Directions

• Start with your rice. Give it a good rinse in a bowl of water, strain, and repeat until the water runs clear. This is a good indication that you’ve gotten the starch off the rice. Alternatively, Mariano likes to boil the rice for two minutes and strain it to achieve a similar effect. Either method will work here!
• Season your ground beef with salt, pepper, and optionally hot chili flakes. Brown the meat in a pan over high heat and set aside. Don’t cook the meat all the way through, just try to get some color on it. Mariano likes to then blend the meat in a food processor to get a finer texture. If you prefer courser meat, skip this step for the beef and sausage.
• Remove the casing from the sausage, and brown over high heat, just for some color. Don’t worry about cooking the meat all the way through. If you want a Spicer dish, try using just the Mexican Chorizo sausage! If not, you can substitute or mix the Chorizo with Mariano’s Mild Italian Sausage. Optionally blend, and set aside with your beef.
• In a food processor, chop some raw asparagus, green onion, garlic, and parsley. Add this mixture to the bowl with your partially cooked meat. Add your rice in, a spoonful at a time until you’re happy with the ratio, and mix.
• Heat up some Tomato sauce in a pan with a little bit of white wine and chicken broth. If you have premade tomato sauce, that’s perfect for this recipe! You should also check out Mariano’s Tomato sauce recipe if you want to see how Mariano makes his tomato sauce!
• Start prepping your peppers. Trim the stems off the peppers, wash them, and cut them in half from top to bottom. With a paring knife or spoon, carefully cut out the white part of the peppers and remove the seeds.
• Get a baking dish ready, and drizzle in some white wine and/or chicken broth. This will help steam the peppers while they’re cooking. Optionally, you can use water for this step.
• Your tomato sauce should be ready now. Combine it with your meat and rice mixture, and mix thoroughly. You can begin stuffing your peppers now! Make sure you press the mixture down to avoid forming any major air pockets. This will make sure all of the peppers cook evenly.
• Place all the stuffed peppers in your baking dish, and optionally top with Mariano’s garnish as seen in the video (a twisted carrot slice held by a toothpick, and a grape tomato placed in the center). Top with mozzarella cheese.
• Cover with aluminum foil, with some poked holes for venting, and cook until the peppers are fork tender (about 30-40 minutes at 350°F). Toward the end of cooking, remove the foil to get some color on the cheese.
• Serve hot and enjoy. Don’t forget to sprinkle a little Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese on top before you eat these peppers!