Italian Sausage Stuffed Mini Peppers

Made with just a few ingredients, these Italian sausage stuffed mini peppers are a quick, easy and delicious appetizer. They will disappear in no time flat, I promise!

I was invited to a get-together a while back and was looking for inspiration in my local grocery store for something to contribute when I came across a marked down bag of mini peppers. They were a lovely mix of bright colors, perfect for a party.

My first idea was just to make a dip and cut them in slices for scooping said dip but then, on the same shopping trip, serendipity sent me Italian sausage on a two for one sale. SOLD! 

Italian Sausage Stuffed Mini Peppers

I used hot (spicy) Italian sausage for stuffing the mini peppers but you can substitute mild, if you prefer. 

Ingredients

8 oz or 225g hot Italian sausage

8 oz or 225g mini peppers

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 oz or 28g extra sharp cheddar cheese, finely grated

Method

Brown the Italian sausage over a medium heat in a nonstick skillet, breaking it up into crumbles as you go. 

Drain on a paper towel. If your crumbles are not small enough for stuffing, you can chop them smaller with a sharp knife. 

Cut the mini peppers in half. I tried to leave the stems intact where I could because I like how they look. They are, of course, not edible. 

Put the peppers in a bowl, drizzle them with the olive oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle on the salt and toss again to distribute the salt evenly. 

Preheat the oven to 375°F or 190°C and line a baking pan with baking parchment or a silicone liner. Spread the mini pepper halves on the lined baking pan. 

Spoon the sausage crumbles into the pepper halves. 

Top with the cheese. 

Bake in your preheated oven for 10 minutes, turning the pan around halfway through to make sure they cook evenly. Broil for a few minutes to brown the cheese. 

Serve warm. Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 9th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter I. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the I recipes below:

• Homemade Italian Dressing from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• Indo Chinese Idli Fry - Leftover Idlis from Sneha’s Recipe
• Iru Puli Kuzhambu from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Italian Sausage Stuffed Mini Peppers from Food Lust People Love
• Mini Ice Cream Cakes from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Nutella Ice Cream from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Smaller Chocolate Eclair Cake (from scratch) from A Messy Kitchen
• Sun Dried Tomato Italian Dipping Oil for Bread from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice

Here are my posts for the 2026 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Ají de Cerdo aka Peruvian Pork Stew

B: Baby Cos Peach Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing 

C. Traditional Cullen Skink 

D. Coconut Cream Date Caramel 

E. Edamame Summer Salad 

F. Lamb Feta Mint Patties 

G. Ricotta Gnocchi à la Poêle 

H. Hazelnut Vodka 

I. Italian Sausage Stuffed Mini Peppers - this post!

To check out the Alphabet Challenges for 2024 and 2025, click here.

Pin these Italian Sausage Stuffed Mini Peppers!

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Hazelnut Vodka

If you love Frangelico but think it’s a bit too sweet, like I do, this is the drink for you! Hazelnut Vodka is perfect for sipping straight or over ice. 

I’ve mentioned before about the amazing cherry tree in our back garden in Paris years ago but I don’t think I’ve written about the prolific hazelnut tree out front. It was actually in our neighbor’s yard, Madame Coucou we named her because that is what she called out over our party wall to get my attention. Coucou, coucou! Always with a big smile.

The tree grew right up near that wall so a goodly portion of it hung over our side. It took me a while to figure out what they were because I had never seen a fresh nut in its little fuzzy green outer coat. As they ripen, that turns brown and the nuts are ready for harvest, often falling to the ground on their own. During the season, hazelnuts were literally everywhere.

Unlike the cherries that we turned into jam and pie and cherry bounce, we just shelled and ate the hazelnuts. I wish I had had this recipe back then! 

Hazelnut Vodka 

If you have hazelnuts with the shells still on, it will take about 8 ¾ oz or 248g to get the required amount shelled for this recipe. This recipe is adapted from one in Abundance: Eating and living with the seasons by Mark Diacono.  

Ingredients

3 ½ oz or 100g shelled hazelnuts

¾ cup or caster sugar 

4 cups or 946ml vodka 

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

Method

Preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C. Spread the hazelnuts out on a baking pan and roast them for about 15 minutes or so, checking after 10. The skins should darken but you don’t want them to burn!

Remove the pan from the oven and pour the hazelnuts into a towel.  

Wrap them up and leave them to steam for a couple of minutes. 

Rub them through the towel, squeezing and rolling to remove most of the skins. 

Pick the hazelnuts out of the skins and put them into a food processor. Use a few short pulses to grind them into a coarse rubble. You want some small bits and some medium bits. Nothing too fine. 

