i first made these peppers when vlada (one of my roommates in bologna) and i visited sade in milan. we all fell in love with them before they even hit the oven. this recipe is reconstructed mostly from memory and some bad notes taken 2 years ago, but i assure you, the end result is equally as delicious now as it was then.
ingredients:
6 red bell peppers, halved and cleaned of seeds (i like using red peppers because they are sweet and complement the saltiness of the feta, but you can use any color pepper you have on hand)
2 medium yellow onions, diced
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 8 oz package of button mushrooms, cleaned and roughly chopped
5 roma tomatoes (or 3-4 larger tomatoes), diced
2 10 oz packages of chopped frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess water
1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
3 cups greek feta, crumbled
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chili flakes
2 cups tomato sauce
in a large pot heat the olive oil at medium to medium-high and add onions and garlic. saute for about 5 minutes then add the mushrooms. saute for about 7 more minutes and add the tomatoes, spinach, salt, pepper, paprika and chili. cook for about 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally. remove from the heat and stir in 1 cup of the crumbled feta.
place the pepper halves into a baking dish and begin to fill will the spinach mixture. avoid stuffing the peppers with the liquid from the mixture, and if necessary drain some it off, but do not discard it. once the peppers are all stuffed, top them with the additional 2 cups of crumbled feta.
i used canned tomato sauce, so i added it to the reserved liquid from the spinach mixture, along with a cup (packed) of roughly chopped basil, and 1/2 tsp of pepper. i cooked the sauce of high heat until it began to bubble, then allowed it to simmer on medium-low for 15 minutes. pumping up the sauce is an optional step, and you can use 2 cups of sauce as it is. pour the sauce over the peppers and onto the bottom of the pans. bake at 375 F until the cheese has browned and the peppers are tender, about 30 minutes.
enjoy with friends : )
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3 comments:
this makes me think of the stuffed peppers from reza's. mmmmm, reza's.
they kind of taste like them. i was thinking about them too : )
i made this recipe today but i don't really like feta, and i didn't have it at home anyways, so i made it without the cheese, and it turned out really nice. i used fresh spinach and one yellow and one red bell pepper. i pan fried them instead of baking and didn't use the tomato sauce on top. so you can really say i almost didn't follow the recipe at all. i served with olive oil toasted bread and a yoghurt-dressed salad. It tasted amazing and my mother loved the stuffing! i'm a teenager, even so it wasn't too difficult to make, i'm really happy with this dish! lovely for vegetarians like me and a refreshing change from all the beef-and-rice stuffings for bell peppers! loved it!
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