00:00Hello, this is Chef John from Foodwishes.com with One Pan Stuffed Pepper Casserole.
00:08That's right, we're going to make it in one pan and bake it in one pan.
00:13And if you're a fan of beef and rice stuffed peppers, you're going to love this easier, less fussy version
00:18since this casserole delivery system delivers the same taste and texture with no actual stuffing involved.
00:25And to get started, we'll go ahead and cut up our bell peppers, and by far the easiest method to do that
00:31is to cut both ends off the pepper like this, about a half inch or so from the end,
00:37and we'll go ahead and set those two pieces aside for now.
00:40And once that's done, we will cut straight down, and then we'll turn it on its side,
00:45and we'll simply cut through all the membranes that hold the pepper together while we unroll it,
00:50which is going to give us a long, beautiful seed-free strip.
00:53And then what we'll do is cut that in half, and trim out any excess membrane if we want,
00:58which is optional and not really necessary.
01:01And then what we'll do is cut these pieces into smaller strips.
01:04And then all we need to do is turn those strips and slice across into about one inch pieces.
01:10And I was just about to say this is the easiest way for a beginner to cut a pepper,
01:14which it is, but it's also the best way for a professional chef to cut a pepper.
01:18And of course, the more strips you cut at once, the faster this goes.
01:21But this is only going to take a few minutes, so if you just want to do two or three at a time, that's fine.
01:27And once that's done, we'll take the end pieces and cut those into a similar size.
01:31And if there's a tiny black speck on the end of the pepper where the flour used to attach,
01:36we could trim that off if it bothers us, which apparently it did me.
01:40Oh, and I should mention, I do love to use a serrated knife for peppers,
01:44since the skins are really tough, and most folks' dull kitchen knives are going to struggle with that.
01:50But no matter what you use, we'll cut up three or four bell peppers, depending on the size.
01:56And then we'll head to the stove, where we're going to add a pound of ground beef to a skillet,
02:00in which we put a little bit of olive oil.
02:02And we'll toss in a nice big pinch of salt.
02:05And over high heat, we will start breaking this meat up,
02:08since the first step is to brown this with some onions.
02:11But I find it much easier to break the meat up a little bit first, before we add the onions in.
02:16Otherwise, as I've learned the hard way, they tend to fly out of the pan.
02:20So I like to work the meat over with a spatula a little bit, before adding those in.
02:25And then what we'll do is continue to cook this, while crumbling the meat into smaller pieces.
02:30And we will do that for about five or six minutes, or however long it takes to get some nice color on the meat.
02:37Right, this step is called browning, not graying, not tanning.
02:41It's called browning.
02:42So please take your time, and make sure you get a little bit of color on the meat,
02:46which always, every time, makes it taste better.
02:49And once we're happy with that, we will stop and toss in some butter,
02:52as well as a fair amount of crushed garlic.
02:55And we'll reduce our heat to medium-high.
02:58And we will cook this stirring for about a minute, or until that butter melts in.
03:03And once that happens, we'll go ahead and season this up,
03:05with some freshly ground black pepper,
03:08a little bit of smoked paprika, although regular is fine.
03:12And we'll also do a little bit of garlic powder,
03:15plus a few shakes of cayenne, because why not?
03:18And what we'll do is stir those in, and cook this for about a minute.
03:21Just to kind of wake them up, and infuse them into that oil and beef fat.
03:27And once that's been accomplished, we can add our bell peppers to the pan.
03:31And we'll go ahead and stir those in.
03:33And then we'll cook this for about two or three minutes.
03:36Basically, just until those peppers are heated through.
03:39Okay, we don't really need them to soften,
03:41since this whole thing is going to get baked in the oven.
03:43But I do like to cook them for a couple minutes, just to take off the raw edge.
03:48At which point, I like to transfer in my rice,
03:50and give that a quick stir for about a minute.
03:53Since I think if we coat the rice with the fat in the pan,
03:56the texture of our final product's a little nicer,
03:59and a little more pilaf-like,
04:01where the rice gets beautifully tender, yet still holds its shape.
04:04So, like I said, that step is optional.
04:07But personally, I do think it's worth the extra minute.
04:10And that's it.
04:11We'll go ahead and add in the rest of our salt,
04:13along with a splash of Worcestershire sauce,
04:16followed by a couple cups of tomato sauce,
04:18or pretty much any tomato product.
