Lamb stuffed peppers is a weird dish that I have come up with on my own, and was inspired by Turkish cooking, and an attempt to make lunches to take work a lot easier. One ½ bell pepper portion is a good amount to have for lunch (throw in some fruit and look at you healthy eater!). The seasonings in this are suggestions, if you find that you cannot source one (more particularly the Turkish Biber seasoning do not hesitate to substitute it for your own alternatives).
This recipe creates more mince mixture than is needed for the peppers, however, I will usually have it around the side. I find that the ingredient amounts are a lot more manageable as it is more like “1 can of this…” “1 packet of that…” and it is much easier to just chuck it all together.
At the bottom of the ingredients list I have added “suggested additional ingredients”. These are additional ingredients for the lamb and biber mixture. However, this dish can be conduit for other cultural influences. If you have lamb, lemon, rosemary, thyme, potato, olives with Haloumi on top, it will be just as good (now that I have just thought of that, I want to make it – I highly suggest lining a slow cooker with the stuffed peppers, not using tomatoes, and chunks of slow-cooking lamb for it).
What is in Biber Seasoning?
It is properly called Urfa Biber, which is a type of pepper. It is a rich burgundy colour and irregular flakes. If you need to replace the seasoning with a “western” alternative try to find red pepper flakes as it is closer to the flavour than a chili flakes. The biber seasoning is not spicy and maybe a 5 parts to 1 part red pepper flakes to chili flakes might make up the difference.
Additional Ingredients:
- Carrots – if you are adding carrots, you may do so right after you have browned the lamb mince
- Petits Pois – if you are using fresh peas, add them about 5 – 10 minutes after the lamb mince is brown. If you are adding frozen, mix them in right before stuffing the peppers
- Button mushrooms instead of portobello – cut them in into ¼ chunks, and add with the mushrooms
- Red onion – you can switch out the yellow onion for a red one, and it will be very nice
- Beef – instead of lamb
- Sausage meat – instead of lamb. I would recommend venison sausage as that would be delicious
- Red wine – add this with the tomatoes
Servings: 6
Calories per serving: 352
Servings and Storage:
Each ½ bell pepper makes for a good serving. I would serve this with rice, couscous, or a green salad, depending on how healthy you want to be.
This will keep in the fridge (in an airtight container) for a week, and can be reheated in the microwave. Just make sure that it is cooled before placing in the fridge, you don’t want to raise the temperature and make your milk go off.
Lamb Stuffed Peppers With Goats Cheese
A cheesy version of a Turkish dish. These make a great left-over lunch as well as dinner.
Ingredients
- 6 bell peppers, I will either chose a “variety” pack, or choose whichever flavour I prefer. I find Green Peppers a bit more bitter and not as nice, however, to each their own
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 400g can of chopped tomatoes
- 500g Lamb mince
- 3 portobello mushrooms, or 5 white mushrooms
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 1 tbsp Dried Basil
- 1 tbsp Dried Oregano
- ½ tbsp Dried Thyme
- ½ tbsp Dried Rosemary
- ½ tbsp Dried Sage
- 2 tbsps Turkish Biber Spice
- 2 tbsps smoked Paprika
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 2 lamb bouillon cube
- Pepper
- 200g goats cheese (get the large diameter goats cheese as one slice will cover a pepper)
- Olive oil for the pot (if you need it)
Directions
- Step 1 If you are a slow chopper (which is fine), prepare your vegetables in advance. They need to be chopped to the various sizes Onion: Diced finely, you don’t want it too big, but you do want it to be small enough that it is not weird with the mince and fits into the pepper. Garlic: Peel and slice into thick slices. You will be cooking the garlic for quite awhile and it does lose it’s flavour the more that your cook it. However, the thicker the pieces are, the more of a punch you will have when you bite them. Mushrooms: Similar to the onions, chop them finely. However, remember, they are mostly water and will become much smaller when you cook them, so they do not need to be too small.
- Step 2 Line a large roasting pan with aluminium foil. You don’t need to prep your peppers at this stage as you will have time while the mixture cooks. Goats Cheese: cut the whole package into 6. I found it easiest to cut it into ½ and then cut each ½ into ⅓.
- Step 3 In a large pot, turn the heat on to low, add your mushrooms and cover. Once the heat has started to pull out the water, add your onions, garlic, and continue to cover. This will put out more water from the vegetables and coat the bottom of the pan. Add your seasonings, except the bouillon cube once the onions are soft.
- Step 4 Turn the heat of the pot to medium, and add your lamb mince. Brown the mince and mix it well with the seasonings. Add your bouillon cube to the mixture, I find it easier to crumble it in. And add your can of chopped tomatoes.
- Step 5 Keep the heat on medium until it comes to a simmer, and turn back down to low. Keep this cooking for about 20 – 30 minutes. Stir it occasionally and keep the lid on the pot. The mixture is done when it tastes good. Yes, I don’t have a more defined way of explaining this, but you will understand while you taste it. As well, while tasting the mixture, keep an eye on the flavours, and deduce if you need to add anything extra. I have found that onion powder can be a nice boost to the onions, also, if there is not enough salt, instead of adding salt, I will add another Lamb bouillon cube.
- Step 6 While the mixture is cooking, turn your oven to preheat at 180c or 325f. Make sure that you have your rack either in the middle, or closer to the bottom, so that your cheese won’t burn before you have finished baking it. Take your peppers and cut out the stem from the top (don’t completely cut off the top as it will help to keep the mixture inside), and ensure the insides are completely removed. Yes, the little white bits on the side protruding parts (for lack of a better description – was about to throw thingies in there as well for good measure) need to be removed as well.
- Step 7 Once the mixture is finished cooking, let it cool a bit. This isn’t so much to help with the dish as a whole, but it will stop you from burning your fingers. Then stuff the peppers with as much filling as you can. You will want to use a spoon, and use the back of said spoon to squish more in. When you are satisfied with the stuffing, place the remaining mixture around each pepper in the roasting dish and add your cheese on top.
- Step 8 You need to bake this for 35 – 40 minutes. If you find that your cheese is burning, add aluminium foil to the top and it will help. However, you need to ensure that your peppers are nice and soft.
Enjoy.
