Splatt-oh!-peno Peppers

tmsplatt1

Ingredients

10 jalapeno peppers
1/3 lb of ground (uncooked), sweet Italian sausage *You can substitute hot Italian sausage for those that like it really spicy
5 strips of raw, thick-cut bacon
1/3 lb shredded cheddar cheese
Toothpicks
Pepper
rack (or deep muffin pan)

You'll use the place-setter or other indirect cooking technique on this one.

Instructions

Setup egg with place-setter or other indirect cooking method and level at 400 degrees. Cut off caps of Jalapenos and remove seeds (easily done with a small paring knife). Be careful not to poke a hold in sides of peppers! I use a small pate knife to then grab small amounts of raw sausage to stuff into the peppers about 3/4 full. Roll up a small ball of cheddar cheese with your fingers and stuff on top of the sausage stuffing. Tip: Cheese should be stuffed just even with the top of the peppers, if not slightly below the top of the pepper. As the cheese cooks, it will melt (obviously) and if there's too much the cheese can overflow the top of the pepper and pull itself out of the pepper as you cook, so try to keep all ingredients inside of pepper completely. Place stuffed peppers inside of pepper rack* (see instructions below if you don't have a pepper rack). Now cut bacon strips in half. Wrap half-slices around top of each pepper and stick a toothpick through the pepper to hold bacon. Cook over indirect heat for 15 minutes. Let peppers stand for about 5 to 10 minutes before taking a bite as stuffing will be extremely temperature hot (yes, I learned this lesson). *If you don't have a pepper rack, go buy some heavy duty aluminum foil and place a sheet or 2 over a muffin pan. Poke a small hole in the middle of each muffin cup. The foil should be strong enough to hold the peppers upright.

Notes

Number of Servings: 5

Time to Prepare: 10 minutes