Surprisingly good bell pepper cheesybeans.

[sapote]

For someone who considers herself an herbivore I have a credulity-straining list of vegetable dislikes. I don't like okra, I don't like eggplant, I don't like hardy greens, and I don't like raw bell peppers. I know! Raw bell peppers! Agriculture's perfect summer snack! For some reason, I only like them cooked. Really, really well cooked.

So last night, faced with a sack of four-day-old bell peppers from my CSA, I decided I needed a recipe where I just sauteed the heck out of those suckers. Basically.

I used:

- 1 tbspish olive oil
- four bell peppers of various hues
- two pimento-type peppers (red)
- two anaheim-type chiles
- two heatless jalapeno peppers - has anyone else ever had these? They're jalapenos with all the spicy bred out, they're very good but sort of surreal.
- about 1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes
- six small spring onions (about equal to one medium leek)
- two cloves garlic
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- salt, pepper, a little bit of cayenne powder to taste.
- 1 can each (or 1.5 cups each) pinto beans and navy beans
- 2/3 cup monterey jack cheese.

Procedure:

- I seeded, rinsed, and cubed all the peppers, and peeled and sliced the spring onions and garlic.
- I heated the tbspish (a.k.a. a good splash) of olive oil in a saucepan on medium, and then added the peppers and onions/garlic, gave them a good stir, and covered them.
- I rinsed the cherry tomatoes and halved them, and then added them along with the dried oregano and a pinch of salt
- I drained and rinsed the cans of beans, added those, stirred the whole thing, and then covered it and turned the heat down to medium-low for about twenty minutes.

- Then I stirred in the shredded cheese bit by bit until it was satisfactorily creamy.
- Then I ate it on chips.

Served about four, I'd guess. This had a creamy blandness very reminiscent of mac n' cheese, in a good way - one of my household was feeling poorly, and this hit the comfort-food spot. For a more assertive dish, I'd double the amount of tomatoes and use fresh oregano and maybe some lime juice.

I was really pleased with how the white beans combined with relatively little cheese to make a very creamy, cheesy dish - I ate it on chips, but this would have been good with potatoes or in a burrito for sure.