Did you know that different colors of bell peppers taste differently?

Green is the least ripe and the bitterest. The other colors are much sweeter with red being the sweetest. Red peppers are completely ripe and contain more nutrients. Or that’s what they say. I personally like all vibrant colors and enjoy yellow, orange and red come together. Green? Not so much.

Munching on the crunchy raw peppers  while I cook makes me happy.

My family appreciates when I cook peppers filled with ground meat in sauce. So if you are looking to impress your family and friends, cook bell peppers stuffed with ground meat and a few with chopped veggies in case you are expecting your vegetarian friends.

A savory marriage of ground spicy meat with bell peppers is a happy and satisfying dish. It was very popular in Odessa, Ukraine. I continue to use my Mom’s recipe who taught me that stuffed peppers largely depend on the quality of stuffing and the sauce in which they are cooked. It is also important to have the right cooking pan. Iron oval pan with a tight fitting lid is the best choice.

Let’s start with preparing the stuffing.

I grind ⅔ of pork and ⅓ of beef, onion, garlic and parsley. Then I add salt and freshly ground pepper,  and a cup of cooked rice (optional).

For sauce, I start with frying dry spices for aroma, then I add olive oil, sauté coarsely chopped onion, tomatoes, celery, garlic, parsley, a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of sugar, then I add 2 cups  of vegetable or chicken broth, a tbs of sour cream or fraiche, two cups of tomato sauce, bring all to a boil and simmer for 10 min.

The arrangement is easy. I cut the pepper tops off and put them aside to chop them and add to the sauce.

Carefully, without forcing the pepper open too much, I remove the seeds and stuff the peppers with the meat mixture pushing down a little bit because the stuffing will reduce in size during cooking.

When stuffing is done I arrange the stuffed peppers close together in a pan with the sauce, cover the pan with the lid and cook for an hour over the lowest heat possible. It’s important to check every now and then that there is always the  sauce at the bottom of the pan. Add some stock if there is not enough liquid in the pan to secure the proper steaming of the stuffing.

When peppers are done, I sprinkle my favorite cheese on top (optional) and let them stand for a while. I serve them warm with a ladle of sauce over the peppers. No side dish is required.

The peppers can be eaten with warmed flat bread. I like to dip it into the sauce.

Yum!

P.S. All the food featured in this post has been prepared and photographed by me.