Stuffed Peppers

Here we are on another meat-free Friday.  I always seem to forget about stuffed peppers.  Now you're probably reading this and thinking- stuffed peppers?  She blew this Friday during Lent.  Not quite.  My grandmother used to make peppers a very different way from most people.  That recipe then trickled down to my Auntie Carm and my mom.  The two of them used to eat stuffed peppers for dinner when no one else was around because apparently no one else (I think just my dad) likes them prepared this way.  A few years ago, I went to go pick up some extra stuffed peppers my aunt had made for my mom.  While I was there I tasted one.  I thought it was great.  That was the first time I ever had a stuffed pepper cooked this way.  I did have them one other time with chopped meat and rice- a no in my book.  So I just assumed that I belonged in the group of stuffed-pepper-haters.  I was mistaken.  I loved them.  After that, I would join my mother and aunt for their stuffed pepper meals.  My aunt was the one who always made them and after she passed away, we kind of forgot about them.

Last year, something triggered my memory so I asked my mom why she didn't make them.  Was it that she didn't know how, or couldn't?  The answer was no to both- she just never had up until that point.  I told her that we should give it a try and if it didn't come out good, then oh well.  It was fabulicious.  That's my new word that I invented- fabulicious.  It tasted just as if my aunt had made them.  I find it amazing how one taste bite of food can transport you to another place and time.  I just love it.  It's so flavorful.  I'll tell you how we make it and then you can decide which group you belong in.

So we start off with red bell pepper- decent sized ones.  Cut out the stem and put a tiny slit half way down one side of the pepper so that you can easily remove the seeds and stuff it.  We then parboil the peppers for about 5 minutes (let the water arrive to a boil before you time it).  The peppers should be a bit more flexible now.  In the meantime, prepare the stuffing.  This time we made it a bit different, but for the better.  For the bread portion of the stuffing we use plain biscotti.  Not the sweet cookie kind, the plain hard bread kind.  You can find it either in the produce/bakery section of the grocery store, or near the bread.  Apicella's is a local bakery that delivers Italian baked goods to the grocery store.  It's very very hard and make sure it's PLAIN.  Get a bag of the biscotti and a bag of freselles.  They are hard, peppery, bread circles.  Take the biscotti and freselles and soak them in water then squeeze all the water out.  Put that in a large enough bowl to mix around with your hands.  Then to the bread mixture add some chopped garlic cloves, chopped anchovies (it really adds good flavor), chopped black olives, salt, pepper, and parsley.  Drizzle some olive oil over the mixture and make sure everything is incorporated.  After the parboiled peppers have a cooled enough to handle, put about two handfuls of the stuffing in the peppers so they are nicely stuffed.  Put the oven on 375 degrees.  Drizzle some more olive oil over the top of the peppers and rub it in to the side facing up.  Bake for about an hour.  You really want the skin to get that black and charred look.  Then, enjoy.

I hope you give it a try.  I think it's the way to stuff a pepper.  It tasty, simple, and doesn't take too long to make.  And if you are Catholic, this is a lovely Lenten meal.  That's all I have for now.  Until my next bite....