This is an excerpt from our book, A Greek Journey with Fork and Pen:
“Elizabeth: The days fly by and our week of lessons comes to an end. Our last night at dinner, we were called to the phone. Our husbands were on their way back from their week-long hiking adventure and will arrive tomorrow, the day we are scheduled to leave.
Dan: We called the girls from Frangokasteli’s bus stop, where it was very windy. They said their knees hurt. I guess that makes us even, with the aching muscles we experienced (and still feel) after hiking the Samarian Gorge.
Floyd: We took the bus back to Roustika a reunion with our happy dancers and we were welcomed by all.
Georgia: Besides our memories of fun with new friends, we take the new recipes they gave us, looking forward to trying them in our own kitchens. We are preparing to leave just two days earlier than the rest of the class. We will miss the music and the fun we all had mastering the complicated dance steps. Our new friends, Vasso and Pendeli, musicians from Macedonia, tell us that peppers are abundant in many different varieties. And so they gave us some of their favorite pepper recipes.”
Since we were only familiar with the traditional stuffed peppers with rice and herbs, we couldn’t wait to try these. We have fallen in love with this vegetarian recipe. It is easy and can be an appetizer or a side dish with a salad and a protein.
Pendeli’s Feta-stuffed Peppers
7 or 8 long Italian peppers or Anaheim Chiles 3 T olive oil
1 c crumbled feta cheese 1/2 t hot pepper flakes (optional or more if you like) 1 T dried Greek oregano (or any oregano if you can’t find Greek)
Cut off top of peppers and remove seeds. Mix together the rest of the ingredients. Carefully slit the peppers open from top to bottom, careful not to cut through to the other side. Stuff each pepper with the cheese filling. Place on foil-lined cookie sheet. Drizzle more olive oil over the top. Bake in pre-heated oven at 350 degrees F until peppers are very soft. Serve with fresh pita bread and enjoy!!
I sometimes par-boil the peppers after I have cleaned and cut them if I am in a hurry. However, I have noticed this sometimes makes the skins a little tough.
After learning from Vasso and Pendeli that peppers are abundant in Macedonia, we read “peppers are to Macedonia what corn is to Kansas”.
Let me know how you like reading an excerpt from our book and I may continue it!! Thanks.
See you next time! Yassou!
{ 0 comments… add one now }