Authentic Italian Stuffed Peppers
Recipe Mari Loewen, Photography Stacey Brandford
You’ll fall in love with my Italian Stuffed Peppers… I mean it! Even my taste-testers who weren’t keen on stuffed peppers couldn’t resist these. And honestly, I don’t blame them. I really nailed nonna-approved comfort food with this wow-worthy spin on a classic.
I started with the sauce: sautéed onions, garlic, diced peppers, fresh herbs, and San Marzano tomatoes. I mixed it with browned ground beef, arborio rice, pecorino, and mozzarella before spooning it into sweet, summer-harvest peppers.
Each pepper gets topped with a bit more tomato sauce, a sprinkle of pecorino, and a layer of melty mozzarella – it’s just so, so good.
Just warm them up and serve (I love to garnish with a bit of fresh basil). You’ll fall in love with the goodness, and feel like you’re dining in the best trattoria in town. Buon appetito!
Ingredients
8 Large bell peppers, multi-coloured
1 cup yellow onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
¼ cup fresh basil, loosely torn
2 cups canned whole San Marzano tomatoes, loosely chopped (do not use diced tomatoes)
1 lb ground beef
2 cups partially cooked Arborio rice (cooked halfway)
1 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
2 cups shredded high fat Mozzarella cheese
1 tsp Oregano
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Basil leaves on top
Method
Cut heads from peppers just to remove top and stem, reserve tops. Clean peppers inside from all seeds and pulp. Chop tops of peppers into ½-inch dice and set aside. Place whole peppers into large baking dish.
Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat, add onions, garlic, reserved diced peppers, ¼ cup parsley, ¼ cup torn basil, salt and ground black pepper to taste. Cook 5 minutes, add 1 cup San Marzano tomatoes, stir to combine, cook 2 more minutes. Remove from skillet and set aside.
In same skillet over medium heat, add ground beef, cook 4 minutes until just browned but not crisp. Add ground beef to bowl of vegetable mixture. Add 2 cups partially cooked rice, mix well to combine, add pecorino, mix well to combine, add mozzarella, mix well to combine. Add salt to taste.
To prepare peppers, add a drop of oil to each pepper and rub inside and out. Fill peppers with stuffing just to top, press filling into peppers, equally into 8 peppers.
In mixing bowl, mix 1 cup tomatoes, with remaining ¼ cup chopped parsley, oregano, salt & pepper to taste. Mix well to combine. Add 2 tablespoons tomato mixture to top of each pepper. Sprinkle with pecorino, and mozzarella. Add a drop of olive oil to top of each pepper. Add chopped basil to top. Cover with foil and bake at 375 for ½ hour. Remove foil and bake 15 - 20 minutes.
