Craving Ellie in My Belly is headed to Greece this week! I've never been to Greece but this is a great way to experience some of the flavors without throwing down a wad of cash or eating my weight in baklava.
Ali at The Healthy Hostess (check out her blog, you'll love it!) picked this recipe just for us, and I was excited because I still had some feta leftover after we made the baked shrimp with tomatoes a few weeks back. Feta isn't my favorite cheese but I'm trying to develop a liking for it. These peppers gave me another opportunity.
I'm not a beef lover. In fact, I ate no meat at all for over 20 years. It was just three years ago that I started eating chicken and turkey and beef every once in a while. So I decided to substitute ground turkey for the beef. Why is it that packages of ground turkey weigh exactly 1.25 pounds? I mean, most recipes call for a pound. I piled the extra ground turkey in the bowl and dumped in the other ingredients. The nagging voice in the back of my head was whispering "saute the onions, saute the onions..." but I ignored it, as I usually do. And I regretted it, as I usually do.
I decided to go natural, and donned a pair of gloves and mixed the ingredients with my hands. I mixed them really, really well. Rookie mistake. Unless you like solid stuffing in your peppers. Yeah, me neither.
This recipe was pretty easy to put together. I added powdered garlic and smoked paprika for extra flavor and wish I had added more. The flavor was a little understated, but all in all it was good. If I make this recipe again, I think I'll move the flavors to Italy, using a little mozzarella cheese in place of the feta and using homemade tomato sauce instead of the canned tomatoes. Oh, and I'll be more careful about overmixing the meat.
15 comments:
I love feta cheese; it grows on you, I promise. I hated the taste of onion for the longest time and I always wish that I'd sauteed the onions beforehand when I don't (usually it's because I don't have time). It's nice to know that there's another person who feels the same way that I do about that!
They look fantastic and I love the idea of moving them from Greek to Italy. I bet that they'd be delicious with those revisions!
Feta and goat cheese - two of my favs. Actually - I just love cheese. My mixes were combined by hand also - but I didn't have a problem.
I like the move to Italy for the next go-round with this dish. My father makes his more like that and they are ridiculous every time.
That said, I wasn't disappointed with this "Greek" style though.
Always saute your onions - that little voice in the back of your head sound pretty smart.
--Nick
smoked paprika is a great idea!
Sara
Why was it a mistake to mix with your hands? We loved these. Yours look delicious and I am sure they were great with the ground turkey!!
Your peppers look delicious! I tend to always make mine more Italian...b/c of thats how I ate them growing up, I have a recipe on my blog if you are interested in checking it out.
I always wondered about the overmixing...now I know. Wasn't sure what would happen.
Your peppers look great as well. We were definitely cooking in parallel worlds. Much like mine, your peppers look perfectly done from the outside! Unfortunately, looks can be deceiving. Hopefully we will have better luck next week!
Great looking food! I'm sure it tasted great!
Feta is definitely one of my favortie cheeses. It was one of the best things about this dish. We really enjoyed it, though I agree that the filling could've used a bit of jazzing up, too. Nice job!
It looks really good. I agree with you, some of the ingredients should have been cooked before going into the oven. I enjoyed it and like you, next time i will add some more flavours :)
Ciao ! How unusual to have meat in the stuffing !!
I think feta grows on you too. Keep trying it. I did and now like it. Cooking the onions would make a perfect improvement.
I can't decide whether it's good that those voices are always right or whether it's annoying. I guess it depends on whether I've listened to them!! I like your Italian ideas; I'd even add some Parmesan.
Nancy
whata nice recipe . I m drooling !
OMG, I am so drooling right now! Give me some of that please! ;)
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