Comfort food is usually associated with cold winter days. Casseroles and stews, carbohydrate-rich for warmth, protein-laden for energy, meant for eating in a warm, bright room that keeps the cold and dark out. This week’s French Fridays recipe would be perfect for that sort of meal. But, it was also surprisingly good as a late summer main dish alongside some beans from the garden.
I made Dorie’s bonne idée version of the recipe, first cooking the rice as directed, then stuffing it into peppers for a nice, long stint in the oven.
The rice itself is reminiscent of risotto, though Dorie is quick to tell us that it is really a faux version. It’s certainly creamy enough to pass for risotto (even though I used 2% milk in place of cream) and it doesn’t suffer from the blandness that sometimes plagues true risottos. I don’t really need to describe the flavour to you – the title of the recipe takes care of that. I will tell you that the sweetness of bell peppers suits this rice very well.
I made a full batch, but only made a half batch of the stuffed peppers. I think we’ll have the leftovers with a little fish tomorrow night. I’ve got more beans, some cucumbers and some beets, too. I think it will make as nice a summer side dish as it did a main.
You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe here: Creamy, Cheesy, Garlicky Rice with Spinach I’ve also just had my 100th post and am doing a little giveaway to celebrate.
One Wet Foot 
I agree with your assessment that the title of this dish (while long) kind of says it all. Creamy cheesy garlicky kind of sums it up right there, and who wouldn’t like that?
We enjoyed this one as well, though I didn’t go the stuffed peppers route because my husband will not eat peppers. Oh well, he eats most everything else so I can’t hold it against him.
I think if he eats most everything else, you’re doing well! We all have our limits with food, i guess. I enjoyed the peppers a lot and am looking forward to the leftover rice for tonight’s dinner!
The stuffed peppers look so good!
And your beans look absolutely perfect!!
Thanks so much. The beans are very special – they’re from seeds saved by my great-aunt in Manitoba. The whole extended family grows them; they’re really good.
Yup, this one is perfectly named. I did the opposite of you. Ate it first as a side with fish and stuffed the leftovers into peppers the next night. I loved it both ways. Are those homegrown beans from your garden? They looks great.
The beans are homegrown – they’re a favourite of my whole family. Sounds like you had a good run with your rice. I think almost everyone liked this week’s recipe, too.
unbaked or baked it is delicious and yours looks good too 🙂 I used basmati rice and surprisingly it turned out creamy too !
That’s good to know that basmati works well, too. Thanks!
As always, your dish looks terrific. I kind of hoped to go the pepper route with some of mine, but didn’t get there. Your red peppers stuffed with the spinach and rice look so festive! Your next meal sounds great too!
Thanks so much! I really loved the peppers and know it will make a great side, too.
I’m guessing your veges are coming from your garden. The beans look great. Your rice is perfect and in that slow roasted red pepper….well it looks like a dish I could eat over and over. I don’t think I’ve read a bad review for this rice, so it will go into my “make for company” file…I think everybody likes it.
The beans are from my garden, but the peppers were from the store. I tried planting a pepper plant, but it’s not going to produce anything. The poor little thing is barely hanging on!
It’s nice to see so much positive press this week on the rice – the flavors were great & deserve the attention 🙂
Love the side of green beans.
It really is a winning recipe! The beans were great.
That looks fantastic! Anything that’s cheesy and garlicky is fine by me!
I’m going to make this one, for sure.
Thanks, Leslie! It’s a good recipe. I bet the kids will like it, too.
Hi – I’m finally back though I have been following along behind the scenes :-). I loved the method, both of cooking the rice and the add-in’s. Great “warm-up” as you say for the comfort food season.
I’m so glad you’re back! It’s a great recipe for you to make for your return.
I love the stuffed pepper – it is so eye popping. The rice itself was gorgeous – I used skim milk and it was still creamy.
Yes, it looks nice against the rice and the spinach. It’s great to know that you can amp up or dial down the milk fat in this recipe and it still works just as well.
Looks good! I didn’t make this as I don’t think my kids will eat creamy rice even if it’s cheesy! I think it’ll go well with fish. Hope you had another good dinner tonight!
Looks delicious in the bell peppers! We loved this dish, and now I really want to try it in peppers too.
Everyone liked this rice dish, and let me tell you, it tasted excellent with beets! Your stuffed peppers also look so vibrant and tempting, I must try this next time I make the rice.
I was wondering abou the pepper bonne idee. I’m glad you did it. It looks amazing. I will definitely need to try next time.
Your photos are so pretty, Teresa. I love the one with the red pepper and green beans – such a lovely contrast in colors. This is definitely a new comfort food for me and it was wonderful as leftovers.
These are some great pictures!
This was a wonderful dish! Your rice looks great…love the photo with the red pepper…Just gorgeous! I’ve been getting a large volume of green beens from my garden…and they are so yummy…freshly picked!
Beautiful, Teresa! Isn’t it nice to know we can make a risotto like rice without all that babysitting???
This dish looks so beautiful and my stomach rumbles is rumbling! Your photos look gorgeous and make me want to run out and buy the ingredients to make this!
That recipe sounds great and looks beautiful.
As you saw, we loved the flavors too, even if we put our own twist on it. Despite my love of bell peppers, didn’t think about using it to stuff them unitl I’d seen everyother Dorista take that option. Yours look great!