Chorizo and Manchego Stuffed Peppers

In Miami, my family often ate dinner really late to accomodate sports practice, piano lessons, and Dad's work schedule, so we got in the habit of having pre-dinner tapas. We always had some Manchego cheese, chorizo and Spanish olives in the house. Missing our pre-dinner ritual here in Arlington (we eat much earlier!), I decided I could make a tapas inspired dinner. Mom and Dad had brought us a full wheel of Manchego and a log of chorizo from Delicias de Espana, our favorite Spanish place in Miami. So with a little help from Safeway and Harris Teeter, we had tapas for supper. Check it out!

The ingredients: Bread crumbs, olive oil, traffic light peppers (ok, so there isn't a green, but in Miami people often cross intersections during red, yellow, and the ever elusive orange light), garlic, onions, manchego and chorizo.

Cube the chorizo and sautee it with a little olive oil. Then chop the onions and garlic and add them to the chorizo. Preheat the oven to 350.

After the onions and garlic have softened add in the bread crumbs and some more olive oil for flavor and texture.

Stir this all together and take it off of the heat. Then add the cubed manchego and an egg (I actually forgot to add the egg, but it would have helped it all stick together.)

Decapitate the peppers and stuff with the chorizo-manchego mixture. Try to get a few extra cubes of cheese towards the top for browning.

Place in a baking dish. I love my pyrex because it doesn't burn the bottoms and it is so easy to clean. Place into your 350 degree oven and wait for 20-25 minutes.

Once they are golden brown and the peppers have softened you are ready for tapas that eat like a meal. I suggest pairing this dish with a red wine: Rioja from Spain, Pinot Noir because it goes with everything, or even a Malbec from Argentina. A nice light side salad of arugula with lemon vinagrette would be pretty tasty too.