This actually started several weeks ago. It was the weekend of the Super Bowl, and I was expected to bring my bacon-wrapped chicken jalapeno poppers. My usual routine is to go to the Augusta Road Flea Market on Saturday and get the peppers from one of the Mexican markets there.
This time things were…different.
First off, this place is always just a bit weird. This particular Saturday it seemed even more so. In addition to the occult stores, head shops, and other semi-legal endeavors, there seemed to be lots of “stripper wear.” There were lots of booths selling revealing clothing for women (or men, I guess). Some might call it club wear, but it looks like it belongs on a pole more than a dance floor. I guess I’m getting old. Not related, but I even found a mountain of bras.
Normally there are several vendors, but this time there seemed to be only one. Even so, they had quite the variety.
I found my jalapenos, but I also found some beautiful poblanos, and that leads us to the recipe…
For the stuffing we used our favorite chicken fajita recipe. About half of this recipe would be the stuffing for our peppers, and was prepared ahead of time. Add to that about a cup of grated Monterrey Jack cheese and Ro-Tel tomatoes to round out the ingredients.
The first time we did this I roasted the peppers on the grill, turning them so that each side was charred. This worked OK, but didn’t really give me the charring I wanted.
Today Laura found some nice poblanos at Publix, and we tried again. This time, I put the peppers back on the grill, but I also charred them individually over the grill’s burner. Once charred, I placed the peppers back on the grill to keep them warm.
We put the charred peppers in a pan and covered with plastic wrap so that the steam would help removed the charred skin. After a few minutes of steaming, we rubbed off the charring, then cut a slit into the peppers and removed the seeds. We then stuffed the peppers with the chicken fajita mixture and some of the cheese.
The stuffed peppers were placed back in a baking dish and topped with the Ro-Tel tomatoes. These were placed an oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.
At the end of 20 minutes we added a bit more of the cheese and cooked for about another five minutes uncovered so that the cheese melts.
We served these up with a side of Spanish rice.
The photos above are a mix from the first time we tried this a couple of weeks ago, and then again this evening. This time I didn’t clean out one of the peppers as well as I had the others, and there was a bit more heat to it. It actually tasted better.
This is a keeper recipe for us. It’s fun to make, and quite tasty. We may try it with some other stuffing ingredients, but for now the chicken fajita mix works nicely.