Stuffed Peppers Italian Style

Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 55 min
Servings: 8
Yield: 8 servings

Description

These Italian stuffed peppers are filled with bread stuffing flavored with onions, garlic, olives, and anchovies slowly simmered in the oven.

Ingredients

4 green bell peppers, halved and seeded
1 (1 pound) loaf stale Italian bread, crumbled
1/2 cup water, or more as needed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (2 ounce) can anchovy fillets, chopped
8 pitted green olives, chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce

Directions

1 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a large baking dish.
2 Arrange bell peppers, cut-side-up, in the prepared baking dish; set aside.
3 Place crumbled bread into a large bowl and sprinkle with 1/2 cup water; set aside.
4 Heat olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over low heat. Sauté onion in hot oil until translucent. Stir in garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Mix in moistened bread. Add anchovy fillets, olives, extra-virgin olive oil, black pepper, and red pepper flakes; stir until stuffing is well blended.
5 Mound stuffing into pepper halves. Surround peppers with tomato sauce and a small amount of water. Cover the baking dish with foil.
6 Bake in the preheated oven until peppers are tender, 45 to 60 minutes. Uncover for the last 15 minutes of baking and baste occasionally with sauce.