Peppers with Pork and Rosemary

Another stuffed pepper recipe from the inimitable Nigel Slater, whose beautiful cookbook Tender has become one of my first stops when looking for new and creative ways to prepare vegetables.  Here, the intense sweetness of a roasted pepper combines irresistably with the very savory filling, and we here in Lawrenceville are lucky enough to have a wonderful local producer of sustainably raised pastured pork right down the road at Cherry Grove Farm.  Paired with a big green salad, this is the perfect meal for the first frost of 2014!

[n.b.: I really love the way Nigel Slater writes his recipes, so I've reproduced it basically word for word here, not for any reflected glory or monetary gain, but because I like to see a nice, artistically written piece of cookery literature.  I hope he doesn't mind.]


PEPPERS WITH PORK AND ROSEMARY
from Tender by Nigel Slater

enough for 4

a large onion
olive oil -- 2 Tablespoons, and a little more
garlic -- 2 cloves
rosemary -- 3 bushy sprigs
large tomatoes -- 2 (since we're out of fresh        tomatoes here, I used a 14.5-oz can of diced,      with the juice; worked fine)
ground pork -- 12 oz.
breadcrumbs -- 1 cup
small red or colored peppers -- 6
grated Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Peel and finely chop the onion, then put it into a large, shallow pan with the oil over medium heat.  Let the onion soften without coloring.  Peel and slice the garlic, chop the leaves from the sprigs of rosemary, and add both to the onion.  When all is soft and fragrant (just a minute or so), chop the tomatoes and stir them in.  Continue cooking until the tomatoes have collapsed into the sauce (about 5 minutes).  Season with salt and black pepper, then stir in the ground pork and the breadcrumbs.  Remove from the heat.

Cut the peppers in half lengthwise, remove the seeds, then lower them into a pan of boiling water and cook for six to eight minutes, until they are slightly limp.  Remove them with a slotted spoon and put them, skin side down, in an oven-proof baking dish.

Divide the pork mixture among the peppers, then moisten with a little olive oil.  Scatter grated parmesan over the top and bake for 35 minutes, until sizzling.