“Make sure your worst enemy doesn’t live between your own two ears.”

-Laird Hamilton 

 

Farro and Sausage Stuffed Peppers

4 Servings.  Prep time: 20-30 minutes.  Cook time: 45-60 minutes.
 

 

This is a great recipe to use in place of the typical rice or orzo stuffed peppers.  It utilizes farro and a low fat sausage that I was able to pick up from a local sausage maker.  The difference in the quality when buying local is spectacular!  They can control the amount of ingredients for the spice blend as well as fat content and where their animals originate from.

 

Ingredients

 

4 Bell Peppers

1/2 large onion

1/2 lb sweet italian sausage w/ fennel (low fat, low sodium, no fillers).  If you wish you could substitute ground turkey or chicken.

1/2 cup Farro.  I used Earthly Choice Italian Pearled Farro.

32 oz. organic low or no sodium chicken broth.

Salt & Pepper

Olive Oil

2 cloves of garlic

Parmigiano-Reggiano

 
Directions
 
1)  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
 

2) Wash the farro and place it in a rice cooker with with 16 oz of the chicken broth.  I chose to use a rice cooker for the ease of clean up convenience.  You could also opt to cook the farro the traditional way via the stovetop.  In that case follow the instructions on the package!  Reserve the rest of the chicken broth for adding to the farro in case it isn’t cooked fully and needs more broth and for filling the bottom of a baking dish for later.

 


 
3) Cut the tops and bottoms off of the peppers.  Chop the pepper pieces and the onion to your liking.  I prefer coarse chopped.
 

 

 

4) Heat the onion and pepper with 1 tablespoon of oil in a non stick skillet (Le Creuset is preferred) until the onions are transparent.  Add the crushed garlic and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.  Remove once cooked.
 
5) Remove the sausage from the casing and add about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Due to the low fat content of the sausage you need to add oil to keep it from sticking to the pan. Cook the sausage over medium heat until brown.
 

 
6)  Once the sausage and farro are cooked, combine them with the onion and pepper mixture in a large bowl.
 

 
7) Place the peppers bottom side down in an oven safe dish with enough chicken broth to coat the bottom of the dish.  Fill the peppers to the top with the farro-sausage mixture.  Place aluminum foil over the top of the dish and place in the oven for 30 minutes.
 

 
8) Check the peppers at 30 minutes to see if the peppers have “shrunk” at all.  If not place back in the oven with the foil for another 5-10 minutes and check again.  If they have remove the foil, gently grate a little parmesan cheese on top and place them back in the oven uncovered for a few minutes until the tops have browned.  Remove from heat and let cool before serving.

 

Brent

Brent

President, Personal Training Manager at Body By Brent LLC
Brent
Brent
Brent