Sweet and Stuffy Peppers

Some on the Farm (by the names of the Farmer and Jacob) enjoy spending their Sundays watching various people play various games on the television. I know, I know, I don’t understand it, either. If you want to have fun in a game, why not play it yourself, right?

But, they will not be deterred. And, since they won’t, the Farmer’s Wife must do what a Farmer’s Wife must do. She feeds them tasty snacks. And one of their very fa-vor-ites is Sweet and Stuffy Peppers.

And this is how you make them:

First, mini sweet peppers are cut in half, deseeded, and boiled for a time–just until they’ve brightened up a bit. The Farmer’s Wife likes to use the orange-yellow-red variety that they sell in a bag at the store. She’s tried and tried to do this with peppers she’s grown, but hers never turn the right color when they’re small–and the fact that they’re small is important. They’re supposed to be a snack, after all.

Someday she’ll get the Farmer to build her a greenhouse, so she can have small, brightly colored peppers too, but for now, she just has to make do with the store-bought variety, and I expect you will, too.

Set the par-boiled peppers aside to cool, and while they are, chop fine one orange, one red, and one yellow min-sweet pepper fine and place them in a frying pan with a couple tablespoons bacon fat. If you haven’t saved the fat from the last time you cooked up some bacon, then you can add a couple slices to the pan first, and cook them down until you have some. You’ll also need a half-cup fine-diced sweet onion and three cloves of garlic, also diced fine. All that goes in the pan with the bacon fat and cooked until there’s a bit of char to them.

Once there is, add a half cup white sugar to the pan and let it melt a bit, stirring all the while. Once that turns caramelly, add a half cup apple cider vinegar, and keep on stirring. Let it reduce until there’s not much liquid left in the pan. Turn the heat off and add four ounces cream cheese. Stir until the cheese is smooth. You may need to put this in your mixer, if it’s being stubborn. One way to avoid stubborn cream cheese is to let it get to room temperature first, before you add it to the pan.

Using a small scooper (the Farmer’s Wife uses one that holds a teaspoon), stuff the peppers with the mixture. Dip the filled peppers, filling side down, into a bowl of crushed croutons, about a cup. This will seal all that goodness in. Place the peppers in a pan (the Farmer’s Wife recommends cast iron) and bake in a four hundred degree oven for twenty-five minutes or so. You’ll know they’re done when the tops get bronzed and toasty. Serve immediately, right in the pan, if you used cast iron.