Categories
Appetizer Side Dish Snack

Pepper recipes abound for whatever might pop up

These grilled jalapeno poppers feature sharp cheddar along with bacon instead of the traditional cream-cheese-filled offering. The combination of flavors is a delicious change of pace.

If you have read this column for any length of time, you know that I am, in no way, a gardener. Despite that, I still follow a Kansas gardening group on Facebook, and I love seeing the posts of beautiful gardens, weird plants and bugs that show up in people’s yards and discussions about how to keep everything alive.

One of my biggest fascinations this summer is with what local gardeners are calling “peppergate.” Apparently, a large seed manufacturer mixed up pepper seeds, and as plants are popping up and peppers are growing, people are discovering that their gardens aren’t producing exactly what they thought they would.

Unfortunately, that means many people who thought they were growing bell peppers are ending up with spicy ones instead. That has to be so frustrating.

In our house, we’re not scared of spicy peppers, although I almost exclusively use them to make salsa, so I was excited to try something a bit different—especially since Joey was firing up his smoker, and that meant I could make him actually cook my experiment for me.

I ended up making some jalapeno poppers that were a bit different from most recipes, because they used sharp cheddar instead of cream cheese, and they were certainly worth the try.

This recipe comes from the blog “Sur la table” and featured a recipe by chef Steve Raichlen. You can find the original post at https://www.surlatable.com/steve-raichlens-grilled-jalapeno-poppers/REC-283658.html. I added seasoning to my version and didn’t add almonds like the original recipe dictated.

Also, I used a jalapeno grill rack to make mine, which lets you stand the peppers upright while they roast. If you don’t have one, you can cut your jalapenos lengthwise instead. They may cook a little quicker that way, so be sure to keep your eye on them.

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Grilled Jalapeno Poppers

These grilled jalapeno poppers feature sharp cheddar along with bacon instead of the traditional cream-cheese-filled offering. The combination of flavors is a delicious change of pace.
Course Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack
Keyword bacon, barbecue rub, barbecue seasoning, grilled, jalapeno peppers, jalapeno poppers, sharp cheddar cheese, smoker

Ingredients

  • 8 to 10 large straight(ish) jalapeno peppers
  • 4 to 6 ounces sharp cheddar cheese
  • 3 to 6 thin slices bacon
  • Barbecue seasoning of your choice

Instructions

  • You’ll want to get your grill heated up to about 375 degrees.
  • To prepare your jalapenos, cut the tops off of each, and carefully scoop out the seeds and ribs inside.
  • Cut the cheese into sticks that leave at least one-eighth of an inch clearance all the way around when you slide them into the jalapenos.
  • Cut the bacon slices into three pieces (not length-wise; you want short, wide pieces).
  • Pour about two tablespoons of barbecue seasoning on a small plate.
  • To assemble the poppers, roll a cheese stick in the seasoning, wrap the bacon tightly around it, and stuff it into the prepared jalapeno. Continue until all the jalapenos are filled.
  • Roast upright in a rack on your grill or smoker for 20 to 30 minutes or until the jalapenos are tender and the bacon is cooked through.
  • Serve hot.

These were a nice change of pace from traditional poppers. I really liked the combination of the sharp cheese with the spicy pepper and a little sweet from the barbecue seasoning.

The other nice thing is you can customize this for however many people you’re feeding. The original recipe made 18. I ended up making 10, because we didn’t have a ton of people coming over.

I can’t tell you how these reheat, as we didn’t have any left over, but I would guess they’re one of those things that’s best eaten right away.

If you happened to be a victim of “peppergate” this year, hopefully you’ll be able to find uses for all of your garden surprises. For me, this might be the first summer I’m pretty glad I just get my produce from the grocery store; gardening is already hard enough.

This piece first appeared in print on Aug. 10, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Appetizer Main Dish Side Dish Snack

Kick football season off with a bang by making shotgun shells

These smoked shotgun shells are made with seasoned sausage stuffed into manicotti shells and wrapped in bacon. They are a fantastic dish for a football snack table.

As soon as the weekly forecast came out, telling us that the opening weekend of football would be perfect for spending some time outside, Joey announced we were going to invite some folks to watch the games and throw some food on the smoker.

Of course, I had to stick my nose in and announce to him that I already found the perfect recipe to try, and being completely used to me regularly doing this to him, he immediately agreed—even though the name caught him off guard for a second.

I wanted to make shotgun shells.

The recipe is actually aptly named, considering it consists of stuffed manicotti shells. I suppose it sounds a little more macho than calling them stuffed tubes.

Also, I know I have given you a couple smoker recipes of late, but these can also easily be made in your oven or on a normal grill (as long as you watch your temperature).

This comes from the website “Or Whatever You Do” by Nicole Johnson. You can find the original post at https://www.orwhateveryoudo.com/2022/05/traeger-smoked-shotgun-shells.html. I added garlic and extra spices to my version and used sausage instead of ground beef.

