Turkey and Brown Rice Stuffed Peppers

It's December now in Chicago. We've had our first real snow and the temperature is 17 degrees farenheit. We all start to think about comfort food at this time of year, a big bowl of steaming goodness that you can sit down on the couch with and watch a movie. One of my favorite recipes for a cold evening is stuffed peppers made with ground turkey, brown rice and lots of fresh spices. Some of you may remember your grandmother's stuffed peppers. She usually cooked the daylights out of them and they were most likely hard and heavy, right?

In this recipe I decided to keep the essence of grandma's stuffed peppers but I made some changes that will rev up these peppers. First, ground beef is too heavy. You end up with peppers that are like cement meatballs. Second, ground beef doesn't take on flavors the way that turkey will. Lastly, you want to lighten up the meat mixture so that it will cook in your tomato sauce and absorb all of the flavors that you're going to layer in.

The ground turkey filling is where it all starts. Then adding partially cooked brown rice and panko bread crumbs, you're allowing the filling to have some air. This will plump up inside the peppers when it is fully cooked. The other thing that really helps the filling is the use of fresh ingredients; fresh italian parsley and thyme will make the filling more flavorful.

Now the tomato sauce, again it's the fresh ingredients that will really bring this part of the recipe to life. Fresh chopped tomatoes with garlic and onions just cannot be beat. Allowing the tomatoes, garlic and onions to simmer and reduce helps to concentrate the flavors. Then add the tomato puree and all of the fresh spices to finish off the sauce. Here's where the "art" part comes in. If you don't think you have enough sauce to cover your stuffed peppers you should add some more tomato puree or tomato sauce. As a general rule, your pot should be about half full of sauce before you add any peppers. However, since the pepppers will release moisture as they cook, they will add volume of your sauce. See the "art" part now? Cover the pot after you've added all of the peppers, turn the heat down to medium low and sit back for a couple of hours and get ready to enjoy.

So let's get started....

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Turkey and Brown Rice
Stuffed Peppers in Tomato Sauce

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***Ingredients***

4 to 6 fresh bell peppers
1 lb ground turkey
1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice
1 28 oz can tomato Puree
1 to 2 cups tomato sauce or puree if necessary
3 to 4 medium tomatoes chopped
1 medium onion chopped
4 to 5 cloves garlic minced
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1 cup fresh Italian parsley roughly chopped & divided
3 tblsp fresh thyme divided
1/3 cup fresh basil chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dill weed
1 tblsp Penzey's pasta sprinkle
1 tsp chili powder
Salt and Pepper to taste

***Preparation***

In a medium size pot add 1 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice, 2 1/2 cups water, 1 tblsp butter, pinch of salt. Cook for 30 minutes or until the brown rice is slightly crunchy. Let cool.

In a large mixing bowl add ground turkey and cooled brown rice. Mix with your hands. Add 1/2 cup fresh parsley, 1 1/2 tblsp fresh thyme, cheddar cheese, panko bread crumbs and dried spices. Mix thoroughly with your hands and set aside.

Heat a large pot over medium high heat. Add olive oil, onions and garlic. Saute until onions and garlic start to turn translucent about 3 to 5 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are reduced by half. Stir in tomato puree and remaining fresh spices. Let tomato sauce simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes. If there isn't enough tomato sauce you can add 1 to 2 cups tomato puree or sauce if necessary. If the sauce is too thick you can also add some water to thin it out.

While tomato sauce is cooking, cut the top off each pepper then remove the stem from the top. Remove the veins and seeds from the inside of each pepper with a spoon, then clean and rinse. Stuff each pepper with the ground turkey mixture. Replace the top and put in tomato sauce. When all peppers have been placed in pot, ladle tomato sauce over top of all peppers. Reduce heat and let peppers simmer for 2 hours or until peppers are soft and turkey meat is cooked. Turkey meat mixture will expand and push out of the peppers once they are cooked through.

Serving suggestion: place a cooked stuffed pepper in a pasta bowl, split the pepper down the middle then ladle tomato sauce over the pepper. Top with parmesan or pecorino romano cheese, serve with a slice of nice crusty bread.

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