A fresh jalapeño pepper is the perfect delivery vehicle for meat or seafood. When the pepper is cut open, there’s just enough room to stuff a nibble of ground meat, sausage, shrimp or crab. The delicious edible package is sealed with a strip of bacon that drips fatty flavor into the pepper. A stuffed jalapeño can be eaten with your fingers in one or two bites (it’s delicious either hot or cold) and the addictive spicy flavor keeps you coming back for more.
Italian pork sausage is especially good in the pepper, if you want to go all out with pork flavor. Or, you can lighten things up a little by finely chopping raw shrimp in a food processor and stuffing that inside the pepper instead.
These bite-sized, savory treats are definitely popular appetizers, but why not serve them for breakfast too? Alongside a plate of eggs a stuffed jalapeño pepper is ridiculously good.
Servings: 20 stuffed jalapeños
Ingredients:
10 fresh jalapeños, sliced in half lengthwise, white membrane and seeds removed
10 slices of bacon, cut in half
1/2 pound (230 g) of loose pork sausage or other seasoned ground meat
Instructions:
Heat oven to 400 ºF (205 ºC)
Use your fingers to stuff meat into each jalapeño half.
Snugly wrap a piece of bacon around the pepper. Secure it with a toothpick.
You can put the peppers directly on baking sheet or pan, but the fat that drips off the bacon will make them a little greasy. To avoid this, set a cooling rack on top of a baking pan and put the pepper on the rack.