Steelers game day grub: Stuffed banana peppers

The Steelers are finally back in action and we know Steeler Nation is starving for football and, more importantly, football snacks.

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Still Curtain is back with another season’s worth of delicious and easy game day grub recipes to turn your average tailgate or home-gate into a more enjoyable one.

The Steelers travel to our nation’s capital for a Monday Night Football showdown against Kirk Cousins and company. Now the Washington D.C. area isn’t really known for their food but they are known for hogs.

The Hogs were the offensive line of the Washington Redskins during the 80s and early 90s under head coach Joe Gibbs. They were comprised of center Jeff Bostic, left guard and former Steelers assistant coach Russ Grimm, right guard Mark May, left tackle Joe Jacoby, right tackle George Starke, guard Fred Dean and tight ends Don Warren and Rick Walker.

These guys won Super Bowl XVII and most of them stayed together for all three of Washington’s Super Bowl wins. They inspired a group of fans to dress in drag with pig-noses and call themselves “The Hogettes” because, why not?

So that got me in the mood for some pork. Now that summer is coming to a close here in Western PA you’ll find it common for coworkers or family members to just hand you bags of produce grown from their gardens over the summer.

It’s perfectly acceptable to just hand someone a bag full of obscenely large zucchini and think nothing of it. If you’re in luck, you’ll get handed a bag of banana peppers and then you can stuff them with pork and eat them.

Instructions

That’s just what I did and it couldn’t be more fitting for our first Steelers gameday on a Monday night. Just prep ahead of time by cutting the banana peppers open lengthwise and gutting the ribs and seeds. Then you just mound your choice of sweet or spicy Italian sausage inside the cavity of the pepper.

Nestle them in either a baking dish or a slow-cooker with some tomato puree poured on the bottom. Bake covered at 375 or set it and forget it while you’re at work. After 40 minutes in the oven take them out and uncover them and then cover them back up with as much cheese as you like. There are no rules here.

If you’re doing this at the tailgate just sprinkle the cheese over the top of the peppers for the last few minutes until the cheese is melty and bubbly and what cheese is supposed to be.

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Now you let them cool before you burn the roof of your mouth and then you sit back and enjoy while Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown play keep away from Washington’s defense all night.

Enjoy the game and the grub!

Here we go Steelers! Here we go!