• Corn, Bean and Two Tomato Salad from The Perfect Pantry
• Hawaiian Barbecue Quesadillas and Black Bean Corn Salsa from Eclectic Recipes
• Arlo's Twisted Three Sisters Soup from The Perfect Pantry
• Corn Cake Bean Balls from Healthy. Happy. Life.

Pepper & Potato Soup

Pepper & Potato Soup

In an ongoing effort to continue eating organic fruits and vegetables and, at the same time, support local farms, the Vegetarian and I joined Winter Sun Farms CSA. What's really special about this particular CSA is that they deliver locally grown, flash-frozen summer produce--in the depths of winter. So, as we're getting tired of only finding root vegetables at the Greenmarket, now our freezer has a beautiful assortment of summer fruits and vegetables: diced mixed peppers, blueberries, sweet corn, Carolina Gold tomatoes, butternut squash puree, green beans and fresh pea shoots. We pick up this array of goodies once a month, through April, at which point spring produce will be in full force. The other nice thing about everything being frozen is that we don't have to worry about using it immediately (except the pea shoots, of course. Any suggestions?)


Dinner last night came, as usual, from a couple of sources. First, since we had leftover potatoes from our mashed celery potatoes earlier this week, I knew I wanted to use those. And what better use for potatoes in February then in a soup? The recipe inspiration came from a cookbook I found waiting to be thrown out in my old building in Chelsea--Quick and Healthy Home Cooking. The book itself is rather shticky--all the recipes are either below a certain carb count or take fewer than 30 minutes to cook--and this particular one was made entirely in the microwave! So I knew I had to adapt it to the stovetop. (Even though, for the first time since college, I now reside with a microwave, I still have no desire to use it for anything other than reheating and occasionally making popcorn.) The original recipe was also for a beet & potato soup--sufficiently wintry, of course, but we had bell peppers in the freezer! That, and the vegetarian isn't so into beets. So then I poked around online and found Elise's recipe for Roasted Red Pepper and Potato Soup. Perfection! A quick combination of the two recipes and we were in business. Enjoy!


Pepper & Potato Soup

• 23 ounces mixed bell peppers, diced (about 4)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 white onion, chopped
• 5 red-skinned potatoes, diced
• 1 russet potato, diced
• 1 fuji apple, peeled, cored and grated (I did this in the food processor--much easier)
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon cumin, ground
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 pinch thyme, dried
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper, ground
• sour cream, to taste (optional)
• brown rice, cooked (optional)
• several sprigs dill leaf, to garnish

Preheat oven to 350F. Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Toss peppers with olive oil and spread out on pan. Roast for 20 minutes, until quite fragrant. Remove and set aside.

In a medium stockpot, mix together onion, potatoes, apple and water. Steam, covered, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Stir in cumin and cook another minute. Add peppers (and their oil), bay leaf, thyme, lemon juice and vegetable broth. Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to very low and simmer for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and let rest 5 minutes.

Remove bay leaf and discard. Transfer contents of pot (in batches!) to food processor and pulse until smooth. Stir in salt and pepper. If necessary, return soup to pot and reheat. Garnish with sour cream (if desired--I did, the vegetarian didn't) and dill. If you want something heartier, stir in some cooked brown rice (the vegetarian did; I found it delightful as is. Serve warm.

Links to other pepper potato soup noshes:

• Roasted Red Pepper Potato Soup from Simply Recipes
• Corn, Red Pepper & Potato Soup from Albion Cooks
• Red Pepper and Potato Soup with Sweet Paprika from Jane Spice
• Squash, Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup from The Perfect Pantry
• Cheesy Potato, Broccoli & Piquillo Pepper Soup from What We're Eating
• Potato Leek Soup from Simply Recipes

Hummus with Roasted Red Pepper, Capers and Cilantro

Last night, we finally had our first dinner party in the new apartment. Because of the blizzard, however, we had only one guest--Davey--my best friend and pseudo-brother. In his honor, I made roast beef (and broiled tofu for the Vegetarian), Spicy Broiled Eggplant and Hummus with Roasted Red Pepper, Capers and Cilantro. We also enjoyed a delicious box(!) of Merlot. Everything was delicious and, as usual, there was far too much food--even for three hearty eaters. However, the one thing there could have been more of was the hummus (which we first served with pita chips but then spread onto bread, tofu, eggplant--even the roast beef--until we were practically licking the bowls! (It was so good, and disappeared so thoroughly that we didn't even get to take a picture.) The Vegetarian kept declaring it "amazing" and we've already begun dreaming up new hummus combinations. This one was inspired by one in the The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen to which I added (among other things) capers since The Flavor Bible informed me they are good "esp. with roasted peppers". They were. Enjoy!

Hummus with Roasted Red Pepper, Capers and Cilantro

• 2 red bell peppers, quartered
• 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1 (15-oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 2 teaspoons cumin, ground
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons capers
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel
• 5 green onions, chopped (white and green parts)
• 1 leek, finely chopped (white part only)
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
• 1-2 bags pita chips

Preheat oven to 400F. Arrange peppers on foil-lined baking sheet, skin sides up, and bake 20 minutes, until skins char. Meanwhile, place sesame seeds on a small saucepan over medium heat and toast, shaking every minute or so, for about 5 minutes, or until they become fragrant. When sesame seeds are toasted, remove from pan and set aside to cool. When peppers are roasted, place in brown paper bag, roll it securely closed and set it aside 20 minutes to cool and steam so pepper skins are easy to remove. After 20 minutes, peel skins off pepper quarters with your hands.

In a food processor, combine chickpeas and vegetable broth until smooth. Continue the food processor and add peppers, cumin, lemon juice, capers, sesame seeds, garlic, hot pepper sauce and salt. Transfer to a serving bowl and stir in green onions, leeks and cilantro. Serve with pita chips.

Links to other hummus noshes:

• Hummus from Simply Recipes
• Real Hummus from The Hummus Blog
• Roasted Red Pepper Hummus from Pinch My Salt