Stuffed Peppers

Normally, I make stuffed peppers as a way to use up meatloaf mix. It's usually the last in series of 3 dishes of meatloaf: first night, meatloaf - 2nd night, meatloaf sandwiches - 3rd night, stuffed peppers. This time I was making meatballs and just planned to use a pound of the 3 pounds of ground beef I bought in the peppers.

Stuffed Peppers
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne, if desired
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 pound ground meat
1 can diced tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup cooked rice

4-6 bell peppers, any color

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat the olive oil in a medium heat pan. Add the onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute one more minute. Add the oregano and paprika, and cayenne if desired, and tomato paste and saute another minute. Add the ground meat and cook until all the meat is browned. Add the can of diced tomatoes. Cook for 10 minutes or until mixture is thick. Add salt and pepper to taste. Turn heat to medium low and add rice.

Cut the tops off the peppers and clean out the ribs and seeds. Slice off just enough of the bottom so that the peppers sit level. Arrange the bottoms in an oven-proof pyrex or metal baking dish. Fill the peppers with the mixture and put tops back on. You can cover the peppers with tomato sauce prior to putting the tops back on. I was simultaneously making spaghetti sauce so I added a couple teaspoons to the top. Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Depending on what kind of pepper you use, the flavor will be different. The picture above was actually the next day with green peppers. The first day I used red peppers and they turned really sweet when cooked. Both the filling and the pepper get deeper and better flavored after cooking. Even the filling, while good before baking, benefited from the flavor of the pepper.