Hot Stuffed Hot Banana Peppers with a Hot Tomato Sauce Hotness

As the final days of summer come to a close, we will close out our month of hotness with this little gem.  It's not your grandma's traditional stuffed pepper with rice (boring) and hamburger (boringer).  This recipe is based on a Western PA-style stuffed pepper and pretty darned tasty, even if we do say so ourselves.  At the end of the recipe, we've provided some varitions so you can adapt to your preferred taste styling.

Stuffed Hot Banana Peppers

12 hot (or sweet) banana peppers

Filling

1 lb hot (or mild) Italian sausage
½ cup breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 ½ tsp fennel seeds

Sauce

1 can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, pureed
2 tsp basil goop (optional)
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Cut off the end of the pepper (big end, not tip end).

Take a long thin knife (or paring knife) and cut the ribs free from the inside of the pepper as far down as you can reach. If you want to get more of the loose seeds out (i.e., cut back on some of the hotness), run water inside the pepper and rinse out the seeds.

Mix the sausage, breadcrumbs, egg, and fennel seeds together like you’re making meatloaf.

Using a little bit at a time, stuff the sausage mixture into the banana pepper.

Place the stuffed peppers on a rack in (or on) a baking pan. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

While the peppers are baking, warm up the tomato sauce in a small saucepan (if you like big chunks, you don't have to puree the tomatoes). Add in basil goop (ref: end of post from Aug 15 http://theculinarycreative.blogspot.com/2010/08/angry-noodles.html).

You'll be able to tell when the peppers are done because the peppers will be slightly translucent and the filling will have a nice browned and crisped look to it.  Cover with your sauce and serve.

NOT TO HOT VARIATIONS

Wussy = sweet banana pepper + mild Italian sausage + no red pepper flakes in sauce

Have It Your Way = one or more of the above in a combination that won’t (or will) make you cry

Super Duper Hot = hot banana pepper + hot Italian sausage + red pepper flakes in sauce + throw in some hot sauce into the tomato sauce