Stuffed Mini Peppers Recipes

Steps:

• Rinse peppers in cold water. Using a small paring knife, carefully remove stems and seeds preserving as much of the top of the peppers as possible.
• Sauté garlic, onion and celery in a large pan with olive oil until soft. Add chicken broth to pan and increase heat too high. Turn burner off Just prior to boiling,.
• Add stuffing mix, Tuscany seasoning, parsley and shredded Italian cheeses. Mix all ingredients until well combined, softened and moist. You can adjust softness by adding more stuffing mix or chicken broth. You are now ready to stuff.
• Using surgical gloves, stuff the peppers with a teaspoon or by hand. Once all the peppers are stuffed, pierce them with a paring knife in several places. This will allow steam to escape, helping to prevent stuffing from oozing out.
• DO NOT oven bake the stuffed peppers. Cooked peppers need to soften but retain their texture. Oven baking will over cook them, destroying their flavor and texture.
• Place them in a large frying pan with an ample amount of olive oil. Over medium heat, sauté peppers on all sides, only turning them over as their surfaces begin to singe. Peppers should be softened but retain texture.
• Made too much stuffing? That's a good problem. Form the stuffing mix into a burger. Brown one side in the pan used to fry the peppers. Flip the stuffing burger and top the cooked side with more cheese. Covering pan as you brown the other side will help the cheese melt.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Cut the bell peppers in half top to bottom and remove the seeds and ribs. Set aside. Cook the rice in a medium saucepan following the package directions.
• In a medium skillet, brown the ground beef with the onion and garlic over medium-high heat, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain any excess fat from the meat and remove the skillet from the heat. Combine the ground beef mixture, rice, tomatoes, black pepper and salt in a large bowl and mix until blended.
• In a 9-by-13-by-2-inch baking dish, place the bell peppers cut-side up. Evenly divide the beef mixture among the pepper halves. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and sprinkle the Cheddar on top. Return the pan to the oven, uncovered, and bake until the cheese melts, about 5 minutes.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Place halved peppers in a bowl. Add olive oil and salt; toss to combine.
• Mix goat cheese, Parmesan cheese, jalapeno, garlic, chives, and black pepper in a separate bowl. Stir until evenly combined. Spoon cheese mixture into pepper halves and place on a baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until peppers have softened and cheese is browned, about 15 minutes.

Steps:

• Place an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with vegetable oil cooking spray and set aside.
• In a medium skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the pancetta and cook, stirring frequently, until brown and crispy, about 5 to 7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the pancetta and drain on paper towels. Add the onion to the pan and cook until translucent and soft, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
• In a medium bowl, combine the onion, pancetta, cheeses, and peas. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
• Using a paring knife, cut 1/2-inch from the stem-end of the peppers. Remove the seeds and veins. Using a small dessert spoon, fill each pepper with the ricotta mixture. Place the filled peppers on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 15 to 18 minutes until the peppers begin to soften. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes.
• Arrange the peppers on a platter and serve.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• In a small frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat for about 30 seconds. Add Jimmy Dean sausage and cook for 8 to 10 minutes until browned, stirring frequently to break up the sausage into small pieces, then drain. Remove the sausage and set aside.
• To the same pan, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil and reduce heat to medium. Add diced mushrooms and saute for about 5 minutes, until mushrooms are softened and brown.
• In a bowl, mix the sausage and mushrooms with the rice and parsley, and 1/2 cup of the mozzarella. Season to taste, and fill each bell pepper halfway with the mixture.
• Top each pepper with additional cheese, and bake for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Carefully remove the peppers from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Steps:

• First, prepare the filling. Put the onion in a medium frying pan, and without adding the oil, "sweat" it over medium heat, stirring often, just until slightly softened. Add the oil and when it is heated up, add the tomato paste and pepper paste. Stir to mix. Toss in the rice and sugar, and cook over low heat, stirring frequently to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan, for 10-15 minutes. To check for doneness of the filling - take a bite on a rice grain: if it is soft on the outside and only slightly grainy inside, the filling is ready. Take care not to overcook. The rice will cook further inside the peppers. Remove the filling from the heat. Add the mint. Season with salt. Stir to mix and allow to cool.
• Meanwhile, wash the peppers and pat dry. Cut a circle around the pepper stalk, leaving the circle attached. It will serve as a lid later. With your fingers, push the core of the peppers to the sides (because their core is tiny and the seeds are minimal, there is no need to remove them). Rub the inside of the shells with some salt.
• Fill the peppers with the rice filling half full (do not overfill - the rice will expand while cooking). Put the pepper "lids" on. If you like, you could place a small grape tomato under each lid. Arrange the peppers in a saute pan (large enough to fit all the peppers) in a slightly overlapping manner. Pour in the water.
• Cover and cook over medium heat, until liquid is reduced to oil and the rice is fully cooked, about 1 hour. Note that the cooked peppers should not be mushy and should hold their shape nicely. Remove from the heat. If you wish, drizzle some olive oil on top of the peppers. Cover and allow to cool completely (yes, covered). Serve cold. This dolma stores well in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400°F. Spray 15x10x1-inch pan with cooking spray.
• Cut each sweet pepper in half lengthwise, leaving stems intact. Remove seeds and membranes. Place halved sweet peppers on pan, cut sides up.
• In small bowl, mix Boursin™ cheese, cream cheese and ground red pepper with spoon until well blended. Place cheese mixture in small resealable food-storage plastic bag. Cut 1/2 inch off 1 corner of bag. Pipe mixture evenly among pepper halves, about 2 teaspoons for each pepper.
• In another small bowl, mix bread crumbs, melted butter and pepper. Sprinkle each pepper half with about 1/2 teaspoon bread crumb mixture; gently press into cheese mixture.
• Bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and sprinkle about 1/2 teaspoon Parmesan cheese on each pepper. Return to oven; bake 5 to 8 minutes or until tops are brown and cheese is melted. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Top with chives. Serve warm.

Steps:

• Heat broiler.
• Combine avocados, beans, corn and salsa; spoon into pepper halves.
• Place on baking sheet; top with cheese.
• Broil, 4 inches from heat, 2 to 4 min. or until cheese is melted.
• Sprinkle with cilantro.