Stuffed peppers are what dinner dreams are made of, for various reasons;

1). They can be filled ahead of time, and baked when you’re ready making them perfect for a fancy-ish dinner.

2). Fancy enough for a dinner party

3). Financially pleasing, aka cheap to make.

4). Everything in one place, protein, fibre and veggies/vitamins

5). It’s a no-brainer

6). The most delicious dinner I have had in a while

The great thing about stuffed peppers is that everybody likes them, even non-pepper lovers. Probably because the peppers turn so tender and sweet in the oven.

But what I love most about these stuffed peppers, is slicing the leftovers the next day and stuffing them into a sandwich with some of the tomato sauce, so good. That of course if you’re lucky enough to have left overs. Having said that, you can easily double the recipe just to be save. I do also freeze these but have noticed that the peppers do become a little softer, but flavour-wise still awesome.

Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 1 hr

Total Time 1 hr 20 mins

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup white rice uncooked

• 1 cup water

• 2 medium yellow onions chopped fine, about 1 cup

• 2 cloves garlic minced or grated

• 1 tbsp. olive oil

• 2 slices white bread good quality crusts removed

• 2 tbsp. milk

• 1 lb. / 500 gr. ground beef

• ¾ tsp. salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard

• 1 tsp. thyme dried

• ½ tsp. oregano dried

• 3 tbsp. pine nuts

• 1 egg yolk

• ¼ tsp. all spice

• ¼ cup chopped parsley more for garnish

• 4 red peppers large

• 1 tbsp. olive oil

• 1 medium onion

• 1 garlic minced

• 1 tbsp. tomato paste

• 1 tbsp. flour

• ½ cup dry white wine

• 1 cup tomato sauce

• 1 cup chicken or beef stock

• ½ cup crème fraiche

• Chopped green onions for garnish

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C / 350 degrees F

2. Place the rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and cook 20 minutes. Drain and cool, or use leftover rice, about 1 cup.

3. Dry toast the pine nuts in a skillet over medium heat for about a minute, remove and reserve.

4. In a skillet over low heat, heat 1 tbsp. of oil and sautée the chopped onions until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for one more minute.

5. Turn off heat and let cool.

6. In a bowl, place the bread torn into pieces together with the milk and let soak for about 5 minutes.

7. Add the meat to the bowl together with the cooled onion and garlic. Season with the salt, pepper, mustard, thyme, oregano, pine nuts, all spice , parsley and egg yolk.

8. Wash the peppers and make a cut in the middle and carefully open them enough to remove the seeds and membranes.

9. If you are using the regular bell pepper, remove the lid and proceed as above.

10. 10. Arrange peppers in an oiled baking dish. For bell peppers, slice the bottoms of the peppers if necessary so that they will stand upright.

11. 11. Stuff the peppers with the meat mixture, I use my fingers and a spoon to push it all the way into the pepper.

12. 12. For the sauce: heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and sautée onion and garlic until almost soft. Add the tomato paste and stir. Add the flour and stir to cook for 30 seconds, gradually add the wine and stock. Add the tomato sauce and stir to combine. Add the teaspoon of sugar. Season to taste. Spoon sauce around the peppers. Cover loosely with tin foil. Place in the middle of the oven. After about 20 minutes, remove the foil.

13. 13. Bake for 45 min to 1 hour in the preheated oven until the peppers are tender.

14. 14. Before serving stir in the crème fraiche.

15. 15. Serve with the sauce and garnish with green onions and reserved parsley.

Great with some french bread to mop up the sauce.

Enjoy!

Myra XO