Baked Peppers Stuffed with Ground Beef, Wild Rice & Goat Cheese
It had been a while since I planned a big dinner, and I decided I wanted to make a Mediterranean feast! I had fallen in love with Stuffed Capsicums (Peppers) while I was in Greece, and it was one of the first recipes I tried after buying The Essential Mediterranean Cookbook. I decided to ramp up the recipe this time around after stumbling upon one at Teri’s Kitchen, which added goat cheese and ground beef to the mix. I edited it a bit to work with the ingredients I had on hand and I think the results were delicious!
One disclaimer: I did cheat a bit by just purchasing a box of Wild Rice Pilaf mix… it probably isn’t too difficult to make the wild rice pilaf from scratch (at the bare minimum just cook long grain white rice with chicken stock) but most of the better recipes ask for all these spices and vegetables to add… and while I think I can be fairly motivated in the kitchen… my laziness wins out often. Maybe someday I will try to make Wild Rice and will update this recipe in turn…
Try serving these with a couple refreshing meze dishes such as Marinated Feta with Olives and Tzatziki for a complete Mediterranean feast!
Baked Peppers Stuffed with Ground Beef, Wild Rice & Goat Cheese (adapted from Teri’s Kitchen and The Essential Mediterranean Cookbook)
Yields: 6 servings
Ingredients:
- 6 oz package Long Grain & Wild Rice Pilaf
- 6 large red, yellow or orange peppers (capsicums)
- 1 T olive oil
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 tsp fennel seed
- 6 T dry herb mix (Herbs de Provence, Italian, or whatever dry aromatics you have: basil, thyme, marjoram)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 large tomato, diced
- 1/4 C tomato paste
- 4 oz mild goat cheese, crumbled
- 4 T freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Cook the rice according to package instructions. Set aside.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. You can either cut the tops off the peppers or cut the peppers in half vertically. I tried both methods and my verdict: the former method is a bit “prettier” for presentation purposes, but the latter method is a lot easier to eat… so choose whichever you prefer! Remove the membranes and seeds from the peppers and discard.
Blanch the peppers in the boiling water (not the lids) for 2 minutes, then drain and leave upturned to dry on paper towels.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Sauté the ground beef until browned, stirring in the fennel and other dry herbs. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Add the onions and chopped peppers to the pan; cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for another minute. Remove from heat.
Place the peppers in one layer in a lightly oiled or sprayed baking dish. In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef mixture, rice, goat cheese, 3/4 of the diced tomato, tomato paste, and 2 T of Parmesan cheese. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.
Stuff each pepper with the mixture. Top each pepper with the remaining diced tomatoes, fresh basil, and the remaining 2 T of Parmesan cheese.
Pour 100 ml (3 1/2 fl oz) boiling water into the dish. Bake, covered (or just replace the lids depending on how you cut the peppers), for 40 minutes or until the peppers are just tender when tested with the point of a small knife.
These can be served warm or cold. Also, try serving with a Greek Salad or with a Falafel Sandwich with Tzatziki.
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[…] It had been a while since I planned a big dinner, and I decided I wanted to make a Mediterranean feast! I had fallen in love with Stuffed Capsicums (Peppers) while I was in Greece, and it was one of the first recipes I tried after buying The Essential Mediterranean Cookbook. I decided to ramp up the recipe this time around after stumbling upon one at Teri's Kitchen, which added goat cheese and ground beef to the mix. I edited it a bit to work … Read More […]
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Baked Peppers Stuffed with Ground Beef, Wild Rice & Goat Cheese (via food comas) « objets d'vertu says:
[…] It had been a while since I planned a big dinner, and I decided I wanted to make a Mediterranean feast! I had fallen in love with Stuffed Capsicums (Peppers) while I was in Greece, and it was one of the first recipes I tried after buying The Essential Mediterranean Cookbook. I decided to ramp up the recipe this time around after stumbling upon one at Teri's Kitchen, which added goat cheese and ground beef to the mix. I edited it a bit to work … Read More […]
food comas 
Love your photos and your recipe.
Tried the recipe and loved it. Thank you!
These look amazing! I looove stuffed peppers, but usually just stuff them with some ground beef/veal,rice and tomatoes. LOVE the goat cheese idea, will be trying this for sure!!
Looks great! I love goat cheese.
great article,thanks for you post.
As I speak, my wife is already in my ear about making this recipie. thank you for your post.
http://www.loyaltothemagisterium.wordpress.com
This looks delicious! And serious kudos for your photos – beautiful!
http://thegreatcookbookproject.wordpress.com
thanks so much! love your cookbook project think will have to try some of the recipes you post!
Looks so good, I’ll definitely try this recipe. Thank you for sharing
yammy
Amazing recipe and… happy Thanksgiving.
Well, I learned two things, what macro photography is and how to make a nice stuffed pepper meal. See both here
http://s483.photobucket.com/albums/rr198/wayno100/?action=view¤t=f4cde35d.pbw
Thanks, and the camera I used was a canon sd800
hahah that’s so great love it! macro shots are my favorite – canon has a great macro focus
Prepare me many of these.
Sounds and looks delicious.
Stuffed things are awesome. I have only recently discovered this with the deliciousness that is stuffed mushrooms (http://semprestaccato.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/stuffed-mushrooms/).
You have convinced me that it is definitely time to branch out and try stuffed peppers. These look delicious! They also seem to be a bit more of a balanced meal than mushrooms and probably large enough to serve as a whole meal. Thanks for sharing!
stuffed mushrooms has been on my list for a long time to cook – but yes definitely think of it more as an app! thanks for the link!
Although I never had a chance to visit the region, I learned to love Mediterrenean Food while my visits in Germany. Mainly Turkish, Yugoslavian and Greek food is very popular over there and the restaurants providing this kind of food can be found everywhere over there.
So I definitely will have to try this recipe. But in lieu of goat cheese I will use feta cheese which is made from the milk of sheep.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. It for sure sounds delicious. It will be a nice exchange to the here in Texas so beloved and very popular mexican or tex mex food.
Best Regards
Paula Jo
Hi dear
great post i love to eat Baked Peppers i will try this recipe
Wow. I’m already hungry:)
Yum yum!
The problem is the peppers might become too soft and to me that makes them intolerable.
Evil
http://www.evilcyber.com/
Oh my!, This looks soo good!
easy to cook, and I want to learn it… thanks
Wow I’m not a big fan of stuffed peppers, but that look pretty good.
How does goat cheese taste by the way? Can you taste the goaty-ness lol
now you make me start thinking abt how other cheeses taste like cow… haha goat cheese is fabulous! its a pretty intense flavor, slightly tart but in a rich smooth way!
one of these days I’m gonna try the cheeses of the world….or just the cheese section of the store
Wow , nice photos. What camera are you using? Getting hungry just looking at it. And I’m gonna try this recipe
panasonic lumix lx3 i love it! it’s great for macro shots
I love stuffed peppers! Though, I’ve only every made raw peppers with salad inside. Your post makes me want to try different varieties! And the pics are divine.
stuffed peppers are the best, i make them on a regular basis. nice pics!
ixult
those stuffed pepppers, are the typical food here in peru! =)