"Hot" Little Peppers

I made this yummy little dish last night for dinner and I just had to post about it because it really turned out so well!  My husband and I love this tapas place up the street called Relish. They have the most amazing dishes. One of our favorites is a Piquillo peppers stuffed with braised short ribs. If you are not familiar with short ribs, it is much like pot roast in texture and really flavor, too. Just a melt in your mouth type of roast......

So I had been looking for a recipe that was like the ones we enjoy at Relish, but to no avail. I also had been unable to find Piquillo peppers locally. I am not a pepper person at all - as a matter of fact I can not stand green peppers, red peppers, etc in my food in any way and have always found them to be terribly overpowering. It was not until I tasted these little beauties that I feel in love with a pepper! They are sweet and tender - very mild flavored. They taste nothing like any pepper I had ever tasted before.

Anyway, I decided yesterday to try making my own version when I spotted these "Sweet Peppers" in a package at Whole Foods. They are about the size of Piquillos so I thought I should just give them a try. The results were amazing!

I had already planned to make a roast for the family (my kids wouldn't eat a stuffed pepper if I paid them!) so I thought I would try flavoring some of the roast meat separately for my recipe. It made for a super easy and super tasty treat that I am going to be sure to make again and again. I think the next time I will make a large batch of the "filling" and freeze it. That way I can buy the fresh peppers and whip it up in less than 15 minutes!

I had taken pics throughout making it just in case it was worthy to pass on via my blog so here it is....

I started with these babies (sorry I had already taken them out of the packaging when I decided to take this pic!):

I got a skillet going with some EVOO and added 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped onion and about a handful of baby spinach (I should have added more - this was a tasty addition!). To that I added canned diced tomatoes. I had fresh on hand, but decided that the "juice" in the canned diced tomatoes would added some great flavoring - and it did...mmmmm ;)

After that had all cooked together for about 5 minutes or so I added in the cooked roast meat (about a 1 person serving amount).  While it cooked it soaked in the tomato juice and became even more tender and juicy.

Once that was all mix together well I added my seasoning. I am a lover of the seasoning blends I find in the stores and cook with those most often as opposed to using individual seasonings. I think it is more fun and adds mixtures sometimes you would have never thought of or would have put together in the right parts (in other words typically fool proof which I need!). For this one I used a mix I have called JB's Fat Boy "Cowgirl Rub"....I know attractive name, right? :/ My husband likes it on his steak and it has a bit of a kick so I thought this might be a good addition...it was! I probably used a little too much actually so next time I will scale it back. 

It contains salt, paprika, onion and garlic and chipotle flavoring if you want to try something similar. 

While that was all cooking I sliced the end off the peppers (stem end) and de-seeded them by slicing them down the middle to open them up for the filling. Note that this was not a very large recipe because it was just a side note (and trial) dish for what I had already prepared my family for dinner. Next time I make this I will fill this skillet up!

After I had let that simmer all together for a few minutes (probably a total of about 10-15 minutes from start to finish) I tossed in some fresh grated Parmesan cheese and then filled the peppers with the mixture. 

(Stuffed and ready for the oven)

I then baked the filled peppers at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes (you should probably cover them with foil - I didn't and some of the meat on the top got a little charred while I got busy with other things!).

(right out of the oven.....I wish I had bought 2 packs of peppers and filled this dish up now that I know how good they turned out!!)

They were amazing!  I ate about 4 of them and my husband devoured the rest....even though I was satisfied I could have certainly eaten more. :)

Hope you will try this and enjoy!

XO

Jessy