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For a while now, I had been thinking of a way to incorporate a jalapeño popper into my brunch menu. I mean who doesn’t enjoy bacon, cheese and chile peppers in some form for brunch? Besides a breakfast taco or baked casserole, another popular dish you see at brunch is quiche. Essentially, quiche is a baked egg dish usually baked with a crust with a variety of ingredients added to the mix. For today’s recipe I came up with a mix using the similar ingredients found in a quiche and baked them in some fresh jalapeños and colorful mariachi peppers that were shared with me from a friend’s garden. Incorporating the egg results in an extra fluffy and creamy filling for this popper recipe.
Ingredients
- 6 strips, thick-cut maple/brown sugar-flavored bacon
- Olive oil
- 1/4 cup white onion, minced
- 1/4 cup minced and seeded jalapeño (works out to about 1 pepper)
- 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 4 ounces pepperjack cheese, grated
- 1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped, plus more for garnish
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- Dash of hot sauce
- 9-10 large chile peppers such as jalapeño or a milder sweet pepper, such as mariachi chiles
Preparation
- In a large skillet, cook the bacon at medium heat until crispy.
- Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels and blot off excess grease.
- Chop small and set aside.
- While bacon is cooking, add 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil to a small skillet and saute the onions and minced jalapeño for 5 to 6 minutes, let cool.
- In a bowl combine the cream cheese, pepperjack, cilantro, milk, egg, hot sauce, 1/3 of bacon and onion mix. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and stir until well combined, set aside.
- Preheat oven to 400ºF.
- Slice the peppers in half, lengthwise and remove all of the seeds and membranes, With a small spoon, fill the peppers with cheese mixture and place on baking sheet or in a baking dish. Divide the remaining bacon and garnish the poppers with it. If the poppers don’t sit upright, you could push them together so they are touching and stay upright.
- Cover the poppers loosely with foil and bake for 15 minutes.
- Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes.
- Finish under the broiler for a minute just to brown the cheese a little.
- Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.