CousCous Stuffed Peppers

For lunch the other weekend, D made tasty cooked peppers. He read about a restaurant in Chicago having stuffed tomatoes with spicy couscous. Not being a fan of the tomato, he created his own version utilizing a seasoned feta cheese. Have to love the creative cooking husband.  This is his recipe and he hopes you all like it.

Couscous Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients:

• ½ teaspoon season salt
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon chipotle Tabasco sauce
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 8 oz ground meat - we used turkey
• 4 Peppers (Red, Yellow, Orange)
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 8 oz. couscous/maftul (cook with broth instead of water)
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• 4 oz. feta cheese

Directions:

• Using your hands, knead season salt, garlic powder, onion powder, chipotle Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce and ground meat together insuring thorough mixing. Then brown meat in pan and drain of excess fat.
• In separate pot sautee minced garlic then cook couscous (maftul) with broth flavored to match meat choice. Add parsley and cumin before boiling.
• Try to time couscous and meat to finish about the same time. Adding them to feta cheese while hot will help cheese melt and make the next step easier.
• Before combining couscous and browned meat, drain any excess fluid.
• Combine cooked meat and couscous in bowl with feta cheese. Stir to coat meat and couscous with cheese.
• Hollow 4 medium peppers and fill with stuffing. Cook for 20 minutes at 350 degrees, or grill on medium heat wrapped in foil.
• Works great with brighter colored peppers, yellow or orange or red. For authentic flavor use lamb, but beef and chicken or turkey will work just fine. Just remember to mix seasonings with meat before cooking. I prefer finding a feta cheese that is pre-mixed with Mediterranean flavors but you can always spice up plain cheese.