A simple, delicious, summer appetizer that can be made way in advance: goat cheese stuffed peppadews. If you've never had a peppadew before, you're in for a real treat!
What is a peppadew pepper?
They are small, bright red cherry-tomato sized peppers that come gutted and generally in a sweet and spicy brine. They have a nice crunch, and the hottest ones are still only about as spicy as a pickled jalapeno. The sweetness balances out the heat, so they are generally more tolerable to those non-heat seekers than jalapenos.
Stuffed Peppadews may very well be your gateway into the world of Things To Do With Peppadews. There are tons of other uses for them - almost anywhere you'd used a pickled jalapeno, you could use a peppadew for a little bit of a piquant bite.
What can I make with peppadews?
- Roughly chop them and add them to pizza with pepperoni and mushrooms.
- Blend them with goat cheese and cream cheese to make a killer dip
- Stuff them with blue cheese instead of goat cheese
- Slice them and toss them in with your favorite green salad. Caesar salads are particularly good with this addition.
- Dice them and mix them into chicken salad
- Add them to your pimento cheese ( my own favorite pimento cheese recipe does this! )
When it comes down to it, these goat cheese stuffed peppadews are my favorite of the peppadew recipes. They are just so SIMPLE, but add a beautiful pop of both color and flavor to any appetizer setup or cheeseboard.
Other appetizer recipes you might like:
Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppadews
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb peppadew peppers drained, making sure to drain any liquid from inside the peppers as well
- 6 ounces fresh goat cheese
- fresh cracked black pepper to taste
Equipment
- medium to large sized freezer bag or piping bag
Instructions
- Place the goat cheese in the piping bag. Allow it to sit out for at least an hour to take some of the chill off, which will make it much easier to handle. FULL DISCLOSURE: the USDA recommends discarding fresh cheeses like goat cheese after two hours. I left mine out for three hours, my entire family ate these, and we lived to see another day. But know the government feels there is risk. Cheese risk.
- Cut the corner of the piping bag off, making a hole just big enough to fit inside the average size of your peppadews.Holding the peppadew with one hand and the goat cheese bag with another, place the cut opening of the bag into the peppadew, and squeeze the back to push the goat cheese into the pepper.Repeat for all peppers.
- Once all peppers are stuffed, sprinkle freshly cracked pepper on top and either serve, or store in the fridge for up to five days.
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