Hungarian Stuffed Green Peppers

Adapted from The Hungarian Cookbook by Susan Derecskey (Harper & Row, 1972)

This is one of those recipes where the Microplane Medium Ribbon Grater really shines. It lets you grate the onion back and forth so that both the pulp and the juice go straight into the meat mixture. The flavor of onion is there, but you don’t get little perceptible bits of it in the meat. (I do this when I make meatballs too.)

I use a standard rasp-style Microplane for the garlic. In this recipe, the garlic must be grated—not minced. (This works beautifully in meatballs as well.)

Serves 6

6 green bell peppers
Salt
1/4 cup rice (I use basmati because that’s what I always have on hand.)
1 egg, lightly beaten
A pinch of pepper
1 pound chopped meat, either beef or pork (I always use beef.)
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram, crushed between your fingers as you add it
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 whole onion, cut in half and peeled (cutting it in half makes it easier to grate)
1 clove garlic
About 3 cups tomato sauce*
Steamed or boiled potatoes, for serving

*I don’t buy canned tomato sauce—I buy cans of Italian cherry tomatoes and put them through a food mill, but you can use canned tomato sauce for this.

Wash the peppers, cut off the tops, and core them carefully, trying not to puncture the bottoms. Parboil the peppers in plenty of salted boiling water for 5 minutes. This softens them and helps remove any bitterness.

Parboil the rice for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, beat the egg with a pinch of pepper. Add the chopped meat, a little salt (no more than 1/2 teaspoon), the parboiled rice, marjoram, and parsley.

Using a Microplane Ribbon Grater, grate a quarter to a half of the onion (depending on its size) directly into the bowl. If you don’t have this grater, finely mince the onion—but the grater really makes a difference here because it gives you both the pulp and the juice, which helps bind and flavor the mixture.

Grate the garlic on a rasp-style Microplane—do not mince it. If you don’t have a rasp-style grater, it’s better to leave the garlic out than to substitute minced garlic.

Lightly mix everything with your hands—don’t overwork the meat. Stuff the peppers with the meat mixture, loosely. Do not pack it in, and do not fill them all the way to the top.

Place the peppers upright in a baking dish, pour the tomato sauce around them, and bake in a 325°F oven for 1 hour.

I serve this with steamed (not boiled) potatoes and often a cucumber and sour cream salad alongside.

Left is a Microplane Medium Ribbon; Right is a Microplane Rasp