I decided that Valentine's Day called for something different this year and all roads led to Vincent Price! Horror historian and author David J. Skal joined me to make Vincent Price's Rice-Stuffed Green Peppers.
The Recipe
While Vincent Price was known for playing horror villains, in real life he was a true renaissance man! He collected fine art and published several cookbooks. I decided to make the rice-stuffed green peppers from his book "Cooking Price-Wise: A Culinary Legacy", which was originally published in 1971. I got a re-issued edition. Earlier today I attended a fun, virtual event hosted by Victoria Price and Peter Fuller. To find out more about their future events, please log on to vincentprice.com You can also follow them on Instagram @the.vincentprice.club If you try any Vincent Price recipes, make sure to post and tag them! It is so much fun to share these. Besides given the sheer number of recipes, there will be many more Vincent episodes in the future.
Ingredients
I decided to cut the recipe in half. Unfortunately I had trouble converting the ounces to cups, as I'm horrible at anything requiring math. That said, I'll just type out the original recipe as it appears in the book and you can reduce it (or not) based on how many people you are serving.
4 medium size green peppers
Tomato sauce for serving
Stuffing:
1 oz. butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
4 oz minced beef *(I opted to use ground turkey.)
1 teaspoon chopped parsley
8 oz. can of tomatoes
1 egg
6 oz. cooked long-grain rice (2 oz. uncooked)
seasoning
Directions
Cut peppers in half and scoop out seeds. Plunge into boiling water for 5 minutes, then drain and arrange in buttered baking dish. (I opted out of this step, as I feared it would make the peppers soggy.)
Meanwhile, prepare stuffing. Melt butter and fry onion gently until soft. Add minced beef and brown. Draw pan off heat and stir in parsley, tomatoes and egg. Add rice, season well with salt and pepper and spoon filling into pepper shells.
Place in center of moderate oven 350 degrees and bake for 45 minutes. Serve with tomato sauce.
Special Guest
Once again Hollywood horror expert David J. Skal agreed to be my special guest. He has written so many outstanding books including "Fright Favorites: 31 Movies to Haunt Your Halloween and Beyond", "The Monster Show" and "Hollywood Gothic" . You can find out more about his extensive body of work on his official website. His books are a really a must for any film lover's personal collection. I recommend taking a look at his official website to find out more.
The Final Result
This was a very easy, tasty recipe to make. David pointed out that instead of butter, I could use vegetable broth and that lentils and/or other vegetables could be used instead of meat.
Many of Vincent Price's cookbooks are available to purchase online. They have been re-issued and sometimes you can find first editions as well. As always, I encourage everyone to buy from small, independent bookstores whenever possible.
Vincent Price appeared on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show" and actually cooked salmon in a dishwasher. A friend encouraged me to try it for this show, but my apartment is from the 1920s and it doesn't even have a dishwasher. After the pandemic is over, maybe one of my friends will offer up theirs for a demonstration.
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