Mediterranean Stuffed Peppers

There’s nothing like walking into a kitchen and smelling the comforting scent of tomatoes, peppers, and golden cheese.  The aroma wafts from a bubbling dish of Mediterranean Stuffed Peppers in various colors working as vessels for a tasty mixture of beef, vegetables, and bulgur wheat.  

This Mediterranean-inspired dish flavors the lean ground beef filling with onion, garlic, oregano, and red chili flakes.  Spinach and zucchini lighten the stuffing while adding flecks of color.  Instead of bread crumbs, fiber-rich bulgur wheat provides a nutty note to the dish. Italian-style tomatoes surround the peppers as they cook, providing moisture and more Mediterranean flavors.

Mediterranean Mix

These peppers are adapted from Greek-Style Stuffed Peppers by Ellie Krieger, a recipe found in her cookbook The Food You Crave.  I upped the amounts of spinach, oregano, and feta that Krieger used and added garlic and red chili flakes to further flavor the filling.

I also used a mix of red and green bell peppers, as my refrigerator had a few of each waiting for a role in a starring dish. (Krieger called for red peppers only.) When I was growing up, we often had stuffed green bell peppers filled with a rice and ground beef mix.  My mom cut the crowns off of the peppers and simmered them on the stove upright in a bit of water so that they could steam and cook.  They were little Cajun cups of goodness.  For this recipe, I cut the peppers lengthwise and laid them flat in a casserole to bake in the oven.  I found that a grapefruit knife, with its curved blade, was the perfect tool to remove the peppers’ ribs.

Finishing touches

The presentation is pretty and each pepper has more real estate for crumbled feta cheese in the final baking stage. While Krieger recommends sprinkling the feta on the peppers at the beginning of baking, I waited until the foil-covered first half hour in the oven was done.  After uncovering the peppers, I sprinkled the feta on top and returned the dish to the oven for another 45 minutes of baking time.

This dish was comforting, yet light-tasting.  The peppers soften to a consistency where they can still hold their shape when transferred to a serving plate, but are delicate and flavorful as you cut into them.  We enjoyed these with an arugula and avocado salad on the side.  

Mediterranean Stuffed Peppers

Dawn Dobie

Vegetable-rich stuffed peppers with Mediterranean flavors

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 35 minutes mins

Servings 6

Ingredients

  

• 1 pound lean ground beef I used 94% lean
• 1 16-ounce package frozen spinach thawed and squeezed dry
• 1 medium zucchini coarsely grated
• 1 small onion minced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 cup bulgur wheat*
• 1 large egg lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano crumbled
• 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes or to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 3-4 medium bell peppers a mixture of red and green
• 2 14.5-ounce cans of Mediterranean-style stewed tomatoes with juices
• 2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Cut peppers lengthwise, preserving the stem end but carefully removing the core, seeds, and ribs.
• Spray a 9 X 13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
• Using a large bowl, combine the ground beef, spinach, zucchini, onion, garlic, bulgur, egg, oregano, chili flakes, salt, and black pepper. Mix well with your hands, making sure to distribute vegetables and bulgur well.
• Spoon mixture into pepper halves and arrange peppers with mixture-side up in baking dish.
• Cut canned tomato pieces into smaller pieces by dipping kitchen shears into the cans and snipping away. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of the canned tomato juices over the tops of the stuffed peppers. Spoon the tomatoes around the peppers, surrounding them on all sides.
• Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
• Remove baking dish from oven and carefully remove foil. Baste stuffed pepper tops with juices from baking dish. Sprinkle crumbled feta over tops of stuffed peppers.
• Return to oven and bake uncovered for 45 minutes. The peppers will be tender and the cheese a lovely golden brown.

Notes

*You can substitute brown rice for bulgur if you want a gluten-free option.
Peppers can be stuffed up to a day ahead. Cover and refrigerate them in their baking dish. Add tomatoes right before baking.

Adapted from Ellie Krieger The Food You Crave