Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Michael Symon's Spicy Stuffed Peppers and Tour of Lexington Farmer's Market


My first Michael Symon recipe is inspired from a recent trip to the Lexington Farmer's Market.

Homegrown local banana peppers. Kentucky Proud Vito's Sausage, Robust (spicy) version. A little of Mom's homemade Tomato sauce, made with tomatoes grown in the backyard and you're all set!! A perfectly tasty and local appetizer or lunch!

Spicy Stuffed Peppers
Adapted from Michael Symon's Live to Cook
Serves 4-8
8 Hungarian hot peppers
1-1/2 pounds Pork Sausage or Italian Sausage
2 cups Yia Yia's Sunday sauce or jarred tomato sauce
8 fresh basil leaves (I left these out as they were already in mom's tomato sauce)

Preheat the oven to 375F. Light coals in a charcoal grill for a medium-hot fire. Butter an 8x11 inch baking dish.

Cut the tops off of the peppers and spoon out any seeds. Divide the sausage into 8 equal portions and spoon it into the peppers to fill them. (I decided to cut my peppers in half horizontally for presentation).

Pour the sauce into the prepared baking dish.

Grill the peppers to char them on the outside, about 2 minutes per side. Remove them from the grill and lay the peppers on top of the sauce. Bake for 10 minutes or until the sausage reaches an internal temperature of 150F. Divide among plates, spoon some tomato sauce on top, and garnish each with a basil leaf.

Notes/Results: My husband and I had a version of these while on our trip up to Ohio and we wanted to recreate them at home. We had them as a light lunch after our trip to the Farmer's Market and we really loved them. I chose to grill the peppers inside on my grill pan and it worked well. I also chose to halve the peppers horizontally for presentation. This has been one of our favorite recipes in the past couple of weeks and we will be having them often, especially with the peppers and sausage from the Farmer's Market!

Here is a quick tour of the Lexington Farmer's Market(my favorite place to be on a Saturday morning)!

View from the parking garage.

New Pavillion that was built this past year, complete with ceiling fans. The shade from the pavillion and breeze from the fans is so wonderful on a hot morning.

This year at the Farmer's Market there are a lot of new food vendors and this vendor, Hard Wood Pizza Company, selling wood-fired pizzas is my absolute favorite! My Mom and I go absolutely ga-ga over their pizzas. They feature fresh ingredients sourced directly from the Farmer's Market and the menu changes weekly. We loved their Greek pizza with feta cheese, but we love their Vito's sausage pizza just a little bit more;-)

One of the best pizzas I've ever had. Crispy thin crust, perfectly flavored pizza sauce, lots of cheesy goodness and delicious homemade sausage. We can't get enough of it!

My mom likes this booth, the Cookin' Up Kentucky booth. They have some delicious breakfast and lunch dishes every week. Cookin' Up Kentucky's booth specializes in not only local food but also southern food. You'll find lots of fried green tomatoes at this booth! You can always count on that!

On this particular day, they were serving up burgers with fried green tomatoes and aged cheddar. Sounds like a great idea to me!!

Another new vendor is Le Petit Creperie. They make the crepes to order and the line becomes quite long, but it's worth it. They have both sweet and savory options.

My favorite filling is the Dad's Favorite Swiss Cheese Spread (much like pimento cheese) with tomato and spinach. Absolute cheesy heaven!

I buy a lot of my beef from Triple J, located right in my hometown city, Georgetown, KY. I like that I can talk to the owners and order specialty cuts like bone-in ribeye and tri tip. I like it even better to know where my beef is coming from.

See all those lovely boxes that say Georgia Peaches??? Gotta love those fresh, ripe and juicy peaches that they truck in from Georgia.

The intoxicating smell of peaches strikes you when you're walking through the market. I can never resist them!

San Marzano tomatoes in Kentucky? Can it be so?

I'm submitting this post to Two for Tuesday Blog Hop Carnival, hosted by one of my pals, girlichef.

32 comments:

  1. Love your photos :)
    Its been ages since I had stuff peppers. They always remind me of my mother cause she used to make them for us.
    Have a lovely day.
    *kisses* HH

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  2. wow, wow, and more wow. You are making me so hungry!!! I love it when I can get to the big Soulard Farm Market near St Louis, but it doesn't happen very often and my local market just can't compete. Lucky girl!

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  3. What an incredible Farmer's Market you have! I love the recipe you posted. It looks simple and delicious!

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  4. This is one of my favorite Michael Symon recipes that I've made so far! I'm so glad you liked it. It's definitely a keeper.

