israeli breakfast salad

we've already established that salad for breakfast is totally delicious and great, right? right.

this israeli salad is my new favorite weekend breakfast, though i also sometimes bring it for lunch. it's versatile like that.

it's also cold and refreshing, which is nice since texas hasn't gotten the message that it's supposed to cool off post-labor-day. stupid texas. when it's 100 degrees one doesn't necessarily feel like having a hot plate of migas. oh, who am i kidding - one always feels like having a hot plate of migas. but alternating them with breakfast salads will make you feel extra virtuous and clever.

anyway, it's stupid-easy and you get to practice your knife skills (which is why i usually make this on the weekends - it's a lot of chopping for a weekday morning when you haven't had coffee yet). you want to make all of the pieces as close to the same size as is reasonably possible, so a little concentration pays off.

for two largish servings, just cut up some cucumber, sweet onion, tomatoes, herbs, and any color of bell pepper except green because they are disgusting. toss them with some lemon juice or vinegar, salt, and pepper and ta da! you can also add bits of cheese (feta, goat cheese, or manchego are all good), other vegetables (grated carrot, some zucchini, maybe jicama??), spices (sumac is good, and/or za'atar) or a bit of olive oil. it's good with toasted pita or flatbread, which you could also add to the salad itself to make an ersatz fattoush (that's a freebie for those of you who are always on the lookout for good band names, by the way). the only rule is that there are no rules!

actually, i think there are some rules (the main vegetables, the trying-to-make-them-all-the-same-size), but perhaps you're the type for whom rules were made to be broken, in which case do whatever. i'm no snitch.

the last warm weeks of summer are when this salad's ingredients are at their best, so make sure to try this before we're all bundled up and talking about roasted squash soup or whatever. jk, it will never again be cold enough to turn on the oven. we are doomed to eternal summer - might as well roll with it.

*ingredients*
there are probably a million versions of this and i've never been to israel. this is just how i do it.

• 1 large or 2 or more small cucumbers (those little persian ones are good here)
• 1 red, orange, etc bell pepper
• 1/2 a large sweet onion (like 1015, vidalia, etc)
• 1 large or several small tomatoes (i used two big romas this time, but the fancy heirloom ones would be aces)

chop all of the vegetables into small and similar-sized bits (i usually try to a fairly small dice, like 1 cm or less). toss together with

• 1-2 tbsp sherry vinegar, lemon juice, or other mildish vinegar (probably not a strong balsamic, for instance) - start small and taste until it's to your liking. i like it pretty tart.
• a handful of herbs, chopped (parsley, basil, oregano, mint, tarragon and other more exotic herbs are all good in here. today i didn't have any parsley and my herbs aren't doing that well, so the pictured salad is not as herby as i would prefer)
• salt and pepper to taste (maybe 1 tsp salt, but start smaller)

optional: sumac, za'atar or other dried spices, to taste (maybe 1 tsp?), olive or maybe some kind of nut oil (i don't care for oil here, but some do!)

i like this best right after it's made, but it will keep for several hours in the fridge just fine.

listening to: songs mentioning john berryman - okkervil river's "john allyn smith sails" and the hold steady's "stuck between stations" (i think the hold steady is tied with yo la tengo as the band that looks most like they could your high school science or english teachers)

looking at: this "romantic real life comic" is adorable. also this tumblr is great for finding new art if you enjoy modern stuff but are lazy about seeking it out, as i am.

peppers and zucchini stuffed with rice & beans

i randomly picked up some gorgeous anaheim peppers at the produce market the other day and was at something of a loss as to what to do with them. although i use jalapeños and any-color-but-green bell peppers with some frequency, i rarely branch out in any significant way to other members of the capsicum family.

i don't know if i'd even tasted anaheim peppers before. but look at them - could you have left those dark green beauties sitting on the shelf? i don't think so.

having discovered via the magic of the internet that they're generally not too crazy-hot, i decided to stuff them. we had stuffed peppers not infrequently when i was growing up and while i always liked the filling, the peppers themselves were not my favorite. for one thing, they were almost invariably stupid green bell peppers. for another, i think bell peppers generally are too thick and sturdy to make a really good stuffed pepper. you end up getting too many bites that are all pepper and no filling. because these anaheims are longer and thinner-fleshed, i thought they'd be perfect for stuffing.

i got some smallish zucchini at the same time and decided to stuff them as well. stuffed vegetable party! to prepare the zucchini, i used a knife to cut part of one side off, then used a spoon to scrape out the middle flesh to make it kind of a zucchini-canoe. if you use larger zucchini, you could probably just cut them in half and do the same. make sure to save the parts you scrape out to use in the filling!

the peppers were slightly more complicated. i don't know if you have to do this, but i wanted to roast and peel them before stuffing. i don't like the skin on peppers and i thought they'd be easier to stuff if they were soft already. you can roast them under the broiler in the oven, turning them as the outside blisters and blackens. if you are lucky enough to have a gas stove, you can use a set of tongs to hold the peppers directly over the burner to cook. i decided to use the broil feature on the toaster oven, which worked well. i just put the peppers on the grate and broiled them on high, turning them occasionally until the skin was blistered and blackened in spots and the peppers were soft. then i put them in a bowl and covered it with a plastic bag so that they would steam up - this loosens the skin. after about 10 minutes, i was able to peel the skin off easily.

i decided to make a rice and black bean stuffing with some vaguely mexican flavors - i thought it would work well with the slightly spicy peppers (and zucchini goes with everything, much like gin and the color black).

i started with half an onion, chopped pretty small. i let it cook down for a few minutes, until it was translucent and starting to brown. then i added three large cloves of garlic and half a jalapeño, minced. we are pretty big fans of garlic, though, so you should add whatever you're comfy with. this is the point at which you should add spices as well. i used perhaps a teaspoon of cumin and the same of smoked paprika. i also used some chili powder - maybe 1/2 teaspoon or a little more.

let this cook for maybe 30 seconds to a minute, then add the chopped meat from inside the zucchini. after this cooks down a little (maybe 2 minutes), add a can of drained black beans (clearly you could also make these yourself - i just didn't have any at hand) and maybe a cup or cup and a half of cooked rice. i used white rice, but you can also use brown if you like. i also used like 2/3 of a cup of frozen spinach. it would be totally fine without that, though.

let the filling mixture cool, then add some cheese - i used a couple of ounces of crumbled feta and a couple of ounces of extra sharp cheddar cut into small cubes, but you can use whatever you like. queso fresco would be great, for instance. i let the filling cool before adding the cheese because i wanted it to stay in discrete shapes rather than melting throughout.

then just stuff away! i pulled the stems from the peppers and used my hand to split the side open. you have to be somewhat gentle with them so they don't start splitting all over the place. i used one hand to cradle the pepper and the other to push the stuffing in, then laid them on their sides. for the zucchini, just pile the stuffing into your little boats (press it in firmly) and you're done!

finally, i sprinkled them each with a tablespoon or so of panko breadcrumbs for crunch and baked them in the toaster oven at 400 degrees for about half an hour. you can certainly bake them in a regular oven, of course - just bake until the zucchini are tender when you poke at them with a knife.

this was a really satisfying and healthy vegetarian dinner. it would also be great (and vegan!) without the cheese. the anaheim peppers were great - i will definitely be getting them again. the filling could also be used to stuff any number of things - yellow squash, chayotes, tomatoes, winter squash once the weather changes, etc.

*ingredients*

2 anaheim peppers

2 small zucchini

1/2 onion

3 cloves garlic

1/2 jalapeño

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon (+) chili powder

zucchini (from the ones you're stuffing)

1 can black beans

1 - 1 1/2 cups cooked rice

2/3 cup frozen spinach (obviously you could also use fresh)

2 ounces feta

2 ounces sharp cheddar

*i should note - this makes a lot of stuffing, so you will probably have extra*

~4 tablespoons panko crumbs (optional)