Shera Danese’s Italian Stuffed Peppers

Turns out that Mr R has never eaten lobster either. What are we like? Such ingenues. I had some fresh lobster left over from Ray Milland’s Lobster Salad so I thought, oooohhhhh! Shera’s Stuffed Peppers. I’ve been meaning to try this recipe for ages.

We had these on Saturday night and they were REALLY GOOD. I heartily recommend this recipe. I thought that there seemed to be a lot of capers when I was putting it all together, but when everything was cooked, the flavours were perfectly balanced.

This recipe has a real chance of making it into the Silver Screen Suppers top 100 recipes, which is coming very soon…

8 red bell peppers
6 tablespoons fine-grade olive oil
1/4 cup chopped parsley
3-4 cloves fresh garlic, mashed
4 Italian tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup bread crumbs, preferably Italian-seasoned
3/4 lb seafood: shrimp, mussels or crab meat (uncooked, chopped or flaked)
1 onion, chopped, or 2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
1/2 cup well-drained capers, mashed
Pinch of oregano

Wash peppers and remove tops with a sharp knife.  Heat half of the olive oil in a skillet with parsley and garlic; saute until limp, stirring occasionally.  Add tomatoes and cook to reduce volume until thick.  Add tomato-garlic sauce to bread crumbs, seafood, onion, capers, oregano in mixing bowl.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Mix well.

Stand peppers upright in a small pan.  Fill each pepper with seafood mixture.  Bake uncovered in a preheated 350 degrees oven (175 degrees C or gas mark 4) for 45 minutes or until done.  Baste tops of peppers with remaining olive oil every 10 minutes.

Serve to 8 with champagne or a good white burgundy.

I love that serving suggestion.  Stuffed peppers and champagne – perfect!