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Smoked Shotgun Shells

These smoked shotgun shells are made with seasoned sausage stuffed into manicotti shells and wrapped in bacon. They are a fantastic dish for a football snack table.
Course Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish
Keyword bacon, barbecue rub, barbecue sauce, barrel smoker, Big Green Egg, football snack, garlic, ground sausage, Kamado Joe, manicotti, shredded cheese, smoker, Traeger

Ingredients

  • 1 pound sausage
  • 1 cup shredded cheese I used Mexican blend
  • 2-3 tablespoons barbecue seasoning
  • 4 to 6 cloves garlic minced
  • 12 manicotti shells uncooked
  • 12 slices bacon not thick sliced
  • about 1/4 cup barbecue sauce

Instructions

  • At least six hours before you want to start cooking, prepare your shotgun shells.
  • In a large bowl, mix the sausage with the cheese, seasoning and garlic. Once it is well combined, stuff each manicotti shell with the sausage and wrap each one with a strip of bacon.
  • Place the assembled shells in an airtight container or on a plate wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerate for six hours or overnight.
  • To cook them, preheat your smoker or oven to 250 degrees. Place the shells about an inch apart on the grill and let them cook with the lid closed for at least one hour before opening to check the temperature (you’re looking for 160 degrees for done sausage) and turning them on the grill to make sure they cook evenly.
  • Just before the shells are finished cooking (ours took about one and one-half hours), baste them with barbecue sauce on all sides.
  • Once the sausage in the center of the shells is cooked through and the bacon is crispy, remove them from the grill and serve.

These were absolutely fabulous. We didn’t have a single shotgun shell left by the time Sunday Night Football came on TV—and I made a double batch. It was absolutely perfect, both for lunch and for snacking during the later afternoon games.

And in case you’re wondering, yes, the manicotti cooked all the way through on the smoker. Joey and I were both really skeptical and almost par-boiled the shells just in case, but I decided to trust the process, and they were perfectly al dente by the time the sausage and bacon was done. It was a strange sort of magic that I don’t understand but definitely appreciate.

Hopefully we’ll have a few more weekends of dragging our TV outdoors for football and enjoying good food with good people in our backyard. But even if winter comes quickly and drives us indoors, I think shotgun shells will remain a regular on the menu.

This piece first appeared in print on Sept. 15, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Appetizer Breakfast Main Dish

You have ‘Scotch’ to try these tasty smoked eggs

This twist on Scotch eggs is made on a smoker, using barbecue seasonings and sauce and wrapped in bacon. They can also be baked in an oven.

Just as French fries are from Belgium and Hawaiian pizza was invented in Canada, Scotch eggs are actually a British creation.

Traditionally, a Scotch egg is “a shelled hard-boiled egg that is wrapped in sausage, covered in breadcrumbs, and then deep-fried or baked until crispy,” according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

They’re often served cold in pubs, but in the U.S., people most often serve them hot instead.

Joey has been hinting—strongly—for a few weeks that he would really like to try making Scotch eggs on his smoker, so on a recent day when the heat lifted for a bit, we finally decided to give them a try.

I will tell you that these are not traditional—they lack the breadcrumbs, have barbecue flavors, and we added bacon to ours, too. But they were very, very good.

This comes from Susie Bulloch at the blog “Hey Grill Hey.” You can find the original post at https://heygrillhey.com/smoked-scotch-eggs/. I added bacon to my version.

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Smoked Scotch Eggs

This twist on Scotch eggs is made on a smoker, using barbecue seasonings and sauce and wrapped in bacon.They can also be baked in an oven.
Course Main Course
Cuisine British
Keyword bacon, barbecue rub, barbecue sauce, barrel smoker, Big Green Egg, breakfast sausage, ceramic grill, hard-boiled egg, Kamado Joe, Scotch egg, smoker

Ingredients

  • 6 eggs
  • 1 pound ground breakfast sausage
  • 1-2 tablespoons sweet barbecue rub
  • 12 slices bacon
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup barbecue sauce

Instructions

  • Preheat your smoker or oven to 225 degrees. (Use a lighter flavored wood; we used pecan in ours.)
  • Place the eggs in a saucepan large enough for them all to fit in a single layer and fill with cold water until they are all just covered.
  • Place the saucepan on the stove over high heat. Once the water boils, turn off the heat (leave the pan on the burner), cover with a lid, and let the eggs sit for five minutes. Meanwhile, prepare a large bowl by filling it with ice and cold water. Carefully remove the eggs from the pan with a slotted spoon and submerge them in the cold water for another five minutes before peeling them. Set them aside.
  • Divide the pound of sausage into six even balls.
  • To assemble, flatten one of the balls of sausage into a disc in your palm. Carefully place the egg in the center and then wrap the sausage evenly around the egg, making sure it is completely covered. Sprinkle a healthy amount of barbecue rub onto the sausage-wrapped egg, and then finish off by wrapping two slices of bacon around it. Set the finished Scotch egg aside and repeat to complete all six eggs.
  • Place the eggs in the refrigerator until the smoker/oven is ready. When ready, place the eggs onto the grates of your smoker or on a aluminum-foil-lined baking sheet in your oven. Let the eggs cook for about one hour, turning them at least once during the cook time to let them evenly crisp. (They’re done when the sausage reaches 160 degrees.)
  • During the last 10 minutes, glaze the eggs with the barbecue sauce.
  • Serve with additional barbecue sauce or along with breakfast fixin’s.

These turned out great. They’re extremely filling, because they’re packed with a ton of protein between the eggs, sausage and bacon. We did try them both with and without the barbecue sauce, and I recommend using it. The glaze was really nice and added a great flavor to the eggs.

Also, these did reheat OK from the fridge later in the week, but they were much better fresh off the smoker. You could also accomplish these in your oven, although you’ll really be missing out if they don’t have that smoked flavor.

I’m not sure the Brits would approve of this Americanized version of Scotch eggs, but I’m not going to lose sleep over it. I figure we stopped paying attention to British judgement a long time ago.

This piece first appeared in print on Sept. 1, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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