Recipe: Greek Stuffed Peppers

I’m always looking for good vegetarian or seafood dishes to prepare, especially during Fridays in Lent. I just came across a good one and thought I’d share. I found this on Eating Well online. The ingredients are pretty simple and there’s nothing complicated about the preparation.  

4 servings 

Ingredients:

-          4 yellow orange, yellow, and/or red bell peppers

-          ½ cup whole wheat orzo

-          1 15-oz. can chickpeas, rinsed

-          1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

-          1 medium onion, chopped

-          6 oz. baby spinach, chopped

-          1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano, or 1 tsp dried

-          ¾ cup crumbled feta cheese

-          ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

-          1 tbsp sherry vinegar, or red-wine vinegar

-          ¼ tsp salt

Start by cutting the peppers in half – lengthwise through the stem. Remove all the seeds and membrane so the inside is completely clear. 

Arrange them cut-side down in a microwave-safe dish with about ½ inch of water in the bottom. Microwave until the peppers are soft, about 7-9 minutes. Let them cool slightly, drain them and set aside. (Of note, I cut the recipe in half, so I only did two peppers.)   

While you’re waiting for those in the microwave, bring a large saucepan of water to a boil and add your orzo. Let it cook for about 8-10 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water.

When the orzo and peppers are underway, mash the chickpeas until they make a chunky paste, making sure to leave some of the chickpeas whole.

Next, heat your oil in a skillet over medium heat and add your onions. Of course, I omitted this step since I hate onions; however, I did add minced garlic and crushed red pepper at this point. The recipe didn’t call for either of these, but I would highly recommend adding both of them – especially the garlic. I put garlic in just about everything I cook, and it definitely makes sense in this dish. After a couple minutes, add the chopped spinach and oregano and let it cook until the spinach wilts. Stir in the cooked orzo, chickpeas, ½ cup feta (save the rest for the end), sundried tomatoes, vinegar and salt. Cook for about 1 minute until it’s all heated through. Your mixture should look like this:

Grab your peppers and spoon the mixture into each one. Sprinkle the rest of the feta over the top of each pepper and serve!

There are a lot of possibilities with this dish, depending on the ingredients you have on hand. If you have artichokes, you could chop those up and add them to the dish. Also, if you want to add meat, you could finely chop chicken and mix that in. Fresh herbs like basil would be a nice addition. Experiment!  

This was delicious, easy, versatile and healthy! Enjoy!

~ Kris