Stuffed Peppers

When your garden gives you a bounty of peppers, it’s time to get stuffing.

We left most of this year’s peppers on the plant until they turned from green to red, imparting more sweetness as they ripened.

With these four peppers, you can feed eight people, provided you have another side vegetable, like corn, as I did, or a salad.

Of course, that’s assuming you have a normal appetite.

But if eating a whole pizza by yourself is normal for you, then you’ll want two halves per person.

The stuffing is mostly ground beef, but with a bit of brown rice and some tomato sauce mixed in to give it a little more flavor. The peppers release a lot of water after they’ve been cooking a while, but I give it a head start by pouring in a small bit of water on the bottom before covering the whole thing with aluminum foil. It also means you don’t need to grease the pan.

Bake covered for a half hour, then remove the cover and bake for another half hour. If there’s too much water on the bottom, remove the peppers and drain most of the water.

Near the last ten minutes of cooking, top with more sauce and slices of fontina cheese and place back in the oven to melt.

Serve with another vegetable, like corn on the cob, green beans, or a salad, for a complete meal.

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Stuffed Peppers

Cuisine: Italian

Author: Ciao Chow Linda

printable recipe here

Ingredients

• Stuffed Peppers
• 4 large red (or green) peppers
• 1/2 cup raw brown rice, cooked in 1 1/2 cups water (I use short grain brown rice)
• 1 egg
• 1 large shallot
• 1 large clove garlic
• 2 T. olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• pinch black pepper
• 2 T. minced parsley
• 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 cups shredded fontina cheese, plus a little more to place on top
• 1 cup tomato sauce, plus another cup for pouring on top

Instructions

1. Cut the peppers in half.
2. Remove the ribs, drizzle a little olive oil on the inside and season with salt and pepper.
3. Make the stuffing mixing all the ingredients, including 1 cup tomato sauce.
4. Stuff the mixture into the peppers, and place in a casserole.
5. Put a shallow amount of water on the bottom of the casserole and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake at 400 degrees for 1/2 hour.
6. Remove the foil, and most of the water that will have accumulated on the bottom since the peppers will release a good amount in the cooking.
7. Be careful not to burn yourself.
8. Cover the peppers with tomato sauce and place back in the oven for another 1/2 hour.
9. Remove from the oven and place a slice of fontina cheese on top.
10. Place in the oven again for another five minutes or so until the cheese has melted.

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