Sunday, June 14, 2009

Jalapeno Poppers

One year I had a plentiful harvest of jalapenos from my garden. I created a jalapeno popper recipe for them.

Corn Tortilla Jalapeno Poppers

12 fresh jalapenos
1/2 block cream cheese
2-3 corn tortillas, cut into 1 inch strips
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Make a slit down the length of the jalapeno. At the stem end of the pepper, make a slit going across the top of the other one, forming a "T". Rummage in your utensil drawer to find a tiny spoon, knife or other instrument to scoop out the seeds and white ribs leaving the remainder of the pepper intact. Be careful to wear rubber gloves or try not to touch the innards of the pepper too much. After all peppers are scooped out, use a knife or spoon to spread cream cheese into the pepper. Put the tortillas in the microwave for 15 seconds to make them more pliable. Wrap the tortilla strips around the peppers and secure with a couple toothpicks.

Warm the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Fry peppers in small batches until tortillas brown and peppers soften. Drain on paper towels.


This next recipe was shared with me by my mom.

Bacon "Wrapped" Jalapeno Poppers
8 fresh jalapenos (if they aren't Texas-sized, use 12)
1/2 block cream cheese
4 slices uncooked bacon, cut into fourths

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut off stems and cut peppers length-wise. Scrape out seeds and ribs using a grapefruit spoon. Spread cream cheese into each half-pepper. Set one piece of bacon a top each pepper. (I found that the bacon cooked evenly this way. You could also wrap the bacon around the peppers.) Place on a baking sheet for 30 minutes until peppers are soft and the bacon is cooked.