stuffed peppers

Years ago (pre-kids) when my husband and I would have weeknight dates at Costco (I’m not kidding), we would peruse the aisle stocked with pre-made meals and try to pick something somewhat healthy. Stuffed peppers made it into our cart a couple times until I realized just how easy it was to make. My version is filled with a mixture of ground bison, rice and marinara sauce. It’s topped with goat mozzarella, and baked until cheese is bubbly and finished with fresh herbs. 

The great thing about this recipe is you can easily modify it to suit your dietary restrictions or aversions.

Here are a couple of easy substitutes:

Ground bison – replace with any ground meat like turkey or beef. Ground sausage is delicious but can get a bit fatty so use only ½ lb. If you’re vegetarian, ground round is excellent in this dish.

Rice – white or brown rice is what I typically use but you could replace that with quinoa.

Spices – my spice blend is more Italian-forward but you could make this more Mexican-inspired by using taco seasoning, or Indian by using garam masala, curry powder, cumin and coriander.

INGREDIENTS:

4 medium bell peppers, halved and seeded

2 tbl olive oil

1 lb ground bison

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 medium shallot, chopped

1 tbl worcestershire sauce

2 cups cooked rice

2 cups marinara sauce

2 tsp cumin

1 tbl dried basil

1 tbl dried oregano

1 tsp mild paprika

1 cup shredded goat mozzarella

2 tbl fresh parsley, chopped

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

-Spoon 2 tablespoons of marinara on the bottom of a 10” x 14” casserole dish.  Place halved bell peppers, cut side up on top of the sauce and roast in the over for 10 minutes.

-Heat a large frying pan with olive oil, add shallots and sauté until tender (about 3 minutes) and add garlic until just fragrant (about 30 seconds).

-Add ground bison and cook until brown.

-Add Worcestershire, herbs, spices, rice and 1-1/2 cups of marinara to the bison mixture. Mix thoroughly.

-Remove pan from heat and spoon bison mixture into bell pepper halves.

-Top peppers with remaining sauce and sprinkle goat mozzarella on top.

-Bake for 35 minutes then broil for 3 mins to get cheese bubbly and brown.

-Remove from oven and garnish with parsley. Serve immediately.