Mom's Stuffed Peppers

My mom has always been my biggest fan and supporter and I haven't given her any credit yet on my blog. Sorry Mom! My mother has a great love for food and unfortunately had to deal with picky children and a picky husband for many years! Sorry Dad (but when are you going to eat like an Italian?!?!) lol When I was a child there were many things I refused to try but my mom was always there encouraging me to taste new things. I got there eventually and now the tables have turned. Now it's me helping my mom to explore her palate...but this is not a fight like it was for me! I can always count on my Mom to sample a new recipe I've made, cook with me, clean up after me and basically be whatever I need her to be in the kitchen. In fact, I hate that she is so far away (1 hour!) and rarely gets to taste my food anymore. (I'd like to think I've gotten much better!)

I've tried making stuffed peppers many different ways, some that I love, some are just okay and some will stay with me forever. This recipe is one of those. My mom's recipe for Stuffed Peppers is one of the first things she ever taught me to make. I've made some very minor tweaks which has only improved (not changed!) Mom's recipe.

So here it is! You're going to love this one! It's like a big meatball stuffed inside a pepper!

Here is my Mother's recipe and below are the additions I have made.

Mom’s Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

6 red peppers
2 lbs. ground veal, beef or meatloaf mix
1 egg
locatelli cheese, grated
approx. ¼ cup dried parsley
garlic pepper
1 cup cooked white rice
salt
1 can crushed tomatoes

Mix veal, parsley, egg, salt garlic, cheese and rice.
Wash peppers, cut off tops (save for another time), fill peppers with meat mixture. Put peppers in a chicken fryer, pour tomatoes on top of peppers and around them. Sprinkle with cheese. Cook on stove top until peppers are cooked approx. 1 hour. Serve with Rice and peas.

Serves 6

After washing the peppers and removing the tops, I make small cut on the bottom of the pepper. This keeps the peppers upright and provides a hole for the sauce to go into. Be careful not to cut off too much because we don't want the filling to fall out, just enough space for the sauce to get in. I also sprinkle the inside of the peppers with kosher salt and little fresh black pepper.

I saute one onion and 3 cloves of garlic in a small frying pan. Once onions are softened and garlic is cooked (not browned) I set it aside to cool. This gets added to the meat mixture.

Once peppers are stuffed I put a little extra virgin olive oil in the pan and saute the peppers on all sides for a few minutes, until the skin blisters. I saw this done on a cooking show and it really does add some additional flavor.

Other than those few things I do exactly what the recipe says and they really were delicious!