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Passover Stuffed Peppers

April 21, 2008

Poppy, J.’s grandpa, had several recipes for which he was famous in our family. This Passover dish is based on his amazing stuffed peppers, which used bread crumbs instead of the matzah farfel I substituted. Matzah farfel is just matzah broken up into small pieces.

Lauren scanned the recipe as he had given it to her, and as I was cooking the peppers for the seder I really felt his presence. His notes are handwritten on the typed recipe, and I like that I can still hear how he would have explained his changes to me. Poppy also always loved that my sister, a vegetarian, eagerly anticipated this dish at the holidays, and that she would even take extras home with her. I know for me, people wanting to eat leftovers of something I cooked is a great compliment!

I am continuing to purchase my tomatoes in aseptic packaging rather than cans, so for now I’m limited to Parmalat Pomi brand — that’s all that is in my store. I also chose olives in a glass jar rather than a can, so I used Kalamatas. Otherwise I would have gone with canned pre-sliced black olives.

Passover Stuffed Peppers
Adapted from Poppy’s Italian Style Stuffed Peppers

8 red peppers
olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 tsp. garlic, minced
4 c. matzah farfel
1/2 c. parsley, chopped finely
1/2 c. pitted olives, sliced or chopped
1 tsp. paprika
salt and pepper to taste
2 26.45-oz. boxes of chopped tomatoes, or the equivalent

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Cut tops off peppers and set aside. Clean seeds and membranes from the inside of the peppers, and arrange them upright in a pan that is small enough so they fit in snugly and won’t tip over. Set pan of peppers aside.

Remove the stems from the pepper tops and dice the remaining part. Drizzle a bit of olive oil in a pan over medium heat, and saute diced red pepper tops, onion, and garlic for about 10 minutes, until soft and caramelized.

While peppers, onions, and garlic are cooking, combine matzah farfel, parsley, olives, seasoning, and just 1 and a half boxes of tomatoes (reserve the other half of the tomatoes). Mix until all ingredients are moistened. Add in the onions, peppers, and garlic and mix to combine.

Fill each whole pepper with the farfel mixture, making sure you push the mix down to eliminate any air pockets. Mound the filling up over the top of each pepper, and then spoon remaining chopped tomatoes over the top.

Bake, uncovered, for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until peppers are softened and filling is browned on top.

Serve with additional tomato sauce, if desired.

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Filed under: Holidays,Veggie Mains,Veggie Sides

Tags: cooking, Parmalat Pomi, Passover Stuffed Peppers, recipe, sauce, tomato, vegetarian, whole