Chicken Shish Stuffed Peppers

These delicious stuffed peppers are a hearty and healthy family meal especially when served with a big salad and if you wish some flatbreads and dip, such as Cacik, Tzatziki and Spicy Salsa.

If you are looking for a vegetarian alternative you could replace the marinated chicken with cubed courgette and aubergine and reduce the cooking time a little too. 

The below serves a family of 4 with a salad, breads and dip.

Chicken Shish Stuffed Peppers

Here's how:

• 3 chicken breasts
• 4 bell peppers (any colour)
• 1 red onion
• 100g green olives
• 2 cloves garlic
• Olive oil
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp pul biber 
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 tbsp tatli (you can use harissa here or tomato puree if you can't source)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tin of tomatoes 
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 packet of microwave rice 
• Handful dill 
• 1 ball of mozarella
• Salt
• Black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees.

Firstly cube the chicken, place into a large bowl with 1/2 tbsp olive oil and add the cumin, pul biber, cinnamon and paprika, the juice of one lemon and 1 tbsp of the tatli (or harissa or tomato puree). Give it a mix and allow it to marinate while you prepare everything else.

Now finely dice the red onion and mince the garlic and add to a pan with a 1 tbsp of olive oil.

Roughly chop the green olives and add to the pan - this with the garlic and onions will provide the base for your sauce. 

Whilst that is softening, cut the peppers in half and remove any seeds or membrane and place into a baking tin, cavity side up and set aside.

Once the onions, garlic and olives have softened, add the marinated chicken to the mix and allow to sear on all sides. 

Once you can no longer see pink flesh, add the chopped tomatoes, the additional tbsp of tatli (or alternative), the honey and season generously. 

Leave on a low-to medium heat for fifteen minutes or until the sauce has begun to thicken. 

Now remove from the heat and add in the microwave (or other cooked) rice and the dill and give it a good stir.

Now spoon the mixture generously into the halved peppers, they should be just overflowing. 

Cover the dish with the peppers in foil and place into the oven for 35 minutes. 

Take the baking dish out of the oven, remove the foil and pull the mozarella into slices and add a little to each pepper. Return to the oven for five minutes or until the cheese has melted. 

Remove from the oven and allow to stand for a few minutes then dish up. Enjoy!

If you love Turkish-inspired recipes, you will love the below:

Lamb Shish Kebabs

Adana Kebabs

Healthy Chicken Shish

Mini Turkey Koftes

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus and Cacik Dips

Beef Kofte

Harissa Chicken Kebabs

Sheesh, Chigwell

Sheesh is a family run restaurant that sits in the rather splendid building that was once home to Ye Olde King’s Head pub in the centre of Chigwell, Essex. I’ve visited several times and have never had a bad meal here, and what’s more, the atmosphere is always electric - filled with a buzz that is hard to achieve in local restaurants outside of the centre of London.

Primarily, a Turkish theme runs throughout the menu, with some other Mediterranean influences - this is basically a ‘posh kebab house’ as my Dad would call it with a few bells and whistles. As I’ve said, the location and venue is in itself fantastic - as well as a vast dining area, there is also an outside terrace that is heaving in the sunshine and the bar upstairs is lively and they have regular performers on to keep the crowds in after their meals too.

I visited Sheesh a few weeks back on a Friday night with three of my girlfriends, Steph, Jade and Jemma for a meal followed by drinks and dancing in the bar.

We started with some appetisers to share – firstly the ‘Karisik Meze’, a selection of homemade dips including taramasalata, hummous, tzatziki, a tomato and onion dip and two aubergine based dips, one smoky, garlicy baba ghanoush-style dip and one oily tomato based dip. All were great but particular mention must be made for the tarama and the aubergine/tomato dip – delicious.

Clearly the four of us wouldn’t be content with just dips being the greedy sorts we are. To complement our dips we also ordered some fried halloumi cheese, gorgeously salty with that almost crust of flavour on the outside and a nearly-gooey interior as well as a plate of ‘sigara boregi’. A plate full of filo pastry cylinders filled with cheese and spinach –calorific but exceptionally tasty. With a satisfying crunch as you bite in, but filled with the most moreish soft and tempting centre.

