Dutch Bell Peppers Stuffed with Gehaktbal-Style Spiced Beef

About This Recipe

Stuffed peppers aren't a classic Dutch dish, but the filling here is lifted directly from gehaktballen, the Netherlands' everyday spiced meatballs, which are seasoned with nutmeg, allspice and sometimes a little ginger rather than the Italian-style herbs used elsewhere in Europe. This recipe takes that distinctly Dutch spice blend and uses it to fill bell peppers instead of shaping it into balls, baked in a simple tomato sauce that echoes the gravy gehaktballen are traditionally served in. The defining move is the spice mix: nutmeg is the backbone, with a smaller amount of ground cloves or allspice rounding it out, plus a soaked slice of bread mixed into the meat, a classic Dutch trick (paneren) that keeps meatballs and this filling notably moist. The peppers are seared briefly before baking to help them hold shape, then finished in a tomato-nutmeg sauce in the oven until the filling is cooked through and the peppers have softened just enough to eat easily with a fork.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 4 largebell peppers(tops cut off, seeded)
• 500 gground beef
• 1 slicewhite bread(crust removed, soaked in milk)
• 1egg
• 1onion(half minced into the filling, half sliced for the sauce)
• 0.75 tspground nutmeg
• 0.25 tspground cloves
• 1.5 tspfine sea salt(divided)
• 0.5 tspblack pepper
• 800 gcrushed tomatoes
• 2 tbspbutter
• 1 tbspbrown sugar

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the bread

   Soak the bread slice in a splash of milk 2 minutes, then squeeze out excess liquid and crumble it finely.

2. 2

   Mix the filling

   Combine ground beef, crumbled bread, egg, half the minced onion, nutmeg, cloves, 1 teaspoon salt and black pepper. Mix gently until just combined.

3. 3

   Stuff the peppers

   Fill each hollowed pepper with the beef mixture, mounding slightly, and set them upright in a baking dish just large enough to hold them snugly.

4. 4

   Build the sauce

   Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat, cook the remaining sliced onion 5 minutes until soft, then stir in crushed tomatoes, brown sugar and remaining salt. Simmer 5 minutes.

5. 5

   Bake

   Pour the tomato sauce around and partly over the peppers. Cover with foil and bake at 190C for 35 minutes, then uncover and bake 10 more minutes until the filling reaches 71C.

6. 6

   Rest and serve

   Let the peppers rest 5 minutes before serving, spooning plenty of the nutmeg tomato sauce over each one.

Variations

• •

  Pork-beef blend: use half ground pork, half ground beef, a common combination for Dutch gehaktballen.

• •

  Vegetarian: substitute a mix of lentils and mushrooms for the beef, keeping the same nutmeg-clove spicing.

• •

  Cheese-topped: sprinkle grated Gouda over the peppers for the last 10 minutes of baking for a melty finish.

Storage

Refrigerate in the sauce up to 3 days. Reheat covered in a 160C oven for 15-20 minutes, or gently on the stovetop with a splash of water to loosen the sauce.

Frequently Asked Questions