Bulgarian Green Pepper Casserole

This recipe is very liberally adapted from a recipe in Mollie Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook, which she herself adapted in The New Moosewood Cookbook. Both of her versions use dairy, for which I substitute blended tofu, with some tahini for added richness if you wish. Katzen doesn’t use a tomato sauce, but instead layers tomato slices on top before baking.

The tomato sauce in this recipe, including the unusual addition of cinnamon and the optional addition of something “meaty,” shows the influence of the Greek dish pastitsio, which I used to cook in my graduate school days. Speaking of pasta, you could of course substitute a small pasta like orzo for the rice. But layering pasta starts to sound like lasagna, and that’s a whole separate dish!

At the time I am entering this recipe (late summer), there’s an abundance of tomatoes and peppers, so use them if you have them. Cook up some fresh tomatoes for the sauce. Use green peppers–at end of summer it seems like there are plenty which will never ripen before frost–but also feel free to use any or all colors of bell pepper that you have on hand. Enjoy!