It has turned cold and rainy here in the great PNW and last night I decided to make a favorite at our house, meatloaf stuffed peppers. We got some beautiful large bell peppers at the Oly Farmer’s Market last weekend and had a lovely dinner with our own homegrown salad of spicy arugula, chard and green ice lettuce with a homemade tarragon dressing. Simple? Yes! Savory? Yes! Satisfying? YES! It also makes a little meatloaf on the side to make some sandwiches from!
Meatloaf
1 lb. ground meat ( I used grass fed)
1/2 lb. ground pork with sage (also free range)
2 large bell peppers for stuffing (I used a red and a green)
2-3 T ancho peppers, roasted and diced (I usually buy and roast alot of different peppers at a time and freeze and pull out what I want when I need it)
1/4-1/2 C bell pepper, chopped ( I use the cut off tops and dice them)
1/4 C carrots, diced (I didn’t have them this time, but they do add a great flavor)
1/4-1/2 C caramelized onions
1/4 C raw Scottish oatmeal
2 cloves spicy garlic, minced
EVOO
1 egg
3 T tomato paste (I make my own)
1/2-1 tsp sea salt
1/2-1 tsp freshly ground black pepper (I think mixing other peppercorns here might be nice-like green, red, or Szechuan pepper)
1 tsp dried oregano
2 really good bacon strips
Preheat oven to 350
Cut off tops of bell peppers and dice. Wash out pepper shells and remove seeds and veins and drain. Sautee diced peppers, ancho peppers, diced carrots (if you have them), and garlic in some olive oil until soft. Set aside until cool.
Combine the meat, caramelized onion, sauteed veggies, oatmeal, spices, tomato paste and egg. Mix very well and stuff the peppers. With the leftover meat mixture, make a loaf. Cut each piece of bacon in half. Place 1/2 piece on each pepper and crisscross the other two halves on the loaf. Place the peppers and the loaf in a pyrex pan in the oven and cook for about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, basting the peppers and the loaf several times during the cooking. Let sit on a plate for about 15 minutes, slice the peppers in half and enjoy!
2 Comments
Oh, this is not your Mama’s Meatloaf! The flavor of this is so intense, with the leftover pepper diced up into the mix. The Scottish oatmeal adds another layer of flavor, too. Wow!
I made the same recipe without the oatmeal which is not available here. It was great although it fell apart. Why is no one even commenting? I love you guys and wonder.
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