Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppers

 

I am addicted to these beautiful roasted stuffed peppers. They are a wonderful party appetizer, but I often make them and eat them for dinner! It's bad I know. But if loving these colorful roasted peppers is wrong, I dont wanna be right!

Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppers

Serves 6-8

2 small red peppers or red bell peppers
2 small yellow peppers or yellow bell peppers
2 small orange peppers or orange bell peppers
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 -2 large garlic cloves*(roasted, recipe below...roast in same oven as  peppers)
1-2  tablespoons balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar
1 loaf of artisan bread or 1 baguette, cubed into small cubes

Directions:

Wash and pat the peppers dry. Slice  in half and remove the seeds and white pith inside the pepper.

Place the bell peppers on a sheet pan. Wrap garlic cloves in foil and top with small amount of olive oil (use roasted garlic recipe below).  I also bake  the bread at the same time on another baking sheet. Bake until the peppers begin to blacken and garlic is roasted, bread toasted (ab 20 minutes). Check and rotate the peppers frequently, do not leave alone. Make certain bread doesnt burn.

When garlic is roasted, remove from oven. Squeeze out the garlic paste into a bowl.

Add the toasted cubed bread, and goat cheese. Mash together, I use my hands to clump together.

Take a small clump and stuff into pepper.

You can top this with a small amount of cheese of your liking, as well as a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

I tried a new cheese, it is  Rosemary Garlic KammerudeGouda by Blasers
( I found at my local grocery in the specialty cheeses, the link is to the online store):

But really, any cheese will do! Put back ito oven and back until cheese melts, about 10 minutes.

Put peppers on a platter and make some friends!
Enjoy!

For a Party: Can be made several days ahead and served at room temperature.

Roasted Garlic Recipe

1 Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2 Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.
3 Place the garlic heads in a baking pan; muffin pans work well for this purpose. Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.
4 Allow the garlic to cool enough so you can touch it without burning yourself. Use a small small knife cut the skin slightly around each clove. Use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.

Eat as is (I love straight roasted garlic) or mash with a fork and use for cooking. Can be spread over warm French bread, mixed with sour cream for a topping for baked potatoes, or mixed in with Parmesan and pasta.

FOODIE FRIDAY CONTRIBUTOR