Stuffed Peppers

Adapted from: Chef John’s Stuffed Peppers

This was truly an amazing dish. Looks and tastes great. I made a few minor changes to the original but not much. When I made this recipe it made more than 4 peppers it was more like 6 or 7. So it makes lots. The original recipe asks to slice the peppers in half and then stuff them I did not do this so it took longer to cook in the oven. Next time I would make more of the sauce as we like a lot of sauce.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup long grain write rice
• 2 cups water

Sauce:

• 1 onion, diced
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 cups marinara sauce or any pasta sauce
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Peppers:

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1/4 pound Italian sausage, casing removed
• 1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 pinch ground cayenne pepper
• 4 large bell peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded
• 1 cup finely grated mozzarella cheese plus more for topping

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
2. Bring rice and water to a boil in a saucepan over heat. Cook according to package directions. Set the cooked rice aside.
3. Cook onion and olive oil over medium heat until onion begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Transfer half of the cooked onion to a large bowl and set aside.
4. Stir marinara sauce, beef broth, balsamic vinegar, and red pepper flakes into the skillet; cook and stir for 1 minute.
5. Pour sauce mixture into a 9×13-inch baking dish and set aside.
6. Combine ground beef, italian sausage, diced tomatoes, italian parsley, garlic, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper into a bowl with reserved onions, mix well. Stir in cooked rice and mozzarella cheese. Stuff bell peppers with bee and sausage mixture.
7. Place stuffed bell pepper halves in the baking dish over tomato sauce; sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese, cover baking dish with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes.
8. Remove foil and bake until the meat is no longer pink, the peppers are tender and the cheese is browned on top, an additional 20 to 25 minutes.