Sausage Stuffed Peppers

Easy one-dish dinner by Heather Forsyth.

Most of the time I find cooking a simple part of my daily routine, but every now and then I take on a project that makes me feel like a pit trader on Wall Street.  Once a month my friend, Libby, and I cook a gourmet, organic and locally-sourced dinner at the Unitarian Church in our town.  Usuall 40 to 50 people attend.  Last Friday, it was a 3-course meal for 80, with one oven on the blitz.  It was crazy!  After a dinner that begins with pumpkin soup and ends with butternut squash bread pudding served with whipped cream and rosemary-candied pecans, a girl just wants something simple.  Here's what we had at our house the night after:

Sausage Stuffed Peppers

• 1 pound or so chicken (or turkey) sausage (the ground kind, not links), uncooked 
  
• several small or just 3 or 4 largish bell peppers
  
• 1 can diced tomatoes
  
• 1/2 small onion, diced
  
• salt, cumin, chili powder to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Clean peppers and cut them in half (pole to pole, not around the equator).  Stuff some sausage into each pepper.  Lay the peppers in an oiled dish large enough to hold them all comfortably.  Saute the onion in a little olive oil for a few minutes, then add tomatoes and seasonings.  Simmer for a few more minutes.  Pour the tomato mixture over the peppers.  Bake, loosely covered, for about 50 minutes.  This would be good served with rice, though after all the excitement on Friday the only side dish I could conjure up was a glass of wine.

Comments

[heydave]

You may not realize it but you resurrected one of my mom's dishes.

I'm not saying if that's good or bad, though! ;)