As a Macedonian, Stuffed Peppers were a staple for our dinners growing up and now, a sought-after meal that brings back warm memories of Sunday family dinners with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and all my cousins.
We often went to my Baba (grandmother) and Dedo’s (grandfather) house for Sunday get-togethers and they are my fondest memories growing up. The table was always full of food, loud voices, laughter, and yes, sometimes yelling, but we all cherished these days as my grandfather was a chef and eating was always an event. I guess that’s where my love of chefs and food originated.
The key to the amazing flavour is the stuffing takes on the sweetness of the shepherd peppers. These are our favourite type of pepper for roasting as well. That’s another blog post. If you can’t find them, red bell peppers are fine to use. This stuffing can be used for any vegetable of your choosing.
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 large sweet onion
- 1 lb extra lean ground beef
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 cup long grain rice
- 1 cup stewed tomatoes
- 4 large shepherd red peppers, cored and deseeded.
- ¼ cup vegetable stock or water
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- In a saucepan, melt butter and add onions, cook for 5 minutes or until softened. Add beef to the pan and cook for 8 – 10 minutes or until no pink remains. Drain any excess fat.
- Add oregano, salt and paprika; stir. Add rice to combine it throughout the beef. Stir in stewed tomatoes, mushing them up with a fork; cook for 2 – 3 minutes until rice starts to expand. Set aside and let cool slightly.
Poke the peppers with a fork several times. Fill peppers with filling pushing it down with a spoon. Place in baking dish in a single layer; add ½ inch of vegetable stock or water. If you have any extra filling add it to the pan.
Cover and cook for 45 minutes, remove cover and cook for 10 minutes.
We love to enjoy our peppers with Greek yogurt on top and hot sauce.
Enjoy and until next time…cheers and eat well.
Kim
@Foodcouple