smoked jalapeno poppers

I am blessed with blogger friends who are as excited about food as I am. Mary of Inside a British Mum's Kitchen has favored me with a review of my book. You can click on that link to read it. I have no way to express my gratitude for the kind things said about the book (and a few recognized flaws) except to say a heartfelt thankyou.



I think I did a jalapeno popper recipe once before. But this is the new, refined, improved, amazing version. This is a borrowed photo. I made a smaller amount, in part because I was experimenting with smoke versus oven time and amounts for stuffing. I do this a little differently from your average bear. Smoking in my wok is a "hot" method, so I don't stuff them at first. Also, I had to write down the amount of stuffing ingredients after the fact as I had to make it up as I went along. Nonetheless, this was fun - and tasty - and spicy. Smoking them with the seeds still inside infuses the flesh with heat.
Smoked jalapeno poppers
8 large jalapenos
1 handful soaked wood chips
1/2 cup grated cheese, 1/4 cup scallions, finely chopped, 1/3 cup thawed frozen corn kernels. Set up the wok smoker (or other device you may have). Get the chips going to the smoke stage. While that cranks up, make a slit near the stem of each of the jalapenos. Smoke them for 12 minutes. Remove from the wok and allow to cool. Slice carefully down the side of each pepper and gently scrape out the seeds. While the peppers are smoking, mix together the cheese, scallions and corn. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the stuffing mixture into the peppers. Be generous, but not so much that you can't pull them back together. Gently poke the skewers through them in a fashion where they can rest on a wire rack over a baking sheet with the cut side up. Bake for 15 minutes. You'll want to let them rest for a few minutes or you will get what we called pizza mouth back in college.