Baby Button Stuffed Red Peppers with Wild Rice, Dried Cranberries & Toasted Pecans Recipe

Are you cooking up a storm this festive season?

With Christmas and NYE just around the corner, I am sure you will also have lots of family around as the festive season always brings everyone together enjoying a glass of wine, while having conversation over great food.

Cook up something different and exciting this year with these fantastic recipes provided by the South African Mushroom Farmer’s Association that not only pairs fantastically with a glass of bubbly, wine or a local gin, it’s also something new that everyone in the family will love.

• Festive Mushroom Wellington & Cranberry Sauce
• Baby Button Stuffed Red Peppers with Wild Rice, Dried Cranberries & Toasted Pecans
• Savoury Mushroom Loaded Crêpes

Baby Button Stuffed Red Peppers with Wild Rice, Dried Cranberries & Toasted Pecans

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 4 red bell peppers
• ½ cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup hot rooibos tea
• 250g baby button mushrooms, halved
• 2 cups cooked wild rice
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• ¼ cup spring onions, sliced
• ¼ cup pecan nuts. lightly toasted
• ¼ cup parsley, roughly chopped
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180˚C.
2. Slice the peppers in half and remove the seeds and white membrane.
3. Drizzle with a little olive oil and rub both the inside and outside to coat them.
4. Arrange them upside down on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes.
5. Place the dried cranberries and the hot rooibos tea in a small bowl and leave until the cranberries are plump and soft. Discard the rooibos.
6. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large frying pan.
7. Cook baby buttons cut side down until golden brown and just tender.
8. Remove from the heat and place in a large bowl.
9. To the bowl- add the cooked wild rice and the drained cranberries. Mix.
10. Fold in the lemon zest, chilli, spring onions, pecans and parsley.
11. Turn the peppers cut side up and fill with the rice and mushroom mixture.
12. Return to the oven to heat everything through together and finish cooking the peppers until tender. Approximately 10 minutes.
13. Squeeze a little lemon juice over each stuffed pepper and serve.