Classic Stuffed Peppers

Categories: dinner, lunch

Ingredients

• 4 yellow, orange or red peppers
• 3/4 lbs lean ground beef
• 1 cup cooked brown rice
• 1 1/2 cups or more diced sweet onions (about 1/2 of one large onion)
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, diced
• Salt
• 1 8-oz. can of tomato sauce
• 1 14.-oz. can of stewed Italian tomatoes, Italian recipe (with basil, garlic, and oregano)
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, then start by preparing the peppers. Slice off the top of each pepper, and reserve the tops. Then remove the seeds and the ribs from the inside of the pepper, and boil the whole peppers in a pot of salted water for 5-7 minutes, depending on the size of your peppers. Drain the water and allow the peppers to dry and cool to room temperature. Meanwhile, dice up the peppers from the reserved tops; for mine this was about 1 1/2 cups diced peppers. Then combine with diced sweet onions to make a total of 3 cups of diced vegetables; set aside. (If your pepper tops give less than 1 1/2 cups of dice, just increase the amount of diced onion.)

2. Next, add a splash of olive oil to a large skillet, and quickly saute minced garlic over medium heat for a minute or two. Then add ground beef, a few pinches of salt and pepper, and cook until beef is just browned, breaking up any large clumps. Transfer browned beef to a plate lined with a paper towel; leave the remaining fat or oil in the pan, and add reserved diced vegetables. Saute vegetables over medium heat until onions are just translucent. Then add oregano, parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the skillet, saute for one additional minute, and transfer the seasoned vegetable mixture to a large bowl. To make the filling for the stuffed peppers, add the cooked brown rice and the browned beef to the same bowl and mix well; then taste and season with salt and pepper if needed. Finally, make a quick sauce by combining tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, and tomato paste in a food processor. Pulse until smooth, taste and add salt or pepper as needed.

3. To fill peppers, place each cooled pepper upright in a square baking dish or casserole dish. Spoon filling equally into each pepper, then spoon tomato sauce over the filled peppers. Bake stuffed peppers at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese if desired, and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from oven and serve immediately.

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