Are we all agreed that the most delicious food isn't always the most beautiful? Good. That said, remember that slow cooker tomato sauce I made the other day? I wanted to find something pretty spectacular to make with it, rather than wasting it on something boring - hence, ricotta and black bean stuffed peppers, roasted in tomato sauce and topped with crispy cheese. De-lic-ious.
Ricotta is one of my favourite ingredients to use as a 'stuffing' - the cool creaminess does a really good job at cutting through the rich tomato sauce. It's also great alongside a spicy sauce, such as in my enchilada stuffed pasta shells. Basically, ricotta + anything = awesome.
As usual, this recipe is very simple and lazy, as lately I've been doing too much faffing with my new blog to spend very long in the kitchen (I literally spent about an hour trying to get one line of text to move down about a millimetre). The filling doesn't need any precooking, so all you do is mix it up, stuff it in the pepper, and throw it in the oven. Easy peasy. I used long red peppers, but you could use normal bell peppers if you prefer - they taste identical.
- 200g ricotta cheese
- 1 x 400g tin black beans, drained and rinsed (240g when drained)
- 3 spring onions, sliced
- 3tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
- ½tsp smoked paprika
- ½tsp hot chilli powder
- ½tsp garlic powder
- 100g cheddar cheese, grated
- Salt
- Black pepper
- 3 large red peppers (I used long, thin ones)
- 350g tomato sauce (shop-bought or homemade)
- Preheat the oven to 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F).
- Combine the first seven ingredients (ricotta through garlic powder) in a bowl, along with half of the grated cheddar. Season well with salt and black pepper.
- Cut the top off each pepper, and use a sharp knife to reach inside and remove the seeds (if you are finding this tricky, make one slice down the side of the pepper to help).
- Use a teaspoon to stuff each pepper with a third of the ricotta mixture (if you are using long peppers like I did, make sure you press it right down to the bottom).
- Spread about 100g of the tomato sauce in the bottom of a baking dish, and place the peppers on top. Pour over the remaining sauce, and top with the remaining grated cheese.
- Place in the oven for around 25 minutes, or until the pepper is quite soft and the cheese is crispy (if the cheese is browning too quickly, cover with foil and continue to cook until the pepper is soft).
Mary says
Can Cottage be used instead of Ricotta?
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
I guess so! They have a very different texture, and cottage cheese is more tangy too, so the end result wouldn't be quite the same - but I guess it would still work. I think ricotta would be better though, if you can get it.
Margaret Siman says
Very tasty. Substituted regular onion because didn't have green onion. Made with green and red peppers. Great for leftovers!!!
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
Glad you enjoyed them Margaret, thanks for your comment! :)
Ryan says
Delicious! Adding it to my "reasons not to feel bad about constantly eating black beans" list.
robinpack says
looking good, love anything ricotta even though i'm not crazy about cheese in general. But I do like jack, mozzarella & ricotta (& of coarse cream) cheese.
LittleMonsterx14 says
I love how easy you made it to print your recipes!
Happy Valley Chow says
Have no fear, Happy Valley Chow is here and I updated my reader :) Looks like a fantastic recipe, great job :)
Happy Blogging!
Happy Valley Chow
Amanda Cowan says
Yum! Any new ways to use ricotta are always welcome! My hubby is a vegetarian and I'm a 'partial meat eater" (maybe 3-4 times a week). So most of the time I look for things like this- complete proteins to satisfy both of us. Perfect!