Main Dishes |
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Kickin’ Cajun Pork Sausage Stuffed Peppers with Pepper Jack & Hot Sauce Crema - 2024
Recipe courtesy of Joan Wozny
INGREDIENTS
PREPARATION
Note: For a milder version, Joan replaces the Pepper Jack cheese with Monterey Jack. She will also omit the Cajun seasoning during cooking and let everyone season to taste, as we have varying levels of heat tolerance in our family! Same goes for the crema.
- 1 cup Jasmine Rice
- 4 Bell Peppers
- 5 ounces Celery
- 4 Scallions
- 18 ounce Italian Pork Sausage (bulk or removed from casing)
- 1 tablespoon Cajun Spice Blend
- 2 unit Chicken Stock Concentrate
- 1 cup Pepper Jack Cheese
- 4 tablespoons Sour Cream
- 2 teaspoons Hot Sauce
- Kosher Salt
- Pepper
- 8 teaspoon Vegetable Oil
- 1 teaspoon Olive Oil
PREPARATION
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 425 degrees.
- Prepare Rice – Melt 2 TBS butter in a small pot over medium-high heat. Add rice, 1 ½ cups water, and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a low simmer. Cook until rice is tender, 15-18 minutes. Keep covered off heat until ready to use in step 4.
- Halve bell peppers lengthwise; remove stems and seeds. Place bell peppers on a baking sheet and drizzle each half with oil; rub to coat. Season with salt and pepper, then arrange cut sides down. Roast on middle rack until browned and softened, 18-20 minutes.
- Finely dice celery. Trim and thinly slice scallions, separating whites from greens.
- Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large, preferably ovenproof, pan over medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook, breaking up meat into pieces, until browned, 4-5 minutes.
- Stir in celery and scallion whites; cook, stirring, until veggies are slightly softened and sausage is cooked through, 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in the Cajun Spice to taste and season with salt and pepper; cook until fragrant, 30-60 seconds more.
- Add stock concentrate and ½ cup water to pan with sausage mixture; simmer until slightly thickened, 1-2 minutes.
- Add cooked rice; stir until thoroughly combined. Turn off heat.
- Once bell peppers are done, remove from oven. Carefully flip and stuff each half with as much filling as will fit.
- Place stuffed peppers in pan with remaining filling, nestling each into mixture. (TIP: If your pan isn’t ovenproof, transfer mixture to a small baking dish and arrange stuffed pepper halves in there.) Evenly sprinkle with pepper jack.
- Bake stuffed peppers on middle rack until cheese has melted, 3-4 minutes.
- In a small bowl, combine sour cream with hot sauce to taste. Add water 1 tsp at a time until mixture reaches a drizzling consistency.
- Divide remaining filling between plates and top with stuffed peppers. Drizzle with hot sauce crema and garnish with scallion greens. Serve with any remaining hot sauce on the side.
Note: For a milder version, Joan replaces the Pepper Jack cheese with Monterey Jack. She will also omit the Cajun seasoning during cooking and let everyone season to taste, as we have varying levels of heat tolerance in our family! Same goes for the crema.