A week of raining has melt down all the snow and left the city all muddy. Countless grayish clouds have been covering the sky ever since, providing us with one of the most depressive weeks in long time.

Luckily, I made sure that at least we had some comfort food on table every day. Like this one, for example. Stuffed peppers is a dish you can find all around Balkan and Mediterranean, as well as in other parts of the world. I prepare it the way my grandma does, which is cook it in tomato “soup”. Served with mashed potatoes and some salad on a side, you get another perfect winter meal.

STUFFED GREEN PEPPER
(serves 2)

• 4 smaller or 2 bigger green peppers
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 200g minced beef
• 75g long grain rice
• extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt
• freshly ground pepper
• freshly grated nutmeg
• 1tsp chopped rosemary
• 1Tbsp chopped parsley of celery leaves
• 1/2tsp smoked Spanish paprika
• 1dl dry red or white wine
• 500ml tomato purée
• vegetable/meat stock or water

Preparation:

1. Rinse the peppers, dry them well and cut off their tops. Remove the seeds and membranes.
2. In a bowl, mix together the mince meat, onion, garlic, salt, ground pepper, nutmeg, rosemary, parsley or celery, smoked paprika and finally, the rice.
3. Stuff the peppers with spiced meat and rice, and place the cut off tops back, pressing them down a bit, so they don’t fall off while cooking.
4. In a larger sauté pan, heat some olive oil and add the peppers. Add wine, then pour in the tomato purée and enough stock to almost cover the peppers.
5. Cook on low-to-middle temperature for one hour and a half or less, depending on the size of your peppers.

Related posts:

1. Winter dishes (III)
2. Winter dishes (VI)
3. Winter dishes (IX)
4. A recipe from “Planet Food”
5. Winter dishes (V)