Oven-Baked Meat-Stuffed Mini Peppers with Whole Garlic Cloves with homemade tomato paste

👨‍🍳 Method

For the homemade tomato paste ✓ Homemade · or skip – back to store-bought

1. 1
   Wash the tomatoes, remove the cores and quarter each tomato.

   KnifeCutting board
2. 2
   Put the tomatoes, the salt and half of the olive oil in a wide pot, cover and cook over medium heat about 20 minutes, until the tomatoes soften and release their liquid.

   StoveWide, shallow pot
3. 3
   Pass the tomatoes and their liquid through a food mill or sieve and return the purée to the pot: the skins and seeds stay behind.

   Food millorFine sieve
4. 4
   Cook uncovered about an hour at a lively simmer, stirring now and then, until the purée reduces by half.

   StoveWooden spoon

   💡The paste burns easily as it dries: stir and scrape the bottom and edges, and once it is thick, don't walk away.
5. 5
   Preheat the oven to 110°C (230°F).

   Oven

   💡Put things in the oven only once it's reached temperature, after the heating light has gone off: an oven that hasn't reached temperature changes baking times, and the bake burns outside or stays underbaked.
6. 6
   Grease a wide baking dish with the rest of the olive oil and pour in the purée in a thin layer. Dry in the oven about 3 hours, stirring and scraping the edges every 30 minutes, until the paste is thick, sticky and brick red.

   OvenBaking sheetSilicone spatula
7. 7
   Let the paste cool.

   Jar

For the Meatball mix

1. 8
   Mix the ground meat with the onion, parsley, baharat, rice, salt and black pepper until evenly combined.

To assemble

1. 9
   Preheat the oven to 180°C (355°F).

   Oven
2. 10
   Cut the cap off the peppers and set it aside. Scoop out the insides with a teaspoon.

   KnifeCutting board
3. 11
   Fill the peppers with the mixture up to ¾ full: the rice swells as it cooks.

   💡Fill only three-quarters full: the uncooked rice swells inside the vegetable, and a full filling gets pushed out.
4. 12
   Heat the oil in a deep, wide 30 cm ovenproof pan and fry the garlic in it 3 minutes over medium heat, until it is golden in spots. Add the tomato paste and paprika and stir for a minute. Add the tomatoes, sugar, lemon juice, stock and salt and bring to a boil.

   StoveDeep skillet (sauté pan)
5. 13
   Arrange the peppers in the sauce in a single tight layer, openings up. Tuck the caps in between the peppers along with the leftover filling in small balls.

   Deep skillet (sauté pan)
6. 14
   Cover the pan tightly with foil.

   Baking panAluminum foil
7. 15
   Heat the oil in a wide pot, add the tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, sugar, lemon juice and salt and cook 0 minutes.

   OvenBaking pan

   💡Check by the cue (until…), not just the clock: every oven bakes a little differently.
8. 16
   Remove the foil for the last 20–25 minutes so the sauce reduces.
9. 17
   Let the peppers rest 10 minutes before serving.