Spicy sausage stuffed bell peppers

Posted on March 6th, 2008 by Jeff

Part of the joy of buying whole and half pigs is you are left with all this bulk ground up sausage. I like to get the sausage unseasoned and then add my own spices for different flavors. You can usually find this sausage at the butcher or grocery store and it is normally labeled bulk or unseasoned sausage.

If you don’t feel adventurous enough to mix your own buy a good chorizo sausage which is a spicy smoked pork sausage or your favorite sausage. If you do use another type of sausage taste it before adding the garlic since most sausage are heavy garlic and make sure to remove it from the casing.

I prefer to use sweeter bell peppers like red, yellow, or orange. The sweetness from the peppers really adds a great balance of flavor with the spiciness from the sausage. Green will work as fine but green bell peppers are not as sweet.

For the sausage you will need:

1 lb ground pork (if you are grinding your own I prefer to use pork shoulder)
2 ancho chili peppers ground or 1 TB ground ancho
2 chipotle peppers ground or 1 TB ground chipotle
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons kosher salt

Combine everything and set aside.

For the peppers and stuffing:

4-6 bell peppers
sausage mixture from above
1 cup of cooked long grain white rice
1/2 of an onion finely diced
4 cloves of garlic finely diced
1 small can of tomatoes
2 cups of your favorite cheese (I used 1 cup of fontina and 1 cup of parmigiano-reggiano but a pepper jack, swiss, or mozzarella would work).
1 cup of panko or regular breadcrumbs
1/2 tb of butter per pepper you are using
1 TB of oil (I used bacon grease)
Kosher salt and black pepper

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Place your skillet over medium-high, add in the oil, and then the sausage mixture. Cook the sausage till it is browned (about 5 minutes). Strain the sausage and leave about 1 TB of the oil behind.

Add the onion and celery to the pan and cook till softened (about 5 minutes). Add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Add the can of tomatoes, rice, and sausage back into the pan. Cook till most of the liquid has evaporated (about 5 minutes). Remove from the heat and set aside.

Cut the top of the peppers, remove the seeds, and as much of the inner membrane. Fill the pepper halfway with the sausage and rice mixture and add a layer of cheese.