Stuffed Peppers

I don’t consider myself a great cook or anything. I mean I can grill the hell out of a steak and make a mean mac and cheese. Basically my wife cooks and she enjoys it so, I am saved a lifetime of eating Swanson Frozen dinners and Taco Bell for dinner. With that said during my single years there were a couple of staples that I learned to make.

First, let me rejoice in the magic that is shake and bake. I would just by some small pork chops, a box of rice-a-roni and I was eating like a king for two to three nights. Sure, I know it is unhealthy as all hell but, you can’t fuck up shake and bake I don’t care how inept you are in a kitchen.

I also perfected the ultimate guy food in sloppy Joes. Any man that doesn’t like the Joe’s is simply lying. Every time I go camping (which sadly is becoming rare due to my busy schedule) I make up a pot of sloppy Joes and they make a great late night dinner on the campfire.

I also learned the importance of a crock pot. You can put anything in a crock pot and it will taste good. I made this mean beef stew that I would prepare the night before. Then in the morning I would put it in the crock pot and let that thing do it’s magic. I would get home from work and the house would be drenched in the scents of the red meat magic. I also had a chicken concoction where I would toss a couple of jars of chicken gravy and some dumplings into the pot with the bird. The great thing about a crock pot was that it was pretty simple to cook with and you could save whatever you cooked and it would last for a couple of days.

All of that served me well when I was single. Then when Joyce moved in with me, things changed. She was not a big fan of bachelor cuisine (and really can you blame her?) So, she started cooking things that didn’t come out of a box. So, now on most nights she does most of the cooking in our house. With that said however, there is one thing that I make that even she will request from time to time, my Stuffed Peppers.

I am a fan of the genre. I have always liked stuffed peppers. My Mom and Aunt Kathy used to make them when I was a kid and I developed a love affair with them, in my formative years. My recipe is basically my Mom’s with a little of my own magic thrown in. (In reality I stole a couple of things from an ex-girlfriend and Joyce added her touches to this recipe.) After trying many variations, Joyce and I finally came up with a combination that I feel can not be beat. So, I will share with all three people that read this Nick and Joyce’s stuffed pepper recipe.

Ingredients

4-6 Green or Red Peppers (I prefer the green but I know a lot of people that dig the red.)

1 lb. of Ground Sirloin (Don’t skimp. Buy the good beef. Anything lower then a 95% -5% ratio will ruin this recipe.)

1 Egg

About half a cup of Italian bread crumbs (I say half a cup because I really don’t measure.)

5-6 cans of Del Monte Stewed Tomatoes, Italian Recipe

1 package of Parmesan cheese (Not sure the size I think it is 12 ounces, but you can find it in your grocers refrigerated section)

Half a clove of garlic

A Shitload of Minute Rice (Just go and buy the biggest box you can find)

A Punch of Salt and Pepper (Ah, Push It)

Worcestershire Sauce (Nick’s secret ingredient)

First thing to do is chop the garlic. I have no idea how to do that as Joyce does it for me. Okay, now you are going to do some mixing. Take the beef and throw in the breadcrumbs, the cheese, the egg, the salt and pepper, the chopped garlic, and mix it all together. Now make about a cup of that minute rice and mix that with it in a large mixing bowl.

At this point you want to cut open the top of the peppers removing the guts. Take the beef concoction and stuff it into each pepper. Once you have all of your peppers ready to go, place them in a large pot. At this point you want to take the stewed tomatos and pour them over the top of the peppers and throughout the pot. Last but not least you will also want to add a dash of that Worcestershire sauce into the pot. You might also want to add a little water near the bottom of the pot to avoid the peppers bottoms burning.

Place the pot onto the stovetop and cook at a very low flame for about 45 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally. Be patient, because slow cooking these things is the key. When the peppers are ready to go, make about 2 cups of minute rice on the side. You are going to serve the things over a nice bed of rice. Since you are cooking on a low flame the tomatos that are in the pot sort of liquefy and you can spoon that over the rice as well.

Something that Joyce and I do, is to make extra because those tomato’s make a decent sauce when everything is done and if you refrigerate and re-heat it you can serve it over pasta the next night. So, basically it is like making two meals in one. Again, I am no Rachel Ray or anything but for my simple tastes, these things rock.