    Your farmer's market looks awesome!

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  5. What a fantastic recipe. I can't wait to try it. I also loved your photos of the market. It was almost as good as being there. Have a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  6. I love your farmer's market. So many vendors. This recipe looks so simple but made with so many wonderful homemade components. I'm going to dig my frozen tomatoe sauce out of the freezer and make this one!

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  7. First off...YUM!! That's my kinda food...all the way. It sounds seriously delicious. I love your presentation. And the market tours you're giving us and so amazing...like I'm there. Only I'm not ;( LOL...thanks so much for sharing this tasty post with Two for Tuesdays this week, Kim!!

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  8. I have intense farmers market envy! ;-) Beautiful post. The spicy peppers look delicious and I would like to place my order for those, the sausage pizza and a box of peaches please! ;-)

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  9. Kim - I loved the tour. Farmers markets have got to be heaven on earth. The stuffed peppers are just perfect!

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  10. Your farmers market sounds wonderful! And I love this stuffed pepper recipe - it looks easy and super yummy. Thanks for sharing this at our Two for Tuesday blog hop!

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  11. What a fun post! I love Vito's sausage and plan on featuring a recipe using it soon. My husband loves the fried green tomato, bacon, and egg sandwiches at the Cookin' Up Kentucky booth and my daughter and I love Le Petit Creperie. I'll have to look for the San Marzano tomatoes this weekend!

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  12. I've never had this type of pepper. They look soooo amazing!!!!

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  13. That looks like a wonderful Farmer's Market. My grandmother is from Kentucky and I have always want to check it out. Thanks for sharing your little part of Kentucky! Denise

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  14. The peppers look excellent! I love how you presented them! And another great market - my mouth is watering over the food...you'd have to roll me home!

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  15. I am loving these stuffed peppers! Not too mention the Farmer's Market. I can see why you had so much fun shopping there :-)

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  16. I'd love to try these delicious stuffed peppers. I wonder if they would be good with an Anaheim pepper. The market looks like so much fun.

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  17. Fabulous recipe! I know that I'd love love love this one!

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  18. Awesome pictures! The peppers look so simple and delicious! Thanks!

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  19. Oh goodness that looks wonderful! As does that pizza...drool!

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  20. What a fun market. I can smell those peaches from here. Yum! There's nothing better than a ripe, juicy, delicious peach! The fried green tomato burgers sound amazing too! Wonderful photos. ;)

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  21. Holy cow! Those peppers look great...and I despise stuffed peppers. Maybe the key for me is grilling them. I'm slapping my forehead and saying "why didn't I think of that" right now.

    And the peaches...killing me. I haven't been able to find good peaches this year. Your photo is so beautiful, I can smell them.

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  22. You're so lucky that you have such a big Farmer's Market in town! And I love any recipe that involves stuffing things, but I haven't gotten around to stuffing banana peppers yet.

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  23. Kim, this recipe looks amazing. I've never thought of a "stuffed pepper" other than green peppers and hamburger and rice. Your dish looks awesome.

    Oh and your photos of the farmer's market make me wish I were there!! Thanks for the recipe!

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  24. I love your shots .. all the places, all the food, and the recipe.

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  25. Great pictures of the Farmer' Market. Love the new pavilion. I live in Georgetown as well, but work in Lexington so I usually go to the Maxwell and Broadway market on Tues/Thurs.
    Love your blog!

    Jamie

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  26. What a great market! I love how you captured it in pictures. And your recipe, well I am drooling! Thanks for linking to Two for Tuesdays!

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  27. I always love to peek around other people's farmers markets. A fried green tomato booth! Drool. Thanks for sharing your visit and recipe with Two for Tuesdays.

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  28. Hey Kim! Good Foods sells Vito's sausage too!

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  29. Wow kim, I just drooled all over my screen on those peppers! Seriously I am going to my farmers market this weekend and will look for peppers like those to make this recipe. I am also smiling because my good friends have just started a similar pizza business in minnesota and visited their first farmers market this week! For those in the mineapolis area, they are called pizza festa di viaggo and they are at the blaines farmers market. Thanks for sharing this on the two for tuesday recipe blog hop! :) Alex@amoderatelife

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  30. I tried going to the farmer's market here but they were closed! It was Sunday and I don't open on Sundays. :(
    ~ingrid

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  31. Those look superb, Kim. I'm looking forward to our trip to the farmers market this weekend, it's the highlight of many a weekend.

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  32. Thanks for taking us on the tour. I had such fun, looking at the different foods and of course, craving them. That must be a fun day to go to these delicious places/

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