Chicken and Mushroom Stuffed Pepper

By SallySmo

Ingredients

• 5 green bell peppers, seeded and cut in half
• 2 pounds cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 tablespoon, olive oil divided
• 2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups non-fat milk
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 5 teaspoons dried mushrooms such as oyster or porcini, ground into a powder
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 2 cups cooked white rice
• 1 1/4 cups shredded cheese such as monterey jack or cheddar

Preparation

Step 1

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.Sauté onions and celery with 1 tablespoon olive oil and a pinch of kosher salt in a dutch oven over medium high heat for 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. Add remaining olive oil to dutch oven and saute cremini mushrooms over medium heat for 10 minutes until mushrooms start to soften and expel juices. Transfer mushrooms and juices to same bowl as onions and celery and set aside.

3.In the same dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat, scraping bits from bottom of pan. Slowly add flour, mixing with butter and cook over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly so flour taste cooks out and mixture becomes lightly browned. Remove from heat and slowly incorporate chicken stock and milk to butter and flour mixture, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Once incorporated add back to burner over medium-low heat. Add thyme, ground mushroom powder and season to taste with salt and pepper. Add mushroom and onion mixture to dutch oven and bring to a boil, add chicken and cream then reduce to simmer. Cook for 5 minutes. Add cooked rice and remove from heat. Add more milk or cream if sauce is too thick.

4.Lightly salt (about 1/4 teaspoon) the inside of the stemmed and seeded peppers and place in a microwave safe bowl with ½ cup or so of water, cover and cook for 5 minutes until starting to soften.

5.Place peppers in a 9 X 12 baking dish, skin side down, and fill pepper cavities with chicken mixture and top each pepper with 1/8 cup of shredded cheese. Add extra filling around peppers. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

-foodiecrush.com