Southwestern Tsimmes Stuffed in Anaheim Peppers

Lenard Rubin’s recipe, adapted by Joan Nathan.  Because roasting and stuffing so many peppers was such a challenge, we adapted it further.  However, here’s the version that appears in the New York Times Passover Cookbook.

Ingredients:

• 12 oz pitted prunes
• 6 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• 3 medium sweet potatoes (about 2 lbs), peeled and diced
• 6 Tbs honey
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1 1/2 tsp chopped cilantro
• 12 green or red Anaheim chiles
• Pareve margarine for greasing baking dish

Cooking Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
2. Combine all ingredients, except chiles, in a greased 3 quart baking dish.
3. Cover and bake, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft, but not mushy, 3 to 4 hours.  Let cool.  (This can be prepared a day ahead.)
4. Roast chiles under broiler, turning frequently, until skins turn black.  (Do not overcook; peeled chiles should remain green and crunchy.)
5. Under cold running water, rub with your fingers to peel skin off.  With a sharp knife, make a slit from bottom of stem to point of each chile.
6. Gently peel out seeds and rinse inside.  Pat each chile dry, and stuff with chopped tsimmes so chile is slightly overstuffed, causing slit to open, exposing filling.
7. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

Makes 12 servings.

We adapted this to make appetizer sized portions by roasting, peeling and seeding only a few spicy peppers, and mixing minced spicy peppers into the tzimmes mixture after the first baking step (step 3). We then split and seeded 2-3 inch long, triangular baby bell peppers, stuffed them with a generously heaping tablespoon of the tzimmes mixture and roasted these on an open baking sheet.