Stuffed Peppers

A traditional stuffed pepper recipe with rice and beef. They were warm and filling and wonderful.

Course dinner

Servings 6 servings

7 Bell Peppers Any color you like
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb Ground Beef 80/20 (You could use ground turkey or chicken also)
1 lb. Hot or Sweet Italian Sausage I used sweet and then spiced up the sauce
1 Small, white onion diced
3 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup white wine
2 28 oz. cans Ground Peeled Tomatoes I used Pastene No Salt Version (unsolicited)
1 15 oz. can Diced Tomatoes
3 tsp Dried Basil I tend to use more
2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes Can use less if you not into spicy
1/2 tbsp sugar
Salt & Pepper To taste
2 tbsp. Fresh Basil chopped
2 tbsp. Fresh Parsley chopped
2 cups Cooked white rice
1 1/2 cups Shredded Mozzarella

Add Olive oil to hot frying pan. Brown sausage and ground beef. Drain off liquid. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft and translucent. Add the wine and scrape the bits off the bottom of the pan. Cook down a bit and then add the tomatoes, dried spices and sugar. Let simmer for at least 30 minutes. Add the fresh basil and parsley and now it is ready.
Preheat over to 350 degrees.
While the sauce is cooking cut the tops of the peppers and clean them out. Put the cooked rice into the a mixing bowl and add a few cups of the sauce as well as the ground beef mixture. Don’t make it too wet or you will have “soupy” peppers.
Stuff the peppers with the rice/meat mixture and add them to a baking pan. Try to have them fit snuggly into the pan, so they do not tip over.
These take longer to cook than you might think. I would cook them for at least 40 minutes.
After the 40 minutes, take them out add a generous amount of mozzarella to the top of each pepper and put them back into the oven for at least another 20 minutes.
Everything inside has been cooked but you want the peppers to soften and this takes a while.
Garnish with fresh parsley and serve with the extra sauce and a glass of wine! Be prepared one of these is a hearty meal. Enjoy!