Sausage Stuffed Poblanos

How we make it.

4 Poblano peppers, halved
1 pound pork sausage (I use Jake's Country Sausage)
1/2 cup Marsala wine, divided
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
4 ounces mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup parsley
1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese
Kosher salt, to taste
Garnish: red chili flake, parsley

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut each pepper lengthwise and remove seeds and ribs from the inside. Arrange 8 halves in a lightly oiled baking dish. Heat a heavy bottomed pan to medium and cook sausage, breaking up until browned and fully cooked, probably about 7-10 minutes. Once sausage is cooked, add 1/4 cup of marsala to deglaze the pan and add moisture, cooking 2 more minutes to evaporate the liquid. Lower heat and add breadcrumbs, mascarpone cheese and chopped parsley, stirring to combine until smooth and fully incorporated. At this point, taste the mixture for seasoning. You might need to add some salt, depending on the sausage you've chosen. Once you get that sorted, divide sausage mixture fairly evenly among each pepper, stuffing to the gills. Top each pepper with shredded cheese and bake uncovered for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes remove from the oven and add 1/4 cup Marsala to the pan. Cover with aluminum foil and cook for 10 more minutes. Serve warm, garnished with red chili flake for extra heat.

Why we make it.

My husband and I eat differently by nature. You could say that he prefers lighter fare while I was raised on creamed chipped beef. When we're out to dinner the waiters serve us each other's entrées. All that assuming makes an ass out of you...and me, I think to myself as I swap another offensive salad across the table for my prime rib. Over the years our tastes have melded. Michael taught me to eat vegetables. I taught Michael to melt cheese on chips. This is marriage. These stuffed peppers are, for us, a meeting of the minds. A melding of the menus. Sausage stuffed as I'd prefer yet baked in a vegetable for him. Spicy, unctuous and vegetal, they are simple but textured. A rich stuffing is made creamy with mascarpone, deepened by a touch of Marsala. Bound with breadcrumbs, it's ready for its pepper cave. I don't cook the peppers before I stuff them so they've still got a crackle underneath all that gooey cheese. A little something for him, a little something for me. That's why we make them.