Greek Stuffed Bell Peppers

I love lamb! It's so delicious and I really try to incorporate it every chance that I get! So I started thinking about how I could make a new lamb dish with elements of a comfort food dish that I already love. Stuffed Bell Peppers is something that my dad used to make all the time when we were growing up! It was easy to throw together and it was just so darn comforting. I make them now occasionally but my husband isn't a huge fan because of the classic tomato topping. So, I decided to come up with a new stuffed bell pepper recipe. This is where the Greek flavors began popping out at me! I love red bell pepper with any and all Greek food. So, this what I came up with! Delicious Greek style Stuffed Bell Peppers! Please enjoy!

Things you will need:
4 Large Red Bell Peppers (When picking out at the store make sure they have 4 bumps on the bottom this indicates that the Bell pepper would be better baked rather than raw, if you are looking for a bell pepper to eat raw look for one that has 3 bumps on the bottom. Just little side note.)
1lb Ground Lamb
2 Tbsp Bleu Cheese Dressing
2 Tbsp Minced Garlic
1 Large Red Onion Chopped
Zest of 1 Lemon
1 Tbsp Fresh Rosemary (Stripped and Chopped)
1 Tbsp Fresh Thyme (Stripped and Chopped)
2 tsp Fresh Oregano (chopped)
2 tsp Fresh Mint (chopped)
1/2 Cup Feta Cheese
1 Cup Garlic Herb Bread Crumbs
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Things you will need for the Sauce
8oz Container Plain Greek Yogurt
1 Large Cucumber (peeled and seeded)
3 Tbsp Fresh Dill
1 Tbsp Minced Garlic
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup Feta Cheese Crumbled
Salt & Pepper

Step 1: Remove the tops of your bell peppers cutting a circular opening around the stem. You want to make the opening rather large because you will be stuffing it. Once you have remove the top start to remove the skin inside the peppers with your finger. Just pull on it and it will come out. Wash it out with some cold water if there are seeds stuck in there! Once your bell peppers are seeded and cleaned roll them in Olive oil and season them with salt & pepper. This will help them roast and get all that delicious flavor infused into your stuffing!

Step 2: First thing I do is place all my herbs into my food processor. This will allow you to get the same consistency on each of the herbs and allow them to blend together prior to adding them to your meat. Place Rosemary (removed from stem), Oregano (removed from stem), Thyme (removed from stem), and Mint in the food processor. Pulsate four or five times! Once they are all chopped it's time to add to our lamb! In a large mixing bowl add the Herbs, Red Onion, Garlic, Lemon Zest, Feta, Bleu Cheese Dressing, Bread Crumbs, Salt & Pepper to your Ground Lamb. Get your hands dirty and really mix this well! You're pretty much making a meat loaf so you want to make sure that every element is dispersed evenly. The Bleu Cheese dressing is really the secret ingredient to this mixture because it gives it moisture as well as a background flavor that most people can't put their finger on! Once your meat is thoroughly mixed your ready for step 3.

Preheat Oven to 375 Degrees

Step 3: Stuff the bell peppers with your lamb mixture press it down so you can get as much mixture as you can into each bell pepper. Once you have stuffed all your bell peppers into the oven for 45 minutes to an hour! Once your meat has browned and reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees you can remove from the oven!

While your Bell Peppers are baking make the sauce!

Making the Sauce
Step 1: Peel and remove the seeds from the cucumber. I just use a potato peeler to peel the cucumber. To remove the seeds cut the cucumber into quarters and remove the center.

Step 2: Place Yogurt, Cucumber, Garlic, Dill, Cayenne Pepper, Salt & Pepper into food processor. Pulsate until all ingredients are mixed well. Add 1 Cup of crumbled Feta Cheese to sauce and stir well.

Step 3: Place sauce in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to allow it to set up.

To serve place 1 Bell Pepper on a plate and top with sauce. Sprinkle a little dill around the plate and top the Bell Pepper with a Mint leaf. Dish complete and oh so delicious!