Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Orzo Stuffed Peppers


      The green peppers looked so good at the grocery store today and at ninety nine cents a pound I couldn't resist coming home with a bagful.  I poured over stuffed pepper recipes online and this pasta stuffed version from Mr. Food looked the easiest and did not require any prior cooking of the ingredients.  It's a one bowl dish.  Clean the peppers, mix the stuffing, place them in your oven and bake away.  It makes enough for five large peppers or six medium ones.  Bake them in your 12 inch oven with 12 coals around the bottom and 22-24 on top.  After 30 minutes pour on the remainder of the sauce and cover with cheese.  Dutch ovens magically cook peppers, steaming and baking them at the same time.  Like mini meatloaves wrapped in sweet, tender peppers, this old fashioned recipe never goes out of style.

Orzo Stuffed Peppers
1 pound ground beef
1 cup uncooked orzo pasta
1 (29-ounce) can tomato sauce, divided
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
6 medium-sized green bell peppers, tops removed and cored
2 cups water
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

     Lightly oil or spray a 12 inch dutch oven.
     In large bowl combine the ground beef, orzo, 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce, basil, garlic powder, salt and pepper; mix well.
     Loosley stuff the peppers with beef mixture.
     Stand the peppers in prepared dutch oven.  Pour 2 cups of water in bottom of oven.
     Cook at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until beef is browned on top.
     Pour remaining sauce over peppers and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
     Cook for ten minutes more or until cheese has melted and sauce is bubbling.
     Serves 5-6.

Bake loosely stuffed peppers in 2 cups of water

Bake for 30-35 minutes


Pour on remaining sauce and sprinkle with cheese

Ready in 10 minutes


Juicy and succulent, my new favorite way to cook peppers

2 comments:

  1. When you baked these, was the lid on the entire time? Mine didn't brown like the ones in your photo.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Sarah, yes you do need to bake them with the lid on the whole time, once you add the cheese, put the lid back on and let them bake until the cheese has melted. Maybe you need to add more coals on the lid to raise the temperature. Also, if you are using a deep oven, they may not brown quite as much as a regular one. Hope this helps. Liddy

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