Maybe the simplest way to make a snack extreme is to stuff it into a jalapeno pepper. Experimentation is welcome, but one tasty combination comes from filling half a pepper with cream cheese, laying a shrimp on top and wrapping it in a strip of bacon. Stick a toothpick through the whole thing, making sure that the bacon is adequately secured, and fry with oil until the bacon is crispy and sizzling. Be careful when you turn it over in the pan ““ the cream cheese has a tendency to seep out when it melts.
Call it whatever you want ““ jalapeno poppers, spicy bombers ““ just be sure to make enough for your friends. They can look intimidating, especially if the jalapenos are bright red, but the end result is not so spicy as to be painful.
Once fried, the peppers give off a biting, smoky heat, tempered by the cool cream cheese and emboldened by the shrimp and the bacon.
There’s enough flavor here to make you forget you ever suffered through a bite of lutefisk.
Ingredients:
6 jalapeno peppers
8 oz. container of soft cream cheese
12 strips of bacon
12 shrimp, peeled
12 wood toothpicks
Directions:
1) Cut the peppers in half.
2) Scoop put the inside of each half and fill it with cream cheese.
3) Place the shrimp on top and wrap the whole thing in a strip of bacon.
4) Pierce through with a toothpick, making sure to secure the bacon.
5) Grill, turning regularly, until the bacon has been cooked thoroughly.