Looking for a great side dish for your next get together or barbecue, but have a bunch of lame friends and in-laws that can’t handle any sort of “heat” in their diet? Well hot damn, look no further because these bacon wrapped Anaheim peppers are the perfect solution to your sad problem! A simple twist on the traditional jalapeno poppers, these mild peppers present the opportunity for some different stuffing flavors and are much more filling to boot! Sit back, relax, and stick with me as we walk through this easy recipe. Who knows, I might even throw in a few tips and tricks along the way. Quick fun fact, though, before we get started. These can be prepared ahead of time and even frozen before cooking so you always have a last minute side dish when that annoying friend calls you up the night before a party asking you to bring food because they were too lazy to think ahead. Alright I guess, let’s get cooking!
Let’s get started by talking about some peppers. While any mild to medium pepper will do the trick here, we want to make sure to pick a type with a medium to larger body to make room for the extra flavors we are packing into these bad boys. Personally, I’m a huge fan of Anaheims here, but Hatch, Poblanos, or even fresh Ancho chilis will work great as a flavor delivery vessel. The only prep work we need to accomplish for this recipe is basically getting into whatever peppers you chose and clearing out their seeds and guts, essentially. It is personal choice and up to you whether you want to slice off the top or go through the side, but I suggest slicing the “top” depending on how they will lay in a tray for cooking, as pictured below.
Once our peppers are all cleaned up, set them aside and let’s work on the filling. This is where you can get mega creative, super simple, or off the wall with your ideas, but for today I will be presenting a somewhat classic cream cheese and pork filling. First, brown the ground pork, or pork sausage if you want a little more flavor, in a pan over medium heat. Hopefully you have already set out the cream cheese to soften at this point, but either way go ahead and toss it in the pan with the pork and melt the two in a creamy ooey gooey delicious mess of yum yum get ya some pepper filling. The melting cream cheese actually works as a great deglazer to help scrap up those tasty crispy pork bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. #LeaveNoFlavorBehind! If you are feeling feisty and want to up your game, add some shredded cheese, bacon bits, minced garlic, onion, or basically whatever floats your boat to your filling to make it worthy of a Bobby Flay Throwdown winner! Finish heating this mixture through and prepare for the next step.
The only thing left now is to scoop our warm cheese and pork mixture into the peppers and get them suckers wrapped with bacon! This would probably be a good time to get your oven or smoker preheated to 350 degrees F, as well. Nonetheless, I hate doing dishes so I just used the same spatula I cooked with to spoon over the filling into my peppers I had laid out in a disposable baking pan. I was semi careful to align them so that I would remember which corresponding pepper piece “hat” went with which pepper, but however you decide, just replace the missing pepper pieces and use a nice thick slice of bacon to wrap everything together and hold into place. No need for toothpicks if you spent a few minutes carefully prepping the peppers ahead of time and get a good wrap with the bacon.
Anyway, pop these peppers into the oven or smoker and enjoy a few drinks for the next hour or so. Begin checking them after an hour or so and pull them out when the bacon just gets a bit crispy! The bacon should be “cooked” around that hour mark so feel free to pull them then if you prefer bacon with a little more fattiness rather than dry/crispy, but like usual, do whatever makes you happy. If your guests throw a hissy fit, either send them packing or throw it under the broiler for a minute or two to crisp up the bacon and begin plotting their demise. You can’t satisfy everyone, eh? Alas, serve these up piping hot to enjoy watching your guests scald their mouths or let them rest and cool a few minutes like a nice host. This is why you shouldn't complain, people!
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