Lebanese Stuffed Peppers

I loved things stuffed ! Who doesn't right. I have made stuffed peppers a few times over the years but I wanted something a little different from the the good old stand by of ground beef, onions and tomatoes. Stuffed peppers are known over the world ...in Mexico it's a chile relleno, in Tunisia they are Felfel Mehchi, in Turkey they are Biber Dolmasi, in India - Bharwan Mirch. I like Middle Eastern flavors and thought I would try some peppers from that region.

Ingredients :

4 Red Bell Peppers

1 lb ground lamb

2 cups cooked couscous
4 TB Olive Oil

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp allspice

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp crack black pepper

3 TB pine nuts

1/4 cup chopped golden raisins

3 TB fresh mint leaves, chopped

2 TB fresh parsley, chopped

2 Tb garlic, chopped (I used jarred Christoper Ranch chooped garlic - best)

3 TB Lemon juice

HOW TO :

-Cut off the tops of the bell peppers, remove seeds.

-In a large bowl combine the remaining ingredients and incorporate well.

- Evenly distribute the lamb mixture into the four peppers.

- Drizzle some olive oil over top of the peppers and place the peppers in a shallow baking dish.

-Bake in a 350 oven for approximately 35-45

minutes... as usual, time will vary depending on

the oven.

-For the first 25 minutes, I covered the peppers in

foil and also added some vegetable broth in the bottom of the baking dish. Took the foil off in the last 10 minutes to have a golden crust on top.

Not being able to decide which sauce I would like to accompany the peppers, I decided to make two different ones.

The first one is a tomato sauce and the second one a yogurt sauce. Both were really good but I liked the yogurt one best.

Tomato Sauce :

1 - 15oz can tomato sauce

2 Tb Lemon juice

1 TB Cinnamon

1 tsp Nutmeg

1 TB fresh parsley, chooped

3-4 Tb olive oil

1 tsp Kosher salt

1 tsp crack black pepper

In a pot, place all ingredients and simmer over med-low heat for about 20 minutes.

Yogurt Mint Sauce :

1/2 cup Greek Style plain yogurt

1/4 cup feta cheese, crumled

1 TB fresh mint leaves chopped

2 TB lemon juice

In a bowl, mix all ingredients together.