Stuffed Peppers - A Modern Twist on a Classic Dish
For Christmas, my youngest daughter gifted me a copy of Simple Cast Iron Cooking by The Coastal Kitchen and published by Cider Hill Press. It is a beautifully photographed cookbook with approachable recipes. To practice some food photography of my own, I thought I’d try out one of the over 100 recipes, and shoot the recipe as I prepared it for my family.
Cover image taken from the publisher’s web site.
Flipping through Simple Cast Iron Cooking, I found a good number of recipes that I am ready to try, but one recipe stood out more than the others. When I turned to page 139 and saw a recipe for Stuffed Peppers, I was immediately reminded of my mom who passed away this year. Mom was an excellent cook, and it was her who inspired me to learn how to cook and take pleasure in providing good food for my family.
Growing up, however, there was one meal I did not particularly enjoy, Stuffed Peppers. Well, a lot of time has passed since I was a child, my tastes have changed, and this recipe looked like it could be a real improvement over what I remembered, so I thought I’d give it a try in memory of Mom.
A Photo of the Final Plating!
Stuffed red bell peppers. Serve with naan and a glass of red wine for a dinner overflowing with flavor!
Step 1 - Gather your ingredients
I’ve always been told it’s best to follow a new recipe verbatim when trying it the first time, however, when you’ve been cooking as long as I have, you generally know what adjustments you need to make to match your taste preferences, local cuisine flavor profiles, or local ingredient availability. I’ve also adjusted to make 5 servings instead of 4.
For the original recipe and amounts, see page 139 of Simple Cast Iron Cooking.
Ingredients - don’t be afraid to make it your own!
My Adjusted Ingredient List
Chicken Bone Broth
Jasmine rice
Bulk Italian Sausage
Texas Sweet Onions
Garlic, thinly sliced
Mexican Oregano, dried
Crushed Reb Pepper Flakes
Salt and Pepper to taste
Crushed Tomatoes, canned
Parmesan Cheese, finely shredded
Red Bell Peppers, halved
Parsely or Cilantro, chopped for garnishing
A few notes about ingredients and substitutions
Jasmine rice: I love the taste and aroma of Jasmin rice and personally find it superior to any other rice I’ve tasted. I know each species has its own flavor profile that may be appropriate for different dishes, but, really why would you use anything else?
Texas Sweet Onions: Kin to Vidalia onions that originated in Vidalia, Georgia in the 1930s, the Texas Sweet Onion has lots of flavor without the acidic and pungent notes of white or yellow onions. These are a personal favorite and I rarely buy anything else.
Mexican Oregano: I find the aroma and flavor stronger and generally more to my linking for most things than Italian oregano, which is sweeter. Either work well in this dish but Mexican oregano is what I like and what I have in my pantry. It is also significantly less expensive than Italian oregano at my local grocery store.
Cilantro: Coriander leaves, also known as cilantro, are my favorite leafy herb, and if I were to cook this recipe again, I would use cilantro instead of parsley. There is nothing wrong with parsley, and for those who dislike cilantro, parsley makes a find substitute.
Step 2 - Cook Rice
In a saucepan, combine bone broth and rice in a 2 to 1 ratio, cover, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, and simmer covered for 20 minutes, then remove from heat.
No need to bring out the Dutch Oven for this one. Given the small amount of rice, a 2-quart saucepan is all you need.
Cooking the rice in bone broth instead of water will enhance the flavor and reduce the starchiness of the rice.
Step 3 - Brown the Italian sausage
Browned Italian sausage.
In a cast iron skillet, brown the bulk Italian sausage, breaking it up while browning. Once browned, spoon into a bowl and set aside.
Retain a tablespoon or two of any sausage fat for the next step. If the sausage did not render much fat, add a tablespoon of olive oil.
Step 4 - Prepare the Sauce & Make the Filling
Filling without the rice. Adding the rice to the filling was omitted from the recipe!
In the skillet used to brown the sausage, sauté onions until browned. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Salt and pepper to taste and cook for another minute or two to infuse the flavors. Add crushed tomatoes, stir, and bring to a boil. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning as needed, then remove from heat.
Make the Filling
Combine, sauce (reserve some for plating), rice, sausage, and parmesan cheese (reserve some for plating) to create the filling.
Here is where I found an error in the printed recipe! The recipe never gave instructions for using the rice, only cooking it. Being familiar with stuffed bell peppers, I knew the rice was part of the filling, but this important step was omitted.
Step 5 - Fill the Peppers
Stuffed peppers before baking in the oven.
After halving the bell peppers, stuff each with the filling. Once all pepper halves are stuffed, arrange in the iron skillet and bake in the oven. Depending on the size of your skillet, you may need to place any remaining peppers in a second skillet, or on a slightly oiled baking/cookie sheet, so they can all cook at once.
I over-stuffed my cast iron skillet, which likely lead to the peppers not cooking through as much as I would have liked, but hey, it makes for a prettier photo!
Cooked stuffed peppers, garnished with chopped fresh parsely.
Tip: If your bell peppers continuously tip over, spilling out the filling, take a sharp knife and remove a small portion of the bottom of the pepper to create a flat surface. No more tipping!
Step 6 - Plate and Serve
Stuffed bell peppers, topped with extra sauce, parmesan cheese, and chopped fresh parsley.
One serving is two stuffed pepper halves. Spoon some extra sauce over the stuffed peppers, sprinkle on some parmesan cheese, and garnish with chopped fresh parsley or cilantro.
As an alternative serving suggestion, you could serve one pepper half as a side to a small steak or meaty grilled fish.
Oh, and don’t eat the stems!
Feedback from the Family
Everyone enjoyed the meal and found it very filling, but reactions were mixed. Some wanted more cheese, and it is possible that I did not adjust the amount of cheese when adjusting for another serving. On the other hand, the recipe called for parmesan, not mozzarella, so it was never meant to be a gooey, cheesy, dish.
If you don’t love bell peppers, this recipe will not change your mind. You are, after all, eating an entire, large bell pepper. However, when comparing this dish to the classic stuffed bell pepper recipe, it is a notable improvement. The final result is a stuffed bell pepper that is rich and full of beautiful flavors while avoiding the downfall of the classic recipe.
Potential Improvements
I added an extra 5 minutes to the suggested cooking time, but I did not want to dry out the filling, so I called it done. Next time, I would pre-cook the unstuffed bell pepper halves for 5 or ten minutes to soften them slightly before stuffing. Following the provided recipe, I think the peppers were still very crunchy and did not achieve the level of sweetness they would have had they been cooked more thoroughly.