04:21And then we'll finish up with our beef broth,
04:23which could also be chicken broth.
04:25They both will actually work fine in this.
04:28And what we'll do is stir all that together,
04:29and we'll raise our heat to high,
04:31since we want to bring this up to a simmer,
04:33before we cover it and pop it in the oven.
04:36And by the way, if you don't have a pan like this,
04:38that can go straight in the oven from the stove,
04:41just simply do this in a regular skillet,
04:43and then transfer everything into a casserole dish.
04:46And the final product will be the same,
04:48but with a slightly different name.
04:50But anyway, once our pan's bubbling,
04:52we'll go ahead and turn off the heat,
04:54and we'll go ahead and transfer over our cheese.
04:57But not all of it.
04:58We're going to save some for the top,
05:00which, as you'll see, will stay on the top.
05:03But with this portion of the cheese,
05:04we're going to take a spoon and kind of poke and stir that in.
05:07And by the way, I'm using a nice white cheddar for this.
05:10But if you wanted, you could use half cheddar,
05:13and then half something more mild,
05:14like a Monterey Jack or a mozzarella.
05:17All right, as usual, the exact cheeses are up to you.
05:20I mean, you are after all the Chef John Stan
05:23of making stuffed pepper casserole in one pan.
05:25And that's it.
05:27Once that's been poked and stirred in,
05:29we'll go ahead and cover that tightly,
05:30and we will transfer that into the upper center
05:33of a 375-degree oven for about 45 minutes,
05:37at which point we'll pull it out,
05:40uncover it, and do two things.
05:42Well, maybe two things.
05:44Right?
05:44That depends on the first thing,
05:46which is to take a spoon and test the doneness of the rice,
05:50which should be just tender by now.
05:51And if it is, and mine was,
05:55we can apply the rest of our cheese over the top.
05:58But if your rice is not quite cooked yet,
06:00you can just cover it back up
06:02and pop it in the oven until it is.
06:04But anyway, once the rice is tender,
06:06and this has been topped with cheese,
06:08we will pop this under the broiler uncovered
06:10for a couple minutes,
06:12just to melt the cheese,
06:13and maybe have it get a little bit golden brown,
06:15which you can also do in a hot oven,
06:18like 475 for about 5 or 10 minutes,
06:21at which point, if everything goes according to plan,
06:23it should look like this.
06:25Oh yeah, that is beautiful,
06:27and way, way too hot to eat,
06:29so I think we should let this sit
06:30for at least 10 minutes before we serve up.
06:33But hang on, I forgot a very, very important thing.
06:36Anytime we take a pan out of the oven
06:38that has a handle, or handles,
06:40we always place towels over those,
06:42because if you don't, someone will grab them,
06:44and they will burn themselves,
06:45and it will be your fault.
06:47So please play it safe.
06:49And that's it, I went ahead and let mine rest,
06:52and removed the towels,
06:53since I'm the only one in the kitchen,
06:55and then I finished this up
06:56with some freshly chopped Italian parsley,
06:59and after taking way too many
07:00contractually obligated pictures,
07:02I grabbed a spoon and served some up.
07:05And some of these recipes I do
07:06are a little bit challenging
07:07to describe the taste and texture,
07:10but this one is not.
07:12Right, that, my friends,
07:13tastes exactly like a beef and rice stuffed pepper,
07:16except because we have more surface area with this,
07:19it might actually even be a little bit better,
07:21and more flavorful.
07:23Which reminds me,
07:24this is more of an idea than a specific recipe,
07:27so whatever you usually put in your stuffed peppers
07:29will work with this technique.
07:31Oh, and do not let this little sample plate fool you.
07:34I'm usually enjoying a slightly larger portion,
07:37next to a nice big green salad,
07:39since this is a fairly rich dish,
07:41so I think enjoying it next to some crunchy greens
07:43is a great idea.
07:45But no matter how you serve it,
07:47if you're a fan of stuffed bell peppers,
07:49and you're a fan of just making things with one pan,
07:52I really do hope you give this a try soon.
07:55So please follow the links below
07:57for the ingredient amounts,
07:58a printable written recipe,
08:00and much more info as usual.
08:01And as always, enjoy.
08:06Enjoy.
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