Published on Saturday, July 13, 2024

By Melissa Pette

This week our new friends, Ellen Brown and Mark Higgs, from Bensalem township in Bucks County, Penn. are inviting us to try their mouthwatering stuffed peppers recipe.

They learned how to cook these huge peppers during their vacation in Costa Rica. This snowbird couple each year escapes from colder northern weather to a warmer tropical paradise in Costa Rica.

They share a little bit of their history and their reasons for choosing their new home in Heredia Province.

"In spring and summer, my county and in general Pennsylvania has it all if you enjoy the mountains, forests, or even clean rivers and streams. But everything changes after autumn and is even worse with the brutal weather conditions in the winter. Due to its location in the country, it frequently gets heavy snowfall and ice storms. You can't leave home for days," Ellen said. 

She added: "on the other hand, we have the option of living in the warm weather in the mountains of Costa Rica. You can see miles and miles of blue-green mountains and thousands of colorful flowers everywhere the whole year."

What they love most about Costa Rica is the people.

"We know that Ticos are truly wonderful, kind and happy people. This is what amazed me the most, comparing these people with my own town in Bensalem. There isolated town you may be taken by surprise by locals. Not a pleasant surprise. I have to admit that some areas do not have friendly residents that welcome you with open arms," she said.

Now, it's time for this traditional Costa Rican cuisine. The fillings vary from meat and cheese to chicken in a hot sauce.

So, let's go to the kitchen!

To serve 4, the easy-to-find ingredients are:

• 4 large-size green or red bell peppers.

• Mozzarella cheese.

• Cheddar cheese.

• 1 tbsp. cooking oil.

• ½ pound beef (ground beef or chicken also works).

• 1 tsp. salsa Lizano.

• 1 tsp. cumin.

• 1 cup rice, cooked.

• ½ can black beans rinsed. This is optional.

• 1 large tomato, chop into small slices.

• ⅔ cup of tomato sauce. I recommend the Ranchera brand.

• ⅔ cup water or less.

First, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Then, heat the skillet on the stove top until hot and add the oil. 

Add ground beef and cook it constantly stirring until nicely browned and cooked. Then, remove from heat. Drain all excess fat.

Add lizano sauce and cumin to cooked ground beef, and stir to combine.

To the same skillet, off heat, add black beans, chopped tomatoes, and cooked rice.

Prepare bell peppers for stuffing: cut the tops off, stem and seed them.

Stuff each bell pepper with the filling.

    

Fill the baking dish with ranchera tomato sauce and up to ⅔ cups of water. Don't pour all the water at once, just pour enough to make the marinara sauce less dense.

Put stuffed bell peppers tightly into a prepared baking dish, cavity side up. In my case, I used 2 large bread pans.

Put each pepper with both grated mozzarella and cheddar cheese.

Sprinkle some cheese over the tomato ranchera sauce too. Cover with foil and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the peppers are tender and the filling is hot.

These delicious peppers are perfect to combine with salads, rice, boiled potatoes and all the beer you can drink.

Have a pura vida weekend!

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Everyone is invited to share their recipes with a horizontal photo of the dish by emailing  food@amcostarica.com. More Costa Rica's delightful recipes can be found on the AM Costa Rica Food page.

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