Mini Stuffed Peppers

This is one of my most viewed posts- even with the original no so perfect pictures! I think I took the first photos with my cell phone! I originally posted this in Oct 2011, and I felt it needed a photo update* (along with most of my earlier posts-see the end for originals).  Recipe is still the same and still delicious. Perfect for an easy make-a-head appetizer! 

{Since my Greek style Stuffed Peppers- w/ Beef, Orzo and Feta Cheese were such a huge hit, I decided to follow that up with an Italian style smaller/appetizer size stuffed pepper recipe.  These are so cute and colorful they are hard to resist.  Yes it is more of a summer time recipe, but I just found the recipe scribbled down and felt compelled to share.  If you can't find the mini peppers just try and go with the smallest peppers you can find, and you will probably need to cook them a bit longer.  This filling recipe will make about 20-30 mini peppers.  The peppers I usually buy come in a bag already pre-packaged.  Oh, and do I really need to mention they are super easy to make?}

Ingredients

• 20 mini sweet peppers (I buy them in a bag of about 30-40 peppers)
• 2 hot (or sweet) sausages, removed from the casing
• 1 small onion or shallot, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 10 oz box of spinach, thawed and excess liquid squeezed out (or fresh spinach cooked down to about the same amount- about 2 bunches or so)
• 3/4 cup of ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 c pecorino (or parmesan) cheese
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp fresh basil

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Prep peppers by cutting off the top and carefully removing/scooping out seeds and ribs from the inside.  Set aside and reserve.
3. Meanwhile, remove the sausage from the casing and brown in a skillet with about a tsp of oil just to get it going.  After sausage is fully cooked through, drain excess oil but leave about a tbs in the skillet.
4. Add onion and garlic- cook until soft about 5 minutes.
5. Add the spinach and heat through
6. In a bowl combine the cooked sausage mixture and the rest of the ingredients.
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
8. Wait until the stuffing is cool enough to handle and stuff peppers.
9. Spray a baking sheet with some cooking spray, lay out all your peppers, drizzle with a little oil and put in the oven about 20 minutes.

You might end up with a bit of extra filling, depending on the size of your peppers. You can just put the remaining filling in a ziplock bag and then freeze for later use.

*Oh yea, and here are those original photos: