vegan stuffed peppers with rice and veggies (and a pinch of malice)

the belle peppers are the protagonists in this delicious tragedy. poor, sweet bell peppers, decapitated and eviscerated in the first act.

ingredients:

2 sanguine, sweet bell peppers, heads cut off, entrails and ribs removed
1 cup (prepared) whole-grain rice, cooked in veggie broth
2 cloves garlic
1/2 medium onion
5 small mushrooms
1 stalk celery
6 cherry tomatoes (or ½ medium tomato)
1/4 cup fresh parsley
oregano and basil to taste
1/4 cup veggie broth

preheat oven to 350.

mince the garlic and parsley (and oregano and basil, if you’re using fresh). finely chop the onion, mushrooms, celery and tomato.

in a medium saucepan, heat up a splash of olive oil. stirring constantly, sauté the garlic for a few seconds, then add the onion and mushrooms. cook a couple minutes then add the celery and tomato.

once everything is well-cooked, turn off the heat and add the parsley, oregano and basil. stir it in and let it sit on the stove for 2-3 minutes. add the cooked rice and mix everything together.

spoon the dreadful mélange into the peppers’ orifices until their hollowed bellies are wholly engorged.

re-capitate the peppers and envelop them in tin foil. spill broth over them; let it form a pool of spleen in which they can sweat, wrinkle and ultimately perish. seal the foil around their heads, force them side-by-side into a glass baking dish and hurl them into the inferno.

bake for about 35 minutes. remove from the oven and open the foil to permit the peppers a dying breath. bake, fully exposed, another 10-15 minutes, until their corpses are yielding and succulent.

now feast, ye villain.