Hi Dragnlaw,
- A potential replacement for a tomato sauce topping for stuffed peppers is a blackened Red pepper coulis.
To get peppers soft, thoroughly Blacken all sides of 4-6 red bell peppers on the burner. Like you already know and put in a mixing bowl, seal w/ plastic film for 30 minutes minimum to further steam and soften as well as flavor development. You can just go do something else at this point...
Separate skin, seed and stem from the flesh. Use stick blender to puree the flesh. Separate amount for that meal, freeze the remainder. ***(If you use plastic bags they freeze flat for quicker thawing and can be used to pipe a ribbon of that smokey goodness onto anywhere you think it would look and taste good by snipping the corner. Like cream or bean soups, I used it for a savory Pumpkin soup.)
To use as a sauce, I would typically use cold butter mounted into the warm coulis before serving and maybe some fresh herbs if you like.
- Rice - I normally start with raw but cooked is a great way to use leftover rice
- Meat - Again, raw, for the moisture and flavor given to the rice but a good use of leftover cooked meat.
- Peppers - Raw, would only consider par boil for completely cooked filling.