FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER--peppers stuffed with spinach, sausage and ricotta

                                       * STUFFED PEPPERS *

• 2 pounds fresh spinach
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 2 cups minced onion
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1  15-ounce carton ricotta cheese
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 cup fresh bread crumbs
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper
• 6 large red or green peppers
1.  Cook spinach in boiling salted water until wilted.  Drain well and chop.
2.  Preheat oven to 350˚F.  In a large skillet, heat the olive oil.  Add the sausage and cook, breaking up the sausage with a wooden spoon.  When fully cooked, remove sausage and set aside.  Sauté onion and garlic in fat remaining in the skillet and, when onion is soft, add the spinach.  Cook 2 to 3 minutes.
3.  Return sausage to skillet and add ricotta, eggs, parsley, basil, nutmeg and 3/4 cup each of the bread crumbs and Parmesan.  Season with salt and pepper.
4.  Spoon filling into whole cored, seeded peppers.  Brush outer skin of peppers with oil.  Transfer the peppers to an oiled baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining bread crumbs and Parmesan.
5.  Bake 50 to 60 minutes until peppers are tender and tops browned.