A while ago, we visited my sister-in-law and family. As you've probably noticed, everything in our family seems to revolve around food. In fact most of the things we do seem to revolve around food. Anyway, when we went to visit, we ate at this restaurant called McAllister's that served loaded baked potatoes that are the size of a loaf of bread. Seriously, they were enormous potatoes and they were amazingly delicious. I must go again.
Anyway, onto the jalapenos. My brother-in-law made these awesome jalapenos on the grill. He filled each jalapeno half with cream cheese and cheddar cheese and wrapped each one with a strip of uncooked bacon and then cooked them on the grill somehow. I'm not really certain exactly how he did it but it was quite delicious.
Being that we live in an apartment whose builders did not see the benefit of putting a window in the kitchen, I am unable to cook anything that is going to smoke badly. This unfortunately includes cooking bacon on the stove. (I can cook it in the oven in the Alton Brown method) So how to recreate these delicious morsels without having the fire department called to my house...again?
Apartment Friendly Jalapeno Poppers
warning: I strongly suggest wearing food grade vinyl gloves when making this recipe. There is nothing worse than getting jalapeno juice on your fingers and then itching your eye. Trust me.
5 jalapenos, sliced in half lengthwise and without stem
1/3 cup cream cheese, room temperature
2 handfuls grated Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped pancetta or bacon pieces
Preheat oven to 350.
Cook pancetta or bacon in a small frying pan dusted with a little olive oil spray over medium heat until cooked and fragrant and a little crispy, about five minutes depending on the size of each piece.
(Our local Trader Joe's sells chopped pancetta. Most grocery stores will sell either slices of pancetta or a small hunk of pancetta that you can chop yourself.)
Meanwhile, scoop all of the seeds and the little vein-y things that the seeds attach to out of each jalapeno. (I use the edge of a melon baller for this, it seems to work well) Set jalapeno halves aside.
In a small bowl, mix cream cheese, cheddar cheese and the cooked pancetta together until the ingredients are evenly distributed. The heat from the pancetta will cause the cheeses to melt a little but that's okay.
With a spoon or spatula, fill each jalapeno half with about a tbsp of cheese mixture. Place all halves on a cookie sheet and bake for about 15 minutes until the jalapenos get a little wrinkly and golden brown on top. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.
You could also sprinkle more cheddar cheese on top of each half either before or after they come out of the oven.
Enjoy!
I'm sorry I didn't take more photos of the process or the finished product. I got busy making them and forgot and then we were too busy eating them to care about photography.
