Sunday, January 25, 2009

Fry Not?



I never deep fry food at home. It is so bad for you, extremely messy and it stinks the house up. I always subscribe to the school of thought that I eat enough fried food outside of the home to allow myself to eat deep fried food from my own kitchen. So I never, ever deep fry anything. But when I came across this recipe for deep fried andouille stuffed peppers I knew I would be making an exception. And man was it good! I am glad I allowed myself to create this dish despite its evil method of cooking. But now - the guilt is too strong, off to the gym...............

Andouille Stuffed Jalapenos
Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 2 ounces bulk andouille, finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped onions
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
  • 1/2 cup fat free cream cheese(feeble attempt)
  • Salt and pepper
  • 16 large fresh jalapenos
  • Essence, recipe in link above
  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 3/4 to 1 cup beer
  • Pinch of baking powder
  • Salt and pepper
  • Oil for frying

Directions

Preheat the fryer. In a saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat and render the andouille for 2 minutes. Add the onions and saute for 1 minute.

Remove from the heat and cool. In a mixing bowl, mix the garlic, parsley, and cream cheese together. Mix well. Stir in the cooled andouille mixture.

Mix thoroughly and season with salt and pepper. Using a sharp knife, split the jalapenos, starting at the tip, in half, leaving the stem intact. Remove the seeds from the pepper. Stuff 1 heaping tablespoon of the filling in the center of each pepper.

Press the pepper together, sealing the cheese mixture completely inside. Season 1 cup of flour with Essence. In a mixing bowl, whisk the yolks and 3/4 cup of the beer.

Season the mixture with salt and pepper. Whisk in enough flour to form a batter. If the batter is too thick add the remaining beer to thin the batter. Dredge the stuffed peppers in the seasoned flour (oops, I skipped this step). Dip the jalapenos in the batter,

letting the excess drip off and coating the peppers completely. Gently lay the jalapenos in the hot oil and fry until golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Remove the jalapenos from the oil and drain on a paper-lined plate. Season the peppers with Essence.



Next time (if I allow myself to have a next time) I would cut the peppers completely in half and stuff each half and then batter them. I think that would give a better stuffing to pepper ratio and aid in the heat absorption on my taste buds. The stuffing was very delicious and very flavorful and I would have enjoyed more in each pepper.

14 comments:

Kira said...

WOW! I think my husband might kill someone for a bite of these.

Anonymous said...

I would make a frying exception for these, too. They look SO good.

Spryte said...

YUM!!! We love fried stuff!!! Those look great!

Anonymous said...

Olé Elizabeth! Now you're talkin!

Anonymous said...

They look divine! I am going to try and make them for my appetizer party tomorrow night.

Syd said...

ooooh, just in time for the Super Bowl. I'm SO trying these. Thanks.

Liz said...

Your blog is so refreshing, I have given you the Lemonade Award! See my blog for details!

Ginger said...

I would like to say that those look incredible and I would like one right now because I am STARVING!! Thanks for sharing.

test it comm said...

Those poppers look great!

Anonymous said...

These are so fun!

aleta meadowlark said...

Okay, so I totally had the brilliant idea of making jalapeno poppers with fresh jalapenos a couple years back, but they were so hot that they were literally inedible. I choked down two on principle, coated in sour cream (not even fat free!) and still had a tummy ache for two days. Normally spicy things don't do that to me . . . like poppers at a restaurant. Yours didn't come out unbearably hot like that? I was sure that pickled jalapenos were the solution . . .

Elizabeth said...

Aleta,

They really weren't that hot. I believe it was because we seeded them prior to stuffing. The seeds of the jalepeno is really what holds all the heat. I also scraped out the ribs while I was discarding the seeds since I had heard that the ribs have some heat as well. I wasn't able to get the seeds all the way out at the very top of the pepper near the stem and yes, if you ate that part it was unbearably hot. But I really believe that if I could have gotten those seeds too I would have been fine.

Donna-FFW said...

These look wonderful!! There are so many fantastic things on your blog. I am glad I found you.

gaga said...

I never deep fried at home until recently either. Isn't it great? I'm definitely going to be doing it more often in the future. I'll probably try this recipe at some point too, looks great!