Thursday, September 4, 2008

It's Finally Football Season

Finally the greatest season of the year has begun...for real.  No more pre-season, waiting for games that mean something, and if you are in a fantasy league will finally get to see how your picks will add up.  
In honor of this great season I have some ideas of food that you may want to snack on with your buddies with a good cold beer.  First up, Jalapeño Poppers.
First, make your filling.  I like about 2 parts cream cheese to one part shredded cheddar cheese.  Mix that with bacon bits (real bacon, not that fake salad sprinkle stuff), and garlic powder.  I don't give you real measurements because so much of it is to your own taste.  Feel free to add any seasonings that you like.
Then take your jalapeños, seed them and halve them.  I find it is easiest to cut off the stem end, and using a coring tool (these kind of look like peelers that are curved with teeth) remove all seeds.  Then cut in half, lengthwise.  You can seed them after you cut them as well, but it is twice the work.  
After all of the hard work of cutting and seeding is through, stuff each half with a small amount of cream cheese mixture.  Just enough to fill.  Next you are going to bread them.
In three separate containers set out flour, egg (beaten), and bread crumbs.  Using what is called the standard breading procedure, coat poppers with flour, then dunk in egg (making sure to coat), then coat with breadcrumbs.  I like to do the egg and bread crumbs part twice for a thicker more consistent breading but that is up to you.
Once all of this is done, deep fry until golden brown, with your oil around 350.  This will only take a few minutes.  
This may all seem like a lot of work, and I am not going to tell you that it isn't, but for that really big game that you can't miss (such as Indianapolis and New England) they are worth it.  Plus another side note.  If you like the poppers hot, keep some of the seeds around as that is where most of the heat comes from.  However, just because you got rid of all the seeds doesn't mean that a hot one isn't going to sneak in there.  Last time I made poppers they were all very mild until I got to the one that got me reaching for the milk, but maybe that is part of the fun.

Enjoy, 

derek

1 comment:

Chuck and Becka at REST said...

Forget about the football...bring on the FOOD!