For the Love of Food

I have been craving spicy food for the past few weeks like crazy. What I wouldn’t give for some really Jamaican jerk chicken that leaves your mouth burning with happiness. But, I don’t have any plans to travel to the Caribbean right now, so when I was paired with Denise from Eat Laugh Love for this month’s Taste&Create, I was excited to see her recipe for Jalapeño Poppers!

Now, I have eaten quite a few jalapeño poppers over the past few years, but I have never eaten any filled with refried beans. I was really surprised how easy these were to make. I never could quite figure out how they could easily be de-seeded, but the trick is in the few minutes you microwave them to soften them! Oh, and if you leave a few too many seeds inside it will be very spicy.

I love making taco salads, so I thought this would be a nice change to my typical taco salad toppings. I also made a fabulous roasted tomato and tomatillo salsa that my brother-in-law taught me – but more about that next week.

Jalapeño Poppers
Ingredients:
12 Jalapeños (I had to use another smaller chili since jalapeños were not available to me)
1 Cup Cheesy Refried Beans (see recipe bellow)
1/4 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Corn Meal
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 Eggs
Cooking Spray

Directions:
*Use Gloves to prevent terrible burning*

Preheat oven to 232°C (450°F).

Using a knife, make a slit along the side of eat jalapeño. Place all of the jalapeños on a plate and microwave for 3-5 minutes, or until soft. I did it 1 minute at a time.

In the mean time, make the cheesy refried bean filling – see recipe bellow. Place 1 cup of the filling in a piping bag or sandwich bag. Set aside.

When the peppers are cool enough to handle, open slightly with your gloved hands and scrape the seeds and membrane out with a small sharp knife.

Cut the tip off of one corner of the plastic bag with the squeeze enough of the filling into the pepper so that it fills, but can still be closed without it goo-ing out.

Take out 3 salad bowls or deep plates and place the flour on one, the corn meal and salt on the second and mix, and the third the eggs whisked.

Take one filled jalapeño and roll it in the flour. Then, dip it in the egg, and roll it in the corn flour. Place them on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes. Enjoy.

Cheesy Homemade Refried Beans
Ingredients:
800 grams Pinto Beans, drained
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 teaspoon spicy Tomato Paste
1 Tablespoon Tomato Paste
1/8 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1/8 teaspoon Onion Powder
1/4 teaspoon Oregano
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 Green Onion, sliced
1 Cup Cheddar Cheese (I used Goat cheese)

Directions:

Place the pinto beans in a sauce pan and puree with a wand mixer. Drop in the butter and mix until melted over medium heat. Mix in all other ingredients and cool until hot and the cheese has melted.

Makes 4 servings for taco salad – or about 2 cups.

Taco Salad
Ingredients:
4 Cups Cooked Rice
4 large leaves Ice Berg Lettuce, shredded
1 1/2 Cups Cheesy Refried Beans (see recipe above)
1 Cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded
Jalapeño Poppers (see recipe above)
Sour Cream
Salsa

Directions/Assembly:

Place 1 cup of rice and 1 cup of shredded Lettuce on each plate. Top with a bit less than 1/2 a cup of cheesy refried beans. Sprinkly on 1/4 cup of cheddar. Crown the taco salad with a jalapeño popper or two, sour cream, and salsa.

Makes 4 salads.

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