Jambalaya Stuffed Peppers

What do you get when you take a tried and true quick and easy jambalaya mix and combine it with an old stuffed pepper recipe? You get a spicy kicked-up stuffed pepper that is sure to earn you some recognition in your house. (And in very little time!)

My original stuffed pepper recipe took the backseat in my recipe box for quite sometime. It was a ground beef /tomato sauce version and long before I became comfortable modifying recipes I had decided it was bland and boring. There it sat... for years. When it finally re-surfaced one day, I looked at it in a whole new light. I imagined it with a whole lot more flavor. Adding peppers and spicy italian sausage would sure to the trick. A cheaters jambalaya mix, couldn't hurt either, right? (I know there are a lot of foodies who don't like to use anything boxed and to some extent, I agree. However, there are certain things and evenings when a cheater's or boxed version comes in handy and this is one of them.)

I am more than happy with my jazzed up take on an old classic. I hope you like it too

Jambalaya Stuffed Peppers

Yield: 8 peppers

Ingredients:

8 bell peppers, de-seeded and cored (any color variety)

1 Cup Water

1 small green pepper, diced
1 small red pepper, diced

1 small onion, diced

½ Lb. sliced portobello mushrooms

1 jalapeno, diced

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 (14.5 ounce) can of fire-roasted tomatoes

1 (8 ounce) pkg. Zatarain’s Jambalaya Mix

1 Cup shredded cheese (any shredded cheese will work fine)

1 Cup Spicy Marinara or Tomato Sauce (optional)
1 Lb. fresh deveined tail-off shrimp or 1 Lb. Hot Italian sausage (or ½ Lb. of each.)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°F degrees

Remove and discard the tops, seeds, and membranes of the eight bell peppers. Arrange peppers in a 9x13 baking dish with the hollowed sides facing upward. (Slice the bottoms of the peppers if necessary so that they will stand upright.) Add 1 Cup water to the bottom of the baking dish and bake approximately 15 minutes (or until the desired tenderness.) Remove from oven, drain any excess water and return peppers to baking dish.

Prepare the Zatarain’s Jambalaya mix per the stove-top package directions and set aside.

In a large pan, brown ground Italian sausage until cooked through. Drain the excess fat and set sausage aside in small bowl. Return the pan back to the stove and add the olive oil, onion, garlic, mushrooms, cayenne pepper, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, and diced green and red peppers. Simmer until tender. (About 10 minutes).  Add in shrimp and cook until pink and translucent. (About 6 minutes.) Add in diced jalapeno and simmer another 2 minutes. Stir in jambalaya rice mix and mix thoroughly to blend well. Remove from heat.

Spoon mixture into pepper until each pepper is overflowing. Evenly add the cheese to the top of each pepper.

Bake until heated through and cheese is melted (Approximately 15 minutes).

Remove from oven and drizzle each pepper with marinara sauce, if desired.

I have always wanted to give this recipe a go with chorizo... and change it to more of a mexican stuffed pepper but I just haven't found the time.  I am sure any way you adapt this recipe to your liking will work out lovely. Enjoy!

Cheers to cooking old things new ways!

-The Little Bitchin Kitchen

Source: Myself. :)