Looking for a tasty way to enjoy ground beef? Stuffed peppers are a great choice! You can use a basic Bolognese sauce: tomatoes, ground beef, onions, celery, and garlic, and add your rice, and other vegetables of choice to make this meal complete.
You have several options for cooking the peppers. To pre-cook them, remove the tops of the peppers, place them in a baking dish partially filled with about half a cup of water, and let them gently bake/steam in the oven for approximately 10 minutes or until they begin to soften. You don’t want to over-cook; otherwise, it might be a challenge when you try to stuff them with the Bolognese mixture.
If you opt for the slightly longer baking method, as I did, fill the peppers with the Bolognese mixture, and let them sit in the oven for approximately 30 minutes until they become tender. You may want to slightly shave the base of the peppers, so they sit evenly and don’t topple over. If you have enough peppers to fill your baking dish, you can prop them up against each other for a snug fit.
If you chop your vegetables roughly the same size, they should all cook evenly. If you use a selection of vegetables, be mindful of the varying cooking times. On this occasion, I kept my chopping to a minimum and used several vegetable powders.
This is a meal you can prep in advance and keep in the fridge until you are ready to pop them in the oven. They also keep well for the next day; just reheat and serve. The skins of the pepper will probably wrinkle even more, but I think this adds to their charm.
Cook the rice according to the instructions on the box.
Peel and chop the onions.
Crush/press the garlic and let it breathe for a few minutes.
Dice the carrots and celery.
Heat enough butter or oil to lightly coat a large skillet.
Add onions, garlic, ground beef, carrots and celery, and stir for several minutes or until the meat is no longer pink.
Add the vegetable powders: squash, carrot, burdock root, root medley, pepper salt and threefold blend (spicy), and other seasonings of choice.
Add milk and stir occasionally for several minutes, until the liquid reduces slightly.
Add the chopped tomatoes, plus the tomato sauce if you are using it.
Continue to stir on a high heat for several minutes to make sure the meat sauce does not stick to the bottom of the pan. Adjust the seasoning if necessary and add cream.
When the tomatoes have slightly reduced, let simmer for up to 1-2 hours while checking on it occasionally.
Add bone broth while simmering, if more liquid is needed.
Remove from the heat.
Rinse the peppers.
Cut about ¼ inch off the top.
De-seed and remove the stem from inside the peppers.
Fill each pepper with the Bolognese mixture and the rice, and gently pack it in with a spoon.
Garnish with a cheese of your choice.
Carefully place the peppers in a baking dish and bake for up to 30 minutes or until tender.
Alternatively, par bake the peppers in water before filling, and reduce additional cooking time once stuffed (this two-step method is useful if using cheese on top, to keep the cheese from burning).