In a large, wide-mouthed jar, stir the sugar into 1 cup or 240ml of the vodka until it dissolves. 

Add the chopped hazelnuts, allspice and the rest of the vodka and stir together. 

Stir well! 

Screw the lid on and set it someplace out of direct sunlight, where you’ll see it. 

Shake the jar once a day. 

I left mine for about a week before tasting it. Divine! Very hazelnutty! Leave it another week or two if you’d like – I did - but it’s very drinkable after one week.

Strain through a fine sieve and/or muslin and funnel into a sterilized bottle or jar. 

Enjoy!

I made this last Christmastime and after we sipped a bit, I stashed it behind the bar and forgot about it. I pulled it back out when I was writing this post to discover that sediment had settled to the bottom. I decanted it, leaving that sediment behind and it's much less opaque now. Still delicious though! 

Welcome to the 8th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter H. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the H recipes below:

• 3 Ingredient Hot Fudge Sauce from Blogghetti
• Creamy Cilantro Herb Caribbean Potato Salad from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Haluski from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Harissa and Brie No Knead Focaccia from A Messy Kitchen
• Hazelnut Vodka from Food Lust People Love
• Homemade Chilli Oil from Sneha’s Recipe
• Honeynut Squash Soup with Apple and Bacon from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Hot Chocolate Rolls from Magical Ingredients
• Vegetable Hariyali from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Whipped Honey from Jolene’s Recipe Journal

Here are my posts for the 2026 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Ají de Cerdo aka Peruvian Pork Stew

B: Baby Cos Peach Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing 

C. Traditional Cullen Skink 

D. Coconut Cream Date Caramel 

E. Edamame Summer Salad 

F. Lamb Feta Mint Patties 

G. Ricotta Gnocchi à la Poêle 

H. Hazelnut Vodka - this post!

To check out the Alphabet Challenges for 2024 and 2025, click here.

Pin this Hazelnut Vodka!

.

Ricotta Gnocchi à la Poêle

Tender on the inside and golden brown on the outside, this ricotta gnocchi à la poêle is a wonderful, protein-full dish, easily dressed up to suit any palate.

I’ve made gnocchi with polenta and with potatoes but the most tender kind of all is made with ricotta, which as a bonus, adds protein that the other two methods do not. 

If you think gnocchi must be boiled, let me introduce you to a method I first learned in France. Anything cooked à la poêle simply means it’s been pan-fried over a reasonably high flame. In other words, it’s been seared in a hot pan to protect the insides from drying out. 

Once the gnocchi are cooked, dress them with your favorite sauce or seasonings. Below I give the method, as per our idol Jacques Pépin, for gnocchi persillade, tossed with a mix of minced flat leaf parsley and fresh garlic. 

I don’t know that he ever made gnocchi persillade but I have made pan-fried frog legs adapted from his recipe, finished with parsley and garlic and they are divine. Perhaps I’ll share that recipe someday! 

Ricotta Gnocchi à la Poêle

This recipe makes enough to feed five or six people. Since we are not that many, I tried to freeze some in rolls wrapped in cling film but, once thawed, they needed way more flour to make them easy to roll out again and cut into pieces. Next time I will cook them all à la poêle before freezing them. I’m thinking that will work better. I’ll update this post when I do.

Ingredients

For the ricotta gnocchi:

8 ¾ oz or 250g ricotta, with any visible liquid poured off

2 cups or 250g 00 flour plus extra for rolling

1 large egg

For frying: 1 tablespoon olive oil

For the persillade:

2 cloves garlic

Several stems flat leaf parsley, leaves only

For adding the persillade:

1 tablespoon butter, divided

Method

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the ricotta, 1 cup or 125g of the flour and the egg and stir to combine. 

Knead the dough with your hands, adding flour until you have a smooth elastic dough that is soft but not sticky. You may not use it all. It all depends on the moisture in your ricotta. (For this batch I only used 1½ cups or 188g flour.)

Roll the dough into a ball and wrap in cling film. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. 

Separate the ball into 8 or so pieces. Working one at a time, roll out on a floured work surface into a long, even roll.

Use a knife to cut the roll into ½ in or 1 cm pieces. 

Press the pieces with a floured fork. 

Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. When hot, drizzle in the olive oil. Add the gnocchi being careful not to crowd the pan. I only cooked two rolls for these photos and did it in two batches. 

Pan fry for about three minutes or until browned on the one side. 

Turn and pan fry for an additional 3-5 minutes on the other side. Remove to a plate and continue cooking the rest of the gnocchi in batches. 

Meanwhile, remove the parsley leaves from the stalks and mince the parsley and garlic cloves. 

