Stuffed Bell Peppers and Pecan-Stuffed Dates
If you’ve been following this blog, you know we recently acquired a Tagine
Stuffed peppers are very festive, and certainly are a party for your palate with all the different textures and flavors in every bite. According to Claudia Roden in The New Book of Middle Eastern Food
Six pepper halves fit perfectly in the tagine, and it provided an excellent environment for cooking the peppers while keeping the filling moist.
Since these stuffed peppers are filled with a rich combination of meat, fruit, and cheese, they are good all on their own! Or, next time you are serving royalty, add them to the buffet.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound ground lamb
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- ~ 1 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped
- kosher salt, to taste
- a few grinds of black pepper
- ~ 1/3 cup dried fruit (I used a mix of dried cherries/raisins/cranberries)
- ~ 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese (or soft-ripened goat cheese)
- ~ 1/3 cup toasted nuts or seeds (I used pumpkins seeds because they were in the cabinet…but pine nuts would be good)
- 3 red and/or yellow bell peppers, split lengthwise, with seeds and ribs removed (See #6, below)
- Additional chopped mint and crumbled feta, for garnish
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the onion and cook until soft and transparent.
- Add the ground lamb. Brown the lamb well, while stirring to break up the meat.
- Drain excess fat from the pan. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, mint, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. (Keep in mind that the feta will add salt to the dish, so salt sparingly.)
- Stir in fruit, feta, and toasted nuts. (Amounts given were approximate; add more or less to suit your taste.)
- Prepare the peppers for stuffing. I find it easier to split the pepper lengthwise, but you may want to just slice the tops off to make the pepper more of a “cup” than a “boat”. A vegetable peeler is useful for scraping out the ribs of the pepper from the inside. If making pepper “cups”, you may need to shave some pepper from the bottoms so they will sit upright.
- Lightly oil the bottom of a baking dish or tagine. Also lightly oil the surfaces of the peppers.
- Fill each pepper with the meat mixture and place upright into the baking dish.
- Cover baking dish; bake for 30-40 minutes or until peppers are tender. Remove cover and bake for 10 minutes or until browned on top.
- Serve with additional feta cheese and mint sprinkled over peppers.
At the end of the meal, we enjoyed a few Medjool dates stuffed with pecans. Like stuffed vegetables, these precious and delicate fruits were once reserved for royalty and their guests. Each bite of our treat was reminiscent of sweet, sticky pecan pie, without the corn syrup and pie crust. Beware, primal eaters, these babies are NOT low-carb (about 18 carbs apiece), so take it easy on the dessert! 
No intervention yet, please…I still have albums to buy! Like this dandy one I picked up the other day:
Hits 1979-1989
Now, for a record that is as near to perfect as you can get, try Shadowland
7 comments on “Stuffed Bell Peppers and Pecan-Stuffed Dates”
Leave a Reply
Follow us on Pinterest!
I think I can take a break from eating low carb for these. I really like feta, so that would be an essential ingredient for me. Thanks for the post.
The stuffed peppers aren’t too bad in the carb department, if I have calculated right. A serving of 2 stuffed pepper halves comes out to around 25 carbs. The major carb push is coming from the dried fruit, so using less of that ingredient might help.
Now the dessert of pecan-stuffed dates…not low carb at all, but nice for a treat!
Thanks for visiting and commenting!
Pingback: 5 Gluten Free Recipes For Your Weekend
I made these last week–I ended up using some dates in the pepper stuffing, along with cranberries. Really delicious!
Oh, good idea! I love dates and I bet that was fabulous. I will try that next time, thanks!
Pingback: Thanksgiving Round-up « she cooks…he cleans
Pingback: Picadillo Stuffed Peppers | she cooks...he cleans