Stuffed Peppers

Meaty, cheesy, Greek-ish stuffed peppers

I always think off stuffed peppers as an ‘80s food. In this case, the inspiration came when our three-year-old insisted on buying yellow and red bell peppers. This isn’t the first time he’s demanded we buy peppers. We capitulated because we’re pushovers, but there are only so many ways to cook a pepper.

I had a vision of stuffed peppers for some unexplained reason, looked over a handful of variations, and settled on one version that was vaguely inspired by Greek cuisine.

Lot’s of recipes for stuffed peppers include mixing in rice, but I don’t like that for the same reason I don’t like burritos stuffed with rice. Rice is a filler. I served it on the side instead.

Ingredients

• 4 whole peppers

• 1 can of chickpeas

• 6 oz feta cheese

• 1 pound-ish of ground beef

• 1 onion

• 1 can fire roasted tomatoes

• Olive oil

Instructions

• Brown the meat in the olive oil

• Dice the onion

• When the meat is mostly browned, push to the side and add the onions

• When the onions are translucent, add chick peas and tomatoes

• Stir together and simmer

• While the filling cooks, cut the top off the peppers removing seeds and capsaicin glands (the white parts)

• Season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste

• Crumble the feta into the warm filling and stir

• Cut heat

• Fill the peppers with the meat mixture

• Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes or until peppers are tender

• If the filling begins to brown before peppers cook, cover with tin foil

The peppers reheat really well too. Once they are refrigerator cool, the filling remains fairly cohesive and they can be sliced in half without falling apart too much. I added cheddar cheese before microwaving for a minute or two, and then topped with sour cream which made the leftovers almost entirely different meal.