Stuffed Bell Peppers with Feta Cheese
Greetings Food Adventurers! Today our tastebuds take us back to the city of Falme for their spiced stuffed bell peppers. The city is settling down from the recent excitement, and the inns are getting back to preparing their usual menus. (not going to post spoilers, but I highly recommend Wheel of Time Season 2 and/or books 2 and 3, depending on which format you prefer).
This evening we will return to the inn we visited last time for Lamb Stew. Our rooms on the second floor are waiting for us, overlooking the harbor. The common room is already filling up in anticipation of dinner, and a group of traveling performers is pulling out flutes and small drums for evening music. The Resting Seabird serves Stuffed Bell Peppers when the giant sweet peppers start coming in from the farms and we are just in time! These are filled with a spiced ground beef and rice mixture and baked on a bed of marinara sauce. The dark purple shiso leaves can be hard to find, but if you happen to have them available in your corner of the world, they are a delicious addition (completely optional and okay to skip them or substitute with a small handful of fresh basil leaves).
*Side note: In WoT, tomatoes only exist in the Aiel Waste / Three-Fold Land, but I’m making an exception for this recipe since it really does need the marinara to balance everything.
Stuffed Bell Peppers with Feta Cheese
Equipment
- 9×13" baking dish
- Aluminum foil
- Meat thermometer
Ingredients
- 4 large red orange, and/or yellow bell peppers
- 1 cup cooked white rice COOLED (recommended: medium-grain Nishiki or Botan Calrose)
- 1 tsp table salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 Tbsp dried parsley flakes
- 2-3 fresh purple shiso leaves chopped (optional)
- 2 ¾ cups spaghetti sauce (24 oz) (recommended: Prego mushroom)
- 1 lb ground beef 80% or 90% lean
- 1 large egg
- 2 oz feta cheese (about 1/2 cup)
Instructions
- Cook rice and let cool enough to touch. (can cook rice the day before and use straight from the fridge)
- Preheat oven to 350 F and position rack in the center.
- Half the bell peppers lengthwise and clean out the cores and seeds. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine rice, herbs, spices, and 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce.
- Add ground beef and egg. Mix thoroughly (hands work best, or use the paddle attachment in a stand mixer).
- Spread the rest of the sauce (about 2 1/4 cups) into a 9×13″ baking dish and arrange the pepper halves on top.
- Spoon the filling evenly into the peppers, pressing down as needed. All of the filling should be used.
- Top each pepper with 1 Tbsp of feta cheese.
- Cover the dish with foil and bake for 50 minutes.
- Uncover and bake another 10-15 minutes, until the filling reaches 165 degrees F.
