stuffed green peppers

In our quest to eat as locally as possible, Dan and I rode our bikes to the Aldermere Farm to buy some Belted Galloway beef the other day. It turns out that our beloved Oreo-Cookie cows are beef cattle.  I felt kind of bad about eating one of the cuties, but justified it by knowing that it is almost 100% grass fed and comes from less than 2 miles from our house. 

I tried to choose the least cute cow picture I have....unfortunately, these cows are pretty cute.  But guess what?  Their meat is healthy (as far as beef goes) and they taste really good too! Eek...should I not say that? 

I didn't want to make just anything with this ground beef (we also bought some top sirloin to try for now).  I wanted it to be something kind of special.  I also wanted to stick with the local theme.  So, I decided to make stuffed green peppers.  The peppers were from a local farm and the onion, too.  And I used herbs, spicy red peppers, and tomatoes from our garden.  Go me.

I love how the peppers looked after chopping off the tops of them.  I also love how the tops stayed in tact; they're perfect for future use in salads, etc.

This is a picture of the blanched peppers stuffed with the beef mixture.  I then topped them with tomato sauce (from a jar, whoops, there goes my locavore status) and grated romano cheese.

Here's what the final product looked like:

There were only two left at this point, because by the time we could take them out of the oven, they smelled so delicious that I completely forgot about taking pictures and just devoured mine.  Mmmm.

Stuffed Green Peppers

Adapted from allrecipes.com

4 large green bell peppers (try to pick ones that will stand up okay on their own)

1 lb lean ground beef

1/2 medium size red onion, chopped

3 medium size tomatoes, chopped

2 small or 1 medium sized hot pepper, diced (optional)

1 tbs chopped fresh marjoram

1 tbs chopped fresh oregano

1 tbs chopped fresh parsley

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 cup instant white rice

1 cup water

1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 cup canned tomato sauce (preferably not a chunky kind)

1/2 cup romano cheese, shredded

Heat water in a medium sauce pan until boiling.  Cut tops off of peppers and remove seeds.  Place peppers in boiling water for about 5 minutes. Drain.  Sprinkle salt to taste to inside of peppers.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

Start sauteing beef and onion in a large frying pan (with a lid) for about 5 minutes or until beef is browned. Drain off excess fat and season with salt and pepper.  Add tomato, hot pepper, herbs and Worcestershire sauce.  Add rice and water.  Cover pan and simmer until rice is tender (about 5 minutes if you're using instant rice). 

Remove meat and rice mixture from the heat.  Add mozzarella cheese and adjust seasonings. 

Fill each pepper with the meat and rice mixture.  Top the peppers each with about 1/4 cup of tomato sauce.  Then top each with about 1/8 cup of romano cheese.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until the cheese is browned and bubbly. 

I think this would be delicious served with a really crispy garlic bread.  I guess there's always next time...