Bacon Corn Stuffed Peppers

The week after the DUI is its own kind of weather — heavy, overcast, the air in the house thick with things that need saying and won't be said. Clay went to court Tuesday. The judge — a man named Harding, Korean War veteran, sixty-eight years old, the kind of man who looks at a case file and sees the person behind it — looked at Clay's record: Army service, Afghanistan deployment, PTSD diagnosis, first DUI in 2019, inpatient VA treatment, outpatient therapy, this. He said he could sentence Clay to jail. He said instead he was ordering outpatient treatment through a veteran's court program, twenty-six weeks, mandatory counseling, random drug and alcohol testing. He looked at Clay and said, son, I know where you've been. I need you to decide where you're going.

I was in the courtroom. I wore the tie, the same tie I've worn to every serious event in my adult life — wedding, Earl's funeral, Amber's graduation, now my son's DUI hearing. Four uses for one tie. I hope there isn't a fifth. When the judge finished, I stood up and walked to the hallway and the judge walked past and I reached out and shook his hand and couldn't speak because the words I needed were lodged somewhere between my throat and my chest and they weren't coming out. The judge nodded. He understood. Some men communicate through grip and eye contact and the judge was one of them.

Connie made chili Wednesday night. Her chili, not mine. Ground beef, kidney beans, tomatoes, onion, chili powder, cumin, the brown sugar she thinks is her secret. She made it because chili is what you make when the household needs feeding and you don't have the energy for anything complicated, and energy is in short supply this week. We ate at the table, the three of us — Craig, Connie, Clay, who is staying with us again while the court program sorts out — and Clay said I'm going to do the program. I said I know you are. Connie said eat your chili. We ate our chili.

Connie’s chili did what it was supposed to do that Wednesday night — it gave us something to look at, something to do with our hands, a reason to sit. I’ve been thinking since then about the recipes that carry a family through a hard stretch, the ones that don’t ask anything of you except to stand at a stove for a little while. Bacon Corn Stuffed Peppers are that kind of meal: hearty, honest, the sort of thing that fills a plate and a room without making any demands. If your house is quiet in the way ours was quiet this week, this is what you make.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 40 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Servings: 4

Ingredients

4 large bell peppers (any color), tops cut off and seeds removed
1 lb ground beef
6 strips bacon, chopped
1 cup frozen or fresh corn kernels
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup cooked white or brown rice
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped (optional, for garnish)

Instructions

Preheat oven. Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a baking dish large enough to hold the four peppers upright.
Par-cook the peppers. Place hollowed peppers cut-side up in the baking dish. Bake for 10 minutes to soften slightly, then remove and set aside. Leave the oven on.
Cook the bacon. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the chopped bacon until crisp, about 5–6 minutes. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate. Leave 1 tablespoon of bacon drippings in the pan.
Brown the beef. Add the ground beef and diced onion to the skillet with the drippings. Cook over medium-high heat, breaking up the meat, until beef is browned and onion is softened, about 7–8 minutes. Drain excess fat. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more.
Build the filling. Stir in the corn, drained diced tomatoes, cooked rice, crispy bacon, chili powder, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Cook together for 2–3 minutes until everything is heated through and well combined. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup of the shredded cheddar.
Fill the peppers. Spoon the filling generously into each par-cooked pepper, pressing down lightly to pack. Top each pepper with the remaining cheddar, divided evenly.
Bake. Return the filled peppers to the oven and bake uncovered for 25–30 minutes, until the peppers are tender and the cheese is melted and lightly golden.
Rest and serve. Let the peppers rest for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with chopped parsley if desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Bacon Corn Stuffed Peppers — When the Table Is the Only Place That Makes Sense