Stuffed Sweet Peppers

Initially, I was just going to repost an older recipe, along with a nostalgic essay I did on stuffed peppers called Pepperfest.  When I checked the aforementioned post, I realized that the recipe has changed considerably and it might be worth sharing separately.  Not to mention, the pictures turned out quite alright.

This time I used beef instead of lamb. We did something we’d never done before, and purchased a grass fed cow share.  A quarter steer to be precise. We were told this was a reasonably small steer, so we only got like 120 lbs of meat. Believe me, 120 lbs of meat is a shocking amount even for us, avid red meat eaters.  We had to purchase a small freezer for that.  I can’t shake the feeling of doing something good — buying local, buying green, and buying inexpensive.  In the end of things, this perfect, exceptionally tasting meat ends up costing us about three bucks per pound. Compare that with the hefty 9.99 in a store, not even talking about steaks, and you get the picture.  The down side of this is — lots of ground meat.  I have a feeling I am going to have to get creative this fall and winter to go through the bulk of the ground beef.

First dish I tried with the ground beef is this one.  It was very very tasty. I kept it quite simple, not fussing over making of the sauce very much, because I only had 15-20 minutes between end of workday and the time my kid would explode from the unfulfilled need to go outside to ride a bike, so I didn’t put too much thought into it. I was just throwing things together on a fly.  The result was quite worth the posting.  I’ll let you be the judges.

Don’t get shocked by a long ingredient list — if you look closer you’ll see that I basically used same things in the farce as in the sauce to ensure the even flavor distribution.  I just broke them into two parts for you to easily manage.

Sweet Peppers with Beef & Couscous

For the farce:

• 4 large sweet peppers, any color
• 1 lbs ground beef, reasonably lean
• 1 egg
• 1/2 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 large carrot, peeled and shredded
• 3/4 cup pearl couscous (I used whole wheat one)
• chopped fresh herbs of your choosing, I used thyme
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 pinch of ground cinnamon
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger

For the sauce:

• 1/2 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 4 cups beef stock
• 1/2 lemon juice
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 large bay leaf
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 3 garlic cloves, slivered or minced
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme

Cut off the top portion of the sweet peppers, and scoop out the seeds and membranes to make as much room as possible for farce.

Mix all the sauce ingredients, bring to a boil. While sauce is warming up, make the farce.

Mix all the farce ingredients thoroughly. Stuff the peppers using your hand, and pack semi-tightly. Couscous will expand, so you don’t want to overstuff.

Cover the peppers with their tops. Retain the stems, as they add considerable flavor.

Once the sauce is boiled, reduce heat to medium and carefully lower the peppers into the pot. Make sure that there is enough sauce to cover the peppers completely. If not enough, add more stock or water.

Bring to a boil, lower the temperature to low or simmer and cook for about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of your peppers.

Serve hot with some sauce around. Garnish with fresh herbs and a dollop of sour cream.  Sourdough crusty bread is perfect for dipping into the sauce.