Stuffed Red Peppers

One of my favorite meals during the summer months are stuffed vegetables.  I love the flavors of the roasted vegetables, and it makes for a healthy, filling, whole meal.  A few of our favorite things to stuff are peppers, mushrooms, and tomatoes.  We’ve even stuffed the occasional jalapeño.

There are certain flavors I like to include in my stuffed vegetables.  For one, I think that parsley always adds a nice freshness.  One thing I like about putting parsley in a stuffed vegetable is that it doesn’t really wilt as much as other herbs would.  For instance, if you put basil in a 400 degree oven, it’s brown within seconds.  Parsley holds its own in high temperatures, which means that the whole dish maintains a level of freshness, even after being roasted.

I also really love using parmesan.  By nature, parmesan is a lot lower in fat and calories than other cheeses, and it’s not as heavy.  It adds a level of creaminess to the dish, but it doesn’t weigh it down.  For this particular recipe I used ground turkey, but I also like to stuff with sausage, particularly chicken sausage.  I really prefer to stuff with poultry, as red meat seems to be too much.  All in all, this is a delicious recipe, and I think you’ll find it a sweet warm weather dinner.

Stuffed Red Peppers

1 cup ground turkey

1/2 cup parsley

1/4 cup grated parmesan plus 2 tbsp for sprinkling

1/2 onion

4 tbsp olive oil

2 bell peppers

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp fresh rosemary

1/2 tbsp fresh oregano

1/2 tbsp red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper

1 tbsp butter

1 cup cooked jasmine rice

Heat half of your oil in a saute pan.  Begin to cook the turkey.  While the turkey is cooking, chop your onions, oregano, and rosemary.  When the turkey is mostly cooked, add in onions and herbs.  Continue to saute until the onions are tender.

In a medium size bowl, mix together the hot ingredients with the parsley, spices, cheese, butter, and rice.  The rice should be cooked prior to this step, and should be al dente, not mushy (so avoid a rice cooker).

Cut the tops off of your peppers and scoop out the seeds and the center pulp.  Stuff each pepper with the mixture, and place in a lightly greased baking pan.  If you want these to look a little fancy, you can place the top back on.  Sprinkle parmesan on top of the stuffing, and drizzle the remaining olive oil over both peppers.

Bake at 400 for 30 minutes.

Serves 2.