Jade and Jemma each chose a dish from the ‘specials’ menu, veering away from the traditional dishes. Jade opted for the ‘Kleftico’, different from the Greek version that I know, this was a lamb shank cooked slowly in a tomato and vegetable sauce with the potatoes cooked in the sauce. Not being a fan of lamb, this is something I wouldn’t normally try but the aroma of it was incredibly appetising and so I tried a small little mouthful and was pleasantly surprised. The meat was so tender from the long, slow cooking process and was filled with flavour. Jade certainly enjoyed.

Jemma chose the ‘Kremali Tavuk’, a special of chicken breast served in a creamy red and green pepper and mushroom sauce. The chicken was succulent and moist and the cream sauce was to die for – delicious with some of the pita dipped in. A portion of asparagus made up the rest of Jemma’s meal and it really is worthy of mention alone. It came drizzled in a garlic and herb butter that is simply to-die-for and is then scattered with sea salt which gives that added, flavourful crunch – sensational.

Steph and I both ordered from the huge charcoal grill situated at the end of the main section of the restaurant. We wasn’t sitting in that area on this particular evening, but if you are making an evening of it at Sheesh, try to request a table in this area as it is fabulous to watch the kitchen staff at work – but be warned if you are heading out elsewhere after your meal, you may find yourself coated in eau de kebab.

I chose the ‘Tavuk Sis’ or chicken shish kebab which was exceptional as always. The chicken was juicy and beautifully spiced with just a hint of chilli. Served with a colourful salad of sliced onion, carrots, red cabbage, green leaves and a chopped tomato and cucumber combo as well as a whole, raw chilli the kebab was sitting aboard a flat-bread. Several sauces come alongside anything cooked on the charcoal grill – all of varying heat - Steph and I were both keen on the extra hot which packed a serious punch. A great dish.

Steph embarked on a Woman vs Food mission and chose the ‘Karisek Grille’ – the mixed grill, a selection of all of the meats cooked over the grill. Now all four of us love our food, but we were impressed by Steph as she managed to eat all of the meat on the grill (with a little help from us having the odd nibble).

She had no complaints whatsoever and as well as the same flatbread and salad that came with mine, Steph’s meal consisted of the chicken shish that I had, lamb shish, a lamb chop, a marinated chicken wing, a lamb kofta, and a minced chicken meatball. All were pleasing, but Steph’s particular favourites were actually the chicken and lamb shish that Sheesh do so, so well.

We had an impressive three bottles of the Moko Black New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc at the table too and after paying the bill, around £180 including service, we headed up to the bar to enjoy the live singer. A lovely soulful singer who belted out some absolute old school tunes, veering between Motown and modern songs, it wasn’t long before the combination of great atmosphere and a round of Aperol Spritz and Champagne cocktails had the four of us up dancing, and we were not alone.

Service was good throughout the evening and we really did have a fabulous time. My only slight gripe would be the fact you can only have the table for a certain amount of time, and when our two-hour slot was up the waiters were hovering around us quite blatantly, which as we were only heading upstairs was a tad irritating.

I would certainly recommend Sheesh for a good night out in Essex – great food, drinks and atmosphere are provided so the only thing you need is good company like I had on this particular evening.

Kaslik

Last week I had a dinner date with my Dad - he met me after work in Soho and without the rest of my immediate family hankering after the favourite haunts in Gerard Street we decided to try something new.
We decided on a packed Kaslik - a Lebanese joint that we figured must be decent considering it's remained open in Soho for almost a deccade and was jam-packed.

The last time I reviewed a Lebanese restaurant it was way back in my first ever post in January 2010 on Kenza which had an opulence and glamour about it – in the heart of the financial quarter of the city and with scantily clad ladies dancing round as you eat. Whilst Kaslik certainly didn’t match the mystique and awe on arrival it did have a certain, warm charm that almost embraces you on your entrance. The ground level area is small and there are very small round tables dotted all over with stools to sit on and the odd cushion. Be warned if you’re the shy type then this intimate dining style with strangers a mere few inches away might not be for you!

