Our garden season has ended and I harvested a large quantity of peppers, onions, and eggplant. Several times in the past few weeks, I've made a simple stuffed red and green pepper and included some eggplant in the baking dish between the peppers. I'll be doing this again!
There are many recipes for stuffed peppers. Some include rice with hamburger. I like panko bread crumbs. I mixed hamburger and panko with fresh tomato sauce and topped the stuffed peppers and the sliced eggplant with the tomato sauce, mozzarella and parmesan--so an Italian version.
This is an easy recipe with less than 10 minutes of preparation time. I used peppers from my garden. At the farmers market this time of year, large bell peppers are $.25 each.
Cut 3 large bell peppers in 1/2 length wise and place cut side up in an oiled baking dish.
To 1 lb of ground beef, add:
3/4 c panko1 beaten egg
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove minced garlic
3/4 c seasoned tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Divide the beef mixture among the peppers and fill each pepper so the mixture forms a mound.
For the eggplant:
Cut 1" slices of eggplant, brush with olive oil and place in the baking dish with the stuffed green peppers.
Cover the peppers and eggplant with 1 1/4 c tomato sauce. Top with sliced or shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheeses to taste--about 3/4 c of each.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes until the cheese begins to bubble.
