July 2, 2006

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Lamb and Feta Stuffed Peppers

One hears a lot of talk about the important of eating local. So if, by some chance, you are reading this from Greece, this is the perfect local meal for you. If you're making this and you're not in Greece, shame on you. If you're going to have that little care for the environment, you might as well eat organic.

My mother used to make stuffed peppers, and I dreaded them. Back then I hadn't warmed up to... well... most vegetables. So peppers were giant mounds of tangy plant that signalled big chunks of icky onion inside, and vegetabley broth oozing out when cut into. Since then, I've learned to love a lot of those vegetables, and now I really enjoy peppers, but it wasn't until a few months ago that it occurred to me to try stuffing the peppers again.

I've made them several times since, and they're absolutely delicious, and impossible to screw up. I've experimented with some various ingredients, and it's really a great dish with any combination. But this is my favorite so far. It's a mediterranean feast, and it's self-contained, which makes for nice presentation. Of course, it usually gets a lot more messy once dug into, but such is the life of a cook.

Lamb and Feta Stuffed Peppers

Makes main course for 4. Prep time: 25 minutes. Cooking time: 1 hour.

The ingredients:

  • 4 red bell peppers, medium size
  • 1 lb ground lamb
  • 8 oz (1/2 lb) feta cheese (or 1 cup crumbled feta)
  • 1 cup green olives without pits, pimientos optional (about 12 medum size olives)
  • 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 onion
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 tbsp chicken broth
  • 1/2 tbsp rosemary
  • salt and pepper to taste

The algorithm:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mince garlic, dice onion and olives, and chop feta if you bought a solid block. Wash peppers. To prepare peppers for stuffing, first cut the bottom 1/8 inch off each of the peppers to provide a flat surface for them to stand on. Then cut off the tops (approximately 3/4 inch). Scoop all the insides out of the peppers. Pre-heat saute pan on medium-high.

Add olive oil to pan and wait a few seconds until it is hot but not smoking. Add onion and saute until tender. Add garlic and rosemary and saute briefly, then add ground lamb, salt, and pepper to taste. Brown lamb, but do not cook all the way through. Before lamb is completely cooked, add olives and take the pan off the heat. Toss in chunky, crumbled feta and breadcrumbs.

Divide mix from pan into four peppers. Fill them, but don't pack them too tightly. Pour 1 tablespoon of chicken broth into each pepper. Place all four peppers into a baking pan and add at least about 1/4 inch of water to the bottom of the pan, to keep the bottoms of the peppers from frying.

Bake on 350 until top of stuffing is browned, between 40 minutes and an hour. Garnish with severed head of lamb.

Posted by Barzelay at July 2, 2006 7:30 AM | Comments (2) | Meat, Veggies, Fruit, Grain, Cheese


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My mom also used to make stuffed peppers that I didn't like because I didn't know what was good. I also just recently got into the olive scene. I love mediterranian flavors, maybe I'll have to try this. What was the approximate cost?

Posted by: Chris Santoro at July 2, 2006 11:09 AM


Lamb is usually a more expensive meat, but when you get ground lamb, it's actually quite cheap (because they get to throw in all the random shit). You can get the cheapest manzanilla (Spanish) olives instead of some Greek variety, nothing fancy needed there. Cheese is always pricey, but you don't need that much of it and feta is common. All told, maybe $12, but that's for 4 servings, and that's assuming you don't already have bread crumbs and olives.

Posted by: Barzelay at July 2, 2006 11:14 AM

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