Last week, a coworker gave me half a dozen banana peppers from her garden. I love peppers and I immediately knew just what to do with them. For years, my mom has been making this dish made with peppers, meatballs and gravy served over rice. The recipe comes from an old Farm Women's cookbook, a group of women my grandmother used to belong to. The cookbook is filled with comfort dishes traditionally served down on the farm and uses terms like "oleo" for butter.
Last year my mom used hot peppers from our family garden to turn it into a spicy dish which we all loved more than the original. You could use your favorite hot peppers to modify the amount of heat in the dish. I like to use the banana peppers because it adds a subtle heat yet also magnifies the flavor of the bell peppers.
This dish is the definition of comfort food and makes the perfect fall dinner. And better yet, the leftovers make a fabulous lunch. In fact, I've been eating it for lunch all week.
Spicy Peppers and Meatballs
1/4 cup fine breadcrumbs
1/2 cup milk
1 lb. ground beef
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. celery salt
dash garlic salt
3 tbs. butter
3 cups green and red bell peppers, sliced
1/2 cup banana peppers or a mildly hot pepper, sliced
2 onions, sliced
2 cups beef bouillon or beef broth
Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk and let sit until it thickens. Combine the breadcrumbs and ground beef and add the salt, celery salt and garlic salt. Shape the meat into 1 1/2 tbs. balls.
Melt the butter in a large skillet, add the meatballs and brown. Remove the meatballs from the pan and add the peppers and onions. Saute the peppers and onions until soft. Pour in half of the beef bouillon. Add the meatballs back into the pan and cover.
Meanwhile, combine flour and water to make a paste to thicken the remaining bouillon into a gravy. Pour the gravy over the peppers and meatballs and cover. Simmer until the meatballs and cooked thoroughly.
Serve over rice.
