Grilled Crab-Stuffed Cherry Peppers

A very meaty chile pepper that is great to add heat to hot pepper jelly or relish. It can also be stuffed or chopped and used in fresh salsas.

In Italy these first are pickled in vinegar brine then stuffed with ingredients like provolone cheese and prosciutto ham. After being stuffed they are marinated with herbs and olive oil.

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Ingredients:

The Peppers:

12 pickled cherry peppers

Crab Filling:

1-1/2 Tbsp. cream cheese
1 tsp. milk
3 Tbsp. crab meat (canned works fine)
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
2 tsp. chopped fresh cilantro
4 tsp. dried bread crumbs

Instructions:

Cut out the stems and core the cherry hot chiles. The opening should be just wide enough to fill. The tip of a vegetable peeler works well for this chore.

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients for the filling and mix well. Stuff the cherry peppers with the filling and thread them onto wooden skewers that have been soaked in water. Be sure to thread the peppers so that the filling side is up.

Grill the skewered chiles over a medium fire for about 3-4 minutes, or until hot. Do not turn them or the filling could fall out.

Yields 6 servings.

Recipe excerpt from “Barbecue Inferno” by Dave DeWitt and Nancy Gerlach, Ten Speed Press.