Stuffed Sweet Piquante Peppers

This past weekend I was given the task of bringing an appetizer to my soon to be nephew's first birthday party. I am the only Italian in my fiance's family so I have been stuck in a rut of bringing an antipasto platter to the last couple in-law gatherings. Everyone loves Italian cheese, meat and olives so I figured I would be safe when I tried this new Italian appitizer recipe I found here: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/hors-doeuvres/afternoon-snack-stuffed-sweet-piquante-peppers-080290

I love this recipe because it involves very few ingredients, the ingredients do not break the bank, my fiance found it fun to actually help me stuff the peppers, it is easily adaptable to other ingredients you might have on hand and most of all they are totally addicting to eat!

Stuffed Sweet Piquante Peppers

• 2 dozen sweet piquante peppers (I found them at the Whole Foods olive bar and also the Schnucks olive bar. You have to pay by the pound but in total I think it ended up being less than $8 for them all. The come already hollowed out, super easy! Note: These have a little bit of a spice kick to them, but nothing crazy.)
• 1/3 pound Grana Padano cheese (This was hard to find. I did find it at Volpi's on the Hill in St. Louis. I only got a 1/4 pound and found it wasn't enough. The 1/4 pound only cost about $3. This is a hard cheese very similar to parmigiano reggiano and is imported directly from Italy.)
• 1/2 pound Volpi Salami (1/2 pound is a little extra but I love salami and it made for a good snack for me and the fiance AKA Joe.)

First get all your prep work done. cut the salami slices in half, width wise. Cut the cheese into small rectangle chunks (like the size of your fingernail). Put all of the peppers on a paper towel to drain.

Next put a piece of cheese near the bottom half of the salami and roll it up. Stuff the pepper with the salami roll, cheese side entering first.

Load up your platter.

As I mentioned, I ran out of Grana Padano so I substituted fresh mozzarella. I used the extra mozzarella and salami to decorate the rest of the platter.

Everyone loved the appetizer and I hope you will try it too!