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ABT Ramble

yaB
yaB Posts: 137
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
I was able to buy a couple pounds of freshly-picked jalepeño peppers at a roadside stand on Friday, so decided to try ABTs for the first time over the weekend. These things are definitely habit forming.[p]Now I've got to find a reliable source for the peppers, since the ones they have in the regular grocery stores around here are usually well past the "fresh" stage. Someone suggested that I look in Asian grocery stores. Any other suggestions? The Latino grocery stores I've visited have been small, and didn't carry much in the way of fresh veggies.[p]Since I didn't have any pulled pork until late Sunday, I wasn't able to use that in the ABT stuffing, as many recipes call for. So what I did was mash together low-fat cream cheese and blue cheese (about one-third blue and two-thirds cream) along with some crushed garlic, a good dose of dill weed and toasted sesame seeds, and stuffed the cored jalapeño halves with that mixture. [p]At that point I discovered that the pound of bacon I thought we had on hand had somehow turned into just a few strips. So I sliced the remaining bacon strips into mini-strips maybe an inch and a half to two inches long, and draped one of these over the cheese filling in each pepper half until I ran out of bacon. The ABTs went onto the grill on a rack at about 350, and were looking quite edible after about 30 minutes. [p]Man, they were good. I think using less bacon is not a bad thing, unless of course you're a baco-holic. These "ABT Lites" had a lot of flavor with a bit of jalapeño bite, bacon covered or not. I was surprised that even the toasted sesame seeds' flavor survived, and nothing was overwhelmed by heat from the peppers. I *might* have to make these again... [p]Bob

Comments

  • Sigmore
    Sigmore Posts: 621
    yaB, Another flavor you will probably like is crab cake. Mix up a batch of crab cakes and stuff the ABT's with that. Real good.

  • yaB
    yaB Posts: 137
    sigmore,
    Sounds good, indeed. Do you still use bacon to wrap or cover the crab cake ABTs? [p]I think we've got some frozen Philip's crab cakes in the freezer. It sounds like it would be worth "sacrificing" a couple of those in the name of broadening our ABT horizons.[p]Bob

  • Pakak
    Pakak Posts: 523
    So far as less bacon - I use whole jalapeños, making the ABTs “snocone” style. I only use about 1/3 strip of bacon per a whole jalapeño. When I used more, they were just too greasy for my taste, even when the bacon was very crisp.[p]For another place to find jalapeños, try a Wal-Mart superstore. It very well may be because I live in an area that has a large Hispanic population, but they have the best jalapeños around.

  • Pakak,
    Is it best to use fresh or pickled jalapenos?

  • Pakak
    Pakak Posts: 523
    I'm not much of a pickled jalapeño fan nor have I ever seen where anyone had used them for ABTs. Course, I spose you could if you wanted! I'd say - use the fresh. Since you're in AZ you should have ready access to them.
  • Pakak, Thanks, thats what I thought..they are plentiful in all the markets here.
  • Sigmore
    Sigmore Posts: 621
    yaB, Yessiree yaB, still wrap that puppy in bacon, try the Black Label Maple bacon. It sho iz good.

  • yaB
    yaB Posts: 137
    Pakak,
    Thanks for the pointer to the WM superstore. We've got one (last time I checked, maybe two or three by now) in a town about 20 miles away, which also has a significant Latino population. If I can't find decent specimens in one of the Asian or other markets in the communities near where I work (about 20 miles in another direction, also with many Latino folks) I'll definitely check the WM superstore. [p]Bob