Savory Stuffed Cherry Peppers

October in Milwaukee hits different. The air gets this particular quality — cold and clean and smelling faintly of lake — and the leaves on the oaks in Bay View start going gold at the edges. I grew up in this neighborhood, walked these streets a thousand times, and I still get a little caught off guard every October when the whole thing turns beautiful like this.

Big week at Lakefront. We released the Märzen — the one I've been cold-conditioning since mid-August — and it came out exactly right. Amber-copper color, bready malt flavor, just enough bitterness to keep it from being sweet. Classic German lager. The head brewer, Marcus, said it was one of the better ones we'd done in a few years. I wrote that down somewhere because compliments from Marcus are not handed out freely.

Cooked gołąbki this weekend. Stuffed cabbage rolls. This is a project, not a recipe — you spend the better part of an afternoon blanching cabbage leaves, mixing the filling (beef and pork, rice, onion, the seasoning Babcia wrote in her cramped handwriting that I have to squint to read), rolling each one individually, then simmering them in tomato sauce for two hours. Megan sat at the kitchen table grading papers while I worked, occasionally looking up to ask if she could eat one yet. I let her have one straight out of the pot, too hot, and she burned her tongue and said it was worth it.

I think that's one of my favorite things about us — she grades papers, I cook, we're in the same room doing different things and it's just easy. Not dramatic, not exciting, just easy in the way that matters.

Wedding planning update: we have a venue, a date (June 14, 2024), and a caterer tentatively booked. The caterer is a Polish-American place that Babcia used to swear by. They were skeptical about the bigos as a main course option but I made them a batch as a sample and now they're on board. Food always wins the argument eventually.

Posted the gołąbki recipe this week. Included a photo of Babcia's recipe card, handwriting and all. My RecipeSpinoff followers seemed to love it. Someone commented that their Polish grandmother made the exact same recipe and they thought it was lost. Those are the moments that make this whole thing feel worthwhile.

After a full afternoon of rolling gołąbki — blanching leaves, portioning filling, tucking each one just so — I find myself craving that same hands-on, stuff-it-and-simmer satisfaction in a form I can pull off on a weeknight. These savory stuffed cherry peppers scratched exactly that itch: same idea, same deeply personal pleasure of filling something small and making it into something whole, just scaled down to the kind of thing Megan and I can pop on a Tuesday without clearing the whole afternoon. Babcia would understand — good food doesn’t always have to be a project, as long as it’s made with care.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

24 pickled cherry peppers, tops cut off and seeded
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup finely diced salami or soppressata
1/4 cup finely diced provolone cheese
2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tablespoon olive oil, for drizzling

Instructions

Prepare the peppers. Slice the tops off the cherry peppers and use a small spoon or melon baller to carefully remove the seeds and inner membranes. Pat the insides dry with a paper towel and set aside on a serving platter or baking dish.
Make the filling. In a medium bowl, combine the softened cream cheese, diced salami, diced provolone, parsley, and minced garlic. Season with black pepper and red pepper flakes if using. Mix well until evenly combined.
Fill the peppers. Transfer the filling to a piping bag or a zip-top bag with a corner snipped off. Pipe the filling generously into each cherry pepper, slightly mounding it at the top.
Bake (optional). For a warm version, arrange the stuffed peppers in a baking dish, drizzle lightly with olive oil, and bake at 375°F for 12–15 minutes until the filling is heated through and just beginning to turn golden at the edges. For a no-bake version, refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to firm the filling before serving.
Serve. Arrange on a platter, drizzle with a little extra olive oil, and garnish with additional fresh parsley. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Nutrition (per serving)

Savory Stuffed Cherry Peppers — The Joy of Filling Things, One at a Time