A few years ago someone brought sausage-stuffed banana peppers to a potluck. They had grilled them and they were delicous! I didn't ask for the recipe, unfortunately.
I like banana peppers sliced in salads, and I have pickled pepper rings. But I had another pile of banana peppers that I needed to do something with, and I wasn't going to eat that many salads, and already have plenty of jars of pickled pepper rings. Time to try the stuffed peppers again.
Once before I simply browned some pork sausage, stuffed the peppers and broiled them. But the sausage fell out. I tried something different this time.
First, I donned some latex gloves, then I sliced the peppers in half lengthwise and seeded them using a teaspoon. Always always always use gloves when handling peppers.
I always do when handling jalapenos, anaheims and banana peppers. Usually in those cases I'm slicing and seeding them. The other night I was stringing peppers to dry, and didn't think handling them and threading them using a needle would be a problem so didn't wear gloves.
I was wrong, a fact I discovered when taking out my contacts later that night.
Possibly the latex gloves on a white cutting board don't show up that well!
I browned the pork sausage, breaking it up as much as possible. I threw a few thai chilis in to boost the flavor, but should have added more.
I broke it up as much as I could since the peppers to be stuffed were not that big. I took out the peppers and let the sausage cool. I then mixed the sausage with cream cheese, decided it was still too loose, and added some shredded cheddar cheese. Then using the teaspon again, I stuffed each pepper.
The stuffing stayed in!
Turn the oven to 350 F then pop in the cooking sheet with the peppers and cook 15-20 minutes, until the peppers are soft and the cheese melted a bit.
These tasted better than they look!
They were good, but not to die for. I will keep playing with the combination. I would probably use a different sausage next time, one that is a little spicier. And maybe just use cream cheese, but a little more. We'll see next year when the banana peppers start piling up again!
Labels: Appetizers
