Italian Stuffed Peppers

Italian Stuffed Peppers are cooking in my kitchen today and the aroma is incredible.  This simple recipe stems from a “cucina povera”, but also understands the importance of taste.  The few ingredients are the base of many stuffed vegetables.  What you do with the ingredients is key to the flavour.  These peppers are charred before baking.

Nonna use to blanche her peppers, but I am going for a quick crust on them before I bake them. I rub olive oil and some tomato paste on them and grill them for a few minutes to char them.  The bread is an olive one and adds more intense flavour.  These are vegetarian and I use some fresh vegetables to kick-up the taste.

Serve these as a main or side.  You will be surprised at the taste and they are also easy to assemble.

You might also like my https://recipesatmytable.com/mashed-potato-vegetable-stuffed-peppers/

Ingredients

• 3 medium bell peppers sliced in half
• 1 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of tomato paste combined
• 1 loaf 450 gr of olive bread.  I toast the bread.   ( If you don’t have olive bread, use regular bread and add 10 pitted and sliced black or green olives)
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 cups water
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 tsp fresh thyme
• 2 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 2 tbsp minced parsley
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 2 cups marinara sauce ( 1/2 cup goes into filling)
• 1/4 cup olive oil

The Process

Wash and dry the peppers.Cut in half and remove all the seeds.

  Mix the 1 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of tomato paste and smear on each half.

 

Set the peppers on a grill for a couple of minutes.

Soak the toasted bread in the white wine and water.

Add into the soaked bread the eggs, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, thyme, marinara sauce and parmesan cheese.  Mix everything.

Pour 1 cup of the marinara sauce into the bottom of an oven proof pan.  Stuff peppers and sit on top of the sauce.

Add the remaining sauce over the peppers.   Cover with parchment and aluminum foil and place in a 350 F oven for 1 hour.  Remove cover and continue cooking for 15 minutes.

Simplicity on a plate.