My mother made stuffed peppers quite often when we were kids. In the 60's it was a very popular recipe. I always liked them and realized while driving yesterday that I haven't had them in so long. My girlfriend had just given me 3 huge green peppers so I stopped at the grocery for a pound of chop meat.
I decided to par boil the peppers to give them a head start on the softening process. I hate eating them when the peppers are hard. I also had a little baggie in the freezer of some italian pork sausage meat so I threw that in later on because I thought to myself "sausage would be good in this" and I remembered I had that little baggie.... That's the thing with me.....I always have little baggies in the freezer with ingredients for cooking. i'll buy a large Mozzarella and dice the whole thing and put it in the freezer. When I need a little, I just take the bag out of the freezer and slam it on the counter and about 1/4 cup of it will come loose from the block and I shake out of the bag what I need.
GROCERIES:
1 Pound Chop Meat
1 15 oz. Can Hunts Tomato Sauce
1/2 red onion, diced
3 Cloves Garlic, minced
Salt & Pepper, to taste
Couple of sprigs of fresh Thyme
Tsp Parsley
Tsp Basil
Tsp Red Pepper
1 Cup of Rice, cooked
3 Large Peppers (actually 4 is better)
A couple of slices of red & orange peppers if you have them. (Good for color but not important)
About 1/2 Cup diced Mozzarella
3 Tbsp Fresh Grated Parmesan
RECIPE:
Cook Rice and set aside in a large bowl.
Boil a large pot of water. Once boiling, add peppers and boil for about 4-5 minutes.
Gently take them out of the pot and drain well.
Saute chop meat and drain and set aside.
Add onions and saute for a couple of minutes. Add garlic and saute.
Add 3/4 can of Hunts. Add in all spices and return meat to pan and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. (I then added my sausage meat but forgot to take a picture. I would add it when sauteing the chop meat).
Take skillet and dump it right into the rice bowl and mix thoroughly. Take each pepper half and stuff them with the mix. Next, take the leftover Hunts and put a nice big spoon on top of each one.
Add some Mozzarella and some Parmesan on top and refrigerate for a couple of hours to give the peppers time to become acquainted with the meat mixture..
Come dinner time, put them in whatever cooking vessel you prefer. I like my cast iron skillet because everything comes extra crispy when using cast iron and it helps to soften up them peppers. Bake on 375 for 35 minutes.
Enjoy!!