Feta Filled Mini Peppers
This recipe is inspired by one of my husband’s favorite dishes. In Montenegro, his mother made this with tiny peppers from their garden and homemade feta cheese that was beginning to dry out. She baked the dish in the wood burning oven where the peppers caramelized, and the filling became rich. We adapted it to make at home. These little peppers are always delicious, and they disappear quickly. They are a great as an appetizer, a side dish, or a snack.
Feta Filled Mini Peppers
Ingredients
- 10 (10-ounces) mini bell peppers, washed and dried
- 4-ounces feta cheese, crumbled
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
Instructions
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Cut the peppers down the middle the long way. Try to cut them so that they lay as flat as possible. Remove the stems and ribs. Lay them out on the prepared baking sheet.
- In a small mixing bowl mix the feta cheese and egg together with a fork. Lightly mash the cheese but leave some chunky pieces in the mixture. Spoon about 1/2 tablespoon of the cheese mixture into each pepper half.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the cheese mixture is set and beginning to brown lightly on the top. Remove from the oven and transfer with a spatula from the tray to a serving platter.
- Enjoy hot or cold with a splash of extra virgin olive.
Notes:
· I use Bulgarian Sheep’s milk feta for an authentic flavor, but even an inexpensive pre-crumbled feta will work.
· The smallest peppers you can find work best for this recipe, they become soft and sweet when baked, look for bags of multi-colored, miniature peppers in your grocers produce department, or explore your local farmer’s market for fresh peppers in season. If you grow your own peppers this is a perfect recipe to use with baby peppers fresh from the vine.
· Clean the seeds and ribs out of the peppers but leave the stems on top, not only do they look pretty they help to hold the filling in the peppers.
· Some of the cheese mixture may overflow out of the peppers when you fill them, that is fine it will bake on the parchment paper and sill taste delicious. I like to think of it as the cook’s special treat.
· You can make these in an air-fryer. Oil an 8” cake pan or dish that fits into your air fryer with olive oil, fill the peppers in the prepared pan and cook them at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. You may have to cook them in two batches.