The other night I decided to make stuffed peppers for supper (never made them before). I had bought a variety of colored peppers a few days before and noticed a couple were starting to soften – since baking them was going to soften them anyway, I decided that was a good way to use them up. I didn’t pull out a cookbook, or look on-line for a recipe when I decided to make them, instead I just decided to wing it. Typically, I’m not real comfortable winging it. I prefer to have something to refer to, but what did I have to lose? A few already softening peppers…
To start, I put some olive oil in a frying pan. Then I crushed some garlic, diced yellow pepper, and added rice to the oil. When the rice turned light brown I added some diced canned tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and black pepper.
After adding the tomatoes I threw some grated parmesan cheese on top.
Once the mixture was ready I hollowed out red, orange and yellow peppers and filled them with the mixture. These colored peppers are a little less pungent than green peppers, and are slightly sweeter. I added about 2 tablespoons of water (had I been thinking when I drained the tomatoes I could have saved the juice, and added that instead of water) to each pepper. I arranged them in a greased baking dish and added a little water in the bottom of the dish as well. I baked them at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes.
As I was making the peppers I thought of all the different fillings you could use to stuff peppers. Bread stuffing, sausage, ground beef, beans, corn, a variety of spices, different cheeses, the possibilities – endless.
We ate them as a side with our baked chicken and bread stuffing. They were a good addition to our meal. How do you make your favorite stuffed peppers? Willing to share your recipe?
THE JOY OF CAKING 