Stuffed Hatch Peppers

You can always use a new recipe for football season. Take this one with you and bake it at the party, or re-heat for a few when you get there. This is a pretty simple stuffed pepper recipe. There were some beautiful Hatch peppers at the grocery store recently, so I went a little crazy and bought way, too many. You could always use Banana, Cubanelle or Anaheim if that's what you can find at your local market. It really depends what part of the country you live in. I bet my sis in Phoenix can find Hatch year round.

Go Gamecocks (even though you broke our hearts this past weekend)!

Spicy Stuffed Peppers
makes 8-10 peppers

8-10 hatch peppers (Cubanelle/banana if not available)
1 lb. hot Italian sausage (casing removed)
1 cup whole milk mozzarella cheese (dice into small cubes)
1 medium onion (diced)
4 cloves garlic (minced)
3/4 cup plain bread crumbs
olive oil
salt and pepper

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. 

Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the sausage, already removed from casing. Break up into little pieces with a wooden spoon. Let the sausage brown up for 7-8 minutes. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon to a medium bowl. Set aside. Leave oil in the pan.

Add onion straight to the oils from the sausage. No need to add any additional oil. Add a dash of salt and pepper, and let cook down for 5 minutes. Add garlic and let cook for 3 additional minutes. Add onion and garlic, including oils, to bowl with sausage.

Add bread crumbs and a dash of salt and pepper. Add mozzarella cubes and stir everything to combine to a chunky mixture.

Prep the peppers. Carefully slice longways a slit down the middle of the pepper, ensuring you only cut through one side. Get your fingers in there and remove as many of the seeds as you can. 

Stuff each pepper with about 1/4 cup of the sausage and cheese mixture. Secure the opening of the pepper with a toothpick. Add stuffed peppers to a baking dish, and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Bake in the oven for 35 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving as an appetizer at football games this fall!