Sweet Peppers Stuffed with Turkey, Prosciutto, and Cheese

We're having work done on the kitchen this week ... a new floor is will be taking the place of the age-old linoleum with cracks and spots. There will be ceramic tile to replace it! Kitchen construction, however changes my cooking routine. No puttering around out there! Any cooking that gets done is done during the hour that the guys take in the middle of the day for their lunch break ... so I plot during the morning and dash out and around their gear as soon as the truck leaves the dooryard. I mop the counter and pull things out of the cupboards, search for counter top staples among the boxes and bins and put together crockpot meals. The crockpot goes on the dining room table for the  afternoon ... out of the way of tools and elbows and dust.

The guys come back after their lunch and bang and saw and rip and tear and while they do, a nice smell starts to fill the air... something other than wood chips.

I have been using this cook book called The Italian Slow Cooker by Michelle Scicolone.  I discovered the book at my little public library and loved it so much that I ordered it through alibris.com. The book is a couple years old. It's a treasure of simple throw-togethers and some classic Italian slow roasts. If you ever see a copy, stop and look at it! Anyway, it's the beginning of pepper season and I got lovely stoplights to make this dish, using ground turkey and good cheese. Of all the pictures I took, the yellow pepper made such a pretty picture.  Such beautiful colors on that plate ... golly, I love summertime!

This recipe serves six, but it's easy to halve for smaller families or singles ... and the peppers are even better the day after! They make for a great microwave lunch. I hope you enjoy them!

... mire poix needs a finer chop

Sweet Peppers Stuffed with Turkey Prosciutto, and Cheese

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 medium carrot, peeled and finely chopped

1 medium celery stalk, washed and finely chopped

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 lb. ground turkey

Kosher salt and black pepper

½ c. dry red wine

2 oz. prosciutto or ham, finely chopped

¾ c. good quality Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated

2 tbsp. flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1 c. plain bread crumbs

6 large red, orange, and yellow sweet peppers

2 c. tomato sauce/gravy

Quick Gravy:

2 c. tomato puree

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 small onion, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

6 large basil leaves, rolled and sliced to ribbons

Kosher salt and black pepper

2  tbsp. cold butter

Making the Dish:

1. Heat a large fry pan on the stovetop or set the crockpot to a sear setting. Add the olive oil and the onions, celery, carrots, and garlic. Cook briskly until the vegetables are golden.
2. Add the turkey, Kosher salt, and black pepper and continue cooking until the meat is no longer pink.
3. Add the red wine and bring the mixture to a simmer, cooking until the wine is absorbed.
4. Turn the mixture into a bowl and add the prosciutto, cheese, parsley, and bread crumbs. Toss together to incorporate all the ingredients.
5. Meanwhile make a quick ‘gravy’ in the crockpot/frypan. Heat the olive oil and add the onion and garlic, cooking for a few minutes to soften the veg.
6. Add the tomato puree, basil ribbons, salt and pepperand bring things to a simmer.
7. Drop the butter into the sauce and stir to melt. Simmer gently.
8. While the sauce simmers, wash and cut the tops off the peppers. Gently de-vein and seed them.
9. Stuff the peppers loosely with the turkey and veg mix. Replace the tops.
10. Place the tomato sauce in the bottom of the crockpot (if you’ve made it on the stove top). Position the peppers in the slow cooker so that they remain upright with the tops intact and the sauce bubbling around them.
11. Cover and set the slow cooker on a ‘low setting’. Cook for four to five hours. When the peppers are knife tender (pierce with a long thin sharp knife), they are ready to serve.
12. To serve, make a puddle of tomato sauce on a serving plate and position a pepper on top. Serve extra sauce in a gravy boat at the table and have some more grated cheese for sprinkling.

... Mangia !