Zesty Grilled Stuffed Poblano Peppers
by Danielle Bronkema
(Broadview, Illinois, USA)
Yummy deliciousness
I love to cook and entertaining with good food at home makes me truly happy. My husband created a football junkie out of me and wanting to combine my love of cooking with my love of football, I experimented with many recipes until I found one that my family and friends constantly request.
This is a perfect cold-weather recipe since the Spicy Italian sausage warms you from the inside. The Poblano peppers are also grilled instead of fried, to make them a healthier alternative.
Here's the recipe. Enjoy!
INGREDIENTS
Six large Poblano peppers
1/2 pound spicy ground Italian sausage
1/2 pound sweet Sicilian sausage (love the one from Amici's in the Chicago suburbs)
One cup cooked yellow rice (Zatarain's is great!)
Two tbs. butter
One small yellow onion-diced
One red bell pepper-diced
1-1/2 cups Mozzarella cheese-grated
One cup canned black beans-drained and rinsed well
PREPARATION
1. Remove from their casings and cook the Italian sausages in a frying pan over a medium high heat until fully cooked. Drain the fat and set the sausage aside.
2. Grill the Poblano peppers over a medium high heat on the stovetop, until the skins blister - about five minutes each.
3. Place the grilled poblanos in a sealable freezer bag. Seal the bag and let stand for about five minutes. This will loosen the charred skin on the peppers. Remove the charred skins under slow running water and then cut a three inch slit lengthwise on each pepper. Leave the top part of the peppers intact, but remove the seeds! This is where the heat is, so if you want to leave some heat, leave some seeds, but remove the majority. Really, remove the majority!
4. In a medium frying pan, melt the butter and add the diced onion and red pepper. Saute for several minutes to soften them up.
5. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the cooked Italian sausages, cooked yellow rice, the sauteed onion and red pepper, and the black beans. Spoon this mixture into the Poblano peppers.
6. Place the Poblanos on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.
7. With your index finger, press a divit into the filled Poblano pepper where the mixture from above went into (directly in the filled slit of the pepper). Add the grated Mozzarella cheese liberally into this slit. It's ok if it's sprinkled outside of the pepper too. Mozzarella cheese makes these peppers even more bubbly delicious.
8. Grill, covered, over a medium high heat for about ten minutes, until the peppers are nice and hot and the bubbly cheese is melted and yummy.
Enjoy!
