Stuff It!

Stuffed Peppers.

Most of us were brought up to think that meat and vegetables were cooked separately… side by side so to speak… but if you grew up in our house being that we were from Armenian descent, veggies stuffed with meat or dolmas as we called them were part of the norm. We stuffed grape leaves, cabbage, eggplant, tomatoes and even peppers.

Stuffing peppers is actually pretty common in a lot of cultures. Hungarians, Greeks, Italians and Armenians all have some sort of variation for this recipe.

The one I’m going to share with you today is an Armenian recipe. You can actually use this recipe to stuff just about any vegetable that you like! It's warm, tasty, savory and delicious!

Red, Green, Yellow… the color of the pepper doesn’t matter! This is one of those no fail type of recipes… go ahead and try… you can’t ruin it!

This one is for you Lelo… thanks for writing to me for the recipe! I know grandma would be proud of you!

Stuffed Peppers

8 Bell Peppers

1 pound ground beef/turkey/chicken

½ cup long grain rice

½ onion finely chopped

¼ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 can peeled, petite dice tomatoes

Juice of 1 lemon

½ teaspoon dried mint crushed

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 small garlic clove minced

salt & pepper to taste

· Wash the peppers and cut off the tops & remove seeds. Set aside

· Mix the meat, rice, onion, parsley, garlic, cayenne, salt & pepper and half of the can of tomatoes in a large mixing bowl. Combine thoroughly.

· Stuff the cored peppers with meat- do not stuff all the way to the very top. Leave about ¼ of an inch from the top as the rice will expand while cooking and it will overflow.

· Arrange the stuffed peppers in a large pot. Pour the remaining tomatoes over the top. Add the lemon juice, mint and a little water so thereis approx 2-3 inches of liquid in the bottom of the pan.

· Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer, covered, for about 45 min, or until the peppers are tender.

OPTIONAL: You may serve with a dollop of yogurt or Lebni (Armenian style yogurt- it has a thicker consistency than plain yogurt) on the side