Non - Traditional Stuffed Peppers

This delicious rendition of a classic,  was inspired by my best friend,  who requested I make stuffed peppers for her.  To say I dislike stuffed peppers,  would be an understatement.  I quickly came up with an alternative made with ground pork,  and heavy cream. I have made this with three different meats (ground beef, ground pork, and bulk Italian sausage),  mainly because I use what I have on hand.  My husband's and my favorite is Italian sausage.  The ground beef is usually our last resort,  we think it has less flavor than the other two (plus, I'm not a fan of it), but in this case,  it tastes pretty delish with the spices I add.

As with a lot of these recipes,  I don't measure my spices, so I'm going to attempt to approximate how much I've used. 

You will need:

• 4 large red, yellow, or orange peppers
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 3 cups white instant rice
• 1 lb of either ground pork, ground beef, or bulk Italian sausage (mild)
• 4 Tbs Italian seasoning
• 2 Tbs Herbs de provence
• 3 Tbs Adobe seasoning (this is an all purpose seasoning made with garlic,  onion,  and turmeric)
• 2 Tbs ground fennel seed (only to be used if not using Italian sausage)
• Salt and pepper

Begin by making the rice. You will be making it differently than the directions say. Put the 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock,  and the 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream into a large saucepan.  Put to boil. When boiling,  add the rice. Cover and move off the heat.

Brown the meat in a skillet, then drain. Set the meat aside in a large bowl. Add all of the spices,  and mix together. 

Cut the tops off the peppers, and pull out the white ribs inside the pepper.  Pop the stem out of the top, set the top aside.

Next, place the peppers in a steamer for about 20 minutes,  or until tender. 

Once you have de-stemmed the tops, dice them,  and throw them in the skillet you browned the meat with, leaving the grease remnants to cook the diced peppers.

Once the peppers are soft, add them to the meat in the bowl.

When the peppers are done steaming,  place them on their side, in a greased glass baking dish. Put them in the oven on broil. When they start to blacken, carefully use tongs to rotate them until all sides have sufficiently darkened (the whole pepper doesn't have to be black, spots here and there are ok). When done, put aside.

While the peppers are cooling,  add the rice to the meat and pepper mixture. Salt and pepper to taste. 

When the peppers have cooled enough to handle, begin peeling the skin off.  (I know there is a method to get the skin off easier by placing in a paper bag and shaking,  but I wouldn't do that here,  you want to try to make sure the peppers stay intact. )

Set oven to 350°

Gently fill the peppers with the rice mixture.  The peppers should be very soft,  but once you start stuffing them,  they will hold their form. Arrange back into the greased glass dish,  and bake until the top is browned,  about 20-30 minutes.