Small Plates – Kibbeh Stuffed Peppers

I woke up on a recent Saturday morning itching to cook. I don’t know why, I just wanted to cook. As it would have been short notice and we really didn’t feel like entertaining, I made six small plate courses for my wife Marci, while she sat with a glass of wine. (Okay, I also had a glass or two while I was cooking.) Here is our menu.

Marinated Olives and Feta

Marinated Olives and Feta from Bon Appetit is the perfect place to start while other courses are simmering on the stove. The toasted, crusty bread is as good as any you would get at a restaurant, dipped in the flavor-infused oil, with a bite of cheese and olive. It’s simple and quick, although you do need to plan about an hour ahead to let the flavors meld.

Summer Rolls with Peanut Sauce

I learned how to make summer rolls during a cooking class with Laotian Chef Penn Hongthong, who has done a masterful job of adapting the recipes of her youth to American ingredients. The summer rolls can be stuffed with almost anything from bean sprouts, lettuces, and noodles to marinated tofu, rotisserie chicken, shrimp, or Chinese roast pork. Cilantro and mint, along with the peanut sauce, are essential. On this night I kept it simple and healthy with mesclun salad mix, shredded carrots, slivers of cucumber, and lots of cilantro, mint, and Thai basil.

Kibbeh Stuffed Peppers

Small sweet peppers have become commonplace at supermarkets lately, and they just call for stuffing and serving as one course during a small plates menu. In late summer and fall I’ll stuff Hungarian wax peppers, fresh picked from my garden, some of which add nice heat to the dish. On this day my mind went to kibbeh, a Middle Eastern patty of ground meat, bulgur, onions, and spices. While kibbeh is often formed into torpedo-shaped balls and fried, I thought lamb kibbeh with toasted pine nuts would make a perfect stuffing for these miniature sweet peppers. (See recipe below)

Seared Mushrooms with Garlic and Thyme

I happened to have an abundant variety of mushrooms (shitake, oyster, white button, king trumpet, and beech) on hand from a recent trip to an Asian grocery store. Along with fresh thyme still viable in the garden and last summer’s garlic in my pantry, Bon Appetit’s Seared Mushrooms with Garlic and Thyme was easy to make – and very filling – served over creamy polenta. Salty and smothered in butter, it hit our umami sweet spot.

Salt-Baked Shrimp, Gochujang-and-Sesame-Roasted Winter Squash, and Sesame Sugar Snap Peas

Salt-Baked Shrimp from the Philadelphia Chinese Restaurant Lee How Fook is my absolute favorite, number 1 food in the world. If I had to pick my last meal, it would include Salt-Baked Shrimp. In other restaurants I’ve ordered it as Salt-and-Pepper Shrimp, although it has never matched what we get when we visit Philadelphia. This was the first time I attempted cooking it myself, using Bon Appetit’s recipe for Salt-and Pepper Shrimp. It was good, but needs a few tweaks when attempted again. I also made Gochujang-and-Sesame-Roasted Winter Squash, another Bon Appetit recipe using the last of my butternut squash from the summer’s garden. The sweetness of the butternut squash and the spiciness of the gochujang – Korean hot sauce – balance each other beautifully. We finished off the course with sugar snap peas, lightly seared in sesame oil and sprinkled with white and black sesame seeds and a touch of sea salt. They gave a hint of my spring garden, not too distant on the horizon.

Ice Cream with Ashley’s Hot Fudge

I don’t usually make dessert; that’s Marci’s job. Since she didn’t feel like cooking, we went with ice cream. Fortunately we still had some dense, dark hot fudge from Ashley’s Ice Cream, procured by a friend from Connecticut, to top off the ice cream. A decadent end to a decadent meal.

Kibbeh Stuffed Peppers

serves 4 – 6 as  a small plate or appetizer, about 45 minutes

8 – 12 small sweet peppers

3 Tbsp. pine nuts

½ cup bulgur

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 medium or ½ large onion, finely chopped

½ lb. ground lamb (or beef, chicken, or turkey)

½ tsp. kosher salt

½ tsp. freshly ground pepper

½ tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. allspice

Parsley for garnish (optional)

1. Place peppers in a single layer on a foil-wrapped sheet pan. Broil about 2 inches from heat for 2 – 3 minutes until the peppers just begin to soften and brown. Flip peppers and broil other side for an additional 2 – 3 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

2. Toast pine nuts in a small dry skillet on medium-low until lightly browned, stirring almost constantly, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.

3. Combine bulgur and 1 cup water in a small pot. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain excess water if necessary. Set aside to cool.

4. Heat oil in a large skillet on medium. Add chopped onions and cook until softened, about five minutes. Increase the heat to high and sprinkle in ground lamb waiting to stir until bottom is browned, about 3 minutes. Add salt, pepper, cinnamon, and allspice. Keep cooking meat mixture, stirring occasionally, until browned. When done and slightly cool, spoon off all but 2 tablespoons of oil and discard. Taste and adjust seasonings. Mix in toasted pine nuts and bulgur. Set aside to prepare the peppers for stuffing.

5. Pre-heat oven to 350^o. Prepare the peppers for stuffing by making a single slice lengthwise to open pepper. Remove seeds and internal membrane. It is likely that the pepper flesh will rip a little during this process, but that’s not a problem. Stuff peppers with 1 – 3 tablespoons of filling depending on size, so they are almost overflowing. Close the pepper around the filling as much as possible, and place on a sheet pan.

6. Bake peppers for 5 – 10 minutes and serve hot, garnished with parsley, if desired.

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