My Dad and I were won over by the charm though – everyone in the restaurant was lively and there was a real buzz in the atmosphere – a great start. We immediately ordered a Lebanese beer: Almaza which was cold, light and refreshing and certainly quenched our thirst. We scoured the menu and chose for our ‘mezze’ the cold ‘Labneh’ with pitta bread, the Kalaj, and a special which was ‘Meatball Kafta’.

The labneh was a dip of yoghurt and mint, the Lebanese version of a Tzatsiki but without the pungent garlic – it was very refreshing, and complemented our other dishes well. The ‘Kalaj’ was haloumi and black olives, sliced and toasted in pitta bread – absolutely delicious. The haloumi had none of the rubberiness that you can sometimes be faced with, instead it had a slight melt-ability to it, and a glorious flavour.

My dad had chosen the Meatball Kafta which was, simply lamb meatballs in a spicy, herby tomato based sauce and it was the star showing by far. The meat was full of the flavours of the sauce and melt-in-the mouth tender – the meatballs tasted like they’d been lovingly prepared and cooked for hours absorbing all of the cumin, coriander and cinnamon herbs and spices. It really had such a gorgeous taste and I couldn’t pinpoint one particular flavour, but I’d go back there for this dish alone.

The pitta bread which were apparently ‘cooked on hot stone’ were a bit of a disappointment and my dad continued to send them back until they had some colour as they arrived anaemic and white looking and we strongly suspected they’d been prepared in the microwave (not good!). In the end my Dad asked them to burn them – at which they came back slightly browned.

Another down point was the service at the beginning of the meal – we soon realised that there was a Christmas party of some description going on downstairs and with two waiting staff – this was never going to work when upstairs was packed and almost every table seemed to be just receiving their mezze when we arrived – so we assumed the kitchen was similarly rushed.

This thought was confirmed when every half hour or so the sweaty, harassed looking chef would appear in his full whites, hurriedly running through to the front of the restaurant for a cigarette. We found this quite funny and it only added to the character of the place.

But waiter number one in his harassed state did come across as quite rude and we were left for about 25 minutes after receiving our first beer before we were able to order as well – not a problem but nobody arrived to assure us they’d be over soon or anything, which I thought lacked thought. The waitress who took over from him was charming and pleasant which did make up in part for cheerful Charlie at the beginning.

Between the starters and mains as well there was a good 45 minute to an hour wait which was a bit much too.

Back to the food though – when the main courses did arrive I was more than happy. I had the ‘Chicken Shawarma Grill’. My Dad opted for the Lamb Shish Kebab. The menu didn’t stipulate what came with these and when asked the waiter said ‘you must order side dishes’ so we ordered a tomato and onion salad and some rice. When the meals arrived we were a little put out that the meals both came with a really rather large salad, and felt the waiter had let us down a bit.

I really enjoyed my main, the chicken was really tasty and flavourful and I’ve since discovered that ‘Shawarma’ is actually the naughtiest of dishes and realised the reason I enjoyed it so much and thought it reminded me of my beloved Greek Gyros. It was delicious and once again the meat was perfectly flavoured and very, very moreish. It came with a tortilla wrap too – which I found a little strange, especially as it was also cold, so I dis-regarded this and ate a little more pitta.

My Dad’s Lamb Shish was good too and unlike my strips of almost shredded meat, as you would expect with this dish it was served in chunks – the meat was again very tender, and quite herby. The rice that accompanied our dish had mint running through it very subtly and an almost fragrant scent and taste too that I couldn’t put my finger on but it was lovely. The labneh which we kept throughout again complemented our dishes really well.

We didn’t make dessert but this may have been in part due to the fact we didn’t finish our main course till 1030pm after arriving at 8pm and still had to make our way back to Essex – but I’ll be sure to return as I saw some gorgeous looking Baklava going to the table beside us.

The meal came in around the £70 mark including a few beers and white wine so about average for Soho.

The food was not fine dining but in flavour it was exceptional, the service average and the atmosphere electric – I’ll definitely return but with a larger crowd next time so more can enjoy the buzz that gives Kaslik it’s own unique charm.