Woo, another recipe! Sort of… I’m not sure what you’ll say about this, since I have photographs of the one I don’t want you to make.
Well, there it is. It was incredibly tasty but just a bit too dense for me. I mean, it was basically a giant meatlump inside a pepper! Which is good but then very dense, I can’t even imagine coupling this with mashed potatoes (which I wanted to do, and might do next time)…
Since the recipe is so very simple, indulge me a moment while I explain how this came to be.
I went to Fairway in Red Hook a few weeks ago, and they had these gorgeous bell peppers – red, orange, yellow – on sale. So I bought two bags, even though I normally don’t purchase things I get in my CSA in case I wind up with massive piles of it at home. And then I found myself with a lot of peppers quickly turning; I added one bag into my chili (which was delicious!), but wanted to do something different with the remainder.
So I wrote briefly on Facebook about what I had at home, and my coworker said “Stuffed peppers…” She gave me a brief rundown of how to make them, which I decided to tweak to what I had on hand.
Enter: The Boyfriend.
I called him and asked him, “Do you eat stuffed peppers?” forgetting that at this point of ‘bachelor living’ he will pretty much eat anything I make. He responded that he does, but I had to make sure: “What’s in stuffed peppers?” because hell, everyone’s got a different recipe – this seems much like a standard home recipe that lots of people make, and I didn’t want to risk making it with what I thought should be in them – since I’ve never eaten it before – and then him being all “This is NOT what stuffed peppers are like! I’m not eating this!” (Well, he doesn’t do that, but you get my point.)
After he described pretty much what I thought it should be, he then said, “But you know what would be REALLY good?! You should make it with prosciutto mixed into the rice, and ooh little cubes of mozzarella, and… and some peas.” Yeah, the BF has been coming up with recipe ideas for me to implement – he’s done this on a much smaller scale in the past, but this was completely his own. I was impressed, and decided to go for it. (Also, most awesome boyfriend ever: I complained that on a student allowance, I couldn’t afford prosciutto, so he surprised me by handing me a 1/4 lb. of it a few days later. The cynics among you will tell me it was a selfish move since he wanted to eat it, but it made me happy and I don’t care what you say, it was a nice and thoughtful gesture!)
So that’s what I did. I also made myself some ground pork + Italian seasoning + cubed mozzarella + rice, but those didn’t please me as much as his seemed to please him.
Couple days old rice
A few slices of prosciutto, hand torn
Cubes of mozzarella
Frozen/defrosted peas
Basil ribbons (my only addition/tweak to the recipe)
Salt/pepper to taste
Bell peppers, tops cut off, innards discarded
Pasta sauce (I used a quickie homemade bit, but use what you like)
Toss the first group of ingredients together, then pack semi-loosely into the bell peppers. Place bell peppers, standing up, in a lightly oiled baking dish. Pour sauce over on top, and around the peppers a bit.
Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, then serve.
—> I saw a lot of recipes call for par-boiling the peppers beforehand; I was worried about how mushy they’d turn out if I did that. The way I did it, the peppers actually remained pretty crunchy outside, which I loved. They still had bite to them and tasted excellently sweet. BF devoured his, took some leftovers home, and ate those up as well. So I’m going to guess they were truly delicious that way… I’ll have to re-make them so I can try some this time and take some pictures of those, haha.
Happy eating!
SkippyMom says
I couldn’t quite follow the recipe – but hey, that’s me.
I do have a few comments tho’ – but hey! again, that’s me.
Bachelorhood? The man and you have been dating for over six years – he hasn’t been a bachelor in forever in the eating department, he has been dating you and eating quite well. Although he is the pickest eater I have ever read about on the ‘net. Really.
Letting him pick prosciutto, peas and mozzarella for this? No comment, although I want to. It is akin to me stealing the fresh oregano from Pooldad before he puts into something sweet. “No honey, oregano is a UNIVERSAL garnsih.”
Finally I can’t figure if you put pork or hamburger in either set of peppers. Turkey works well too if you want an even healthier option [just season it better-more?].
Anyway. These are a staple in our home – but on a much simpler scale [honestly? the peas scared me? WHY? I cried!] Glad you tried to jazz them up with BF’s help and realized the error of his ways.
My best to you both.
SkippyMom says
I meant to say oregano is NOT a universal garnish. oops.
Aimee S. says
The peppers look great! Skippy – I’m confused as to what you don’t get? Can you elaborate a bit??
I don’t even like Stuffed Peppers but these look fabulous!
Rose says
My mom always made these when I was growing up, I’ll have to say I never liked them and I recall her version having more rice than meat, but your recipe does sound easy, you know, if I liked bell peppers.
another thing to try? stuffed cabbage, which is pretty much exactly the same filling except rolled up in cabbage leaves and baked.