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Couscous and Asparagus Stuffed Peppers


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  • Author: Jane Ariel

Description

Golden raisins, aromatic spices, couscous, and asparagus cooked with beef are all blanketed together in a tender roasted pepper – pure culinary delight. Serve immediately; a nice dill yogurt sauce would go very well with this


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 1/4 lbs of ground beef, at room temperature (organic 85%lean 15% fat is what I used)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 vidalia onion, grated or minced
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tbs sesame seeds
  • 1 tsp each: ground cumin, coriander, ginger, salt
  • 1/2 tsp each: ground cinnamon, turmeric
  • 1 cup low-sodium beef broth
  • 1 cup of plain couscous (I used NearEast brand)
  • 1 cup of white wine
  • 8 small or 4 medium-size tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • 5 stalks of asparagus, trimmed* and chopped into bite-size pieces
  • 1/3 cup of golden raisins
  • 10 medium-size bell peppers, assorted colors, halved, pith + seeds removed
  • extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl, mix together beef, egg + spices.
  2. Start off by cooking onions with 1 tbs olive oil in a very large, deep skillet. Turn the oven onto 400 degrees. Once the onions are soft and golden, add garlic and sesame seeds. Toast for 2 minutes.
  3. Add beef and turn the heat up to a medium high. Let the beef cook until it is no longer pink, breaking up into chunks constantly.
  4. Add tomatoes and let them soften for 5 minutes. Then add couscous, wine, beef broth and cover the pan. Lower the heat to a medium low and cook until the couscous has absorbed most of the liquid. If it is too wet after about 8 minutes, add 2 more tbs of couscous (but it should not be).
  5. Finally, add raisins and asparagus and mix everything. Taste to make sure there is enough salt.
  6. Brush 1 or 2 baking dishes with olive oil. Stuff peppers with meat filling and bake {covered} for 45 minutes. Finish by baking {uncovered} for 15 more minutes.
  • Category: Main
  • Cuisine: Middle Eastern