Stuffed pepper ‘boats’ a family-friendly meal
I’ve been a parent for more than five years now, and I still can’t tell you the magic formula for coming up with meals that will hit 100 percent of the time. I’ve made dishes that I was sure my son would love and he hasn’t. Other times, I’ve been completely surprised by what has been a hit with him (frozen cauliflower, really?). If there’s no accounting for taste, there’s really no accounting for kids’ tastes.
But I like to think I’ve learned at least a few things. One of them is that the most successful family recipes tend to be fun and flexible. That definitely applies to these Stuffed Sweet Pepper ‘Boats,’ from cookbook author Jenny Mollen’s “Dictator Lunches.” (Yes, I nodded in recognition at the cheeky title!)
I’m with Mollen when she says that even as an adult, it can be hard to come around to stuffed peppers. The sides go soft, and the flavor can edge into bitter. They can be tricky to eat, too. When I saw her recipe that uses raw mini sweet peppers, it made total sense. The fresh vegetables maintain their sweet, bright flavor, and they provide a cool, crisp contrast to the warm, spicy filling made with ground turkey. Plus, they’re eye-catching in color and shape, which is why I decided to brand these as ‘boats’ for the kiddos (she calls them Southwestern Stuffed Sweet Peppers). I’m surely not the only parent who’s been taken aback at a party to see their children attack a platter of crudites. Same idea here.
As to flexibility, this recipe has it. Turkey is actually my favorite ground meat, although beef, pork or even lamb would be fine. For meatless options, I’ve tested and enjoyed both plantbased ground meat, which I may have even slightly preferred to the turkey, and cauliflower rice. If you have family members with divergent needs, you can make full batches of one or two of the fillings — they really do come together in a flash — or start one batch’s worth of the onion and spice base in one skillet and then divide it up to finish cooking with separate proteins. Similarly, feel free to tweak the seasoning to reduce the heat or suit whatever spice
jars you have in your pantry.
This becomes an interactive meal when you let everyone fill their own peppers and top them however they like. It
wasn’t included in Mollen’s original recipe, but I like setting out a tacobar-inspired array of shredded cheese, scallions, salsa and sour cream.