Friday, September 23, 2016

Cream cheese filled jalapenos with Serrano ham



Oh.. my...
These are some of my forever favorites I've eaten at a friends', and kept making it at home.
It has everything I love: heat, smoothness, and fat ;), plus they are very easy to make.
They are also rather economical for the fanciness, as jalapenos are usually below $1 a pound, cream cheese in not too expensive either around here, and it doesn't take that much ham to bake enough.

Ingredients
jalapenos
Serrano ham or thinly sliced bacon, but I'd add only half of the regular slice / jalapeno for crunchy results
cream cheese

One jalapeño will make two pieces, obviously, you'll need 1/2 slice of the sliced Serrano ham for one piece, and about 1tsp of cream cheese. You do the math.. I'd estimate 1 pound of jalapeño (0.5 kg), one package of thinly sliced ham, and 1 cup of cream cheese is a hood start for a portion.

Preheat the oven to 400 F, 200C.
Start by washing the peppers, and continue by putting on some rubber gloves!! You'l thank me later when, after cooking, you can rub your eyes without crying them out.
Cut the jalapeños in half, remove the seeds and the veins, just as much as you want. Now it's the time to adjust the heat level to your audience. If you remove all of it, it will be no spicy at all, if you leave the veins they will give you some surprise as you take a bite :) (I got hiccups once :D), and if you are feeding some real chili-heads, leave some seeds in, too.. I warned you! Only for chili-heads!
Fill the half jalapeño with 1 tsp of cream cheese, and wrap it in half a slice of ham, or bacon. (On the left a plate of jalapeños with bacon..)
Place the filled jalapeños in a tray lined with parchment paper, sprinkle some olive oil if you use ham, but no need for it if you decided to use bacon.
Bake for ~15 minutes, until the ham had shrank and the jalapeño looks darker green, but definitely NOT mushy yet.
If you made them with bacon, you might need few extra minutes to have the bacon crunchy, and also change the oven from bake to broil for just 3-5 extra minutes.
Serve, preferably, while still warm.
Bonn appétit!

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