Sunday, May 27, 2012

Cheese Steak Stuffed Jalapenos

You may have heard that Philly likes it's cheese steaks, oh yea, it's true! If I'm going to splurge on sandwich calories 90% of the time it's a cheese steak or Italian hoagie-good stuff folks! But I'm still on my stuffed jalapeno kick and a friend suggested adding cheese steak to the pepper, a very good idea-thanks Carol! And, since I'm saving all those calories from the roll, that means I can eat a couple extra:@)
I'd like to take a moment to address a question that comes up often: "don't they have a lot of heat?". Once you cut them in half and remove the seeds and the membranes (veins) from the inside of the pepper (a melon baller works great), that removes most of the heat. If you're new to handling jalapenos I do suggest using disposable food service gloves, they're readily available at Walmart and most supermarkets.
And the final thing that really tames the peppers is baking them. By the time I add a creamy cheese, I personally don't find any heat any more, just a nice vibrant jalapeno pepper flavor and love the way they smell while baking!
Don't be afraid to give these tasty little bites a try folks, they're great for appetizers or party munchies.

Cheese Steak Stuffed Jalapenos
3"-ish jalapenos
The best frozen cheese steak meat you can get, I buy Landis it's shaved meat, not ground and formed
American Cheese
Kosher salt
  1. Slice peppers in half and clean out the seeds and membranes. Place on baking dish or sheet. I suggest foil lined for easy clean up.
  2. Break up or cut the meat small, 1/4 to 1/2" pieces, and stuff it into the pepper halves, just fill as best you can. I used a little more than half of one slice for 4 half peppers. 
  3. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes. 
  4. Remove from oven and tip the peppers to let the juice run out.
  5. Cover each pepper with American Cheese. I used 1/4 of a slice on each pepper.
  6. Back into the oven until the cheese browns up, maybe 10 minutes or use the broiler if the cheese doesn't brown up by then. 
  7. Sprinkle with kosher salt once out of the oven.
Note: These are great as is, but some die-hards might insist on ketchup... just be prepared:@)
Click for chicken or ham and cheese stuffed jalapenos.
Have a happy day!

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