Stuffed Bell Peppers

This year we have bell peppers growing in the garden, along with Ancho Chilies, Red Chilies, and Jalapenos.  We have red, yellow, and green bell peppers.  I recently fixed a batch of stuffed green bell peppers and was asked for the recipe.  So I guess this blog is turning into a recipe and food blog.  So much for religion and politics for the moment.  I'm too disgusted with politics and religion takes too long to express adequately, so maybe food is the best subject for this medium at the moment.

The basic ingredients for this recipe are:

• 6 large, ripe bell peppers (7 total, see below) with symmetrical  bottoms so they will stand up in a pan - color of your choosing 
• 1 pound of ground beef
• 1.5 cups of rice
• 3 cups of water
• unsalted butter or margarine as you prefer
• enough extra virgin olive oil to lightly coat your skillet bottom
• 1 large white onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1 eight oz can of tomato sauce
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 1 can of mild Rotel tomatoes with chili
• salt and pepper to taste
• 6 large slices of mozzarella cheese to top the peppers  

To get your peppers to the desired ripeness (is that a word in English?) pick or buy them a few days prior to using them and let them sit before stuffing them.  When their skin is just starting to pucker they are ready.  Cut the tops off of your peppers and remove the seeds and white innards.  Retain the pepper tops and trim the excess from the bottoms.  Set them aside.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Boil 3 cups of water in a sauce pan, add butter or margarine and salt to taste.  Add your rice and simmer while you Saute your onion an garlic in the olive oil.  Add a little black pepper.  Once the onion is translucent, add the diced bell pepper and saute a few minutes, until wilted.  Add your ground beef and brown with the vegetables.  Drain any excess fat from the beef.  Add the Rotels, tomato sauce and the tomato paste.  Mix the ingredients together and simmer until the rice is done.  Once the rice is done, add rice to the mix until the mixture is pleasantly mixed to your desired consistency.  I know, that is a cop out.  Here is the key: don't over-do the rice.  You want a mixture of about 50% rice or slightly less.  You will probably have some rice left over.  Don't panic.  There is nothing "Hard and Fast" about this recipe.  Modify it for your taste and your family's.  Use the extra rice in your boudin sausage or feed it to the chickens.

Place your peppers in a baking pan and fill them with the meat and rice mixture.  Pack them full, don't be e'skeered.  Reserve the pepper tops aside.  Place your stuffed peppers into the oven and bake at 350 for 45 minutes.  At 45 minutes, remove the pan, place a slice of mozzarella on each so that it will melt over the top and down the sides.  Place the pepper tops on top of the cheese and put the peppers back in the oven for about 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and starting to brown.  Remove the peppers and serve on a plate with a glass of sangria by candlelight while listening to Nora Jones' "Shoot the Moon."  

Squirrel & Dumplings

A Grey Squirrel Awaiting His Culinary Debut

A combination of a rediscovered love for hunting squirrels, my friend's desire to rid his property of fruit tree raiders and my dad's visit caused me to take a handful of squirrels I had in the freezer and whip up a game recipe that my dad has not enjoyed since he was a teenager in Florida.  Squirrel is a plentiful and pleasant game meat.  When I was a teenager in Florida we would spend days in the woods hunting and eating what we killed.  Most often, it was the ubiquitous tree rodent.  Cleaned and roasted on a spit over a camp fire sounds very romantic and appetizing to those who haven't done it.  Eaten in this fashion squirrel is as tough as an old tire and almost as tasty.  There are better ways to prepare it in the field, but this recipe is about the kitchen, or at least a hunting camp with some amenities.

The basic ingredients of this recipe are:

• 4 good sized squirrels, cleaned and quartered.  
• 1/2 gallon of buttermilk
• salt and pepper to taste
• biscuit mix for 9 biscuits (I use Bisquick but you can substitute biscuits from scratch or your favorite mix) 
• 2 cubes of beef bullion 
• 1 drained can of peas and 1 of corn, if you like

Soak your squirrel in buttermilk overnight, covered, in the refrigerator.  Retain the unused buttermilk for your biscuit mix.  In a large Dutch oven add the squirrel, the beef bullion and cover with water.  Boil the squirrel a long time, at least an hour, probably more, until the meat is tender and ready to fall off the bone.  Remove the squirrel and strip the meat from the bones.  I have found that you end up with small bone in your meal even when you are very careful, so pick carefully and eat carefully.  Be especially careful if you hunt with a shotgun to ensure you get all the shot out.  I use a .22 rifle, so I seldom have that problem.  Strain the broth through a fine, mesh strainer and return to the Dutch oven.  Bring the broth back to a boil while you prepare your biscuit mix substituting buttermilk for milk.  Form the dough into golf ball sized balls.  Once your dough is ready and your broth is boiling, carefully drop your dumplings into the broth, reduce heat to medium, cover, and boil for 15 minutes.  Watch carefully because the dough will cause the broth to form a thick froth of yummy goodness, which can overflow.  I usually vent the lid by placing it slightly to one side to reduce over-frothing and mess.  Stirring occasionally also helps.  This part of the process adds the thick sauce that gives the meal its heartiness.  After 15 minutes add the meat back to the pot, add the peas and corn, and simmer for 20-25 minutes.  Serve with cornbread, black-eyed peas and rice and a large glass of sweet tea in a quart Mason jar.