Annalena's kitchen: It's time to reconsider stuffed peppers

Ragazzi, we all have dishes from our past which haunt us, for good or bad. One dish shared by many of us , is "stuffed peppers". WHAT was used to stuff them, and what kind of peppers were used, will vary, from person to person. For example, Annalena's nana either stuffed "frying peppers" with bread and herbs (Annalena's favorite), or she would use the fixings from leftover meatloaf to stuff green ones. At Annalena's home, there were never red peppers: too expensive.

In Annalena's version here, totally hers, no borrowing of which she knows, she does use red peppers. She also substitutes ground beef for ground turkey. Why? Because the ground turkey had been in the freezer for a while, and she had to "use it or lose it." You know that, don't you? And there were leftover tomatoes, bits of cheese, a bag of frozen peas.... Beginning to get the idea?

So we start with the turkey. When you cook with ground turkey, see if you can ascertain from what part of the bird it came. Turkey breast is very low fat, as compared to thighs or the more generic "dark meat." It will determine how much fat you use to cook it. Annalena had breast meat, so she upped the olive oil.

Ground poultry produces a sort of "meat glue" that can make it difficult to fry it. So as you go along here, break up the pieces with a spatula, a fork, something, to make them edible. And don't worry about finishing up the cooking. This will all be going into the oven later.

When your turkey meat is just about completely absent of pink, put it aside. In the flavored fat, add a sliced onion, and some tomatoes;

Cook these until the tomatoes begin to soften and the onions get much softer and a little brown.

Now stir all your turkey back into this. Residual heat will cook it some more. You should taste the mix at this time, and add the salt you need. You might also get a feel for how dry or moist the turkey is, and add some olive oil if you need it.

Have two red peppers , halved lengthwise, and cleaned ready, in a glass baking dish, that has been coated with oil. One need not be surgically precise here, and add your filling:

Remember those instructions on tests, "neatness counts?" It doesn't. (Annalena always failed that part).

Cover this will foil, and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. This is a lower temperature, because everything is cooked, and really, your sole aim here, is to soften the crispy pepper shell:

If you look at those, you may think they are a bit "skimpy." Annalena agreed. So, out came her ace in the whole, frozen peas. They sort of fit themselves all over the lacunae in the peppers. Then, she added smoked cheddar, and fontina cheese to the top: