Stuffed Cubanelle Peppers

stuffed cubanelle peppers

My Mother was very inventive when it came to preparing meatless dishes.  Being raised a Catholic, I remember meatless meals prepared during our Lenten season and for Fridays when we did not eat meat or poultry. Mom’s stuffed peppers is one that I remember and enjoyed.

The dish is not only delicious, but also easy to prepare and can be served hot from the oven, or room temperature and even cold.  Mom did not buy deli lunch meat for sandwiches, whatever leftovers she could put into a roll or between two slices of bread is what we took to school for lunch.

Being a typical self-conscious teenage, I was slightly embarrassed by my sandwich when others were eating peanut butter and jelly or turkey or ham sandwiches.  However, there were other children from ethnic backgrounds who had lunch made with food of their country of origin and we would look at our greased stained brown paper bags and wonder what treat Mom fixed that day. The peanut butter eaters wondered and were a little curious about the aromas that permeated from our sandwiches.  Believe me those sandwiches, although not the usual, were delicious!

Cubanelle peppers are a sweet non-thick flesh pepper such as a bell pepper.  Sometimes they are called Italian frying peppers or sweet frying peppers.  They are excellent just fried in a little olive oil until lightly browned on all sides.  The peppers stuffed and baked are delicious and easy to prepare.  Serve hot, at room temperature, or cold, and the leftovers can be made into a delicious sandwich.  I like to prepare the sandwich on Italian bread or in hoagie roll.  The addition of red wine vinegar to the stuffing is what makes this recipe stand out from all the rest.  The peppers are baked and covered with marinara sauce (see recipe below).

Preparation:

  • Preheat oven to 375 F.
  • Oil a 9×13 casserole pan with olive oil.

Prepare peppers for stuffing:

  • 6 Cubanelle peppers
  • Wash peppers and dry with paper towels.
  • Cut the top ½ inch from the pepper and remove seeds.

preparing cubanelle peppers for stuffing

Stuffing:

4 cups cubed bread.  You can crumble the mixture with your fingers or use a food processor on pulse to crumble as shown below:

making bread crumbs in a food processor

Add to crumbled bread and toss until well combined:

  • 3 whole garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley (Italian parsley)
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

Stir in liquid ingredients and mix until bread mixture is generously moistened:

  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons water

Directions:

  1. Loosely stuff peppers with mixture.
  2. Arrange peppers in 9×13 pan and lightly coat with olive oil and lightly sprinkle with salt (optional).
    peppers-before-baking
  3. Bake in 375F oven 35-45 minutes until slightly brown.
    baked-stuffed-peppers
  4. Remove from oven and cover with marinara sauce enough to coat peppers.
    coating-peppers
  5. Return to oven and bake until sauce bubbles about 10 minutes.
  6. Remove from oven and serve.
    peppers-with-marinara-sauce

Marinara Sauce Recipe:

marinara sauce recipe

Ingredients:

  • 28 ounce canned crush tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 3 cloves finely minced garlic
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil or 1 tablespoon fresh finely chopped basil
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh flat leave parsley (Italian parsley)

Directions:

  1. Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
  2. Sauté garlic until pale blond, about 30 seconds.
  3. Add tomatoes and additional ingredients and stir over medium heat.
  4. Simmer uncovered until sauce is thickened about 15 minutes.

Marinara sauce can be made ahead of time and used when ready to coat peppers.  This is a basic sauce that can be used in many dishes.

One Response to “Stuffed Cubanelle Peppers”

  1. JO Shaw says:

    MARY,THE RECIPE BRINGS TO MIND THAT GREAT AROMA OF ITALIAN COOKING AND OF COURSE THE ITALIAN FLAVOR THAT’S HARD TO BEAT.WHEN I WAS AWAY AT NURSING SCHOOl AND WOULD RETURN FROM A WEEK END AT HOME MY CLOSE CLASSMATE FRIENDS WOULD BE WAITING TO SEE WHAT MAMMA AVENA HAD PACKED FOR ME TO TAKE BACK TO OUR DORM.STUFFED PEPPERS WERE ONE OF THE FAVORITES.YOU SEE,WE ATE HOSPITAL FOOD ALL WEEK LONG AND THERE WAS VERY LITTLE VARIETY AND BLAND FOOD.MY HOME WAS CLOSE TO OUR SCHOOL SO I WAS ABLE TO GO HOME. MY CLASS MATES WHO LIVED AT A DISTANCE WERE UNABLE TO DO SO FOR THE MAIN REASON THEY DID NOT HAVE THE MONEY FOR TRANSPORTATION.THAT WAS 50 YEARS AGO AND TO THIS DAY I STILL HEAR FROM SEVERAL OF THEM ANd ALWAYS A MENTION ABOUT THE GREAT FOOD AND HOW MUCH THEY LOVED MY MOTHER FOR HER THOUGHTFULNESS.YOU ARE RIGHT! HOT WARM OR COLD,IT IS A GREAT FOOD. SO GLAD YOU ARE SHARING THE FAMILY RECIPE. JO

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