To be honest, the photos of these vegetarian stuffed peppers are not very recent; they date back to last summer.
Those who follow me on my FB page might remember, at the end of summer I mentioned in a post having taken so many photos over the summer but unfortunately couldn’t write the recipes (something that seems to happen to all food bloggers!), and these vegetarian stuffed peppers even remained, forgotten, in the camera until autumn. But at that time I had so many autumn recipes clamoring to be written, so I shelved all the summer photos hoping to recover them sooner or later. That is, this year. 😊

Looking at these photos now, not all are usable anymore. Some I don’t like anymore, some I haven’t written the ingredients for and can’t remember them, others came out blurry or out of focus so I’ll ‘sacrifice myself’ and over the next few months I will recook the recipes and rephotograph them (ehhh it’s a hard job! 😃).

But these peppers were quite photogenic, so here they are!

These vegetarian stuffed peppers are the result of a ‘fusion’: between our classic family recipe for gratin vegetables – the same for peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, zucchinis, onions – and the need to compensate for the lack of breadcrumbs, which I realized was insufficient when I had already started cooking the peppers. From there the idea of adding ricotta was born. A successful fusion! 😊

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Economical
Preparation time: 10 Minutes
Portions: 3
Cooking methods: Grill Pan
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: Summer

Ingredients

👉 The peppers I used were local peppers from a small garden nearby, and their size was halfway between that of frying peppers and the peppers commonly available.

6 peppers (small, or 3 large)
3.5 oz ricotta
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 clove garlic
black olives (to taste)
paprika (to taste)
thyme (or other aromatic herb)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Tools

Grill Pan

Steps

Wash and cut the peppers in half (or into slices). Remove the stem and seeds.
Heat the grill pan and place the slices ‘face down’ on medium heat with the lid closed for 10-15 minutes.
Prepare the filling: mix the ricotta with the breadcrumbs, add the chopped garlic, coarsely chopped olives, thyme, paprika, and oil.
👉 If the ricotta remains a bit grainy it’s okay, but if you want you can work it a bit longer, maybe with your hands, to better compact the mixture
After about 15 minutes the peppers are half cooked, they can be turned and stuffed.
☝ I recommend pressing the filling with the back of a spoon or your fingers to compact it. Initially, I didn’t do it, but I realized later, given the graininess of my filling, that it was a useful thing.
Add a drizzle of oil on the filling.
Close the grill pan again with the lid and finish cooking for another 15 minutes or so (the time can vary depending on the type of peppers used). Keep the heat low, otherwise the pepper skin will char (it’s easy for it to happen, but then the charred skin can be easily removed).
☝ Regarding the cooking on the grill pan, if you have already taken a look at the recipes for gratin eggplants and tomatoes, you already know the reason for my habit of cooking gratin vegetables on the grill pan. If you don’t have a steel grill pan with a lid similar to mine, you can use other models of grill pans or pans, even non-stick ones, but still with a lid, or you can do the cooking in the oven (in this case I can’t be precise about methods and cooking times since I haven’t tried it myself, but at least for the cooking time I think there shouldn’t be too much difference).
Check the cooking by piercing the peppers with a fork.
They can be served immediately, but my advice is not to eat them too hot. I prefer to let them cool down in the grill pan before serving.

Salt-Free Tips

Salt-Free Like all my recipes, these vegetarian stuffed peppers are without added salt. In this recipe, only the olives can be considered a non-low sodium ingredient, so I haven’t specified the exact amount for you, so you can adjust according to your needs. To flavor the filling, don’t forget the garlic, which you can also use in greater quantities 😊 you can also add a teaspoon or two of gomasio.

If you are interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
■ Gradually decrease the salt, the palate needs to gradually get used to it and not notice the progressive reduction.
■ Use spices. Chili pepper, pepper, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cumin…
■ Use aromatic herbs. Basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, mint…
■ Use seeds. Sesame, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts…
■ Use spicy vegetables or fruits. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange…
■ Use my salt-free vegetable granules
■ Prefer fresh foods.
■ Avoid cooking in water, prefer cooking methods that do not disperse flavors (grill pan, foil, steam, microwave)
■ Avoid bringing the salt shaker to the table!
■ Allow yourself to occasionally break the rule. It’s good for morale and helps to persevere.

If you don’t want, or can’t, give up salt:
■ You can still try my recipes seasoning according to your habits.