Stuffed Pepper Ideas

Ugh -- so sorry for the spam! We're working on fixing it.

Since the markets are full of eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes now, you could do a sort of Provencale version with a classic ratatouille as a filling, maybe topped with some grated Gruyere and bread crumbs mixed with olive oil/herbs.

Or speaking of eggplant, you could do a filling that's a spin on Sicilian Pasta all Norma, with sauteed eggplant, lots of garlic, tomatoes, fresh basil, red pepper flakes and some bread crumbs and grated ricotta salata on top.

A great spin on the traditional stuffed peppers is to use the baby bell peppers, stuff them with the filling of your choice, skewer, then grill. Great presentation and can even be served with a green salad as a first course.

Possibly I need to go back and edit the tags. I'll do that today.

sagegreen - Yes, ironically, if you google the term, the recipe comes up, but if you do a recipe search right here on food52.com with just the term "stuffed peppers" - it doesn't.

I like filling halved sweet peppers with a mixture of chunks of good quality tomatoes, olive oil, a dash of balsamic and garlic and then baking them until the pepper starts to blacken. They're lovely with some baguette or similar to soak the juices up. Simple but delicious.

If you google "stuffed peppers" you will get pierino's recipe pretty quickly among many others.

maybe too late to be useful now, but we like this...

http://seabirdskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/03/peppers-stuffed-with-tomatoes-and.html

This is a recipe I learned from a Hungarian cook many moons ago, but I added the buffalo mozz cheese dollop which is also a nice addition:

http://www.food52.com/recipes/6528_stuffed_red_peppers_a_la_haya

Hey pieriono - those didn't come up in my search because of the title. Perhaps a Food52 glitch we should point out to Peter (and Amanda after her groundbreaking comments on the new Google recipe search). Even within Food52, if the title does not include the search term, the recipe is unlikely to show up (i.e. "stuffed peppers"). and now I have opened a whole new can of worms.

PS Stendahl is one of my absolute favorites, and I very much appreciated your play on words here - should have said something earlier. Actually, your recipes are among my most favorite for their ingenuity and wit. Big fan.

You know, I love drbabs' retro stuffing! You might also think about filling them with a vegetable chili, topped with a little cheese and run under the broiler.

If you go the Greek style with red meat.

Consider a Greek tomato sauce. Same as the Italian version, but with addition of allspice, cloves, and a touch of cinnamon.

Lighter version of Greek style: Baby bellas, rice, onions, garlic, tomato, lots of oregano, mint and parsley.

I also chop up the interior part of the pepper (seeds removed) and throw that in as well.

Go Greek w some ground lamb, oregano, mint, feta & rice. Avgolemeno...mmmm

This is something I came up with almost as improv http://www.food52.com/recipes/12055_the_red_and_the_black_roasted_red_peppers_black_quinoa_and_allioli_with_apologies_to_stendhal

Ooo - Lori - I like that idea! I have enough to do a few different things.

I second Sam's lamb idea...pine nuts and feta in the rice...but don't forget about breakfast. Leftover baked potato diced, with partially cooked, well drained sausage and an egg/cheese custard.

Just realized you're talking about the big ones. I've got a surplus of the minis. But the same would work for you, shave pieces off in slabs, mound something cold in them . . . pour some crisp white wine. . . .

Paneer & ricotta with some scallions, cilantro & mint

In summer I like a cold stuffing. I'm working on one with ricotta, feta, lemon zest & juice, lemon thyme, smashed sweet peas. I've got a bunch on hand right now, too.

Hmm, I have lots of oregano in the garden, Isreali couscous in the pantry, and just preserved a new jar of lemons last month.....

Quinoa is nice for a grain base. How about Greek Style with lamb, mushrooms, feta and lemon seasoned rice, with Greek tomato sauce? Or think a tagine for the meat element with preserved lemons and Israeli couscous for the starch--which would also work with seafood added to a tagine sauce base (tomatoes, preserved lemons, oregano..etc) and finished cooking in the peppers for something a bit lighter for the summer time.

This is very retro 1960's, but I love peppers halved and stuffed with ground beef, onions, garlic and seasoned like a meat loaf mixture. Top with bread crumbs, bake and you have little individual meat loaves in a pepper half.