Ok, so here’s the deal. I’ve never made stuffed peppers. What? I know, I feel like they are among the first things beginner chefs learn how to make but I somehow missed that right of passage. I’m making it up now with these Moroccan stuffed peppers.
These stuffed peppers are a little different than you might be used to for a few reasons. First, no rice. Why? I’m not a rice woman and adding it seemed like more work? I know that’s dumb, but there’s my train of thought. Second, MOROCCAN! Spiced, that is. I know I just wrote about the Moroccan smoothie, but what can I say, I just love the flavors that country is selling.
I can’t even tell you how stuffed peppers are actually supposed to be made because I’m not sure we ever ate them as a kid? Mom probably remembers differently, but maybe not because we were more of a stuffed cabbage kind of family. Ya know, Hungarian and all. Back to the task, for these I cooked everything on the stovetop beforehand and popped them into the oven to get the pepper all nice and nice, and to melt the goat cheese that I put on top. Are you supposed to cook everything before? Whatever, it worked for me!
I used ground pork as the base here, but feel free to sub out whatever meat you have on hand because I think anything will work with this. Also, got chickpeas? Throw those in, too! My bare-ish pantry was lacking, but believe me that I was thinking about those chickpeas.
And while I might not have had chickpeas, I had a plethora of kale that i needed to use up. I find kale to be rather annoying in taste and texture, mostly, but I cooked it down in the spiced tomato sauce and my annoyance disappeared. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised.
For a little crunch, I threw in some pine nuts because pine nuts are lovely, aren’t they? A little bit of crunch and you won’t miss the rice that wasn’t, I say!
As for the spice, I used some random pre-mixed kafta spice that I got from who knows where (I’m sure I didn’t buy it because I almost never buy pre-mixed spice mixes…), but this recipe for the spice mix seems to be pretty close to what I used.
Finally, got cheese tops them off because…well, you don’t need a reason for goat cheese, amiright?
Am I talking too much? I feel like I’m talking too much. Anyway, let’s eat!
Moroccan Stuffed Peppers
May 15, 2020
: 10 min
: 1 hr
: Easy
Moroccan stuffed peppers are rice-free and filled with kafta-spiced pork, kale, tomatoes and pine nuts and topped with creamy goat cheese.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 TB olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced (approximately 1 cup)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped
- 8 ounces crushed tomatoes
- 2-4 TB water, depending on desired consistency
- 3 cups fresh kale, stems removed, coarsely chopped
- 2 TB spice
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 4 red peppers, tops sliced off, cored, and seeds removed
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, to garnish
- 1 1/2 ounces goat cheese
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Step 2 In a large saute pan over medium-high, add the oil and pork. Break up the meat using a wooden spoon into small pieces. Cook, stirring constantly, until the pork is mostly cooked through. Push the pork to the side.
- Step 3 Into the empty side of the pan, add the onions, salt and spice, and cook until soft (you should have enough grease from the pork but if not, add a squidge of oil so the onions can cook). Mix the onions in with the pork. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the kale, tomato sauce , tomatoes and water to the pot. Lower to medium heat, cover, and cook about 5 minutes until the kale has wilted. Add the pine nuts.
- Step 4 Divide the mixture into the four prepared peppers and place them in an oven safe dish. Bake, uncovered for 10 minutes. Remove and sprinkle the goat cheese evenly over the peppers. Bake for another 5 minutes until the cheese is soft.
- Step 5 Garnish with parsley and serve hot!
