When I was buying spinach for Spanakopita last week, one of the managers in our local supermarket expressed her love of this plant and made a few spinach-y meal suggestions. It turned out that I bought more spinach than I needed for my Greek pie, so I’ve decided to utilize her advice and stuffed some peppers for dinner last night.I did not follow any specific recipe, but used bits of wisdom from a few resources. Here is what I came up with:
- 7 bell peppers (yellow or orange are the best)
- 1.5 lb ground beef
- 2 cups cooked brown rice
- 1/3 large onion, about a cup
- 2 medium tomatoes
- 1 large garlic clove
- 1 carrot
- 1 bunch of fresh spinach
- 1/2 cup cooking white wine
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Remove tops, seeds and membranes from bell peppers, set the peppers aside. Boil brown rice until ready or almost ready, let cool.
Cut the onion and fry in olive oil on medium high heat for 3-4 minutes. Grate a carrot, add it to the onion and fry for another 1-2 minutes. Add garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press. Add grated tomatoes (use box grater, discard skins), fry everything for another minute or two.
Wilt spinach in microwave (put in a bowl with a bit of water and cook for 3-5 minutes). Transfer spinach to colander and remove excess liquid by gently pressing it with spatula. Chop wilted spinach.
Mix meat, rice, spinach, fried vegetables and seasoning together. Stuff peppers with the filling and put into a baking dish hollowed sides facing upward (I also reserved a bit of fried vegetables and put them on top of each stuffed pepper). Add wine to the baking dish, cover the dish with foil.
Bake at 370F for 40-45 minutes, remove foil. Bake uncovered for additional 25-30 minutes, until meat is cooked through and peppers are soft.
Serve with sour cream and enjoy!
April 20, 2012 @ 13:31
Good recipe and picture.
Why did you choose brown rice? Healthy?
April 21, 2012 @ 14:28
Thank you, Misha!
Yes, I chose brown rice over white one because of its greater nutritional value. I think the peppers did not suffer taste-wise.
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