Friday, December 12, 2008

Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos

Many varieties of this exist here in Texas where we love our bacon and we love our hot peppers, but this is my "fancy" version that we served as a Thanksgiving appetizer. Tonight, this augmented a spaghetti and meatball dinner (which, yes these items do not suit each other, but we didn't care!).

*8 Seeded Jalapenos, sliced in half length-wise (If you don't know how to seed them, here is one link, you'll want to seed them or they will be super hot!)
*1 Tablespoon of goat cheese per Jalapeno half
*Chopped walnuts (no more than 1/4 Cup, just enough to sprinkle over the goat cheese)
*8 Slices of Bacon

1. Slice and seed the jalapenos.
2. Using a small spoon, spread goat cheese liberally inside the cleaned jalapeno halves.
3. Place walnuts over the goat cheese (I press them in so they don't come loose).
4. Cut bacon in half and use 1/2 a slice to wrap around one jalapeno.
5. Finish remaining jalapenos - arrange in an oven safe dish or on a foil lined baking dish and bake in oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes (or until bacon is crisp), turn once.
6. As an added flavor, I drizzled them with a honey-balsalmic vinegar reduction before they went in the oven, it helps off-set the spicy-ness of some of the smaller/hotter peppers.

**Side note: to seed these peppers we used a tool my mom picked up at Market Days in Fredericksburg, TX, called the "Pepper Whipper" -check out her foodbuzz for more info. PPS - I was asked to "thank" the Pepper Whipper...it's my mom (some of you know her as Texas to Mexico)...yes folks she's humble to boot!

9 comments:

Reeni said...

I would have these anytime with anything, they look amazing! I have never heard of a pepper whipper!

Hornsfan said...

Reeni - I'd never seen or heard of one before either, it was a funny little tool that a guy at a flea market was selling - don't know that I'll ever see one for sale (in person) like that again but it surely did help make these in a jiffy!

Dee said...

Okay, I do love the end result even if I still managed to get pepper juice into my eyes on more than one occasion this evening! They were a taste treat! P.S. I do make a great hand model don't I?? ha!

Hornsfan said...

Yes Mom, you're an excellent hand model :)

Chef E said...

Oh man, I want one of those...I love stuffed Jalepenos and never thought about the bacon...good call!

Hornsfan said...

Chef E - Can't imagine them without the bacon, we've stuffed them with just about any cheese you can imagine and wrapped them in bacon, they are 100% sinful!

Christo Gonzales said...

nice step by step photos - I am new here so maybe this is your MO and I am just catching on....

Hornsfan said...

nope, no real MO just my attempt to put more into less space :)

Chef E said...

BTW your mom told me where to go to do those photos, but I need some time to figure it out...so my NY resolution...better photos...and if Doggy is impressed, then you did good!