Thursday, January 12, 2012

Stuffed Peppers--last night's version.

A friend asked for my Stuffed Pepper recipe.  I don't really have one, I make it up as I go along each time.  However, here are the basics of what I did yesterday.  Have fun adding a dash of this and a pour of that!
Cheryl’s Stuffed Peppers

Clean your peppers, slice off the tops and keep
(I remove the stems), scrape out the insides.

Saute 1 small chopped onion, few stalks of
       celery (chop everything), few cloves of
       garlic and whatever else you want to add.
       Chopped mushrooms, chopped cooked
       carrots, etc.
When done, add in a tomato sauce of your choice—
       I use whatever I have in my pantry, usually combining a couple
       varieties of spaghetti sauce. 
       (It amounts to 1 ½ - 2 jars of sauce, or a jar-full and a can of
       diced tomatoes.)     
Add in ¼ can of rinsed pinto beans.
Season this sauce well.  Maybe some sea salt, ground pepper and  
       cayenne pepper to taste.   
       I add white wine to this sauce also. 

Brown a pound of ground turkey.
Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, thyme, oregano, and
       cayenne pepper to taste.
When it starts to stick to the pan, I add white wine until I can scrape
       it all loose.
Add in the ¾ can of pinto beans (rinsed) you have left. 

Cook brown rice -- about 4-5 cups or so when cooked.
      (I used a brown rice medley from Trader Joe's
       freezer section--you just microwave it 2 minutes!) 

Combine the ground turkey mixture with the rice.
Add in a few big serving spoon-fuls of the tomato sauce. 
Gently mix.

Stuff  peppers generously with the rice/ground turkey mixture. 
Top with another spoonful of the tomato mixture, then set the lid on each one. (They don’t fit tight, just sit on top.)

Pour tomato sauce in a large pot and stand your stuffed peppers up in the
       pot next to each other, spooning the sauce up over the peppers.
Bring sauce to a light boil, then COVER pot and turn down flame to
       a low-medium flame, just to keep a gentle simmer going. 
Cook for 1 hour.

You can stuff any color pepper…green, red, orange, yellow…
I also stuff a couple very large onions, using the thick outer layer of the onion, and cook in the pan along with the peppers.

Depending on the size of peppers you use, this can yield approximately 4 giant stuffed peppers, or 6 medium sized.




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