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Stuffed peppers, shaped as small boats, cooked au gratin

(Barchette di peperone, ripiene di carne, gratinate in forno)

  • 4 red or yellow peppers, big, pulpy and with a regular shape
  • 600 grams of lean minced veal
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • a small bunch of parsley
  • 80 grams of grated Parmesan cheese
  • the crumb of 2 slices of bread reconstituted in a glass of warm milk
  • 2 entire eggs
  • a stock cube
  • 50 grams of butter
  • 4 spoons of olive oil
  • some thin breadcrumbs
  • salt and pepper
Take a chopping board and with a knife finely beat garlic and parsley: Put this stuff in a small bowl together with the minced meat, Parmesan cheese, eggs, a pinch of salt and a big pinch of pepper; mix and knead very well all these ingredients in order to have a thick and homogeneous kneading.
Cut the peppers in two parts, according to their length, take out the stem, seeds and all the stringy parts, but please take care not to break them or to spoil their shape as they have to look like a sort of small boats. Grease a tin with butter and oil, crumble the stock cube and spread its pieces on the bottom of the tin, then, once you have filled the peppers with the kneading, position them on the bottom of the tin, one beside the other. Add some hot water until you reach 1 cm below the peppers' edge and then sprinkle the filling stuff with abundant breadcrumbs, put in the oven at a temperature of 180-200° C for about 30 minutes, until they will be well cooked.
This is a summer variation to the winter meat loaf. This recipe is very inviting thanks to its smell, colors and flavors.

A Giuseppe Alessi recipe
Translated by Gianna Toni
Picture by Kee-Ho Casati


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