Grilled Peppers Stuffed with Feta

Name: Grilled Peppers Stuffed with Feta
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 3 servings
Cuisine: Greek
Ingredients: 6 light green peppers (long pointed type); 150 g aged feta cheese (i substituted with crumbly sheep's milk cheese and a little kneaded sheep cheese); 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; dried oregano

August 18, 2016

Appetizers Simple Recipes Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian Recipes Cheese Greek

Recipe: Grilled Peppers Stuffed with Feta

Do you remember? Last year I was dreaming on a balcony in Thessaloniki about being invited to dinner, for a giouvarlakia. They say dreams come true. After almost a year, I participated in a dinner with a Greek family, in Karavados (Kefalonia). 5 hours with Vassiliki and her husband. We prepared together eggplant in tomato sauce (a similar version but more seasoned), these feta-stuffed peppers, giouvarlakia (I told you! dream, dream, dream!) and a dried fruit cake.

Kefalonia is an island that produces a lot. An amazingly good olive oil (Panochori), strained yogurt (called Greek yogurt here), good wine (the first place in Greece where I liked the local wine, especially the Gentilini winery with their Robola and Red, a light red wine served cold, imagine that), honey, balsamic vinegar, oregano, oranges. They also make a barrel-aged feta that is extraordinarily good. It's a slightly pungent feta, a bit like our kneaded sheep cheese. I stuffed the peppers with this cheese. Then Vassiliki's husband fried them in an amazing amount of oil and served them hot.

At home I couldn't bring myself to fry the peppers in oil. I had already prepared horta and fresh beans with tomato coulis and it wouldn't do to saturate this menu with the smell of hot oil. So I stuffed the peppers with a mix of sheep's milk cheese and a little kneaded sheep cheese and then grilled them in a grill pan.

Ingredients

6 light green peppers (long pointed type)
150 g aged feta cheese (I substituted with crumbly sheep's milk cheese and a little kneaded sheep cheese)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
dried oregano

How to prepare grilled peppers stuffed with feta

Cut the peppers at the stem area, like a lid. Clean out the stems, shake to remove all the seeds.
Stuff the peppers with pieces of cheese, pushing with your finger so they go all the way to the tip. Press the cut lids back on, so the cheese doesn't leak out.
Heat the grill pan over maximum heat for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium.
Grill the peppers on both sides until browned and soft (about 10 minutes per side). If the peppers are very large and after this time are not fully cooked and start to smoke in the pan, transfer the pan to the oven heated to 220°C for another 5-10 minutes, until cooked.
* If you prefer, you can fry the peppers in olive oil until nicely browned on all sides
Remove the peppers to a deep dish and cover with aluminum foil. After 5 minutes, peel off the skin (in Greece no one bothered to peel them, but I like them better without the skin).
Arrange on a platter, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with dried oregano. Serve warm. If they cool down, they can be reheated in the oven.