Italian Sausage-stuffed Peppers |
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Prep Time: 0 Minutes Cook Time: 75 Minutes |
Ready In: 75 Minutes Servings: 4 |
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We ate at Finelli's in Altoona recently (great food, by the way), and had these as an appetizer. This is my best reproduction so far. You can serve these as a main course, a side, or an appetizer. Ingredients:
8 hungarian wax peppers |
1 lb. italian sausage (see below) |
8 t. pecorino romano, grated (see below) |
1/4 c. fresh basil, shredded |
sauce (see below) |
2 lb. ripe tomatoes |
4 cloves garlic |
1/2 t. salt |
1/2 c. dry red wine or stock |
1/2 small onion, finely minced |
1/2 t. dried oregano |
1/4 c. fresh basil, shredded |
1/2 t. black pepper |
1/2 t. crushed red pepper (opt) |
extra-virgin olive oil |
Directions:
1. Hungarian wax peppers can be picante, so if that scares you, you could just as easily do this with bell peppers (off the top of my head, I'd estimate that a bell pepper would hold about four times as much as a wax pepper, but you'll have to play with the recipe). If you want it more picante, you can use hot Italian sausage instead of sweet, or add the crushed red pepper. If you're feeling lazy, you can always substitute your favorite tomato sauce. You need the sharpness of pecorino here - parmagianno is nutty, and doesn't stand up well to this dish.
2. Preheat the oven to 500.
3. Quarter the tomatoes, and put them in a baking pan with the garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with the salt. Roast the tomatoes until they are soft and the skins begin to char, then remove. Deglaze the pan with the wine or stock, then run the contents of the pan through a food mill.
4. In a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat, saute the minced onion until soft and transparent. Add the tomato puree, oregano, and black pepper, and simmer for thirty minutes over low heat. Stir in the shredded basil, and salt to taste.
5. Make the stuffing. If you're using sausages, halve them lenghwise and scoop the sausage out of the casings. Cook the sausage in about a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat, breaking it up as finely as possible. If the sausage is excessively greasy, drain.
6. When the sausage is room temperature, mix it with half of the pecorino and the shredded basil.
7. Cut the stem ends off the peppers, then remove the seeds and the white veins. Stuff the peppers, close the ends with toothpicks, and saute them in a little olive oil over medium heat until they soften. Serve in the sauce, sprinkled with the remaining pecorino.
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