Giada De Laurentiis’ Turkey Stuffed Bell Peppers and Zucchini Are a ‘Great Way to Use Up Those Extra Veggies’
If you have vegetables on hand and aren’t sure what to do with them, Food Network personality Giada De Laurentiis has a delicious solution that both makes the most of leftover veggies and gets dinner on the table. Here’s the celebrity chef’s easy, healthy, and tasty take on stuffed vegetables.
De Laurentiis wants us to eat our veggies
In her recently published book Eat Better, Feel Better, the author made the case for the veritable rainbow of vegetables to be explored and enjoyed.
“If spinach and romaine lettuce constitute the beginning and end of your leafy green spectrum, getting to know the varieties you’ve been missing out on is going to be a revelation,” De Laurentiis wrote. “These are some of the healthiest, most nutritious foods you can put on your table, and the more of them you eat, the more you will come to love them. Many — including collards, beet greens, and of course kale — can be eaten either cooked or raw.”
The chef’s stuffed vegetables recipe makes the most of extra veggies
As the Everyday Italian star’s lifestyle and food blog noted on Twitter, “Turkey-Stuffed Bell Peppers and Zucchini are a healthy and delicious way to use up those extra veggies you have sitting in the fridge. They’re easy and customizable, so you can use whatever you have handy.”
For this recipe (full instructions and quantities can be found here), De Laurentiis used zucchini and bell peppers. The flesh from the zucchini is removed with a melon baller or a spoon, and set aside. The peppers as well, are hollowed out, and placed along with the zucchini on a greased baking sheet. The reserved zucchini flesh is chopped finely in a processor along with garlic, carrot, celery, shallot, oregano, salt, and pepper. This vegetable mixture is cooked over high heat in a pan until tender. Wine is added and it can continue to cook for another five minutes.
De Laurentiis then instructs that the cooked veggies can be mixed with raw ground turkey, an egg, Parmesan cheese, and white bread that has been soaked in milk. This mixture is placed into each hollowed-out zucchini or bell pepper and baked in a preheated 400-degree oven for almost an hour.
De Laurentiis’ Stuffed Vegetables scored thumbs up from many home cooks
On Food Network’s website, reviewers praised the chef’s recipe for how simple it was to prepare using basic items: “Delicious! My husband loved these and I felt like we were eating a healthy dinner. I followed this recipe exactly and it was easy. I loved that you could put everything in the food chopper instead of chopping all the veggies by hand. I will make this a lot.”
Another home cook admitted they didn’t have all of the ingredients on hand, but they made it work for them: “Delicious! Made few adjustments due to pantry available — used hamburger, celery salt, and pre-cooked meat. Yummy!! Once again thank you Giada.”
