I've always wanted to try this… stuff a bell pepper full of left over Jambalaya… why not smoke it on the Big Green Egg and go all the way!

This is an experiment…I'm writing the post as I'm making dinner.   Not everyone in my house is a fan of stuffed peppers so I'm making jambalaya for them and stuffing peppers with the extra.   Metropolitan Market has had red and yellow bell peppers on sale so I have 2 of each that I'm getting ready to blanch for 5 minutes.  I'm steaming one cup of white rice whichI'm going to blend in some of my meat/veggie base just so that we can all eat together (the remainder of the jambalaya will have the rice cook in it while my stuffed peppers are smoking away on the BGE)… at least this is the plan!

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I'm going to saute 3 andouille sausages with some diced tasso hamw/evoo in a deep pan while I cook 4 chicken thighs outside on the BGE(I'm running out of time so I'll do the thighs in the BGE next time) in the oven at 375.   Nothing fancy, they've just had some Emerill's Essence seasoning sprinkled on them.  The Big Green Egg will ideally be at 350.   The sausage and ham are just cooked long enough to lightly brown and release some juices to saute the vegetables in.  Remove the meats and add one diced onion, one diced bell pepper (green would have been pretty, I had red) and one (or two) stalks celerysliced.  After the vegetables are soft, I add minced garlic and then two cans of Muir Glen Diced Tomatoes.   Add one bay leaf, some oregano, thyme, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper to taste.  Add cooked rice (to your liking) and I decided to add about a tablespoon of tomato pasteto about 1-1.5 cups of the jambalaya mixture (the remaining I'm adding uncooked rice to for my non-pepper peeps and finishing like regular jambalaya).

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Ideally I would assemble the peppers and place them in a disposable aluminum pan but I seem to be out!  Instead, I doubled up to sheets of foil and lined my rib rack to create a "boat" for the stuffed peppers.

The stuffed peppers baked at 350-400 degrees for about a half hour and came out delicious.  I think next time I'll add some soaked wood chips to go for a smokier flavor and use leftover jambalaya just to save time.