Speca te mbushura (AKA Stuffed Peppers)

Speca te mbushura

(AKA Stuffed Peppers)

So last night, for the first time in a while, I cooked a REAL meal.  In the continuing theme of the abundant pepper harvest, I made stuffed peppers.  SO easy!

PLEASE do not judge this recipe by this horrible picture!  I need to learn more about taking pictures of food.

Ingredients:

6-8 green (or other colors) bell peppers (less if they are large ones.  Mine were half the size of store bought.)

1 1/2 pounds ground beef (next time I think I am going to try these with ground turkey)

1/2 minced onion

1/3 cup rice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon + 1/2 teaspoon Vegata (optional and see note below)

1 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2-3 Tablespoons olive oil

water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Remove the tops and the insides from the peppers.  Set aside.  Mince the onion finely.  Mix all the ingredients EXCEPT the peppers, 1/2 teaspoon Vegata and the water.  Stuff the mixture into the hollow peppers.  Place the peppers in a baking pan.  Add the vegata and a bit of water to cover the bottom.  Cover with foil.  Bake for 1/2 hour, then remove foil and bake until done.  That's it!

Vegata:  This is a common seasoning used in the Balkans.  It is basically a dried vegetable seasoning  used in place of all or some of the salt in a recipe.  Use it carefully as it tastes (to me) saltier than an equivalent amount of salt.  And as I said, this has salt in it, it is NOT a salt substitute.  You can find it online or a at a local ethnic food store that carries European foods.

Another bad picture.  But it was really yummy!