There are dinner recipes that just feel like home. Many people refer to them as comfort food, because they get that satisfied, almost nostalgic feeling of comfort and safety experienced in childhood. This classic stuffed bell pepper recipe is such a food for me. Each year I plant bell peppers in my garden and each year I cook up a batch of them just like my mother used to make and her mother before her. The only difference is I sometimes use different colors of bell peppers, but the classic green ones are my all-time favorite.
Classic Stuffed Pepper Recipe
Ingredients:
4 bell peppers of any color
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 1/2 cup cooked rice
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
fresh ground pepper
salt
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
Directions:
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat.
- Cut off the tops of the peppers and remove seeds.
- Add several large pinches of salt to the boiling water, then add the peppers and boil.
- Keep the peppers completely submerged until the flesh slightly softens. It would take approximately 3 minutes.
- Drain peppers and set aside to cool.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Heat 4 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring often. Add garlic and a cook a minute longer. Remove skillet from heat.
- In a bowl mix the ground round, cooked rice, tomatoes and oregano together. You can add salt and ground pepper if desired.
- Drizzle some olive oil inside the peppers. Arrange them open end up in a baking dish. Stuff them with the meat filling.
- Combine tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce and 1/4 cup water in a small bowl. Carefully spoon over the filling.
- Add 1/4 cup of water to the baking dish, place in the oven and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. The internal temperature of the stuffed peppers needs to be 150 to 160 degrees F.
Enjoy.
