Stuffed Red Peppers

For whatever reason (and it's probably some sort of disturbing psychological reason), I enjoy when foods are stuffed inside of other food.  One of my favorite recipes to make is a variation on a classic recipe -- Stuffed Peppers.  

When I was a kid, that meant ground meat in a tomato-based sauce.  It was simple, hearty, but heavy.  My variation is a vegetarian recipe for DB~.  My least favorite food are mushrooms, at least in their whole state.  Used in a sauce, they're not bad, so I decided to do a rich mushroom sauce for my girl.

First I cooked some Arborio rice just as the straight recipe, not as a risotto.  It was still creamy when done.  While still warm, I added some dry cranberries in an effort to re-hydrate them a little bit.  I added some feta, dry basil leaves, salt/pepper, and a little chicken broth to keep it all moist.

While the Arborio was cooking, I started the mushroom sauce.  I first melted down a couple of tablespoons of butter, then added two cloves of garlic and sauteed them down.  I added a dash of pepper and then a cup and a half of diced mushrooms.  Once that mix was softened, I added a cup of chicken stock and cooked on medium-low heat for 10 minutes.  At the end, I added a couple of tbsp of more butter to make it rich.

Once the sauce was done, I spooned it over the stuffed peppers (which were split in half and laying on their sides).  In the 8 x 8 baking dish, once the peppers were packed in, I added some more chicken stock around the peppers to keep them moist in the oven.  I baked them for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

In the middle, I did some sauteed zucchini with an Italian herb seasoning.  Even though mushrooms grow in the dark and are fungi, I actually like them in a sauce, especially when they make DB~ happy.