We’re in the height of harvest season here in the Midwest. The farmers’ market stalls display abundant heaps of late summer vegetables and fruit. Last week there were so many peppers piled at First Orchards stand that Pablo’s wife handed me a blue bag and said fill it up for $3! The sweet red peppers weren’t in yet, but there were abundant green bells, Cubanelles and banana peppers plus several varieties of eggplant. Tomatoes spilled off the other end of their table and sweet corn filled a huge tub. Suddenly there’s too much for my fridge vegetable drawers and I’d better get cooking. . .
My maxim has always been ‘cook what you have’, rather than finding a recipe and then going out to buy ingredients often out of season. So with my peck of peppers, I decided it was time for some old fashioned stuffed peppers, but I’d follow my current mantra of ‘use less meat, buy only local, pasture-grazed meat’. (I still believe that some meat is nutritionally important and likewise I’m eager to support conscientious, regenerative farmers. Their products will be more expensive than commercial meats, but these are the farmers who are saving our land from destructive mono cropping and chemical additives; these grass fed/pasture grazed meats are much safer to eat. So buy better/use less.) Along with the ‘use less meat’ instead of the pound of ground beef often called for in stuffed peppers along with white rice, I’ll use just 5 ounces of my farmer’s Italian sausage plus and equal amount of brown lentils to spin out the protein and I’ll omit the white rice.
When I was working with a double deck restaurant bread oven, I learned to use the residual heat held in the turned off oven following the day’s baking to simmer and slow cook numerous casseroles. Stuffed peppers are one of the preparations that benefits from long, slow cooking. The peppers need to cook until they are beyond tender and slump into a luscious, almost sweet softness. In actual fact stuffed peppers are tastiest at room temperature after spending a cooling night in the fridge. They make a lovely summer supper or are ideal for a take-along lunch packed in a reusable plastic tub to be eaten with a spoon and a chunk of crusty sour dough bread.
When you come home from the farm market with a bundle of peppers, make stuffed peppers the next time you have your oven going. Another thing I try to do is to conserve cooking energy. I would never turn on my oven just to bake two potatoes and I don’t own a microwave (an energy efficient toaster oven would be handy). Whenever I turn on the oven for baking, I try to have a series of items lined up to take advantage of all that energy. Last Tuesday I first baked sourdough and brown breads, then put in the filled peppers plus stuffed eggplant, a tray of tomatoes and then a peach coffee cake. The peppers then stayed in the turned off oven to finish slow cooking until mid afternoon. Stuffed peppers can easily cook along side a roast chicken, a pie or a couple bread loaves (and you can leave them in the oven to reach that succulent slump after the heat is turned off). The initial baking temperature really doesn’t’ matter and can be any where from 350 to 450—Just keep an eye on them. If it’s only peppers you plan to bake, then double the recipe and give some away or put some in the freezer for a quick meal later; or bake some potatoes to save for hash browns, or roast some tomatoes that can go in the freezer or pop in a pan of brownies.
Stuffed Peppers
4 large green or colored peppers
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 oz. diced onion (a generous cup)
5 oz. Italian sausage (or a cup of cooked brown rice)
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2+ tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (whatever you have: thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano, parsley or 1 ½ teaspoon dry herbs)
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
salt and a pinch of sugar
5 oz. (rounded half cup) brown lentils, 1 1/2 cups cooked
2 tablespoons dry currants (optional)
1 cup cherry tomatoes or diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
extra olive oil
Slice the tops off the peppers (save the tops); scoop out the seeds and membranes. Blanch the peppers and their tops 3 minutes in boiling, salted water. (This step will tenderize green peppers but is optional especially when using colored peppers)
Warm the 2 tablespoons olive oil in a frying pan and gently sauté the onion until it is softened and translucent. Add garlic, chopped herbs, red pepper and sauté a few more seconds. Crumble in the sausage (or beef, lamb, pork or turkey) and cook through. Add tomato paste; season with salt and a pinch of sugar. Stir in the cooked, drained lentils and optional currants. Simmer all together just to combine. Taste for seasoning.
Spoon the mixture into the pepper shells, Sprinkle grated cheese over the filling and add the pepper tops. Place the filled peppers in a baking dish and surround them with cherry tomatoes or diced tomato, add 2 tablespoons water, a generous sprinkling of salt and a twirl of olive oil over each pepper. Place a couple butter wrappers over the top for the first part of the baking.
Bake stuffed peppers for at least an hour at 350°-425° and test for tenderness. Remove the protective butter papers halfway through the baking. When the shells seem tender after about an hour, turn off the oven and let the peppers to finish cooking in the slowing oven for at least another hour.
The stuffed peppers are best served barely warm or at room temperature with a spoonful of the accumulated tomato juices, a dollop of plain yogurt, a few sliced black olives and another drizzle of olive oil. Taste and imagine yourself sitting on the rocks of a Greek island looking out toward the turquoise blue Mediterranean Sea.
Mary Jo's Kitchen 