Two Become One

Two recipes that is. After visiting the little market gardener this morning (see this post for the whole story) I had a bit of a surplus of fresh produce. I thought it would be a good idea to make this Stuffed Red Pepper recipe. But after the last time we had it I knew it needed a little tweaking.

Then of course I had the 2kg of fresh, ripe Roma tomatoes so I thought I would do a traditional Italian sauce. I Googled for a recipe and found this one at grouprecipes.com Turned out great!

Real Italian Tomato Sauce
Ingredients: 

• salt & pepper
• 1 ½ kg ripe tomatoes, quartered
• 1 cup red wine
• 2 cups cold water
• ⅓ cup tomato paste
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 tsps brown sugar
• 2 onions, sliced
• ⅓ cup vegetable stock
• 1 tsp Chilli flakes, (optional)

Directions:

Place stock in saucepan & bring to a simmer.

Add onion & garlic stirring until onion is soft.

Lightly season with salt and pepper now and after each addition.

Add tomatoes & sugar & cook stirring every once in awhile for 10 minutes.

Stir in wine & tomato paste.

Bring to the boil.

Gently boil stirring every once in awhile for 5 minutes until liquid reduces & thickens.

Stir in water & chilli flakes. Let simmer uncovered for 40 minutes.

If you like a chunky sauce - puree 1/2 the sauce only.

If you want a smooth sauce puree the whole lot.

Transfer sauce to clean jars while still hot.

Add the chilli if you like a little heat. I have found the sauce reduces sufficiently that you may not need to puree at all. However, a little pureeing does make the sauce go a long way!

Then onto my tewaked bell peppers. The original recipe was nice but needed a little more OOMPH!

Stuffed Red Peppers



Ingredients:

• 3 red capsicums
• 250 g premium beef mince
• 250 g sausage meat
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon mixed Italian herbs
• 1.2 cup chopped parsley
• 1 jar Real Italian Tomato Sauce
• Welly Boot Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• salt & pepper, to taste
• 250 milliliters boiling water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 150℃

Cut the capsicums in half and remove the seeds. Put aside.

In a mixing bowl add beef and sausage mince, eggs, flour, parmesan cheese, paprika, garlic powder, herbs, and parsley. Mix the ingredients until evenly blended.

Stuff the mixture into each half capsicum, making sure the mixture is no more than half a centimetre above the rim of the capsicum, and is packed in firmly. Now fry the capsicums Welly Boot Extra Virgin Olive Oil for 5 minutes, with the meat side facing down, until the meat is a reddy brown and completely sealed.

Then turn the capsicum over, and fry for a further 5 minutes, for a bit of a charcoal effect. Add tomato sauce and boiling water to the pan. Simmer for 10 minutes on medium heat, then transfer to oven for 30 minutes .

(Serves 6)

I know it sounds a little fiddly but if you don't want to be a masochist (like me LOL) you could prepare the sauce ahead of time and just pull it out when you need it. Otherwise the peppers themselves are pretty cruisy to prepare - and pretty filling. I also reccoment Rita's rocket salad from the original recipe (see link above), as a side. Yum!