Stuffed Peppers/Capsicums

I have been reading through the archives of A Spoonful of Sugar and found this great recipe for stuffed capsicums which, in addition to being really tasty, are actually relatively low in fat and calories.

I've stuffed tomatoes before, but I think stuffing capsicums is much easier, and capsicums have the added benefit of being a bigger bowl than a tomato.

The stuffing is a lightly spiced mix of minced beef, onion, parsley, paprika, allspice, parmesan cheese and rice and the capsicums are served with a sauce of red wine and a bottle of premade pasta sauce. Angela recommends added extra paprika and a spoonful of garlic to the mix, so I happily obliged. I love paprika and garlic. I didn't have any parsley, so I used a bit of artistic licence and added some spring onions and garlic chives.

DD is working lates this week, but I was able to prepare the capsicums, cook the rice and mix the ingredients with the mince, so all I had to do once we got home was cook the mix, stuff the capsicums and put them in the oven.

I scaled the recipe to fill six capsicums, because I had six capsicums and 500g of mince. However, the stuffing made quite a bit, and I ended up baking a dish of just stuffing alongside my full capsicums. The capsicums reheat surprisingly well, which is good because we had three leftover, but they don't hold their shape as well. The flavours in the stuffing develop quite nicely, especially the parmesan.

These were a great success with both DD and our flatmate. I didn't cook the capsicums in the sauce, but served it separately and I personally didn't really think they needed a sauce. It was beautifully spiced, looked great and was really enjoyable.

Stuffed Peppers
Adapted from Cooking Light

For six peppers

150g rice
6 medium red bell peppers
500g minced beef
1 1/2 cup chopped onion
2 spring onions, chopped
3 stalks garlic chives, chopped
2 tsp paprika
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp allspice
1 jar (500g) bottled tomato and basil pasta sauce
3/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
3/4 cup dry red wine
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 230 degrees Celcius.

Cook rice according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Set aside.

While rice cooks, cut tops off bell peppers; reserve tops. Discard seeds and membranes. Place peppers, cut sides down, in an 8-inch square baking dish; cover with plastic wrap. Microwave at high 2 minutes or until peppers are crisp-tender. Cool.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add beef and the next 5 ingredients (beef through allspice); cook 4 minutes or until beef is lightly browned, stirring to crumble. Remove from heat. Add rice, 1/3 of the bottle pasta sauce, and cheese to beef mixture, stirring to combine.

While beef cooks, combine the rest of the pasta sauce and wine in a small saucepan; bring to a boil.

Spoon the beef mixture into each pepper. Place peppers in a 2-quart baking dish coated with cooking spray; add wine mixture to pan. Cover with foil.

Bake for 20 minutes. Uncover; bake an additional 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve peppers with sauce. Garnish with pepper tops.