Stuffed Red Peppers

By Paul Briand

My wife and I spent part of last week in Alabama. She was on business; I was tagging along for the ride ... and for golf.

We spent some time in Birmingham and made a point of doing two things: 1) Seeing the civil rights sites in what was once known as the most segregated city in the country and 2) sampling the local cuisine.

Both were eye-opening. On the cuisine side, we had barbecue at Mrs. B's on Fourth, just down the street from the Civil Rights Institute, and it was certainly one of the highlights of our gastronomic tour of the south.

But it's always nice to come back to home cooking. The challenge was to tone it down a bit, but not so much as to be a total bore. So I made these Stuffed Red Peppers our first night back.

Ingredients
4 red peppers
1 pound of ground hamburger
Brown rice
4 cloves garlic
4 shallots
1 green pepper
Olive oil
8 ounces tomato sauce
Parsley, oregano, basil
Shredded cheddar cheese

Directions
1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees;
2. Prepare enough brown rice for two people, following directions on the package;
3. Halve and clean the red pepper and blanch them, set aside;
4. Mince the garlic, slice the shallots and dice the green pepper;
5. Add the vegetables to a medium hot skillet with olive oil and saute until just tender;
6. Add the hamburger and cook until no longer pink;
7. Turn the heat down on the mixture and add the cooked rice and tomato sauce;
8. Stir in the parsley, oregano and basil to taste;
9. Heat through until bubbly and remove from burner;
10. Spoon generous portions of the mixture into and onto the red pepper halves;
11. Top with generous amount of shredded cheese (Parmesan is an option here too);
12. Heat in oven until the cheese is melted and starting to bubble.