Peperoni Ripieni
These disappear fastest in late summer, when peppers are cheap and good at the market and nobody in this kitchen needs much convincing to fill something with rice and bake it.
Ingredients
- 4 large bell peppers, mixed colors
- 250g cooked rice (day-old works well)
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 30g pine nuts
- 30g raisins (optional)
- Fresh parsley, chopped
- 300g crushed tomatoes, divided
- Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
- Olive oil
- Fine sea salt and black pepper
Serves 4.
Cookware Required
- una teglia da forno (a baking dish)
- un cucchiaio (a spoon, for stuffing)
Method
Cut the tops off the peppers and reserve them, then remove the seeds and membranes from inside. Warm a little olive oil, and soften the onion and garlic. Add the pine nuts, and the raisins if using, and cook for a minute more, just to warm them through.
Combine this with the cooked rice, a third of the crushed tomatoes, the parsley, a handful of Parmigiano, salt, and pepper. Stuff the peppers generously with this mixture, and replace their tops.
Stand the peppers upright in a baking dish just large enough to hold them snugly. Pour the remaining crushed tomatoes and a splash of water around the base, and drizzle everything with olive oil.
Cover, and bake at 190°C (375°F) for about forty-five minutes, then uncover and bake for another fifteen minutes, until the peppers are tender and their tops have taken on some color.
Quando Va Storto
If the peppers collapse into mush rather than holding their shape, they were overbaked, or were too thin-walled to begin with; look for peppers that feel heavy and firm for their size. If the filling tastes dry, it needed more tomato mixed in, or spent too long uncovered in the oven. And if the rice at the center still tastes undercooked, raw rice was used instead of already-cooked rice; the peppers simply don't spend enough time in the oven to cook raw rice through on their own.