Nonna Pia's Italian Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

• 4 Bell peppers (tops removed and seeds cleaned out)
• 1 lb Ground meat (chopped meat; beef or a mix)
• 4 tbsp Olive oil (divided for frying meat and peppers)
• Salt (to taste)
• 1 cup Rice (cooked)
• 0.5 cup Mozzarella cheese (shredded or chopped)
• 0.5 cup Pecorino Romano cheese (grated; divided)
• 3 cup Tomato sauce (marinara or simple tomato sauce)
• 0.25 cup Breadcrumbs (to thicken stuffing and for topping)
• 0.25 cup Water (to thin the sauce while simmering)

Steps

1. 1

   Heat a little olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the ground meat and a pinch of salt. Cook, breaking it up with a spoon, until fully browned and fried. Set aside.

2. 2

   Prepare the peppers by cutting off the tops (the 'butts'). Remove the seeds and internal ribs to create a clean cavity for the stuffing.

3. 3

   Cook the rice according to package instructions and strain it.

4. 4

   In a large mixing bowl, combine the fried ground meat, cooked rice, mozzarella, and a portion of the Pecorino Romano cheese.

5. 5

   Add a small amount of tomato sauce to the mixture to bind it. Mix thoroughly by hand or with a spoon.

6. 6

   Add a handful of breadcrumbs to the mixture if it needs to be thicker. Mix until the stuffing holds together.

7. 7

   Stuff each pepper generously with the meat and rice mixture, packing it down. Sprinkle additional breadcrumbs on top of the stuffing in each pepper.

8. 8

   Heat oil in a deep pot (Nonna uses a well-seasoned older pot). Place the stuffed peppers inside and fry them briefly on their sides, flipping carefully to blister the skin.

9. 9

   Pour the tomato sauce into the pot around the peppers. Add a little bit of water to the sauce to reach the desired consistency.

10. 10

    Sprinkle more Pecorino Romano cheese over the peppers and sauce.

11. 11

    Cover and simmer on low heat ('boil easy, easy') until the peppers are tender and the skins are cooked through, approximately 20-30 minutes.

Notes

Nonna Pia emphasizes using Pecorino Romano rather than Parmigiano for this recipe. The peppers are fried before simmering to develop flavor in the skin.

Nutrition per serving

• main
• Italian
• stuffed peppers
• comfort food
• stovetop
• dinner