Melissa’s Stuffed Peppers

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Rinse peppers under cold water. Slice the top 1/4 inch off each pepper; remove seeds and membranes. Chop edible part of tops to equal approximately 1 cup chopped peppers, and set aside. If the peppers won’t stand up straight, take a small slice off the bottom with a paring knife to make a flat surface, try to remove as little as possible.

In a large pot of boiling water, parboil the peppers until just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to drain on either a wire rack or paper towels. If you don’t have your rice already cooked, you could use this pepper water to cook your rice in. I’ve used it for instant rice when I didn’t want to dirty another pot.

Combine tomato paste, water, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar in a small bowl; set aside.

In a large saute pan or skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and chopped bell pepper tops, cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the beef, garlic, oregano, salt and black pepper, and cook until the meat is browned, stirring with a heavy wooden spoon to break up the lumps, about 6 minutes. *Very important: remove pan from heat and drain any visible fat from the pan, then return it to the heat. Otherwise you will have greasy peppers. Next, add the cooked rice, parmesan cheese, and tomato paste mixture and stir well. Remove from the heat and adjust the seasoning, to taste. Depending on your cheese and tomato paste you may need a bit more salt.

Spray a casserole or baking dish with Pam or lightly oil, then pour in the stewed tomatoes (you can whir the stewed tomatoes in your food processor first if you don’t like a lot of chunks) or tomato sauce. Depending on the size of your pan, you may not need all of it. Pour in enough sauce so that it comes up to the bottom of the pepper and up about a half of an inch. Set the parboiled peppers into the prepared pan so they are evenly spaced and surrounded by sauce. Stuff the bell peppers with the rice/meat mixture. Spread a spoonful of the sauce over the top of each pepper.

Bake until the peppers are very tender and the filling is heated through, about 30 to 35 minutes. Spoon a little tomato sauce over each stuffed pepper and sprinkle with shredded cheese; bake 8 to 10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Serve the peppers with spoonfuls of tomato sauce from pan. Makes 6 servings.