I received huge green bell peppers in my Misfits box last week. I mean big. More than I could just slice up to use in salads. We don’t eat stuffed peppers all that often, but I thought these were quite large enough to make a meal out of. And although I have plenty of ground beef on hand I wanted something different…sausage! And brown rice, to make them a little healthier.
I started off by with a large (cast iron) skillet to saute the meat, onions and garlic. I have yellow onions on hand, always, but I also had a bunch of green onions that were almost at the end of their life, if you know what I mean. I trimmed the ends, pulled off the outer dried up outer layers, and sliced both the white and green parts. I minced up the garlic finely. Once the pan started to warm, I added the olive oil and the onions and stirred for a minute, then the sausage and garlic. I used country sausage today, but any sausage will work. Or ground beef if you prefer. Break up the meat so it’s bite size, and let it sit in the pan longer enough to brown slightly. Color equals flavor after all.
Then the fire roasted tomatoes. More wonderful flavor. I’m sure plain diced tomatoes will work fine as well.
I used instant brown rice for this. Of course it cooks quickly, which was what I was looking for, but it’s also less “chewy”, a plus for my husbands tastes. An extra tomato can of water was just enough to cook a cup of instant rice. If you have already cooked rice (brown or white) in the fridge, use that, but don’t use the can of water; the liquid would not be absorbed. If the rice is slightly under-cooked the tomato juice will finish cooking it and flavor it as well.
Season with salt, and pepper if you like, and even use some herbs if you choose. Dried oregano, basil or thyme would all work. Feeling adventurist? A bit of smoked paprika will go nicely with the rest of the ingredients.
One more step before baking. Help the peppers along a little, so they don’t remain tough, by microwaving for a couple minutes. Then fill up to the top, cover with foil and bake. Remove the foil, sprinkle with the cheese and back into the oven to melt and lightly brown the mozzarella.
Add a side (I did a zucchini casserole tonight) to go with it, and you’ve got an easy meal in less than an hour. You can even stuff the peppers then cover and refrigerate. Just pop into the oven when you get home.
Sausage and Brown Rice Stuffed Peppers
Stuffed peppers flavored with borwn rice and sausage instead of ground beef, ready in an hour or less.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion or 1 bunch of green onions chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 pound sausage – country hot or sweet Italian
- 1 can 14.5 oz fire roasted tomatoes
- 3-4 large bell peppers – green red, yellow or orange
- 1 cup instant brown rice or 1 cup regular brown rice, mostly cooked
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
Instructions
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Warm a large skillet over medium heat. Add oil, and onion. Sauté for 2 –3 minutes, then add in the sausage. Cook until lightly browned, breaking up into small pieces. Add the garlic and salt and mix well.
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Pour in the can of tomatoes and one can of water (omit the water if you are using previously cooked full grain brown rice). Stir in the instant rice to mix well. Cook for 5-6 minutes or per package directions until most of the water is absorbed and the rice mostly cooked.
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Cut the tops off the peppers, clean out the seeds and fibers inside. Place in a baking dish and add 2 tbsp water. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high 2 minutes to help soften the peppers. Remove the plastic wrap, drain any remaining water and spoon filling into each pepper up to the top or slightly heaped. Cover with foil.
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Bake 350F for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, take off the foil, sprinkle with the mozzarella and return to the oven for 10 minutes.
How do you stuff bell peppers? And do you prefer green or one of the brighter colors like red or orange?