To make the persillade, mix the minced parsley and garlic together. 

Once all the gnocchi are browned and you are ready to serve, put them all back into the hot pan. Add in the tablespoon of butter, separated into three.

As the butter is melting, add in the persillade aka the parsley garlic mix. 

Stir and pan fry for a few minutes to cook the garlic a bit, wilt the parsley and heat the ricotta gnocchi through. 

Spoon straight on to plates or into a serving dish and serve hot. 

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 7th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter G. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the G recipes below:

• Cheesy Bacon Grits from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• Chunky Garlic Stuffed Olive Deviled Eggs from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Gochujang Garlic Flower from Magical Ingredients
• Gochujang Sugar Cookies from A Messy Kitchen
• Golden Diner Pancakes with Maple Honey Syrup from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Grilled Garlic Honey Boneless Wings from Blogghetti
• Ham, Cheese, and Spinach Packets from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Homemade Gluten Free Bread Flour from Sneha’s Recipe
• Kadai Aloo Gobi from Mayuri’s Jikoni 
• Ricotta Gnocchi à la Poêle from Food Lust People Love

Here are my posts for the 2026 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Ají de Cerdo aka Peruvian Pork Stew

B: Baby Cos Peach Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing 

C. Traditional Cullen Skink 

D. Coconut Cream Date Caramel 

E. Edamame Summer Salad 

F. Lamb Feta Mint Patties 

G. Ricotta Gnocchi à la Poêle - this post!

To check out the Alphabet Challenges for 2024 and 2025, click here.

Pin this Ricotta Gnocchi à la Poêle!

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Lamb Feta Mint Patties

These lamb feta mint patties are fabulous on their own, in a toasted bun or stacked with grilled eggplant, lettuce and tomato for a sandwich with a twist. 

Half of the year we live in the Channel Islands where ground lamb is readily available. It’s still not cheap but then again neither is beef so sometimes we like a change. Depending on your source, lamb is usually very flavorful and juicy with a higher fat content than beef. 

Although I do make a shepherd’s pie on occasion, I tend to make patties out of lamb mince, as it’s called in the UK, because then you do really get to taste the lamb. In a shepherd’s pie, there’s so much else going on as well. In this case, the addition of feta adds moisture and salt but the lamb still shines through. 

Lamb Feta Mint Patties

This recipe is adapted from one on the delicious. magazine Australia website. They made meatballs to add to a tomato salad but I couldn't stop thinking about patties. It was a good decision!

Ingredients

2 lbs or 900g minced lamb

7oz or 200g Greek feta, crumbled

1/2 cup or 35g fresh breadcrumbs

several sprigs fresh mint

2 garlic cloves, crushed then minced

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon allspice

Freshly ground black pepper

Drizzle olive oil for frying in a non-stick pan

Method

Pick the leaves off of the mint stems and mince them. Discard the stems.

Combine the lamb, feta, bread crumbs, mint leaves, garlic, salt and allspice with a few generous grinds of black pepper in a bowl. 

Divide into 6 portions and form patties. Place on a tray, cover and chill for 20-30 minutes to firm up. (Looks like five but there are indeed six! The front one is a double.)

Heat a drizzle of oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the patties and fry, turning often, for 7-8 minutes or until browned and cooked through.

As you can see, I served these with some pan-fried slices of eggplant, sliced tomato and lettuce in a stack but you could easily tuck a patty in pita bread or a bun. Condiment of your choice but I can highly recommend a little mayo with chives. 

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 6th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter F. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the F recipes below.

• Brazilian Feijoada - Black Bean Stew with Beef and Pork from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Eggless Flourless Chocochip Brownies from Sizzling Tastebuds
• Fansi Dapka Nu Shaak from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Feta Potato Swirls from Magical Ingredients
• Fingerlicking Garlic Coconut Chutney from Sneha’s Recipe
• Fortune Cookie Crust from A Messy Kitchen
• Funfetti Pancakes from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• Gruyere and Apple Cider Fondue from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Lamb Feta Mint Patties from Food Lust People Love
• Lemony Potato & Fennel Rotisserie Chicken Soup from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• One Pan Chicken Fajita Pasta from Blogghetti

 

Here are my posts for the 2026 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Ají de Cerdo aka Peruvian Pork Stew

B: Baby Cos Peach Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing 

C. Traditional Cullen Skink 

D. Coconut Cream Date Caramel 

E. Edamame Summer Salad 

F. Lamb Feta Mint Patties - this post!

To check out the Alphabet Challenges for 2024 and 2025, click here.

Pin these Lamb Feta Mint Patties!

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