Culinary Challenge: Gluten Free Stuffed Peppers

Once again, here is another Culinary Challenge! I decided to tackle the stuffed food challenge (that had to use vegetables and cheese) my roommate Zak presented to me. I decided to go the route of stuffed peppers and use Italian flavors. After finishing this and taking a few bites, I realized that its one of my favorite main dishes, due to all the robust flavors involved. Also, as I made this, I made a vegetarian version for one of my other friends, and it turned out quite well also! If you want to go the vegetarian route, replace the meat with 2 more Portobello caps. If you were to try any one of my main dish recipes on the site, I wholly recommend this one.

Serves: 3-4 people

Ingredients
-.5 lb thinly sliced top round
-4 oz pancetta
-2 large Portobello caps
-3 bell peppers
-1/3 cup brown rice
-1/4 cup marinara sauce
-1/4 cup red wine
-1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
-1 tbsp minced garlic
-1 tbsp Italian seasoning
-1/2 cup shredded provolone piccante
-3 tbsp olive oil
-salt and pepper
-mozzarella cheese

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Place the rice in a rice cooker and cook to the manufacturer's recommendations.
3. While the rice is cooking, slice the steak, pancetta, cube the Portobello, and shred the provolone. Cut the peppers in half lengthwise. The key is dicing everything into the same size to promote even cooking and flavors. Also, be sure to do this before cooking any of it, as this will allow you to concentrate on cooking without having to worry about anything burning.

4. Sautee the garlic and Portobello in a small pan on medium heat for about 2 minutes. To this add half the wine, and cook for another 3 minutes. Expect the mushrooms to shrink in size.
5. In a medium pan over medium heat, add oil and steak. Sautee for about 2 minutes. To this add the pancetta, and a dash of salt and pepper. After another 2-3 minutes, add the remaining wine and Worcestershire sauce. Sautee for another 2 minutes before adding the mushroom mix, Italian seasoning, provolone, and the marinara. Mix and let combine for a minute.

6. To this, stir in the rice and let sit for a few minutes.
7. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Stuff the peppers with the filling, top with freshly grated provolone, and bake for 20 minutes.

8. Place the oven on broil, and remove the peppers from the oven. Cover them with thin slices of mozzarella, and place back in the oven. Place in the oven for a maximum of 2 minutes, but check after one minute to make sure they don't burn. Remove from oven when the cheese is melted and starting to bubble and brown.

Please, let me know how you believe I did! Also, I once again recommend that you make these if you have the time.