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Stuffed Bell Peppers

  1. Ingredients
    1. Six bell peppers
    2. The aromas: 2 ounce tin of anchovies; 8 ounce jar of capers; 8 ounce jar of tapenade
    3. 5 pounds of ripe Roma tomatoes
    4. Olive oil, dried Italian spices
    5. One pound of ground sausage meat
    6. One cup of rice; two cups of water; salt
    7. One quarter teaspoon of Indian chili powder or cayenne pepper.

  2. Tools
    1. Blender, cutting board, paring knife for preparing tomatoes
    2. Large boiling pot with lid
    3. Frying pan, fine wire screen, spatula for cooking the ground sausage
    4. Small sauce pan and lid or rice cooker for cooking fresh rice
    5. Mixing bowl, mixing spoon, measuring spoons (to mix sausage, rice, aromas)
    6. Large plates to go over large soup bowls for serving.

  3. Preparations
    1. Make the tomatoe sauce
      1. Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of Italian spices in a large boiling pot. Heat the oil and spice mixture.
      2. Core out the umbilic point of each of the Roma tomatoes. Cut the remainder into 8 sections; place into blender.
      3. Puree the tomatoes; add to the olive oil and Italian spice mix. Stir. Bring to a boil; simmer for 4 hours.
      4. In the frying pan, cook the ground sausage, and crumble it as you go.
      5. Optional, but strongly suggested: sprinkle the Indian chili powder over the sausage during the second half of cooking it.

    2. Make the filling
      1. Cook the rice.
      2. Add most of the rice to the crumbled, cooked sausage.
      3. Add the aromas to the sausage/rice mixture. Chop the anchovies into small pieces. Combine well.

    3. Prepare the peppers
      1. Cut off the tops of the peppers. Carefully scrape out the seeds from the peppers.
      2. Put the peppers in the a clean boiling pot with the tops put back on the bottoms.
      3. Bring to a full boil, then reduce to lowest heat. Cook for 20 minutes. The peppers should be cooked just beyond bright green.
      4. Carefully pull out the pepper tops to a bowl, the bottoms to a plate.

    4. Assemble for final cooking
      1. Fill the pepper bottoms with the sausage/rice/aromas mixture.
      2. Clean and dry the pot used to boil the peppers. Spray with PAM.
      3. Add in the filled pepper bottoms. Add tomato sauce to the sausage mixture in the pepper bottoms.
      4. Cover the sausage mixture in the individual cups with tomato sauce.
      5. Put the pepper tops back on the pepper bottoms.
      6. Cook the assembled peppers covered for about an hour on low heat.

    5. Serve each in a large bowl.
    6. Have some tabasco sauce ready for those who like a bit more heat.